it because that’s how she looked. She lay in a bed with her eyes shut. Her veins were a dark purplish-blue against her pale skin. The rise and fall of her chest was the only thing that let me know she was still alive.
“Mom,” I whispered, staring down at her. The prickle traced down my neck, and suddenly the word “mom” didn’t seem so awkward. “Mom,” I said louder, tears soaking my eyes “Mom.”
And then I was falling down on the bed next to her, crying. And I cried until I fell asleep.
When I woke up, dawn was hitting the windows. The ocean’s waves were swishing outside, and the house was silent. My eyes felt puffy and swollen, and I wondered how long I had been crying before I fell asleep. I sat up and rubbed my eyes.
“Gemma.”
Her voice scared the crap out of me, and I fell out of the bed.
“Ow,” I said, rubbing my elbow as I got back to my feet.
My mom was sitting up in the bed, staring at me in alarm. “Are you alright?”
I nodded at her, giving her the same look of alarm. “Are you alright?”
She swallowed hard and then started coughing. “I think I need some water.”
“Okay, I’ll go get you some,” I told her.
I quickly went into the kitchen, took a glass out of the cupboard, and flipped on the faucet. While I was filling up a cup of water, I thought I heard someone move up behind me, and I nearly screamed at the top of my lungs when I turned and came face to face with a very tall, blue-eyed, blond-haired vampire/Keeper.
“Holy crap.” I pressed my hand to my racing heart. “You just about scared me to death.”
“Sorry,” he apologized like it was his fault I was so jumpy. He had on a pair of jeans and a dark red t-shirt, so I was guessing he had been awake for awhile “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“It’s okay…” I glanced around the kitchen. “What are you doing?”
He shrugged, looking so sad it made my heart hurt. “I don’t know…I heard someone get up, so I came to check who it was.”
“Oh.” I shut off the faucet. “I didn’t wake you up, did I?”
He shook his head. “I was already awake.”
“So is my mom,” I told him, excitedly.
“Is she…okay?”
“I don’t know. But I’m going to go find out.” I headed to leave, but stopped at the doorway. “You want to come with me?”
“Wouldn’t you rather go wake up Alex,” Laylen said, still standing over by the sink. “I’m sure he has a ton of questions for her.”
I had a ton of questions for her, but I needed to make sure she was alright before I started bombarding her with them, which was exactly why I wasn’t going to go wake up Alex. “I’d rather you come.”
“Okay.” He nodded and followed me out of the kitchen.
During our thirty second walk to my mom, I asked Laylen how things had been while Alex and I were gone. He told me they had been fine—that everything was fine—but I could tell that they weren’t. He seemed really unfocused. I decided that a little later I would ask Aislin how he had been while we were gone. But first, I needed to check on my mother.
She wasn’t in the bed when we entered the room. She was out on the deck, staring out at the ocean. I carefully approached her, the floorboards creaking underneath my weight, but she didn’t turn around.
I came to a stop beside her and handed her the cup of water. She took a few swallows and set the glass on the railing. I waited for her to say something, but all she did was look out at the ocean with a lost expression on her face.
“Mom,” I said, concerned she might have slipped into a state of shock again.
My mother turned and looked at me. Then her eyes moved to Laylen. “Laylen…is that you?”
He stepped up beside me. “Yeah, it’s me.”
She smiled, but it looked wrong, like she had to work really hard to make the corners of her mouth curve upward. “You’ve grown up so much.” She looked at me, and in the brightness of the rising sun, I could see her eyes held a deep sorrow in them. “And you…” she burst into tears, alarming me. “You’re—You’re still…” she trailed off, thinking about something as tears continued to stream down her cheeks. Then she let out a sigh. “You’re