The Fallen Star

The fog opened up, creating a hollow tu

ever seen one up close, and I instantly wished I could erase the sight from my mind.

It’s long, bony fingers stuck out from the sleeves of its cloak. The corpse-like skin that covered its hands almost made me gag. Its face looked like it was rotting; the flesh peel-ing away, revealing bits of raw muscles and jagged bones.

I pressed my back against the wall, wanting to get as far away as I could from the hideous thing. I let out a shiver, longing to disappear, wishing to be anywhere else but here.

The Death Walker’s eyes fired up to a bright gold, and it opened its mouth and let out a screech that sounded like a dying animal.

Then it charged.

I screamed as I realized I should’ve never trapped myself in a corner. What had I been thinking? There was no place for me to 393/695

run. I was such a goner. There was nothing I could do but wait for it to kill me.

Trembling with fear, I sank to the floor, catching one last glimpse of those haunting yellow eyes before I closed my own. I hugged my knees to my chest and waited for the cold to suck the life out of me. This was it. This was the end of me.

I wished I’d been able to live a less lonely life.

A loud bang, followed by a shriek, and then something fell, hitting the floor with a heavy thud.

Buzzing filled my head as I cracked open my eyelids. I let out a gasp. Sprawled out on the floor, just in front of my feet, was the Death Walker, either unconscious or dead. I couldn’t tell for sure since it looked dead even when it was alive.

“Gemma, are you okay?”

I raised my chin up and met Alex’s bright green eyes. I nodded. My throat felt as dry as 394/695

the desert air, and I swallowed hard, trying to hydrate it enough so I could form some sort of words. “Yeah.”

Alex hopped over the body of the Death Walker and extended his hand out to me. I took it, catching my breath at the sight of the bluish-purple shade my skin had taken on.

“Don’t panic.” Alex wrapped his hand around mine and pulled me to my feet. His skin was so warm it practically burned against my overly chilled skin. He kept a hold of my hand and began rubbing it in attempt to create friction and bring warmth.

Then he took my other hand, pressed my palms together, and cupped his hands around mine.

“It’ll be okay,” he said and breathed on my hands, deluging my skin with warmth.

“Why does it always happen to my hands?” I asked, my body shaking from the cold that still lingered in the air. Or maybe it was from my nerves.

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“It’s where you lose your circulation first,” Alex explained with another breath.

“The Death Walkers cold works the same way as the normal cold air does. It starts at your fingers and toes, and works its way up.

The only difference is theirs works much quicker.”

“Toes?” I flitted a glance down at my DC’s, frightened at the idea of what was in them. Purple and blue toes? Toes that would need to be amputated? I’d heard about people losing their toes from the cold back in Afton, after they’d gotten lost somewhere while snowmobiling or snowboarding.

I really wanted to keep my toes.

“You’ll be fine,” Alex assured me. “Let’s just get you to the car.” He breathed one last breath on my hands, and then let them go.

Then he yanked out something that was stuck in the Death Walkers back. It was the Sword of Immortality. The jagged blade was 396/695

covered in sticky black goo—the Death Walkers blood, I assumed.

“Where did you get that?” I asked.

“Laylen and Aislin. Their pulling the car around right now so we can get out of here.” He wiped the blade on the cloak of the Death Walker, cleaning off the goo. Then he held out his hand to me. “Come on.” I took his hand, trying to ignore the flutter his touch caused my heart to do. “What about the other Death Walkers?”

“They’re dead.”

I tried my best not to look at the foul creature as I stepped over its body, but I still caught a hint of its rotting face and felt my stomach churn. “You killed all of them?”

“There were only two.” He pulled me toward the door. “And this,” he lifted the sword into the air, “makes killing them easy.” I followed Alex down the hall, my legs shaking the whole time. I think I’d enter some kind of state of shock or something.

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My body felt numb and strange, and the way the world swayed in beautiful bright colors and shapes couldn’t have been normal. To be honest, I barely remember making it to the car. But somehow, a little while later, I was sitting in the back seat of Laylen’s GTO with the warmth of the heater blasting across my skin, and the sound of tires screeching as we peeled away from the Black Dungeon.

Chapter 20

There was something wrong with my head. It wasn’t like anything had physically broken, more like I’d mentally cracked.

Whether it was from the shock of barely escaping my death, or the last few hours finally catching up with me, I didn’t know. But for whatever reason, I couldn’t seem to focus.

Everything kept spi

So there I was, lying down in the back seat of the GTO, with my legs resting on Alex’s lap. It didn’t occur to me until later that lying down in a skirt and putting my feet 399/695

on a guys lap may not have been the greatest of ideas. When I started to grasp a hold of reality again, I realized that, if he really wanted to, Alex could see straight up my skirt. Luckily, he seemed fixated on staring out the window. And really, who was I kidding? There was no way Alex wanted to look up my skirt.

I sighed, tugging down the hem of it.

Alex turned his head and looked down at me. “Oh good, you’re awake.”

“Was I asleep?” I asked. I couldn’t remember drifting off.

His eyes skimmed over my face like he was checking for visible signs of my head being broken. “Are you sure you didn’t bump your head?”

I thought back to when I’d just about been killed. “No…I’m pretty sure there was no head bumping.”

He glanced at Aislin. They both exchanged a look I couldn’t interpret.

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“What?” I asked, starting to sit up.

Whoa. Can you say head rush? I pressed the heel of my hand to my forehead. “Ouch.”

“Gemma, you need to lie back down,” Alex insisted.

I slid my legs off his lap and sat up straight. “What’s going on?” They exchanged another look, and this time I thought I saw a hint of disappointment in Alex’s expression.

“Why do you two keep giving each other weird looks?” My head had stopped spi

“He’s inside.” Aislin pointed out the window at a redbrick building with the words Adessa’s Herbs and Spices printed across the door. “He went in to check things out and make sure everything was okay before we all went inside.”

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“Oh…well, why do you guys keep looking at each other like that?” I asked.

“Like what?” Alex asked so casually I knew he was playing dumb.

I looked back and forth between the two of them. Neither of their expressions gave anything away. But still, I could sense something was up.

“Are you sure you didn’t hit your head?” Alex wondered. “You’re acting kind of fu

Are you feeling okay?”

Hmm…Am I feeling okay? Suddenly, I had an epiphany. “Wait just a second,” I held my hands up in front of me exasperatedly.