The Underworld (40 page)

He shook his head. “I’m not calm.” He looked at me

and I could see it in his eyes—the sadness, the pain,

the hurt of being betrayed and lied to. I knew how it

felt, but it was strange to see it in Alex’s eyes

because he rarely showed much of anything, which

now I knew why.

“Are you sure you’re going to be o—” I started to

say, but I was stopped by a set of lips pressing

against mine. A set of warm and sparkling lips.

Way, way in the back of my mind, right where the

rational side of my brain was I had a thought that

maybe it wasn’t such a good idea for the two of us to

be kissing. It had never been made one hundred

percent clear if it was a good thing or a bad thing for

Alex and me to be this close to one another.

But the irrational and emotional side of my brain

took over, and I kissed him back, feeling effervescent

and sparkly. The kiss was so much different from the

other kisses we shared. There was so much more

trust and foreverness to it. And as his hands wrapped

around my back and pul ed me closer to him, I

temporarily forgot about al the problems we had and

would be facing very soon. The key word here is

temporarily. Because moments after the kiss began it

was over as Aislin came running out the front door,

the screen banging closed behind her.

I quickly pul ed away from Alex, but he didn’t seem

to care as much as I did that we had been caught

making out on the front porch. In fact, one of his hands

was stil residing on the base of my back. And I think

Alex was planning on chewing Aislin out for

interrupting us. I could see the annoyance in his

expression. But then Aislin spoke, and al irritation

disappeared from the both of us.

“Laylen’s gone,” she said, her words rushed, her

eyes wide.

“Gone?” Alex’s hand fel from my back.

“What do you mean gone?” I asked, jumping to my

feet. “I thought he was in his room?”

She shook her head. “No, he’s not. And I searched

the house, and I can’t find him anywhere.”

This was bad. Very, very bad. Laylen had been in

such a fragile state already, with the whole first-time

biting thing, and now he has just found out that he was

created on purpose, to help end the world.

“What do we do?” Aislin cried to Alex.

Alex ran his fingers through his hair, thinking. “No

one saw where he went?” he asked, looking at Aislin

and then me.

I shook my head. “Like I said, I thought he was in his

room.”

“And I haven’t seen him since we were on the

deck.” Aislin’s voice trembled. “And Jocelyn said she

hasn’t seen him anywhere, but she’s out back

checking if he’s out there.” Right as she said it, the

screen door swung open, and my mom stepped out,

looking worried and worn out.

“He wasn’t out back,” she said, heading down the

stairs toward us.

“Wel , we have to find him.” I was trying not to panic,

but finding it very difficult. “He—he was already upset

before he found out everything, and now…” What the

hel was this? This massive…hole in my chest. And

the hole seemed to be sucking al the air right out

from me.

“Gemma, calm down,” Alex said, and I realized I

was breathing rather loudly. “We’l find him, but you

need to quit freaking out.”

“Sorry.” I took a deep breath. “So what are we

going to do?”

Alex gave me the strangest look as if something

horrible had just occurred to him, but it vanished from

his face before I got the chance to ask him what it

meant.

“Okay, we need to split up,” Alex said, switching

into I’m In Charge mode. “Aislin, you go check that

way,” he pointed to the left of the main road in front of

us, “and I’l go up the right side, towards where you

and I found him the other night,” I nodded, and he told

my mom, “You go check out to the right side of the

beach and Gemma check the left.”

We al nodded, and headed off to our designated

areas. Before I’d even been able to take two steps,

though, Alex pul ed me back.

“Don’t go too far,” he told me. “After what we were

just told—you need to be extremely careful.”

I nodded. “And so do you.”

He nodded too, gave me this weird look, and

headed off down the sidewalk. I spun around, and ran

up the stairs, feeling the same way I’d felt when I’d

been at the top of the rol ercoaster tracks waiting for it

to fal . But I wasn’t sure if what would be awaiting me

at the bottom was happiness.

The beach was packed with a mob of people, but

I figured that even with the abundance of bodies

roaming around, the odds seemed fairly favorable in

spotting a six-foot-four, blonde hair, blue-tipped bang,

vampire wandering around. But what if he wasn’t just

wandering around? What if he was doing something

he would regret? What if he was drinking blood

again?

I started to walk faster, the sand making my

footsteps heavy as I barreled across the shoreline.

Every once in awhile the cold ocean would rol up and

hit my ankles. I was trying to keep it together, but the

further I went down the sandy beach, the more

concerned I became that I wasn’t going to find him.

I decided that it might be a good idea to ask

someone if they had seen him. So, as a girl around

my age with auburn hair and hazel eyes walked by

me, I stopped her.

“Have you seen a guy that’s about six foot four, with

blond and blue hair and has a lip ring?” I asked her.

She thought about this and then her expression lit

up. “Is he like real y good-looking with bright blue

eyes, and has these symbols tattooed on his arms?”

I nodded. “Do you know where he is?”

She pointed up the beach, towards a group of

rocks that framed the lip of the shore. “Yeah, he went

that way.”

“Thanks,” I said, and I took off, sprinting like a mad

man for the rocks.

By the time I reached the rocks, I was panting for

air. The mobs of people were so far away now that

they looked like dots. There was a smal narrow path

that went between the rocks, and I stepped down it

and the beach disappeared out of sight. I gradual y

made my way down the path, stepping over the sharp

rocks as I braced my hand on the cliff’s wal . A few

times I lost my balance and slipped, and by the time I

made it to the end of the path, the palms of my hands

were covered in cuts.

But the cuts were the least of my problems because

there was no one at the end of the path, and nowhere

else I could go. I tried to listen for voices, but the

sound of the ocean was too loud. Shaking my head, I

started to turn around, wondering why the girl had told

me Laylen had come back here.

“Beautiful day, isn’t it?”

His voice sent me scurrying backwards, and I

scraped my back on one of the rock’s jagged edges.

“Easy, Gemma,” Nicholas said, his hands in the

pockets of his tan cargo shorts. “Why so jumpy?”

I didn’t answer him, my gaze searching desperately

for an alternative way out. But after a few seconds, I

realized I was trapped.

“Where’s Laylen?” I asked him, keeping my back

pressed into the rocks, even though it hurt.

He tapped his finger on his lips, his golden eyes

watching me like a cat watched a mouse. “Haven’t

seen him.”

I opened my mouth about to tel him that I knew

Laylen had come back here—that an auburn-haired

girl back on the beach had told me he had, but the

wicked smile on Nicholas’s face stopped the words

from leaving my mouth.

“It’s amazing what a little faerie charm can get

people to say,” he said, casting a glance back in the

direction of the beach. “Wel , except on you. My charm

never seems to have any effect over you.”

“Charm?” I said snidely. “Is that what you cal it?”

Nicholas pressed his hand to his heart dramatical y.

“Oh Gemma, how your words hurt me.”

I glared at him, and he grinned.

“Wel ,” he said. “As much as I would love to hide out

here with you al day—I mean, think of the endless

possibilities of the things we could do back here, way

out of sight of everyone. But I’m afraid I have a

promise to finish.” He reached for me, and I jumped

back, bumping my head on the serrated wal of the

rocky cliff.

“Careful there.” Then, the next thing I knew, Nicholas

was in front of me, so close I could smel his flowery

scent overlapping the scent of the salty ocean air.

“Don’t worry, I don’t bite,” he whispered, sliding a

finger down my cheek.

I kneed him in the stomach, and he buckled

forward. I seized the opportunity to dodge around him,

but I didn’t make it very far, before Nicholas grabbed

me by the shoulder and threw me to the ground. My

head smacked against a rock, and the world started

to spin like a merry-go-round.

He stood above me, looking relieved, as if a huge

burden was about to be lifted from his shoulders. “It’s

time to go,” he said.

I think my head had started to bleed. Either that or I

was lying in some other kind of warm, sticky liquid. I

stil tried to get up, but my legs weren’t having any part

of it. I tried to use my Foreseer power to take me

away, but al I got in return was a headache.

Nicholas knelt down beside me and placed his

hand on my arm, and there was nothing I could do but

lie there as he retrieved the miniature, ruby-fil ed

Foreseer bal out of his pocket. He held it close to my

face as if to taunt me, and closed his eyes.

Then we were gone.

When I opened my eyes again, Nicholas was

gone. The room I was in was completely empty. And

cold—Wyoming mountain cold.

I was lying on the floor, my face pressed against the

hard floorboards. My head felt like it had been split in

two, my body ached, and there was dried blood in my

hair. I also noticed that my necklace was missing from

around my neck, which sent a surge of panic soaring

through me. The one thing that could protect me from

magical harm and it was gone

I sat up slowly and glanced around the room that

had nothing more than a door on each side of it, and

a single window, which was barred shut. I have been

here once before. This was the place that I had seen

myself, lifeless, curled up on the floor.

This was bad. I thought Nicholas would take me to

the City of Crystal, especial y since he had taken out

the ruby-fil ed crystal bal . But he brought me here

instead. Why, though?

Fearing the answer, I got to my feet, ignoring the

painful head rush I had, and took a few wobbly steps

toward the door. It took me forever to get there, but I

final y made it. Before I could get the door open,

though, it was opening by itself, and I was hit with a

puff of air so cold, it froze my body over in a

heartbeat.

And then I saw him and part of me wished that the

cold air had turned me to ice and kil ed me.

Stephan stood in the doorway, dressed in black,

Death Walker’s towering on each side of him, their

ravenous eyes gleaming yel ow beneath the hood of

their black cloaks. Snow was blowing in from the

outside, and I could see snow was everywhere

outside, just like it had been in the vision I had seen.

“Oh good, you’re awake,” Stephan said, entering

the room as if he owned it.

I stumbled backward, my heart pounding with terror.

“Nicholas said you were out when he left you,”

Stephan said, stil moving toward me.

Thankful y the Death Walkers didn’t enter. But

real y, could I be thankful about that because Stephan

was here and the scar on his cheek had reminded me

of everything my mom had told me.

“Why am-m I-I here,” I stuttered, my whole body

shaking, not only with fear, but from the cold that was

swirling through the room.

Stephan’s dark eyes stared at me, and they held so

much irritation that I wanted to duck under something

and hide.

“You’re here because I had to create out an

alternative plan.” He walked around the room,

glancing at the log wal s, as if he was searching for

something. “Since you and my son ruined my original