so ago I might have, but today I wasn’t. It was like I had this adrenaline pouring through me—this inner strength.
“Fine, come with me then.” He pointed his finger at me. “But I swear to God, Gemma, if anything happens—”
“I know, I know. Run. Hide. Save myself.”
His mouth quirked and an amused smile started to show, but then another shriek filled the air, and we ran into the trees.
Most people wouldn’t run toward a shrieking monster that could quite possibly end up freezing you to your death. And normally we did run. But this was a different situation because Laylen could be in some serious trouble. The further we dipped into the forest without seeing Laylen, the more concerned I became. My gut was telling me something was wrong with Laylen, and that maybe this was a trap. And yes, the thought did cross my mind that Alex might be a part of it.
I almost turned back.
But then another shriek reverberated through the forest, and I thought of Laylen, and how the Death Walker might be trying to hurt him.
Then came the fog. It moved across the forest’s damp ground like a snake, icing everything in its path.
Alex stopped as the fog reached our ankles, staring down at the ground, while holding his knife out in front of him. “Stay by me,” he whispered and I nodded.
The fog gradually seeped through my damp clothes and onto my skin, chilling my body to the shivers. I clenched my jaw tight to keep from chattering.
I’ve had nightmares of being chased by Death Walkers in a forest that have come true. And here I was again, in a forest with Death Walkers, only I wasn’t being chased.
Not yet anyway.
Alex scooted us behind the trunk of a very large oak tree and put a finger to his lips. We stood as still as people in paintings, and that’s when I heard it. A voice. A very familiar voice that I was absolutely sure belonged to a half-faerie, half-Foreseer, who might be working for the dark side.
“I can’t believe this,” Nicholas was saying. “I can’t believe she managed to drag all of us into the present time.”
I looked at Alex, and I knew he was thinking the same thing; that I’d brought Nicholas and the Death Walkers here with us. But if that were so then where had they been hiding.
“Well, it would have been a lot better if she hadn’t dropped us in the middle of the lake,” Nicholas said irritably.
Who the heck was he talking to? Himself?
Alex must have been thinking the same thing, because he took a cautious peek around the tree trunk. When he moved back, he looked completely mystified.
Who is it, I mouthed.
He shook his head and shrugged. Huh, so maybe faerie boy was talking to himself.
“I know, but where are they?” Nicholas asked, and the more he spoke, the more I wondered if he had lost his mind or something.
Another shriek rattled the air and shook at the trees, causing leaves to break off their branches and float to the ground.
“Would you stop doing that!” Nicholas exclaimed.
My eyes widened. Was he talking to the Death Walkers? No, that wasn’t possible…was it?
“Well, stop smelling the blood then!” Nicholas’s voice cut sharply through the forest.
Blood?Blood! Oh, no, please, please, don’t let the blood he’s referring to belong to Laylen.
“He tried to attack me first” Nicholas snapped. “It was self-defense. Besides, you would have frozen him to death anyway.”
There was a pause where all I could hear was my heart thumping erratically.
“So what if he created Laylen,” Nicholas said, annoyed. “Creating another vampire isn’t that hard.”
Vampire. Vampire. Oh my God, they were talking about Laylen.
Without even thinking about what I was doing, I started to move around the tree, but Alex grabbed me by the arm and pulled me into him. He shook his head, and I glared at him, trying to wiggle my way free without making too much noise. He intensified his grip—apparently some of his strength returned to him—and met my gaze, his eye begging me to stop.
It hurt. It actually physically hurt to stay behind that tree and know Laylen was injured, while Nicholas chatted away.
“I’m not messing around,” Nicholas insisted. “I know what has to be done.” Another pause. “I know, but it might be a little difficult to find her. She’s very powerful and getting more powerful by the day. She can do things normal Foreseers can’t.” A shriek, and then, “Fine. Let’s go back to