door to the room. But right as I went to pull the door open, it swung open on its own, and someone grabbed me by the arm and yanked me inside.
I opened my mouth to scream, but another hand came down over my mouth, and all I could do was think, great. Now what?
Chapter 3
“Gemma,” a voice whispered in my ear.
I frantically tried to wriggle my way free from whoever had a hold of me. My heart pounded inside my chest as thoughts of who it could be blasted through my mind. Stephan? A Death Walker? Some other kind of monster?
Whoever it was had ice-cold skin, so I was leaning toward a Death Walker or another kind of similar monster.
“Jesus Christ, Gemma. Calm down.”
This time my brain registered who the voice belonged to and, feeling kind of stupid, I stopped my pathetic fight to get away. Laylen let go of me, and I let my breathing slow down to a normal pace.
“What are you doing?” I asked, breathing heavily. “You scared the heck out of me.” Again.
“Shhh…” Laylen put his finger up to his deep red lips, glanced around the room, and then shut the door. “Keep your voice down.”
“Why?” My voice came out way too loud so I lowered it. “Sorry. But why do I have to keep my voice down?”
He glanced around the room again, seeming nervous, and then locked the door. “So what do you think about what Alex told you?”
Hmm…so had I been wrong about Laylen trusting Alex? “I don’t know…What do you think about it?”
He tilted his head from side to side, wavering. “I’m not sure…it just seems a little too…”
“Simple,” I finished for him.
He nodded. “Exactly. Aislin and I show up there and Stephan and the Death Walkers are conveniently gone. It just doesn’t make any sense.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought too.” I paused, considering what it could mean. But in my typical confused style, I felt as lost as ever. “So what do you think really happened?”
He shrugged. “I have no idea. But I know the chance of the Death Walkers just leaving when they know you have the star’s energy in you, is slim to none. And I think it’s really suspicious that Stephan just passed out like that.”
“Well, Alex told me that Stephan passed out because of this.” I lifted up my locket, the purple stone reflecting sharply in the lighting of the room. “That this little stone is sugilite and that because I was wearing it, and Stephan tried to use harmful magic on me, it made him black out.”
Laylen took the locket in his hand, rubbing the purple stone with his thumb. The necklace was still attached to my neck, so I had to crank my head forward, putting my neck in an awkward position.
“That’s interesting….” he murmured and let the locket go, releasing my neck from its uncomfortable position. “It’s sugilite, but still…” His expression twisted with confusion.
“What? Does sugilite not protect people from certain kinds of magic like Alex said?” I mean, really, the odds were pretty high that Alex had been lying.
“No, it does.” He paused. “But I don’t get it. Alex gives you this necklace that has sugilite, knowing if someone uses magic on you, to let’s say take your emotions or mind away, that it won’t work. And that it’ll end up doing harm to whoever is using the magic on you. Yet, supposedly, at least according to the Keepers, you’re not supposed to have any emotions. So what would be the point of Alex protecting you from the thing he’s been telling you has to be done?”
I frowned, not at Laylen, but at the mention of my emotions. “So Alex told you everything then?”
“Yeah, but it doesn’t mean I believe every part of what he said.”
“Me neither,” I agreed. My leg was killing me, so I went over and sat down on the bed, and Laylen followed, sitting down next to me. “So what else did Alex tell you?”
He gave me a sort of amused look. “Well, he told me that you guys took a little trip to the City of Crystal, where you found out that you’re a Foreseer.”
I swallowed hard. “Did he tell about the vision I had to go into while I was at the City of Crystal?”
“He did.” Laylen answered with hesitance.
I hated to be reminded of that vision, and just talking about it shoved the memory of it into my mind; Stephan forcing my mom to go into