Alex stopped dead in his tracks, his expression filling with annoyance. “What the heck is that supposed to mean?”
My back brushed the wall. I was cornered. “It means your promises are worthless. At least the ones you make to me. You promised me you wouldn’t let anything happened to me and look where it got me.”
He raised his eyebrows, a slight mocking expression teasing at his lips as he spread his arms out to the side of him. “It got you here, safe and sound.”
“Safe and sound,” I repeated, glancing around the room where no potential danger was evident. I looked down at my hands, my arms, and, except for the bandage around my leg, everything appeared to be fine. I could still feel as well, my emotions resting somewhere between confusion, anger, and longing. But I blame the last feeling on the sparks.
“Gemma,” Alex said, and I looked up at him. “You’re okay, right?”
I eyed him over warily. I wasn’t sure what to do here. I didn’t trust him at all, despite the fact that I did seem to be alright. “I don’t know…Am I?”
He cocked an eyebrow at me. “I’m asking you?”
“Why? You’re the one who knows what happened to me.” I crossed my arms. “I mean, what’s going on here? Am I supposed to feel? And where’s Stephan? Outside the door waiting for you to come check on me and see if the memoria extracta—or whatever that stupid memory erasing rock is called—has wiped out my mind.” My anger simmered hotter as the painful memories of what had happened to me resurfaced.
“Memoria extraho,” Alex said.
I gaped at him. “What?”
“The memory erasing rock is called a memoria extraho,” he said.
I glared at him. “That’s not important right now. All I need to know is what the heck is going on.”
He hesitated, running his fingers through his dark brown hair, probably trying to conjure up some lie to tell me. I couldn’t take this. I couldn’t take anymore lies. I needed to get out of here and away from him, even though the electricity was telling me to do otherwise.
I darted to the side, starting to swing around him.
“Gemma,” Alex warned, matching my move with cat-like reflexes. He blocked my escape. “Just listen to me for a second. If you’ll settle down, I’ll explain what’s going on.”
I let out this unnaturally high pitched laugh. “Will you?” I asked. “Because you never have before. Not fully, anyway.”
“Gemma,” he started, but I was already hopping up onto the bed, overlooking the pain igniting in my leg as I dodged around him, and headed for the door.
He stuck his arm out, attempting to catch me in mid-air as I leapt off of the bed, but he missed me by a sliver of an inch, and I was able to escape out of the room.
I wasn’t exactly sure where I was planning on going, or what would be waiting for me down at the bottom of the stairs, but I knew I had to get away. Run. Find Laylen or someone else who would tell me what was going on.
My bare feet hammered against the stairs as I charged down them. There was a door just at the bottom, and the sunlight spilled through a small window at the top of it. If I could just make it outside, then I could run away to…Well, I really hadn’t gotten that far in my escape plan. All I knew was that I was going to run away from this madness. I was sick of the lies and the secrets. I was sick of monsters and people trying to harm me.
I reached the bottom of the stairs, my hand extended out to the doorknob. Just a few steps and I’d be overtaken with the warm Vegas air and sunshine.
“Gemma,” a voice said from beside of me.
I jumped, my heart racing. For a split second I thought I was dead. That the person who’d said my name would be Stephan.
But, thankfully, it wasn’t.
“What the heck?” Laylen said breathlessly, his hand pressed over his heart. “You scared the heck out of me.”
“You scared the heck out of me,” I told him, equally as breathless.
His bright blue eyes stared at me in astonishment, almost as if he couldn’t quite believe I was standing here.
Trust me, I felt the very same way.
For a moment, I just stood there, taking in the sight of him. His blonde hair, the tips dyed a bright blue. The dark red