The Underworld (19 page)

“The point.” He twisted his lip ring from side to side

as he contemplated this. “Who knows what the point

is. This is Stephan we’re talking about.”

I thought about the vision, and Demetrius and

Stephan’s conversation. “Who’s Malefiscus?”

Laylen’s jaw just about hit the floor. “Where did you

hear that name?”

“In the vision,” I said. The horrified look on Laylen’s

face caused goose bumps to sprout on my skin even

though it was nowhere near cold. “Demetrius and

Stephan were talking and they—”

“Wait a minute.” Laylen cut me off. “
They
were

there—both of them were there.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I was in Vegas, only it didn’t look

like Vegas anymore. There was ice covering

everything and there was no one in sight. Wel , no one

except a few Death Walkers and Stephan and

Demetrius. They were talking to each other and

Demetrius said something about Stephan’s scar

once being the Mark of Malefiscus, but his parents cut

it off when…” The look on Laylen’s face made me trail

off. “What’s wrong?”

Laylen looked utterly shocked. “So what you’re

saying is that the scar on Stephan’s face used to be

the Mark of Malefiscus?”

“Yeah, but what’s the mark for?” I asked. “I mean,

who gets it?”

The fear in Laylen’s eyes had me worried. Wel ,

more worried than I already was after seeing the

world frozen at its end. “It’s the mark of evil.”

Why did that revelation not surprise me? “So

Stephan has the mark of evil. No wonder he’s

probably trying to make the world end.”

Laylen shook his head. “No, Gemma. The Mark of

Malefiscus isn’t just the mark of evil. It stands for so

much more. Malefiscus is also a man.” He shifted

uncomfortably on the bed, and then leaned in so we

were huddled together and dropped his voice.

“There’s this story that’s told among the Keepers, kind

of like a bedtime story.”

“A bedtime story,” I repeated, dumbfounded. “The

Keepers tel bedtime stories about a man who’s evil?”

“An evil man the Keepers destroyed,” he explained.

“But anyway, the story goes that Altamium, the very

first Keeper to ever be born, fathered two sons—twin

sons, Hektor and Nikon. Apparently right before they

were born, a Foreseer told a vision about these sons.

He said that one of the sons would grow up to be a

great warrior, and the other would grow up to be

jealous of the other one. And that jealousy would

become so great that it would turn into hatred.

Eventual y, that hatred would bare a mark no one had

ever seen before. The mark of evil. Or the Mark of

Malefiscus as Nikon would later name it after he

changed his name to Malefiscus, which means evil in

Latin.”

“So the vision came true?”

“Yes, the vision came true.” Laylen took a deep

breath, loud enough that I could hear the shakiness it

held. “And if what you saw is true, then it means

Stephan bares the Mark of Malefiscus, which isn’t

good at al .”

“Yeah, that is bad, but I think we already knew he

was evil without the mark, didn’t we?”

“No, it’s a lot worse than him just being evil.” Laylen

leaned in even closer to me, his weight sinking the

bed in, causing Laylen’s leg to bump into mine. “After

Nikon—or Malefiscus got the mark, he began causing

havoc al over the place. He joined forces with the

Death Walkers, who up until then had been living in

hiding for hundreds and hundreds of years.” Laylen

shook his head. “And things continued to get worse.

The number of Death Walkers seemed to be

multiplying and taking to the streets. It would have

probably ended up being the ice age al over again if

it wasn’t for Hektor.”

“Malefiscus’s brother?” I asked, checking to make

sure that I was keeping up.

Laylen nodded. “Hektor eventual y defeated

Malefiscus, but couldn’t bring himself to kil him so the

Keepers sentenced him to a place…I’m not real y

sure where it was. In fact, I think no one knows, which

was part of the point…so no one can find him and set

him free again.”

“
Can’t
find him? But what would it matter if anyone

found him—he’d be dead by now, right?”

Laylen leaned in more, his knee pressing against

mine. “Right before Malefiscus was sentenced, he

found a way to become immortal, at least that’s what

people say.”

“How did he make himself immortal?” I asked, ful y

involved in his story.

Laylen slowly shook his head. “As far as anyone

knows, becoming immortal isn’t possible unless

someone becomes like a Black Angel or a Death

Walker or a…vampire.”

I glanced down at Laylen’s forearm where the black

symbols of his mark of immortality were tattooed. “Did

he actual get the mark of immortality?”

“I don’t know…I’m not sure if my parents left out

parts of the story to sugar-coat it for me, or if there are

parts that even they didn’t know about.” A look of

deep thought passed over Laylen’s face.

“Wel , if Stephan has the same mark as Malefiscus,

then what does that mean?”

“It means Stephan has to be a descendant of him,

at least he most likely has to be. There are very rare

cases where someone gets a mark without being a

descendant from someone with the same mark” He

paused, glancing down at the mark on his arm. “Wel ,

except for the mark of immortality that is.”

We sat there in silence, and I wondered if he was

thinking about his mark of immortality. I was thinking

about a mil ion different things that ranged from my

end-of-the-world vision, to the Mark of Malefiscus, to

my Foreseers mark and how I didn’t seem to be a

descendant of a Foreseer. Wel , at least that I knew

of. Since I didn’t know who my father was, it was stil

possible that I might be.

“So Stephan could be a descendant from the most

evil man that has ever walked the earth?” I asked with

a shiver.

“If he is,” Laylen said, the heaviness of the situation

ringing in his voice. “That would explain why he is

control ing the Death Walkers. Those who have the

Mark of Malefiscus have control over them. And…”

“And what?” I pressed.

“And it would give him a reason to open the portal.”

Laylen’s eyes pressed the gravity of the situation.

“And why he’d want to try to end the world,” Laylen

added. “It’s in his blood.”

Silence dripped by. The house was quiet and I

wondered what Aislin and Adessa and Nicholas were

doing, and in a way, I wished I were them and didn’t

know about al of this.

“Do you think my mom knows Stephan had the

mark?” I asked quietly.

“I think your mom may know even more than that.”

Laylen’s bright blue eyes never left me.

Something else was bothering me. “Laylen, do you

think it’s possible that Stephan… that he…,” I let out a

breath. “That Stephan wants to use the stars power

for something bad. That maybe that’s why he’s been

keeping me around al this time...Do you think he

might be using it to open the portal.”

Something about the way Laylen was looking at me

made my heart stop.

“I don’t know…” He said quickly looking away from

me.

“Laylen, please just tel me if you know something” I

begged. “You always tel me stuff. Don’t be like Alex.”

He turned his head back toward me. “The thought

has crossed my mind that maybe…that maybe that’s

exactly
what he’s doing.”

I felt like I’d been kicked in the stomach. Even

though I had thought it myself, it was a lot harder to

deal with hearing him say it aloud. That I could be

carrying something around inside me that could end

the world. That my very existence could be bad. “How

long have you thought this?”

“Since Aislin and I showed up at the Hartfield cabin

back in Colorado—when Stephan showed up with the

Death Walkers, but yet he didn’t try to kil you. He

wants you alive for some reason. And that reason I’m

sure isn’t a good one.”

I nodded.
Keep it together. Keep it together
.

“Okay…Okay.” I was trying very hard not to fal apart.

But, at the same time, how could I not fal apart?

“Are you okay?” Laylen asked, concerned.

I had to force myself to speak and was startled by

the hol ow tone my voice had taken on—something I

hadn’t heard it do in awhile. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

He looked like he wanted to say more, but I

decided to stop him, because honestly, I didn’t want

to talk about how I was feeling at the moment. Or

about the fact that the prickle was poking at the back

of my neck releasing an abundance of worry and

panic at a level I had never felt before.

“I think I better get back to Nicholas and my

training.” I stood up from the bed.

“Gemma.” Laylen got to his feet. “Are you sure

you’re okay?”

“Yeah.” My voice sounded numb. “I just need to get

back, if for nothing else, so I can get into The

Underworld to save my mom. Then maybe we’l get

actual answers, instead of just a bunch of guesses.”

“Okay…” Laylen watched me as if I were a scared

mental patient who was about to go off the deep end,

and I left the room with a giant lump swel ing in my

throat.

Nicholas was turning out not to be so bad to be

around. Let me stress the not
so
bad part, because

he stil got under my skin more times than he didn’t.

This could have been because, after what Laylen had

said to me about him thinking that I just might be

carrying around something that would end the world

that I real y just didn’t care anymore how Nicholas

was. I mean, why waste time getting worked up over a

guy who was a little bit friendly. Okay, wel a lot

friendly, but at least he was friendly. And yeah, he did

smel strongly of flowers and rain and forest, which

was kind of a strange smel to be coming off of a guy,

but he was a faerie, and these little things seemed

like they might just be faerie traits, and something he

probably couldn’t help.

At least that’s what I was tel ing myself.

It’d been two days of excruciating training, fal ing

into visions, blinking out of visions. Fortunately, I

hadn’t dropped down into anything world-ending,

because I real y didn’t want to see that again. In fact, I

hadn’t dropped into anything important at al , which

was okay with me.

I needed a break from seeing things I didn’t want to

see, like the world frozen over by ice, my soul getting

removed, and me curled up in a little bal with my eyes

looking very empty.

It was too much.

After my crazy little episode I had during the world-

ending vision, Nicholas had decided to take control

over where we went for now, and al these places had

ended up being fairly dul places so far. What

Nicholas didn’t know—but desperately wanted to

know—was what I had seen when I dropped into the

end-of-the-world vision. He pressed me to tel him for

over an hour before final y giving up.

And now here Nicholas and I were sitting on the

black and white tile floor of Adessa living room, with

the shimmering, violet ribbon floating, crystal bal

balanced between us.

“So where’s the next place we’re going?” I asked

Nicholas.

He was wearing a bright green shirt, and a pair of

dark blue jeans. Each night, after everyone went to

bed, he’d leave, and when he would return in the

morning he would be al cleaned up and ready to go.

“Hmmm….” He tapped his finger on his lips, which

he almost always did when I asked him a question.

“That’s a good question.”

“And it’s a question only you can answer,” I pointed

out, crossing my legs.

“Maybe…or maybe not,” he wavered. “I think maybe

it is time for you to try and pick the place again.”

I shuddered as I remembered the end-of-the-world

vision I had thrown us into the last time I’d tried to

control going into one on my own.

Nicholas must have sensed something was wrong

with me because he said, “If you don’t practice going

into and out of visions on your own then you’re going

to be no use when it comes to trying to go into The