“Stephan.” Alex took the keys out of the ignition and grabbed hold of the door handle, about to climb out.
“Alex,” I hissed. “Please don’t. We still need to get out of here. There are Death Walkers everywhere.”
“Alex,” Stephan called out in a commanding voice.
The door handle made a click as Alex started to push the door open. Panicking, I reached out and clutched onto his arm. He glanced down at my hand clutching his arm, and then looked up and gave me this strange look.
“Please,” I begged and released his arm. “If this isn’t proof that your dad’s working with Demetrius—” I did a gesture back at the driveway, where dozens of yellow eyes glinted at us through the darkness— “then I don’t know what is. We have to…”
He pressed a finger to my lips, shushing me. Then he slid his fingers around my necklace and tucked it down in my shirt. My mouth dropped open. Huh? “Whatever you do, keep that hidden. Don’t let anyone know you have it.”
“Why?” I asked, but he had already turned away and was climbing out of the car, the Sword of Immortality clutched in his hand.
I sat there for a second, confused about why I had to keep the necklace hidden. Then it hit me. Because I probably wasn’t supposed to have the necklace to begin with and Alex didn’t want to get in trouble for giving it to me. Nice, really nice, Alex. And now I had to climb out of the car and not only face the monsters that wanted to kill me, but also face the man who was responsible for my mother’s disappearance and the whole crappiness of my life.
So with wobbly legs, I dragged my butt out of the car, tucked the small knife Alex had given me into my back pocket, and made my way over to Alex and Stephan. I stayed several feet away from them, because seeing Stephan in real life was about a million times more frightening than seeing him in my dreams.
When I approached them, Stephan had been telling Alex something in a low voice, but shut his mouth when he saw me.
“Gemma,” Stephan said in an eerily calm voice. “It’s so nice to finally meet you.”
Well, look at him. Pretending like he had never met me before. What a jerk. As much as I wanted to spit every foul word that was running through my mind right in his face, I didn’t. Just being there, in the same room with him, felt like I was suffocating, and my voice was getting strangled inside my throat. So instead, I just stood there like a coward, nervously eyeballing the Death Walkers that were gathering in the driveway.
“Well, Alex, you’ve done a good job keeping her out of trouble and everything,” Stephan said. “But I’ll take it from here.”
What did that mean? Detach my soul? Sick the Death Walkers on me? I eyed the door that led back inside the cabin, contemplating whether or not to make a run for it.
“Okay,” Alex told Stephan, and I wanted to smack him in the back of the head.
“Traitor,” I muttered.
He shot me a look and shook his head once as if to say “be quiet.”
“Look,” Alex said to Stephan, “I understand that there are some things that need to be done here. But what I don’t understand is why they’re here.” He pointed at the Death Walkers.
“That is a very good question,” Stephan said in a condescending tone. “But right now, all I need for you to do is give me the Sword of Immortality and keep your mouth shut. You know better than to question anything that I do.”
Wow. I couldn’t help but wonder if there was some kind of “How To” class that Keepers were required to go to in order to be such crappy parents/guardians, because Stephan reminded me a lot of Marco and Sophia
Speaking of Marco and Sophia, weren’t they supposed to be gracing us with their presence too?
Stephan held out his hand and tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for Alex to surrender the sword over.
“Okay, I’ll give you the sword,” Alex said, and my gut clenched. “But I have one small thing I have to ask you before I do.”
“Make it quick,” Stephan grumbled.
The next thing I knew, Alex’s fist was slamming into Stephan’s face. After that, everything moved by in a blur. Stephan staggered back. Alex yelled for me to run. Suddenly, I found myself running inside the house and out the back door into the forest.
Definitely not the brightest thing I had ever done.
Chapter 35