was—I mean, how many times had Alex lied and betrayed me—it still made my heart hurt a little. “If that’s the case, then why did you give the necklace to me at all?”
He shrugged, his eyes wide with confusion. “I have no idea.”
I shook my head, the electricity nipping at me like invisible gnats that I so wished I could swat away. “Well, that’s nice.”
“Look, Gemma,” he said, his voice very let’s-get-down-to-business. “I know I’ve done some pretty crappy things to you, but can’t we just move past it. The point is, I did hide the necklace from my father. I protected you from getting your mind taken away.”
“Why, though?” I asked suspiciously. “I mean you were so dead set that Stephan was good and that I was completely wrong about him sending my mom into The Underworld. You were so determined that I needed my emotions to be taken away so the star’s power could save the world. So why the sudden change of heart?”
He was quiet for a moment, which sent up a red flag in my mind that he was about to tell me a lie.
“Stephan showing up with the Death Walkers,” he finally said. “There has to be something else going on—something bad if he is working with them.”
I eyed him over warily. “If that’s what you really believe, then why were you acting like you were on Stephan’s side—you just stood there while he hurt me and tried to take everything about me away. You didn’t do anything.”
“I couldn’t do anything. I had to pretend that I was on his side. Besides, I knew as soon as he tried to use the memoria extraho on you, he’d black out.”
“He blacked out?” I said. “Why?”
“Because that’s what the sugilite does,” he explained. “Those who try to use harmful magic on someone who has sugilite on them, automatically get magical harm done on them instead. It’s how sugilite works.”
“What kind of harmful magic gets done on them?” I asked curiously, wondering if there was a possibility that Stephan could perhaps be dead and that my problems would be over.
“That all depends on the kind of magic the person is trying to use. In my father’s case, since he was trying to harm your mind, the sugilite harmed his mind instead, to the point that it made him pass out.”
“So, what happened to him? Stephan, I mean. Did you…kill him?”
He struggled to speak. “Gemma…I-I…I couldn’t…I mean…” He took a deep breath, regaining his composure. “I couldn’t kill my father…when I’m not really sure what’s going on.”
I tried to understand this—understand where he was coming from. Laylen had told me when it came to Alex and his father, Alex was sort of brainwashed. So I think I was more surprised about him letting the sugilite harm him, instead of not being able to…kill him.
“So where is he?” I asked. “Stephan? Where did he end up?”
“The Death Walkers took him with them,” he said with this strange look in his eyes, as if he was trying to figure something out.
They just took him and left. It sounded so…unbelievable, especially since the stupid things had been working so hard to get a hold of me.
“They just up and left? And left you and me behind unharmed?” I asked skeptically.
He nodded. “Yeah, I know, it’s weird.”
Weird was putting it mildly. “So is Stephan…going to return to normal, then?” I asked. “Or is his mind harmed for good.”
A glint of panic flashed in his eyes, and I had my answer before he said it. “No he’ll return to normal eventually.”
“And then come after me again,” I mumbled.
Alex didn’t respond as he got to his feet and made his way over to me. He pulled something out of the pocket of his jeans before sitting down beside me. “Here.” He held out his hand. A silver heart-shaped locket with a small violet stone in the center of it rested in the palm of his hand.
My locket.
I didn’t take it right away, instead I stared at it, wondering if what Alex had just told me held any truth to it or not. Could I trust him?
“You can have it back.” He urged his hand at me.
I still didn’t take the necklace. “I still don’t understand why you took it off of me to begin with?”
He gave me a skeptical look. “You don’t know why?”
“I…How would I?”
He still looked like he had no idea how I didn’t know the answer to my own question. But how