I shook my head. “No. Not really….I’m just a little confused still. That’s all.”
“About what?” she asked.
I shrugged. “Everything really.”
She shot Alex a stern look. “Didn’t you explain anything to her?”
“I explained to her that none of us know anything,” he said, aggravated. “Not really. anyway.”
Aislin’s bright green eyes pierced into him as if she were trying to burn a telegraphic message into his mind. Although I didn’t mind Aislin—I mean, for the most part, she’d been nice to me—I knew she was almost as good of a liar as Alex, which put the count up to two people sitting at this table that I couldn’t trust. And Adessa, well I knew nothing about her, and the whole trusting strangers’ thing had never gone that well for me. (Think City of Crystal, where an overly friendly half-faerie lives). The only person I felt I could rely on was Laylen.
I glanced over at Laylen, who was sitting there, with no food in front of him, because…well, because he’s a vampire and he doesn’t eat food. Everyone else was slurping away, and I hoped they didn’t notice when Laylen locked eyes with me. It was as if he was whispering a secret to me with his eyes. Tonight.
Yes. Tonight. I thought back. Tonight, maybe we’ll get some answers.
Chapter 4
The rest of the conversation at the table consisted of a bunch of slurping. This was okay, though, because here in just a short while, Laylen and I were going to be setting out on our endeavor to try and find out about my mom.
After I’d finished eating, I pretended to be tired and told everyone I was heading up to bed to go to sleep. And yeah, I got that saying I was tired sounded a little odd, since I’d just woken up from a two day nap. But I couldn’t sit still, and I was afraid that all my bounciness was going to give away that something was up.
So for the sake of not getting Laylen and I busted before we even got the chance to try, I went up to my room to get some sleep. I never actually intended to fall asleep, but when I laid down on the bed, my eyelids suddenly felt heavy, and before I knew it, I’d dozed off.
It was dark. And I was cold. Water dripped on my head.
Painful Screams filled the air. I shivered as I crept through the darkness, the air feeling damp against my skin.
“Gemma,” a voice whispered.
I knew that voice. It was my mom’s.
“Mom,” I called out, turning in every direction, searching for her.
“Gemma,” her voice sounded so far away and I started to run, my feet hitting the ground with a thud that echoed all around me. “Come find me.”
“I’m trying,” I said, searching through the dark for her.
Just then, a soft light filtered through the darkness, and I saw it. A figure, white and bony, floating in the air like a ghost. I screeched to a halt, a deathly feeling choking me so strongly it nearly sucked the wind out of me.
The white figure glided toward me. I spun around and ran in the opposite direction, my feet hammering against the ground
“Gemma!” My mother’s voice screamed from somewhere behind me.
I kept running, contemplating what I should do. Turn around and face the ghostly figure—try to get to my mother. Or run like a coward.
I skidded to a stop and whirled back around, deciding I needed to try and save her. But I let out a scream at the sight of the hollowed out eyes that were only inches away from my face. The ghostly figure’s bony hand reached for me, and I let out another scream, feeling more afraid then I’d ever felt in my life.
“Gemma, run,” I heard my mother say. But I couldn’t—I was too terrified to move.
This strange feeling passed over me as the ghostly figures fingers moved to my mouth. I felt something being sucked away from inside me…and then I just felt empty.
***
I gasped for air as my eyes shot open, my heart hitting the inside of my chest about a million miles a minute, the fear I’d felt in my dream still rattling at my nerves.
It took my eyes a second to adjust to the blackness that had filled the bedroom, and for my heart to settle back down. God, I hated when I had nightmares like that. I could never be certain if they were actually nightmares. What if what I’d