When I open my eyes we all stand in the middle of the living room of my old house.
It goes silent. I can hear Laylen, Aislin and Evan panting around me. For a moment, I don’t dare open my eyes, but when I do, it’s hard to take in. Because where I’m standing is where all of the craziness started; the place where I was hidden, forced to live in solitude from my emotions, and where I roamed my empty life until I found Alex. I have no idea why I’m here, but maybe my subconscious does.
Whatever the reason, I take a deep breath and glance around at the house I grew up in, located in the snowy mountains. The place I once called home.
Chapter 33
Gemma
I’m confused, bewildered, lost. It doesn’t look like the house we left behind. The roof has caved in, the windows are boarded up, and there’s garbage and broken glass everywhere.
“God, this place turned into a mess.” Aislin kicks a can out of the way as she makes a path to the window. Gazing outside, a frown forms on her mouth. “It so quiet and bare out there… like a ghost town. I wonder if the Fey got to this place.”
“Or the Lost Souls.” I sigh, glass crunching underneath my shoes as I take in the mess. Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like to grow up here, raised by my mother and father, free to experience emotion. Would I have had a good life? Gone to school? Made friends? Dated? Fallen in love? Fallen in love with Alex?
“Gemma, I hate to interrupt your thoughts, but what the hell happened?” Laylen asks. “What took you so long? I was getting worried.”
My mouth drops open a little as I turn around. Really? That’s the first thing he says after Aislin’s been gone for much longer. I give him an exaggerated, eyes widening look, nodding my head at her.
Aislin turns from the window, placing her hands on her hips as she narrows her eyes at him “Really? That’s the first thing you have to say after we’ve both been gone?” She runs her hands through her hair, combing the tangles out. There are dark circles under her eyes, her top lip is split and she’s missing one shoe. How? I have no idea.
I don’t look any better, though. There are scratches all over my arms from the branches of the trees we hiked through, my eyes feel heavy, and my jeans are torn on both knees. “Maybe we should all take a breather and get cleaned up or something,” I say, trying to ease the tension.
Laylen shifts his weight uncomfortably as Aislin continues to stare him down.
Evan moves up in front of us all, blinking the tiredness from his eyes. “Don’t you think the most important thing now is not,” he rolls his eyes, “girlfriend, boyfriend drama, or taking a breather, but figuring out what the hell just happened back there.” He points at the window, like the castle is somehow going to pop into view.
Aislin stomps over to the torn sofa and plops onto it, picking up one of the throw pillows and placing it on her lap. She absentmindedly plucks at it. “Fine, you have a point.” She glances up at Evan. “Wait, who are you?”
Evan sticks out his arm and shows her the marks on his skin. “What? You don’t remember me?”
Aislin eyes him over very closely and then a grin touches her lips. “Evan.” She jumps up and throws her arms around him, hugging him. “God, it’s been forever.”
Laylen glances at me, raising his eyebrows, and I catch a ping of jealousy in his expression. They continue to hug and finally Laylen gets annoyed enough that he moves over and pulls on Aislin, breaking up their moment.
I smile to myself because I know it’ll make Aislin happy, knowing he’s jealous. Sometimes it bothers her—Laylen and my relationship—even if we’re just friends.
She sits down on the couch and grabs the pillow again; then Laylen sits down beside her with a territorial look in his eyes. “So, what happened to you two?” he asks, and then looks at me. “You know it’s been days since you took off?”
I nod, flopping down on the sofa opposite of theirs. “Things got complicated.”
“Complicated?” Evan elevates his eyebrows. “It looked like there was a freaking war breaking out back there.” He hitches his thumb over his shoulder at the window, again pretending like we’re right by the castle.
“That’s because I think there was,” I mutter, rubbing my tired eyes.
He slips his jacket off, sighing, as he tosses it onto the cracked coffee table, then he situates himself in one of the sitting chairs just in front of the window. He kicks his feet up on the coffee table, leaning back and closing his eyes. “You guys’ world is freaking complicated. You know that?”
The three of us give overly exaggerated nods. “Yes,” we say in sync.
He shakes his head, probably wishing he didn’t get dragged into it. “So… how do we get rid of the Faeries?”
I shrug. “I have no idea.”
Laylen says, “Maybe we should try to shut the portal down.” He drapes his arm around Aislin’s shoulder, pulling her in as she frowns with a guilty look on her face. “Uh… yeah, sorry about that. I thought I had fixed that little problem… I thought I closed the portal.” She examines her nails closely, pretending to be deeply fixated on them. “Guess I was wrong.”
Laylen grabs her hand and squeezes it. “It doesn’t really matter... It is what it is. We just need to fix it. Besides, I know why you did it. You wanted to save your sister.” He looks around the room curiously. “Which, by the way, where is Aleesa?”
Tears start bubbling in Aislin’s eyes and her head falls forward. “She’s dead.”
Laylen’s eyes widen and he looks to me for confirmation. I nod and he focuses his attention back at Aislin with a heart-warming, compassionate expression on his face as he pulls her into him and lets her bury her face against his chest and cry her heart out.
Evan looks a little less compassionate. “What happened to you two?” he asks me.
Sighing I give them a quick recap about what happened over the last few days. He listens intently and when I’m finished, he gapes at me, along with Laylen.
“What’s the matter?” I ask. Sure I just told them a lot of crazy things, but it wasn’t any crazier than everything else we have—and are—going through.
“You really promised the Fey you’d return and help them fight against Luna?” Laylen stares at me with amplified eyes as he runs his hand up and down Aislin’s back while she weeps into his shirt.
“Um… yeah... Why? What’s wrong?” I glance at Evan, he looks just as horrified.
“It was a really stupid thing to do,” Evan says, shaking his head. “Really, really stupid.”
“Would someone please tell me what’s going on.” I’m beginning to panic because I can tell I’ve done something bad—something I’m going to regret.
Evan leans forward, resting his arms on his knees, his bangs hanging in his dark eyes, one of which is bruised. “Challenging the Empress is really bad. When you challenge the Empress, you fight to the death. Only one of you is going to be able to walk away.”
“But I didn’t challenge her,” I say in an off-pitched voice. “I just said I’d help them.”
Evan shakes his head. “Doesn’t matter. It’s viewed as one and the same.”
I swallow the enormous lump wedged in my throat. “Is there a way to get out of it?”
Laylen studies me as Aislin elevates her head up, blinking at me with tear-stained eyes. “There may be a way…” He considers something with his forehead creased. “Like maybe a loophole or something.”
Evan shakes his head again and reclines back in the chair. “There’s no way out of this. You made the promise to the Fey in their Kingdom, which means you’re bound to the promise. There’s no breaking it.”
I take in what he says, feeling my body crack and fall apart, the pieces breaking and scattering across the dirty floor. “So, that’s it? I have to fight Luna? Like with weapons? And then what? I either kill her or be killed?”
No one responds and I have my answer. I feel frustration bursting up inside me. I want to scream. Let it all out. I open my mouth and huff in a breath, but when I let it out, no sound comes out. Maybe that means I’m done. Done with everything. Done with fighting.
Maybe I’m giving up.
Chapter 34
Laylen
I’m getting sick of Faeries, chaos, and the never ending need to suck blood. Sure, I have my blood lust under control for the most part, but, every once in a while, when I get really stressed, it slips out. Like now.
I have the urge to feed off all three of them, more the girls than Evan. I can see and hear their pulses beating against their necks, smell their blood. I’m distracted, and maybe that’s why I ask Gemma what happened first.
I know Aislin’s going to get upset, but it kind of just slips out of me. Then, everyone’s staring at me like I’m an asshole and I realize I am. The longer the conversation goes on, the worse I feel, especially when Aislin tells me Aleesa’s dead.
No one really knew her that well, but it still kind of hurts. Deaths always do.
After we’re done talking, I carry Aislin up the stairs and into one of the spare rooms. She’s asleep, drained dry from all the stuff going on. When I set her on the bed, she mumbles something about me and then rolls to her side. I sweep her hair back, looking at her, and I mean really looking at her. She’s beautiful, sad, and crazy, just like Gemma. I have feelings for her, just like I do Gemma. They both deserve happy lives and I really hope they’ll both get to that point, where death won’t be just over their shoulder. Where they can smile, laugh and do whatever makes them happy. I wish nothing except the best for them. They can grow old, have kids, start a family.
That’s when I realize what I need to do. I don’t need to decide between them. I need to let them both go because that future isn’t in the cards for me.
I get up off the bed, letting out a loud breath, finally accepting what’s been in front of me for the last few years.
The beginning of my never-ending life.
Chapter 35
Gemma
It’s getting late and, although I’m beyond tired, I’m too restless to go to bed. Laylen carried Aislin upstairs and they’ve been up there for a while. I think losing Aleesa and Alex might be taking a toll on her.
Evan and I go into the kitchen and I rummage through the teal cupboards, looking for some food. All I end up finding is a moldy loaf of bread, a roll of toilet paper, and a few cans of soup. I decide on the soup, heating them over the stove in the can, since the pans have been thrown outside on the back porch for some strange reason. At least the bowls and silverware are still here to eat out of.
Evan quickly slurps his down, using a bent spoon, which he bent himself as a demonstration of one of his powers. It’s all fun and entertaining to watch and a nice breather, but once it’s over, life sits on my chest again.
I stir my soup, watching the noodles go round and round, thinking about the conversation I had with my dad about resetting time. Part of me wants to do it; give up everything on the whim that it’ll be better, but what if it’s not. What if it’s worse? What if people still end up dying, and Alex and I aren’t together?