The Promise

“It’s a pointless sacrifice,” I said, blinded by the blue glow. “No one needs to see what happens 136

in the future. If it hadn’t been for a Foreseer, we wouldn’t even be in this mess.” He rattled the chains tied to one of the bodies. “Oh your father would have found another way.”

“No, he wouldn’t,” I said, my eyes hunting for my mother. “Because he’d never found out about the star to begin with. It was a Foreseer that told him.”

“Hmmm…” Nicholas tapped his lip. “It really does sound kind of pointless. Perhaps one day someone will free all of them and destroy it.”

“So where s your mom?” Laylen asked, staring at the bodies implanted with tubes. He leaned forward, getting a closer look. “It’s hard to tell who they are.” I shrugged, heading to the left of the crystal. “You wa

“What about me?” Nicholas yelled.

“Do whatever the hell you want.” I called over my shoulder. My eyes sca

When we were kids he used to pull crap like this all the time. I’d always hated when he’d visit the Keepers castle. Everything was a joke to him and he’d constantly tease Gemma. There was this one specific time where he almost convinced her to go swimming in the lake. That’s when I lost it and made a plan to get rid of him. Gemma and I had stolen the Cruciatus diamond, the Queen of The Underworld’s diamond, and when my father went looking for it, I’d blamed it on Nicholas. My father was so furious he never let Nicholas back into the castle.

And he had been holding a grudge against me ever since. But it was a mutual feeling.

I was about to give up on my searched and leave, when I thought I spotted her. It was hard to 137

tell for sure because it had been so long since I’d last seen her. Her skin was much paler, her dark hair thin, and her head hung lifelessly. I quickly yanked out the tubes and snapped the chains, supporting her weight as she slumped against me.

Her eyes opened and I knew this time without a second guess that she was my mother.

“Is it time?”

I assumed she was delusional. “I’ll get you out of here. Just hang on.” She clutched onto my arm, her hands bleeding from the tubes. “But it’s time right? Time to take Gemma to the Afterlife?”

I almost dropped her on the floor. “You know about that? How?”

“Of course I know about that,” she said weakly. “That’s what I’ve been waiting for.” Laylen came ru

“Alana,” Nicholas said, nodding his head. “Are you ready to go?” I glared at Nicholas. “How long have you known she was here?”

“Since I died.” He answered with a shrugged.

“Because that’s when you were supposed to know,” my mother said wearily. “Now can we go?”

I balanced my mom and we followed Nicholas. Her feet dragged across the crystal floor, like she was barely alive. Once we got far enough down the hallway, Nicholas took out his little traveling ball.

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He raised his eyebrows. “Do I need to ask where we’re going?”

“You already know,” my mother said. “To Gemma. Take us to Gemma.” I wasn’t sure what she knew, but I wasn’t going to pry until we were far away from faerie boy.

Laylen went through the crystal first. Then my mother took her turn and I followed, wishing that was it.

“Finally,” Nicholas said, dropping into the living room. He put the crystal away and dusted off his hands. “My work is done.”

My mother lowered herself into the couch. “Would anyone mind getting me a drink of water?” I started for the kitchen, but Laylen cut me off. “I got it. You should stay here.”

“Thanks.” I sat down on the couch, cracking my knuckles.

“Alex relax,” she said, patting my hand. “This is how it’s supposed to be.”

“Why were you down there?” I asked.

“Because it s where I was supposed to be,” she explained, cleaning some blood off her arm.

“Waiting for the day you came to find me, so I could take Gemma to the Afterlife.” I hated being out of the loop, but with this I definitely was. “But how did you know that’s what you’re supposed to do? It just doesn’t… it doesn’t make any sense to me.”

“It doesn’t have to make sense to you.” She rested back and her eyes drifted shut. “It just has to happen. It s the way it works, Alex. Everything that s happening is because of the vision.” I ran my hands through my hair and grinded my teeth. “Why does it always come back to the visions?”

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“Because it has to.” She sighed. “Visions are our pathways through life. And there had to be one told where we all ended up here, at this very moment, otherwise we wouldn’t be here.”

“I have no idea what you’re trying to say,” I said. “I mean first we’re told that a vision was tampered with and Gemma needed to fix it. And now you’re saying that a vision led us all here.”

“Because it did,” she said. “There isn’t just one soul vision. If there hadn’t been another one, Gemma would have never changed Julian’s mistake.”

“So what? Some Foreseer just went and found a vision where it would all work out.”

“Kind of.” She yawned and opened her eyes.

I scratched my head. “It still doesn’t really make sense.”

“Not everything does.” She sighed. “Life is very confusing and sometimes things happen that don’t make sense.”

I eyed her over, her cut skin, her worn-out eyes. “Are you a Banshee?”

“I have to be so I could take Gemma to the Afterlife when the time was right,” she said. “I think you’ll agree with me that no Banshee is going to let anyone cross over without collecting something for themselves?”

“But why the City of Crystal?” I asked. “I mean, what the heck did you do to end up down there?”

“I didn’t do anything. I was hiding, I knew your father would never come looking for me there and no Foreseer would see me there. It was my safe place, so I could still be here when the time was right.”

“But how do you know all this?”

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“How does anyone know anything about the future?”

Foreseers. Always Foreseers.

“Okay, so answer this question.” I leaned back against the arm rest. “Why Gemma? Why does it always have to be her?”