The Promise (19 page)

Lovely. I hurried to catch up with her.

How s it going to be harder? Is the queen going to want more than the ring?

No, you ll understand soon. And Gemma, whatever you do, don t give her that ring until you ve sealed the promise for the freedom of the Lost Souls that were lost because of the mark.

Will she know what I mean when I say that?

I asked, shutting my eyes as one of the souls let out a sharp cry.

Does she know why I m here?

She s the Queen of the Afterlife,

she whispered.

Not the Ruler of the City of Crystal.

I dared another glimpse at the souls, secretly looking for one that looked like my mother, hoping I wouldn t find her.

She s not here.

She ducked her head as the ceiling dipped down

And be grateful she s not.

We reached the end of the tunnel and I suddenly understood what Alana meant. These weren t just Lost Souls, they were tortured souls. The room pulled at my memories of The Underworld, where the Water Faeries tormented those who were sentenced there. This place was the same; bones breaking, painful cries, as the mummy-like bodies were forced to work by men with whips and daggers.

But the difference between The Underworld and the Afterlife was that these souls weren t evil.

They were lost.

Chapter 34

(Alex)

So we fixed the sink.

Laylen leaned back against the counter and folded his arms.

Now what?

I contemplated this, trying not to think about Gemma, upstairs lying dead in her bed.

Unless there s something else broken, I don t have a damn clue.

I m pretty sure we only made the sink worse.

He stared at a pool of water on the floor next to his feet.

What were we even trying to fix?

I asked, not even attempting to hide the fact that I knew zero about plumbing.

Laylen shrugged.

I don t know, I just thought it looked funny.

That s probably why we couldn t fix it then.

I dropped down in a chair, scooting the tools out of the way, and rested my head on the table.

So who wants to help?

Aislin asked, her cheerful voice like a knife to my ear.

Go away,

I mumbled.

If you re going to be cheerful.

She prodded my side with her foot.

Stop being a downer. I need your help.

With what?

Laylen asked.

Wait. Let me guess. A spell.

With removing your Mark of Immortality.

I raised my head, glancing at Laylen, who was staring speechlessly at Aislin.

You ve figure out how?

I asked her.

When?

She shook her head, frowning.

I m not sure if I m quite there yet, but I m close enough that I want to test it.

On me.

Laylen raised his eyebrows.

She nodded energetically.

Then after I ve perfected that, it s on to the shield removing spell. Of course, I m not sure how I m going to figure out if that one works & well, unless I went to Stephan and used a spell on him.

That s not happening. No one s ever going to be around him again. It s too dangerous,

I said.

Hold on & Why didn t anyone give up our location when you guys switched sides?

Because I put an interpres incantatores on us,

she said.

When you left you missed out on all the amazing things I did.

She put her hands on her hips.

I put the spell on the five of us to prevent anyone from telling an enemy our location.

She glanced at the boarded window.

And we have a lot of enemies.

But why didn t you do the spell on me.

She raised her hand in front of her.

Non proferre verbum ad emeny.

Then she sparked silver dust all over me.

Dammit Aislin!

I jumped to my feet, dusting off my jeans.

What was that crap?

That was the spell,

she said and Laylen laughed, thinking she was funny or something.

I m getting good at this witch thing, huh?

Hopefully good enough to even remove the Mark of Immortality.

I brushed the last of the silvery stuff off.

Oh, I am.

She dropped a book on the table and opened it to a marked page.

I raised my eyebrows at her.

What s that?

A spell book.

She said in a duh way.

Sorry I m not more up to date with my witchcraft knowledge,

I said, shoving her hand out of the way.

Bonum et malum. What is that?

It s the Good and Evil spell.

She turned the book, sat down, and Laylen joined us.

It separates the good from the evil.

But the Mark of Immortality isn t a good thing.

Laylen covered the Mark of Immortality on his arm.

So trying to take it off Stephan? That s bad and bad.

That s not what this is.

She tapped her finger on the page.

This spell separates things that don t go together. Like Stephan and the Mark of Immortality. Or like Laylen and his mark.

It seems like a long shot.

I crossed my arms on the table.

Can t you just use the same spell you ve been using to take off the Mark of Malefiscus?

Magic doesn t work like that.

She turned the page.

Everything works according to rules. And as a witch, I think this will do it. There s just one tiny little problem.

I flopped my head back and sighed.

And what s that?

There s this thing about blood.

She flipped the page back.

It needs the blood of someone who s both good and bad. So any ideas?

I had one idea, but I wasn t about to say it. If I d learned anything, it was never to mention this particular person s name in reference to something bad.

I have an idea.

Laylen paused.

Me.

Glad he was the one who said it.

You what?

Aislin asked, puzzled.

Me, as in my blood.

He stared at the table, ashamed.

Oh, I don t think that s what it means,

Aislin said, skimming the pages with her finger.

It couldn t be &

Why not?

I decided to put my two cents in.

He s a vampire and a Keeper. Good and bad, well at least the Keeper part is kind of good.

Alex,

Aislin started.

No,

Laylen put his hand over hers.

I think it might work, if that s the spell you want to try.

She blinked dazedly at his hand and I rolled my eyes.

I don t know. I mean, I guess it might work.

Alright then.

I rubbed my hands together.

Let s do it.

It more complicated than that, Alex,

she said.

We need more than just blood.

What else do you need?

I heaved a dramatic sigh.

Ice from an Iceberg, salt only from the sea? Or how about the toe of a faerie?

No, nothing like that.

She paused and then smiled skillfully.

And besides, if we needed the toe of a faerie we wouldn t have a problem. We ve got one upstairs.

That one s a ghost.

But not for long.

I hated the direction of this conversation. It forced me to think of Nicholas up there with Gemma.

So what else do we need?

She ran her fingers along the list of ingredients.

Honestly, the worst thing is the blood. Other than that, I probably have most of these things. And anything I don t have can be picked up from a basic witch store.

She scooted back from the table.

I ll go check and see what I got.

She s crazy,

I muttered, shaking my head.

She s your sister.

Laylen muffled a laugh.

And she s your what?

I questioned.

Because I m still not clear on that.

We stared each other down. He knew what I was thinking, and it was a thought that had crossed my mind more than once. Gemma and Laylen had this close connection and I was never exactly sure what it meant. Were they just friends? Or did he like her more than that?

That s really none of your business.

He rapped his hand on the table and stood up.

I think I ll go help Aislin.

The stillness of the kitchen wore on me quickly. It was driving me crazy not knowing what was going on. Not knowing if everything was going smoothly.

Not knowing if she d make it back to me.

Chapter 35

(Gemma)

This was worse than I expected,

I told Alana. We d put the torture chamber far behind us and I was happy for a brief moment, before realizing the sights of that room would haunt my dreams for a long time.

You expected less?

She gestured at the decaying walls, lit up by red lanterns.

This is death Gemma.

I know,

I said.

But I guess I didn t really look at it like that until now.

When people die before their time,

she traced her hand along the wall,

their soul is considered lost. There s no real place for these souls to go, so they end up here. Queen Helena collects them and turns them into the mummies you saw working as slaves.

But my mom.

I swallowed hard.

You said she crossed over. So her soul s not here right?

No, Gemma. Her death was her time,

she explained and we descended to the right wing.

But she took her own life.

I ducked below a row of red ribbons that smelled like they d been dipped in moldy water.

So how was that her time.

Because it was,

she replied.

Just like when you will save the world. Your mother s life ended when she took her own life to save you. It was her time to go.

But how did it save me?

I smacked a ribbon out of the way.

She didn t know if she d lead Stephan to me. She just feared she would.

No, she knew.

She stopped in an archway and I almost bumped into her.

I m sorry, but what?

I scooted back.

Are you talking about a vision?

She nodded

Otherwise we wouldn t be here.

This had never occurred to me. That another vision existed. But it made sense.

And how does this one turn out?

I think you already know the answer to that.

She paused.

Gemma, unless the star is gone the world will end.

Then she walked away into the darkness and I followed, trying to shove out of my head the picture of Alex and me dead.

I watched her silhouette as I weaved my way to the mysterious. When my surroundings opened again, I saw a throne. We were in Queen Helena s chambers. Of course there was a throne. This was always the case with someone in higher power, like it was their declaration. This particular throne was twisted with thorny branches, and the blood red platform in front of it seemed fitting for someone who collected the Lost Souls of the dead. There were no mummies in the room, but I swore I could hear them whisper: Help me, free me, let us live again.

She s not here,

I noted.

Oh, she s here.

Alana pointed to the ceiling, where was a flat sheet of shining silver rippled with our voices.

The water warped down, a spiral of shimmer, connecting to the throne. It formed a body of a woman, silver and eyeless, with only lips. And the lips knew how to form words.

Quomodo audent intra hic sponte. Ubi non est libertas.

Latin. It was always Latin. Why hadn t I learned to speak the language yet?

I ve come to turn myself in,

Alana called out.

And she & well, she would like to make a bargain with you.

I do not make bargains,

the queen said, either switching to English or I suddenly understood Latin.

There are no bargains here, only souls.

And feel her soul Helena,

Alana said.

Feel it and you ll see.

I was so lost.

She s broken,

Helena declared, her mouth a pool of thick liquid.

Why do you bring her to me? Your first time in the Afterlife and this is it? A soul, broken and torn. This soul belongs to another. Take her away. No better yet stay now that you re here.

I ve come to bargain for the Lost Souls,

I said in a small voice.

Well, some of them, anyway.

Alana nudged my hand, warning me to keep quiet.

She s the one responsible for your heavy amount of traffic lately.

Well, too bad for her, I don t just give over my souls!

Helena cried, with a slam of her fist, spurting silver liquid onto the red platform.

Show her the ring,

Alana hissed.

Show her now.

I swiftly raised my hand, showing the queen the purple-gemmed ring.

Helena gasped, shocked.

Where did you get that?

Um & I found it,