knew what it was.
“I see light,” I told him, my voice soft. “It’s everywhere.”
“Are you sure that’s all you see?” He whispered in my ear.
This time I didn’t flinch away. “Yes.”
“Well, then.”
“Well then what?”
There was a pause. “Then I guess that means your future’s dead.”
Dead. Dead. Before I could dig into the details of why he had said this—or if he meant that I would be dead soon—I felt his hand touch my arm.
“Let’s go back,” he said. “I have some business to take care of with Alex.”
Which was exactly what this was all about—taking care of business. But Nicholas was never supposed to show up in my vision. And I was never supposed to go into a vision so…heavy and severe. I was supposed to keep it simple. But if what Nicholas said was true, then I fail miserably.
For now, though, as hard as it was going to be, I was going to have to push this vision out of my mind so I could take Nicholas and myself back to Adessa’s.
So I did, shutting my eyes so tightly; wishing I could forget what I had seen—or what I didn’t see maybe I should say—but also wanting to keep the peaceful feeling with me.
“Alright,” I said. “Let’s go back.”
When I reopened my eyes, there was no bright light, the only light was coming from the chandelier on the ceiling. Dark blue walls surround me, and black and white checkerboard tile made up the floor beneath my feet. I was sitting in the velvet purple sofa with Alex on one side of me, and Laylen on the other. The crystal ball was no longer in my sight because Nicholas was standing in front of me, blocking it from my view.
His sandy blonde hair swept over his forehead, his golden eyes were locked on me, and his hand still rested on my arm. The navy blue t-shirt he was wearing made the Foreseers mark on his wrist visible.
“What the—” Alex shouted, leaping to his feet as he took in the sight of Nicholas and I. He swatted Nicholas’s hand off of my arm. “Why did you…How…”
“He showed up in the vision,” I explained quickly. “Instead of here.”
“But that’s not allowed,” Alex said, his bright green eyes burning with rage. “Foreseers are not allowed to go into another Foreseers vision without permission.”
“Maybe I did have permission,” Nicholas said with a sly smile. “How do you know for sure that I didn’t?” He looked at me, and I could feel trouble boiling. “Besides, I think it was a good thing I showed up there, so I could explain to Gemma what she was seeing.”
Alex gave me a so-what’s-going-on look, in which I responded with an eye roll and a don’t-worry-about-it shake of my head. I didn’t think this was the appropriate time to bring up that Nicholas had just told me my future was dead. Besides just because he said it, didn’t mean it was true.
“So is there a reason why you let her use the crystal ball again,” Nicholas asked, dropping down on the sofa across from us and kicking his feet up on the apothecary table. “Or did she just decide to do it all on her own and let you suffer for it.” He paused, his golden eyes glinting wickedly. “Personally, I’d love to think it was the latter.”
“Well, it wasn’t the latter,” Alex said, irritated. “It was for a good reason.”
“And what reason would that be?” Nicholas asked with a sparkle of amusement in his eyes.
Alex hesitated and sat back down on the sofa beside me. “The reason she did it is because I needed to talk to you about…about a way to get into…The Underworld by using the Ira crystal ball.”
I looked at Nicholas, but his expression was blank, giving me no idea what he was thinking
“You think an Ira will take you to The Underworld.” He let out a laugh. “I’ve never heard of a more ridiculous thing.”
“I know it can be done.” Alex’s face reddened with anger. “So cough it up—where can we get one.”
Nicholas pressed his lips together, holding back a grin. “Like I said, I have no idea what you’re talking about—I’ve never heard of such a thing before.”
Laylen and Alex exchanged this strange look that I couldn’t interpret. Then they both jumped to their feet and charged at Nicholas, Laylen taking out the apothecary table with him. They each grabbed one of Nicholas’s arms, tipping over the sofa as they dragged him over