eyes; my heart rate began to slow, and my nervousness and fear floated away. I felt a delicate spark, and then I felt myself being yanked.
I thought I’d done it. I thought I’d managed to get us out of there unharmed, but a set of sub-zero fingers seized hold of my arm, thrusting a crackle of cold through my body. I screamed, suspended somewhere between being in the City of Crystal and traveling back to Adessa’s. My limbs acted as a tug-a-war rope, the Death Walker pulling me one way, and my Foreseer ability trying to pull me the other. I wasn’t even sure if I was still holding onto Laylen and Alex—my body was too numb from the cold to feel anything.
I let out another scream as the Death Walker jerked me toward it, and I could see its glowing-yellow eyes only inches away from me.
“No!” I yelled. “No!” It was not going to end up this way. I would get us out of here. I forced myself to breath...relax…focus. I tried to ignore the monster that had a hold of me and mentally pictured Adessa’s living room. There was a loud snap, and then a burst of images flipped through my mind…the Wyoming mountains…Adessa’s…desert…snow…lake.
And then…nothing.
Chapter 21
The next thing I knew I was laying face first on the ground, my body sore from head-to-toe. I wondered if that snap I’d heard was my bones breaking from the Death Walker’s death-grip pull. But as I pushed myself up, all my limbs seemed to be intact. The only thing wrong with me was that my arm was tinged a purplish-blue from where the Death Walker had grabbed me.
I knew right away I wasn’t in the City of Crystal. It was too warm for Death Walkers to be nearby. So that was good, I guess. But I couldn’t see my surroundings. Everything was all hazy, just like back when I first started going into visions and the peoples’ faces would be blurred over. But this wasn’t faces; it was everything. I had no clue where I was. Somewhere bright…and by the greenish shade the haze held, I wondered if I could be outside. I could also make out the faintest orange glow up above me that had to belong to the sun.
But why couldn’t I see anything? And where were Alex and Laylen?
I shook my head and blinked my eyes, as if that might help. But it didn’t.
“Hello,” I shouted, starting to move through the haziness, feeling a little bit dizzy and queasy. “Alex! Laylen!”
Nothing.
“Dammit,” I cursed. What was happening to me? First I’d gotten stuck in a vision, and now I was, what? Stuck in between one?
I kept walking, trying to stay calm, but it was hard to do because I couldn’t tell where I was. In fact, everything was so out of whack, including my senses, that for all I knew I could have been flying.
I called out a few more times, but each time I got no response.
“Okay,” I told myself, “calm down and focus.” I took a deep breath and tried to focus on my surroundings. I let me eyes relax and tried not to think of anything else. Gradually, bit by bit, things started to shift into focus…the trees around me…the sky above me…the lake below me.
The lake!
A spilt second later I was submerged in the cold water. I kicked and paddled, trying to tear my way back to the surface, but not knowing how to swim was making it difficult. Water was seeping into my mouth. My oxygen was diminishing.
I was going to drown.
And then something remarkable occurred. I felt someone fold their arms around me and before I knew it I was breaking through the surface of the water. The sunlight, trees, and sky had never looked so lovely in my entire life. Along with Laylen’s bright blue eyes, which were watching me, as he kept us both afloat.
“One of these days,” he said breathlessly. “I’m going to have to teach you how to swim.”
I didn’t say anything because I was too busy hacking my guts out.
Laylen swam us to shore, and we both collapsed onto the muddy grass, where we laid on our backs and stared up at the bright blue sky, the sunlight stinging at my eyes. After I finished catching my breath, I rolled over and looked at the Keepers grey stone castle soaring off in the distance. My gaze wandered over to Laylen, lying there on the ground, his damp hair