The Promise

“Dammit.” I ran my fingers through my hair, tugging hard, as Aislin and Emma came rushing in.

“What is this?” Emma asked, panicking, backing for the door. “You said I’d be safe. What is this?”

“Oh my god.” Aislin’s jaw dropped to the floor. “They had to they had to make it out.” I pointed to the ground, at the dead Death Walker. “Yeah, but who killed that?” Before Aislin and I could react, Emma screeched and dashed out the door.

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“Should I go chase her down?” Aislin asked.

I nodded and she spun, sliding across the floor as she raced for the door and ran out into the darkness of the street.

I kicked the apothecary table across the floor and squatted down, examining the Death Walker. It had been stabbed by the one thing that could kill a Death Walker. The Sword of Immortality I could see the cut where the tip of the knife hand entered the chest. But how? My father had it.

“Where are you?” I muttered to the air, like she could hear me. I stood up, inspecting the room for anything that would lead me to her. But everything was blanketed by ice, except for the front window, which was shattered. I walked over, sticking my head out. And there it was, like a secret message. A single purple flower, lying on the sidewalk, whispering: come find me.

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Chapter 24

(Gemma)

“ You know what, I think I kind of like the wings.” Laylen smoothed his hand over the feathers as we sat on Adessa’s velvet sofa, waiting for Alex to come back with his brilliant plan to save me.

“Don’t be weird,” I joked, pulling a face at the wings.

“I’m not being weird.” He gave me a teasing smile and then his eyes widened in mocked shock.

“What if you can fly?”

“I can’t fly,” I said, but then I knitted my eyebrows together, staring at the black feathers. “Can I?”

“You should try it,” he encouraged.

I sighed back against the couch, the wings creating an uncomfortable lump behind my back.

“This sucks. I should be trying to find a way to get into the Afterlife, and instead I’m stuck here.”

“We’ll get it all fixed,” he assured me. “We always do.”

I wasn’t so sure, though. And the Iceland thing was a dead end, for God knows what reason Alex hadn’t gotten around to explaining that one yet.

“I know.” I kicked my boots up on the table, hoping my words were true.

He leaned back, resting his arms behind his head. “I can’t believe they bailed Adessa and her friend.”

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“Why?” I looked at him. “Wouldn’t you run away if you could?”

“Maybe…” He twisted at his lip ring. “Do you think maybe in another life, if we’d been born human, without marks, without all of this, we could have lived normal lives?”

“Maybe.” But even the idea of being normal seemed unreachable.

“Do you think you and I would have been friends?”

I laughed. “I think no matter what you and I will always be friends.”

“What about you and Alex? Do you think you two would have been together, if the star and the promise never existed?”

I traced the scar on my hand, thinking about where it came from, and what it meant. Then I shut my eyes, listening to my heart beat, whispering to its other half. “Yes,” I said and my words surprised him and me both.

He acted kind of uncomfortable, putting his shoes on the table, and then moving to the floor again. “Maybe one day that world will exist.”

Maybe. If I could find a way to save Alex and me, without letting Stephan win. But at the moment, it wasn’t looking very promising.

Suddenly I leapt to my feet and bolted for the door, stepping into the blackness of the night.

Confused, Laylen hurried after me, his boots thudding loudly against the floor.

“What are you doing?” he asked from the stairs.

Checking left and right, I spa

I flapped the giant bundle of feathers, back and forth and back and forth until the air encircled 106

me and lifted me off the ground. I didn’t go very high because I didn’t want to be spotted. But I hovered around for a while. When I planted my feet back on the ground Laylen was gri

“See, not so bad,” he said.

I curled the wings against my back. “I guess not, but it doesn’t mean I want to keep them.” We exchanged smiles, like two children hiding a secret. I plucked a violet flower out of a flower pot hanging by the front door. I spun it between my fingers, thinking of my childhood hideout.

I didn’t know who heard the crackle first. But we dove together, below the window as the sound of ice slithered through the house, chilling even the dessert air.

We breathed heavily, listening to the voices and shrieks breaking the quiet.

“Where are they!” Stephan growled. “They were supposed to be here.” I dared a peek through the frosted window.

He stood beneath the light, scar as noticeable as ever. Death Walkers surrounded him as he cussed them out and swung the Sword of Immorality in the air. He looked panicked, unlike his usual eerily calm self. Maybe this was all finally getting to him. Maybe he was starting to doubt himself.

Then I spotted a girl cowered next to him, mute and numb, her dark curly hair and yellow-eyes branding her a faerie. Aleesa.

Stephan breathed ragged and wild. “You guys failed me.”

“Oh crap,” I muttered. “Aleesa’s in there.”

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Suddenly, for no reason other than he was pissed off, Stephan stabbed a Death Walker in the chest. It let out a cry, yellow eyes glowing with fire before scorching out completely.

Laylen and I exchanged a look. “He s worried we’re going to pull this off,” he whispered.

“We’re getting close.” But then I frowned, remembering that my death was nearing. “Maybe we should help Aleesa.”

The window exploded against our ears and jagged glass landing in my hair.

“Time to go,” I said, grabbing Laylen s hand as Stephan and the Death Walkers swarmed from the door.

But when we turned, there were only more black-cloaked monsters wanting to devour us.

Stephan strode in front of me, his eyes as wicked as ever. “Well, well, well, what do we have here?” His eyes examined me, his gaze lingering on the wings. “Looks like you ran into some trouble.”