with a shrug. “You two are linked together so wholly you’re practically one person.” His expression hardens as if he just realized the truth of his own words. “The witch might have stolen some of your life, but you’ll be fine.” He shrugs again, like there you go.
“What about . . . ?” I trail off, looking down at my stomach.
He plays dumb. “What about what?”
I sigh, already getting a headache. “You know what.”
He taps his finger against his lips, shaking his head. “I do?”
I press my fingers to the brim of my nose, knowing it’s a lost cause. “So, what happens if one of us actually dies?” I change the subject, hoping Aislin returns soon so we can figure out what’s going on inside me, and so maybe, just maybe I can relax. “And I mean, really dies, like forever.”
“You won’t.” He rests back on his hands, his gaze fastened on the boarded window. “You both have to go down together; otherwise, you’ll come right back to life.”
Hope rises in me that maybe there’s a chance Alex and I can make it out of this alive.
“Don’t get too excited. You’re both going to die soon. Remember the lake?” he says, being his typical killjoy self.
I scowl at him. “Does Alex know about this death thing?”
Nicholas gives a nonchalant shrug. “Who the fuck knows what kind of stuff he’s got locked away inside that messed up mind of his? Just think of all the lies he’s told you.”
“You calling Alex a liar is like the pot calling the kettle black.”
He smirks. “I guess it kind of is.”
Normally, I’d be upset with him, but I just found out Alex is alive. I was worried something might have happened to him, but if what Nicholas is saying is true, he has to be alive since I am.
Then another thought cross my mind, and my elation plummets. If we’re alive, then Stephan can open the portal. It’s only through our deaths that the world can be saved.
So, why do my nightmares contradict all of this? Why do I keep dreaming of my funeral that Alex attends while he’s alive?
I get out of bed and head for the door.
“Where are you going?” Nicholas calls out after me.
Ignoring him, I go downstairs to the kitchen to find Laylen.
“I’m going to be okay,” I announce, startling him from his endeavor at making grilled cheese sandwiches.
His gaze drops to my stomach. “You mean, you’re not . . .” He trails off, shifting uncomfortably then focusing on flipping over the sandwiches on the griddle.
I hate that this has created awkwardness between us. I don’t even completely understand why it’s happening. Or maybe, deep down, I do get it. Perhaps part of me has always wondered if I should be with Laylen. Perhaps it’s the same way for him, and now he knows the answer.
“No, it’s not that. I still don’t know what’s going on with me and . . . that . . .” I place my hand on my stomach. “I just know that everything is going to be fine with the whole witch-taking-my-life thing. I’m not going to die yet. I can’t.”
He turns to me with a furrow in his brows and the spatula in his hand. “What? Huh?”
I sigh and open my mouth to explain to him what Nicholas just told me, but I’m cut off when Aislin materializes in the middle of the kitchen. She has a brown paper bag in her hand, and her eyes are wide, as if she just escaped something horrifying.
“Are you okay?” Laylen asks her worriedly.
She nods, setting the bag down on the table. “It’s just crazy out there.” She slips off her jacket and drapes it over the back of the chair before taking a deep whiff of the air. “Wait, are you cooking?”
Laylen glances at the sandwiches on the griddle. “Attempting to.”
“Yummy.” She wags a finger sternly at me. “I thought I told you to lie down and rest.”
“I was,” I tell her, “but I just learned something that might help everything relax a little.”
She lowers into a chair, her face twisted in confusion. “Okay . . . ? What is it?”
I explain to them everything Nicholas told me while I was upstairs. By the time I’m finished, Laylen has finished cooking, and we’re diving into out grilled cheese sandwiches
“So, Alex is okay, then?” Aislin asks, looking more relaxed than she has for the last couple of weeks.