“Gemma, wake up,” a voice whispered.
I groaned. My eyelids were too heavy to open.
“Gemma.” The voice rose louder
I let out a grunt and opened my eyes, only to realize that not only was I lying on the floor, but I was lying on the floor in an entirely different room. I sat up, rubbed my eyes, and peered around at the purple walls pinned with drawings, photos, and a…galaxy map?
“Okay,” I whispered. “Where am I?”
“I want to tell you something.”
I recognized the voice instantly and jumped to my feet. Sitting in a bay window, gazing up at the night sky, was a woman with long brown hair and blue irises—my mother. Sitting next to her was a little girl with violet eyes—me.
And I could see their faces. Apparently, memories or not, getting rid of the haze in one of them had cleared them all up.
“Look at the stars Mama.” The younger me pointed at the sky. “They’re so pretty.”
“Yes, they are,” my mother agreed. “And it’s very important that you remember that, no matter what happens.”
The younger me looked up at her. “Why? What’s going to happen?”
“That’s for me to worry about.” My mother smoothed the younger me’s hair back.
“I’m scared,” the younger me whispered, getting teary eyed. “I don’t want you to leave me.”
“I know. And I don’t want to leave you. But in case something does happen, I need you to know that I love you more than anything.” My mother wiped a tear away from the younger me’s eye. “And I always will. Never forget that.”
The younger me nodded and hugged my mother tightly. “I promise I’ll never forget.”
“Yes, you will,” I whispered, tears trickling down my cheeks. “You’ll forget everything.”
My eyes shot open. I was back at the cabin, lying on the bed. My eyes and cheeks were damp with tears. My neck was sore and hot—I must have been sleeping in a weird position or something. Whatever these things—visions, resurfacing memories, or maybe just dreams—were, I still had managed to cry in real life. My guess, though, was that they were memories.
I tried not to think about how heartbreaking the scene between me and my mother was as I wiped my tears away with the sleeve of my jacket. It was just too painful to think about.
Unsure of how late it was, I scooted off the bed and trod over to the window. Pulling back the curtain, I saw that it was nearing dark. The hills were shadows, the sky grey. But it was still early enough that the stars had not yet awakened.
So what was I supposed to do now? The last thing I wanted to do was to walk out and find Marco, Sophia, Stephan, and Detaching Soul Guy waiting for me. I needed to find out if they arrived yet.
I tiptoed over to the door, cracked it open, and listened. The only noise I could hear came from my own breathing. Crossing my fingers that no one was here yet, I opened the door the rest of the way, went out into the living room, and almost jumped with joy when I found it completely people-free.
But where was Alex?
I searched the house, checking the kitchen, the dining room, even going out into the garage, but there was no sign of Alex anywhere. Is that necessarily a bad thing? I asked myself, and sighed because the answer was yes.
I was just about to sit down on the couch and wait it out when I spotted Alex through the sliding glass door. He was sitting in a porch swing on the back porch. Beneath the dim porch light, I could see that he had ditched the black baseball hat, his dark brown hair sticking up in its messy, yet perfectly done, way. He was staring down at his hand, and I couldn’t help but feel nervous about what he might be holding in it.
I made my way over to the sliding door, and paused before gliding it open. I stepped out into the cold night air, my breath puffing out in a cloud.
He glanced up at me, and then returned his gaze back to whatever was in his hand.
“It’s freezing out here.” I tugged the hood of my jacket over my head, tucked my hands up into the sleeves, and tromped through the snow over to the swing. “What are you doing out here?”
“Just thinking about stuff…” He clasped his hand around something shiny and silver and looked up at me. “I’m surprised you came out of the room. I was pretty sure that you were going to lock yourself in there and refuse to come out.”
“It wouldn’t have done me any good.” I sat down on the swing, and it rocked beneath my weight. “You guys probably would have just broken down the door and dragged me out.”
He didn’t say anything.
I let the tips of my shoes trace across the snow as the swing swayed back and forth. “So…what do you have in your hand?”
He hesitatingly opened his hand, and a necklace rested in his palm. A violet stone carved the center of a silver heart-shaped pendant. The color of the stone reminded me of the color of my eyes.
I stared at the necklace, mesmerized by its beauty. “What is it?”
A smile teased at his lips. “A necklace.”
I rolled my eyes. “Obviously, but why are you showing it to me?”
“Because it was yours.” He slipped the chain of the necklace through his fingers and dangled it in front of me. “Your mother gave it to you when you were little…before everything happened.”
“It was mine? Really?” I asked excitedly.
He nodded. “It really was.”
I pressed my lips together, my eyes starting to burn from the tears that were threatening to break through.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
I nodded because I couldn’t speak. I don’t know how to even begin to explain just how much this meant to me. I’m not even sure there are any words that would fit what I was feeling. Okay, imagine if every ounce of who you are was ripped away and there was nothing left but a lost version of yourself struggling to find a way back to a life you never knew—a life you knew had to be better than the empty one you were living. That’s what this necklace was. A piece of my past that reminded me that I once had a good life, with a loving mother, free to do and feel as I pleased.
“So…” I began after I found my voice again. “Why are you showing it to me?”
“I have no idea,” he said, not in a rude way, but in a confused one.
“Okay…” I said, sounding as confused as he did. “Do I get to keep it?”
He eyed me over. Then he took my hand and placed the necklace in it, the metal warm against my frostbitten skin.
“So…that’s a yes then.” I wanted to know before I got too excited.
He leaned back in the swing. “Yeah, you can keep it.”
“Thank you,” I said in the softest voice.
“Wow, two thank you’s in a day. That’s impressive.”
I smiled, but it was forced. I just wasn’t feeling it at the moment. I was excited about the necklace, but sad at the same time, because I knew at any given moment, my recollection of it, along with everything else, would be gone forever. And that stole away all of my wittiness.
“Gemma, are you alright?" He furrowed his eyebrows quizzically. “You’re acting kind of… strange.”
“So are you,” I said, clamping my hand around the necklace.
“How so?”
“You’re being too nice, giving me the necklace and everything. It’s weird.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” he agreed. “Maybe I should take it back.” He reached for the necklace.
I wrenched my hand back. “I didn’t mean you had to take it back. I want it, and I’m not giving it back to you.”
“Relax, I’m just teasing you,” he said. “Look, I know things have been up and down between us, but just for a moment, can we try to be normal?”
I frowned. “The last time I thought things between you and me were headed to Normalville, you were playing me for a fool so you could try to find out if I knew why my emotions had started up again.”
“And I’m sorry for that,” he said sincerely.
“Oh, my word, did
you just say sorry?” I widened my eyes and did an over exaggerated look of shock. “Holy crap, I think the world just stopped spinning.” He grinned and I added, “Is that normal enough for you?”
A moment of silence passed between us. I stared at the necklace, the silver and purple sparkling almost like the stars that had now dusted themselves across the sky.
“Aren’t you going to put it on?” he asked, nodding down at the necklace in my hand.
“Yeah, good idea.” I started to unfasten the clamp when it hit me. What if there was something wrong with the necklace? “You know, I’m not sure if I should. I mean, what if this is a trick or something? For all I know, putting this on could be part of the process of detaching my soul.”
He shook his head and sighed. “It’s not and I can prove it.” He reached over and flipped the pendant to the back. Flawless cursive engraved the letters GL—my initials. “See, GL—Gemma Lucas.”
I smiled a real smile. It really did belong to me. I flicked the clasp open and wrapped the chain around my neck.
Okay, so I am not a jewelry wearing kind of girl. Putting on a necklace was a whole new experience for me, and I couldn’t get the sucker to hook shut.
“Need some help?” Alex asked, looking like he was enjoying watching me struggle.
“No,” I refused stubbornly. “I got it.” But after a few more minutes of trying to get the dang clamp closed, I gave up. “Oh, fine. I guess I need your help.”
He laughed, making a circle in the air with his finger. “Turn around.”
I did, and he took the necklace from my hands, his fingers grazing mine. I tried my best to ignore how hot his touch made me feel as he fumbled to secure the clasp of the necklace closed.
But like me, he seemed to be struggling.
“Hmmm…” He paused. “Well, that’s interesting.”
I glanced over my shoulder at him. “What’s interesting?”
“Well, it looks like you got your mark.”
“A Foreseer’s mark?”
He nodded, tracing his finger gently along the back of my neck. “I can see the outline of it forming right here.”
“What does it look like?”
“Exactly like Nicholas’,” he said. “Each group’s mark looks the same.”
“So does that mean I might actually be a real Foreseer?”
“Yeah, probably, but I still don’t know how. I never thought you were a Foreseer. I thought it was just the star’s power setting off the crystal. Usually possessing Foreseer ability requires coming from a line of Foreseers.”
“My mother wasn’t one?”
He shook his head. “Jocelyn was just a Keeper.”
“What about my father?” I asked. “Maybe he was.”
“Maybe, but I can’t say for sure since I don’t know who he is.”
“You don’t know who he is!” I exclaimed. “How is that even possible?”
“Because Jocelyn would never tell anyone who he was. For some reason, she insisted she had to keep it a secret.”
Well, that sucked. I really was all alone in this world, wasn’t I?
I choked back my tears.
He sighed. “Here, let me put this thing on you, and then you can go look at the mark in the mirror.” I nodded slowly and turned back around.
He started fiddling with the clamp again, his fingers teasing me with their touch. I gazed off into the darkness of the night, thinking of my mother and father and how I hardly knew anything about them. And that seemed to be creating this giant hole inside my heart.
“You’re nervous,” he remarked.
“Huh?” I shook my head. “No I’m not.”
“Your foot's shaking like crazy.”
I looked down at my foot and realized I was tapping it crazily against the snowy ground. Apparently, I channeled all the hot energy that Alex’s touch was bringing on down to my leg. “I’m not nervous. It’s just that…”I felt the necklace fall against the back of my neck—he had gotten it hooked. Finally.
“Just that what?” he asked, his mouth extremely close to my ear.
“Nothing.” I started to move away. “Never mind.”
He caught me by the waist, making my body heat hotter. “Just tell me.”
“It’s nothing.” I kept telling myself to breathe as a mixture of heat and confusion swirled through my body. “It’s just the electricity. It sometimes makes me a little…squirmy.”
“Are you sure that’s all it is?” His breath was hot against my skin, making every part of me go crazy. A moment later, I felt his lips press against the back of my neck. I froze, and I was pretty sure that my heart even stopped beating for a second. I tried to tell myself to get up and walk away. Don’t do this. It wouldn’t be worth it. You wouldn’t even know if it was real or if he was playing you.
But then he whispered my name, and I turned around. After that, all my thoughts floated away, because he kissed me. And not like the little peck when we were on the bus. This one lasted a lot longer and was full of fire.
At one point I wrapped my arms around his neck, and he pulled me closer to him so that are bodies were touching. There was so much heat that the snow was probably melting on the ground beneath us.
Okay, so you’re probably wondering how I could kiss him after everything that happened. But please, try not to judge me too harshly. I know things haven’t been the best between Alex and me, but I am only human. Or at least part human, anyway. I have things I want to do, like kiss the guy that can make my skin sparkle. And unlike most people, my time to do so is going to run out, like any second, so this is probably my one and only chance to get kissed.
I’m not sure how long the kissing went on, but eventually we did break away from each other. Which was kind of good, if only to keep me from passing out from lack of oxygen. But I did feel a ping of longing for my lips to be touching his again.
Alex gazed up at the night sky, rocking the swing back and forth. The serious expression that he usually carried had faded, and it made him even more gorgeous.
The pendant of the necklace pressed warmly against my skin. I absentmindedly rubbed my thumb against the violet stone as I stared up at the sky, thinking about the kiss and trying not to think about the fact that soon I would remember nothing about it. I spotted the constellation Andromeda, Cassiopeia pointing at it like a target. I thought about the other people in the world staring up at the stars. I hoped they were happy and grateful to be alive.
I felt a small crack running along the edge of the pendant. I looked down and realized that it wasn’t just a pendant, but a locket.
I snapped it open. Framed inside was a small photo of a group of people. I squinted down at the photo, examining each of their faces, and then…”Oh my God.”
“What’s the matter?” Alex asked.
“Is that my mother?” I asked, pointing at a woman with long brown hair and bright blue irises—the woman I had seen in so many visions, dreams, and memories.
He nodded. “Yeah, that’s her. Is she the one you saw in the vision?”
I didn’t answer, sliding the tip of my finger to the man that stood beside her. “So who’s this next to her?”
“That’s my father.” He gave me a funny look. “Why?”
I jumped to my feet, panic firing through me as wildly as the sparks did when Alex had kissed me. “Because he’s the one I saw force my mom into the lake.”
Chapter 32