I’ve been so stupid to just accept that everything’s going to work out in our favor, that we will make it to the lake and do the sacrifice without running into any hitches.
“You’re thinking about doing something you’re not supposed to,” Laylen says, shoveling a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth. “I can tell.”
I drum my fingers on my knee. I hate what I’m deliberating, but I can’t get past that dream.
“I think I need to see a vision.”
He frowns, nearly dropping the bowl. “I thought you weren’t into that anymore?”
“I’m not”—I chew on my thumbnail—“but there’s something I need to see. And I promise I’m not going to change it . . . I just need to see it.”
I need to know if I save him or not. I thought I had, that the deal I made with Helena was going to save Alex, but now I’m worried there might be more to it than what I thought. Besides, I haven’t actually foreseen a different outcome yet than Alex and I dying except for the dream I just had where I was the one who survived.
It doesn’t make any sense.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Laylen asks, extremely nervous.
“I think I have to.” I lie down on the sofa, propping my feet onto his lap. “Just stay here while I go, okay? And keep an eye on me.”
“I’ll always be here for you, Gemma,” he assures me, balancing the bowl on the armrest, “no matter what happens.”
Something in his eyes makes me pause.
“Are you sure Alex is coming back?” I ask, worried he might be lying to me.
He looks me straight in the eye. “I promise he is.” He scratches at his arm, and that’s when I notice . . .
“Your mark’s gone?” I ask, sitting up. “Holy shit, Laylen. Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I was going to tell you,” he says, “but decided to wait, because you looked so stressed out.”
“This is way more important than me being stressed.” I throw my arms around him. “I’m so happy for you.”
His hand finds the small of my back, and he holds me against him. “I feel so different, you know? I mean, I know I’m still a vampire and everything, but I just . . . I feel a little bit more connected to my old self.”
I pull back to look at him. “You’re happy, then?”
“The happiest I’ve been since I got bitten.”
“I’m so glad. You look happier.” I smile. “And this means Aislin can use the spell to remove Stephan’s mark.”
He nods. “Just as soon as she gets the shield spell perfected.”
I feel somewhat better than when I first came downstairs. Maybe this is going to work.
But then I remember my dream and how I still don’t know for sure if the future has changed.
“I’m going to see this vision real quick, and then we’re going to celebrate,” I tell Laylen then lie back down.
Feeling uneasy, I close my eyes and picture the lake with Alex and me standing there as Stephan and the Death Walkers show up. But my head starts to ring, and the image blurs away. I can’t see anything, like I’m being blocked. I start to open my eyes when I’m yanked down into darkness, tumbling into the unknown.
My feet slam against the stone floor, and my hand shoots out, grabbing a banister. It takes me a second to get my bearings and figure out I am in the Keepers’ Castle, standing in front of the winding stairway. Ice glazes the domed ceiling and creeps up the walls. The floor is covered in a layer of snow, and footprints are imprinted everywhere, as if there’s been heavy traffic.
I don’t know why I’m here. Is this is part of the vision I wanted to see? Or did I manage to enter another one?
My head throbs like my skull has been cracked, and I have a hunch that somehow I messed up and went into the wrong vision. Seeing no other way to get out of here, I trample through the snow, searching for whatever I’m supposed to see.
Voices flow from the back of the castle, and I follow the footprints and head toward the noise. When I enter the room, my heart leaps up my throat.
Stephan and the Death Walkers are crammed inside the space, and the temperature is so cold my skin tints blue, making me begin to uncontrollably chatter.