to change it,” I say. “Like she changed her vision, I’ll change her future by taking her place.”
Laylen throws his hands up in the air and walks out of the room, muttering, “This one-sided conversation is too much. It’s giving me a fucking headache.”
“It’ll never work,” Nicholas says. “You can’t change the future. You’re not a Foreseer.”
“It sounds pretty possible to me. I go to the Afterlife; therefore, I change her future.”
“You’re still not getting it. You can’t just change how it’s supposed to be. That’s what you mere humans don’t get. Us Foreseers understand everything happens for a reason, even mistakes as great as Gemma’s father committed. We are who we are. There’s no changing it. It has to be Gemma. She is the one born with the Foreseer gift, the one destined to change the vision. And she’s the one who has to make the bargain with Helena because she’s responsible for the lost souls. Any other way won’t work.”
“But she didn’t trap the souls on purpose,” I say. “She was only fixing her father’s mistakes.”
He shrugs half-heartedly. “Doesn’t matter. This—all of this—was what she was destined to do since the day she was born.”
“And what about my mother?” I snap, seething mad. Not at him, but at destiny. At my father for making all this happen. At myself, because no matter what I do, I can’t seem to make anything right. “What does she have to do with this? Because I’m guessing she has some role to play in this stupid fucking destiny game.”
“You can ask her yourself.” He retrieves a miniature crystal ball from his pocket. “In the City of Crystal.”
“What’s going on?” Laylen asks, sticking his head into the room.
I shake my head. “This is such bullshit. None of this is fair. Gemma . . . She’s already been through enough.”
“We all have to endure difficulty in our life,” Nicholas says, “some more than others.”
GEMMA
“Stop picking at your feathers,” Aislin scolds while mixing a bowl of green goo and leaves.
“But they itch like crazy,” I whine, continuing to scratch my wings and causing more to fall to my bedroom floor.
After we left The Evil Side, we transported to my house. Since Laylen and Alex aren’t back yet from their search for his mother, Aislin jumped straight into witch mode, mixing potions, while I sit on the floor, itching at the feathers and staring at the rainbow candle, trying to figure out if it’s worth lighting, if I love Alex.
I touch the back of my neck, willing the prickle to tell me, but then quickly panic, realizing without the use of the candle, my power might die with the revelation and take me along with it.
“You’re molting,” Aislin observes while smashing the wooden spoon against the goo in the bowl.
I glare at her. “I’m not a bird.”
“I know,” she says, tucking her feet under her butt as she sets the bowl down on the carpet. “But you do have wings.”
I pluck another feather from my left wing and flick it to the floor. “How long is that going to take to make?”
She peers into the bowl. “Not too much longer, but I still have to steal a witch’s power, and that might take a little bit of time.”
I motion at the boarded window. “There’s a ton out there. Just take the power from that creepy one that was hanging outside by the mailbox.”
“We can’t steal the power from one nearby. When I take their power, whoever they are, they’re going to try to kill me, so it needs to be someone who has no clue where I’m going to go.”
“Have anyone in mind?” I massage the tip of my wings as they start to cramp. “Because it kind of sounds like you do.”
“Yeah, I have an idea.” She stares down at the palm of her hand.
“Is this some kind of revenge plot or something?” I kneel up, wiggling my wings, trying to shake the cramps out of them.
She shakes her head. “Why would I ever do that?” she says.
I aim a finger at her. “This is a revenge plot.”
“She branded me, barring me from the witch world,” she gripes. “She deserves it.”
“Fine, have your revenge, but just be careful.” I lie down on the floor on my side. “I should go with you. It’s too dangerous to go alone.”
“You draw a lot of attention. Plus, you need to rest, take a shower, and eat something. Take care of that little one growing inside you.”