I can tell she’s lying, and I quickly close my hand around it as I move around the table. “You’re lying and I want you to tell me the truth. It’s important.”
“Gemma you have to believe me… What I say is the truth. There’s no other reason. The necklace isn’t powerful, just pretty to look at. And sentimental.”
“Helena wouldn’t have stolen it from you if it wasn’t,” I argue, sitting down in the chair across from her. She’s starting to cry, but her tears are plastic—not real. She’s acting like she’s upset, but I can tell she’s not. “There’s no way in hell it could be worthless if she wanted it… It has to have some kind of value… some kind of power.”
A smug look rises on her face. It was an act, just like I thought. “Well that’s the only answer you’re getting from me, Gemma. That is all you need to know.”
I’m getting riled up and fully pissed off. I want Helena to pay for what she did to Alex. To Laylen. To everyone in the world that she hurt. I’ll do whatever I need to get my answers. Rage fires inside me, the kind controlled by hurt. I’m losing control of myself and I don’t care. All I care about is wiping that smug look off Nalina’s face.
“I’m sorry, but if you’re going to refuse to cooperate, then I guess I’m going to have to help you change your mind,” I tell her, realizing how much I’m starting to sound like Alex. With his threats and blunt remarks. I kind of like it. In fact, I love it and I’m going to hold onto it because then I can keep part of him with me forever.
“You’re bluffing.” Her eyes flicker up and down as she scans me over. “There’s nothing you can do to me. You are just a little girl.”
I have had enough of this crap and her attitude. I jerk the collar of my shirt down from my shoulder, angling my neck to the side as I rotate in the chair, showing her the Serpent’s mark. Surprise and understanding register on her face—she understands what I can do now. Part of me is ready to invade her mind, but the other part of me wishes she’d just give me the answers without me having to use the power because I’m afraid that once I decide to go down this road, I won’t be able to turn back.
That I won’t want to turn back. That I won’t be myself anymore because really, what do I have left?
Chapter 9
Alex
When I’m finally able to move again, I immediately jump to my feet and run out of the room. I barrel down the stairs, trying to catch Gemma before she disappears to wherever the hell she’s going. As I reach the bottom of the stairway, I almost plow over Evan, standing at the bottom, looking astounded; jaw agape, eyes amplified, and nausea fills his expression.
I slam into him and send us both flying sideways. Losing his balance, he grabs the wooden railing of the staircase for support. “Alex… what the...” He regains his footing while I skid across the marble floor and I only stop when I run into the wall. “What the hell? I thought you were dead?”
Shaking my head, I get my feet stable underneath me. “I’ll explain later. Right now I have to find Gemma.” I sidestep around him and rush towards the front door. “Do you know where she is?”
He shakes his head, trailing after me with his hands stuffed into his pockets. “I thought she was still upstairs. When I left her she was lying by your… body.” He pauses, looking confused as he coils the chain on his jeans around his finger. “I thought she was still up there.”
I jerk open the door and step outside, the bad feeling twisting inside me like an illness. “Gemma!” I shout and a herd of Sprites come scurrying out of the bushes and surround my knees.
“Charge!” One of them yells in a squeaky voice as he raises his arms in the air. The rest of them flap their wings as they start to march toward me.
Shaking my head, I kick it in the face and it goes soaring through the air like a football. The rest of them scatter in terror; diving into the bushes, flying away, and running across the grass. “You search the forest and I’ll search down by the lake,” I tell Evan.
“Just a second,” Evan says, stepping out onto the porch. “I don’t get why you’re so panicky. She probably just wandered off to like… Mourn or something.”
I shake my head and shield my eyes from the sun with my hand. “I have a bad feeling…” My gaze scrolls the lake and the lofty trees next to it. “I can’t explain it, but it feels like she’s going to do something that will get her hurt.”
A lot of people would question my strange response, but not Evan. He nods and then jogs off towards the brink of the forest. I slam the door and do a lap around the castle, before heading down the gravel path that descends to the lake. I search through the trees that surround it and walk out along the shoreline, but she’s nowhere and, deep down, I think I know she’s not here.
“Dammit!” I curse, kicking the trunk of a tree. Where the hell would she go? Think. The million answers to that question scare the living daylights out of me. And it’s my fault. I was supposed to protect her—I promised her I would.
The sky is shifting to black and stars are starting to sparkle. I return to the castle, frustrated, knowing that I need to find her, but knowing there are a thousand places she could be. I think back to what she said while hugging my body. She said she’d make her pay. But who? Helena? No, there’s no way. She would never try to go back to the Afterlife, would she?