The Queen can’t keep us there—it’s the law that comes with using the Ira—part of the reason the Queen hates it so much. We can show up whenever we want and leave whenever we please. Of course, no one really wants to show up there.”
Law. I remembered Alex mentioning these laws once—about him having to let Nicholas take me to the City of Crystal.
I frowned. “This all sounds kind of difficult.”
“It will be,” he said, not giving me any amount of comfort. “It’ll take a lot of power and control to pull it off, and I have no idea how you’re going to get the Queen to let your mother go.”
Whoa, neither did I. Why hadn’t I thought of this problem before? I guess I would have to talk to Laylen about it and hope he knew a way. “Okay, so to practice for this extremely difficult task we’re going to try and do, we have to do what exactly? Practice going into visions through a regular crystal ball? I thought Dyvinius said going into visions could shift the world or something like that.”
“If we don’t see the vision correctly, it could,” he said. “But we’ll have to make sure we do.”
This entire thing sounded so risky, and I wondered if I was being selfish for taking such a risk to save my mom. It could end up costing the world a lot if I messed up. But my mom might have answers that could save the world from whatever Stephan was planning. So it was kind of a lose-lose situation.
I stared down at the crystal ball, the violet ribbons twisting and turning in the sparkling water. “So what do I do first?”
He tapped his fingers on his lips. “First, I think we should take a break and get something to eat.”
I stared at him, unblinking. “Take a break and get something to eat? We haven’t even done anything yet.”
He considered this with an amused look. “Yes, but I think it’s important that we eat something before we go, so we’re not weak from our hunger.”
I felt like banging my head on the wall. “Tell me what you want to eat, and I’ll go get it.”
“What I want…hmmm.” His golden eyes twinkled. “What I want is to go out with you and eat somewhere.”
“I can’t go anywhere,” I said.
He gave me a curious look. “Why not?”
Well, for starters because I couldn’t leave the house. And not just because I knew Alex would freak out if I did. No. There were way more risks I would be taking if I went out into public then just pissing off Alex. For one thing, after what happened with the vampires last night, I had a feeling that if I ran into any of them, and they recognize me—which let’s face it they would (hello, my eyes are violet)—then I’d be in some serious trouble. I also had to worry about running into a Death Walker or Stephan. And those were not risks I was willing to take just so I could leave the house to get something to east with faerie boy.
“Because I just can’t, okay?” I got to my feet, dusting off the back of my legs. “If you’re really hungry, I can go into the kitchen and get you something.”
“What I want is to go out with you.” His tone was light, but his eyes were determined.
“Look,” I said, losing patience. “I really want to get this done because the longer it takes you to train me, the longer my mom’s stuck in that godforsaken place.”
For a brief second, and I mean a very brief second, I thought I saw the mischievous sparkle leave his eyes, like he actually understood my pain. But it happened so swiftly, I wasn’t even sure it happened.
“Fine.” He leaned back on his elbows, looking at me mischievously again. “We can eat here. Besides its better that we eat here anyway. That way we get more alone time. Just you and me and this quiet, empty room.”
I shook my head and, without saying another word, I left the room to go get him something to eat.
In the kitchen, I found Laylen standing at the counter, chopping onions on a chopping board. When he caught sight of me, he stopped, mid chop. “Wow. You look really annoyed.”
I went over beside him and dropped my head on the counter. “Nicholas is driving me crazy. He just keeps asking questions, and then when we finally get to the part