massive ball of light slams into my chest. My muscles immediately stiffen as I lose all control of my limbs and crumple to the floor.
My skull throbs as I lie there helplessly, and all I can think about is the baby inside me. Is it okay? Is it hurt? Can it feel all of this?
Aislin crouches beside me and reaches for my locket. “Guess it’s not working anymore, or maybe my magic is stronger than sugilite now.” She snaps the chain from my neck. “It’s an immobilizing spell, by the way. Sucks not being the one in control, doesn’t it?”
I open my mouth to beg her to stop, to remind her she could be an aunt soon, but no sound comes out. I try to Foresee my way out of here, but the spell secures me to the floor.
“I’m not sure what to do with you.” She rises to her feet and roams around the room, running her fingers along the glass cases. She picks up a figurine of a woman with beautiful wings—a Black Angel—and turns it over in her hand. “You know, I’m supposed to take you to my father—the mark’s begging me to—but I don’t know.” She thrums her finger against her lips. “I’d like to see you suffer a little before I do that.” She glares at the figurine with spite. “Wait a minute. I have an idea.” Excitement glimmers in her eyes as she sets the statue down. “I’ll be right back.” She grins. “Don’t go anywhere.”
With a swish of her hands, she vanishes in a vapor of smoke.
Minutes go by, maybe hours, and still no Aislin. I’m glad, yet at the same time, I’m sick of helplessly lying on the floor, waiting for her to return.
Plus, Adessa has the most annoying faucet that keeps dripping and dripping and dripping. It’s driving me crazy, but it’s nothing compared to my worry over Alex and if he’s okay.
Eventually, my eyelids grow heavy, and I somehow pass out.
“How did we get here?” Alex asks me, glancing around at the field of flowers surrounding us.
I shrug. “I don’t know. I was thinking of you before I closed my eyes. Maybe that’s how.”
“You’re worried,” he states, picking a violet flower from the field, “about me, about Laylen, Aislin.”—he tucks the stem of the flower behind my ear—“the baby.”
I nod. “I just want everyone to be okay.”
“You’re always worrying about everyone else.” His arms circle my waist. “You need to worry about yourself sometimes.”
“I’ll try,” I promise, “but I need to know if you’re hurt . . . if Laylen hurt you.”
He simply smiles then leans in to kiss me, causing my heart to flutter in my chest. When he pulls away, I’m breathless and lightheaded, and I grip on to him to keep from sinking to the ground.
He drops his lips to my ear. “Everything’s going to be okay,” he whispers, “but you need to wake up now.”
My eyelids shoot open right as a thump echoes through the store.
This is it. She’s going to kill me.
All I can do is I cross my fingers that somehow Aislin’s returned to her normal self during the time she’s been gone. I hold my breath as someone walks into the room, but when I see who it is, I breathe in relief.
Adessa’s golden, cat-shaped eyes land on me as she slams to a stop in the doorway. “Gemma? What are you doing here?”
I try to nod, but my head won’t budge.
“Why are you . . . ?” Her eyes sweep the room before she kneels down beside me, inspecting me then yelling, “Liberum!”
The numbness leaves my body, and I jump to my feet, wanting to get as far away from this place as possible. “We have to get out of here. Now.”
“What’s going on?” she asks, rising to her feet.
I give her a quick recap of what’s going on with Aislin, biting my nails the entire time, worried Aislin is going to show up.
“So she’s marked, but she can remove the mark. Interesting.” Adessa considers the situation while pacing the floor. “And you don’t know where she went?”
I shake my head then head for the front door. “But with how pissed off she is, I’m guessing it has something to do with a torture device or a crazy-ass spell that will turn me into a rodent or something equally as gross.”
Adessa captures my sleeve before I make it very far. “I can fix this, take the mark off her.”