The Fallen Star

He glanced up at me, and then returned his gaze back to whatever was in his hand.

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“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 sliver 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, but it didn’t matter. I already knew the extent of what the Keepers would do to keep the stars power thriving.

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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.” 647/695

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 to you 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’d never known—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’d once had a good life, with a loving mother, free to do and feel as I pleased.

“So…” I began after I’d 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.

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“Okay…” I said, sounding as confused as he did. “Do I get to keep it?” He eyed me over. Then he took hold of 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 I’d ever heard come out of my mouth.

“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. Yes, I was excited about the necklace, but sad at the same time, because I knew at any given moment, my re-collection of it, along with everything else, would be gone forever. And that stole away all of my wittiness.

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“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 made a move 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. “That last time I thought things between you and me were headed to Normalville, you were playing me for a fool, 650/695

so you could try to find out if I knew why my emotions had suddenly 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 exagger-ated look of shock. “Holy crap. I think the world just stop spi

I stared down 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’d started to unfasten the clamp when it hit me. What if there was something wrong with the necklace. What if it wasn’t my necklace at all, but some kind of soul detaching device that Alex was trying to trick me into putting on? What if when I put it on, my soul would be gone? I stopped 651/695

fumbling with the clamp. “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’m not sure if you’ve caught onto this yet, but I am not a jewelry wearing kind of girl. Putting a necklace on was like 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 652/695

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’s,” he said. “Each groups mark always looks the same.” 653/695

“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 stars 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. Not only was my mother’s death a big giant question mark, but now I come to find out no one knows 654/695

who my father is. 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.