I nearly drop the book. “You saw light?”

He nods, eyeing me suspiciously. “What’s wrong?”

I shake my head. “It’s nothing.” It’s a lie. Because it’s sounds so much like the dream I keep having of us being taken away by light.

He keeps staring at me for a while, knowing I’m lying, but then gives up. “We should probably go in case he comes back,” he says and then we hurry out of the house.

***

I start reading through the pages of the Foreseers’ book during the drive home. The first few chapters are insignificant, but then I stumble onto something interesting.

The Room of Forbidden: A desolate place where no soul lives except the seer that committed the crime. In the Room of Forbidden, the seer will spend an eternity alone. No one can enter the Room of Forbidden, for the room exists only in the seer’s mind.

The power of a Foreseer’s mind: The Foreseer’s mind is one of the most powerful tools. In fact, some of the more powerful Foreseers are able to push their minds to see what they need to see in times of great need.

Push the mind to see what it needs to see in times of great need? I wonder how that works because it seems like a useful thing. I flip the page, hoping for detailed instructions, but the there’s only a drawing of a person with an eye on their forehead so I skim through more pages, searching for the words “purple” or “flame,” but by the time Alex is parking the car in the driveway, I still haven’t found anything about it.

When Alex turns off the engine, he rotates in the seat to face me. “Can we keep what happened back at the house a secret? I don’t want to worry Aislin more than she already is. She’s been really stressed out lately.”

Nodding, I shut the book. “Of course.”

“And the stuff that happened in the trapdoor.” He scratches his head, looking uncomfortable. “We should probably just forget that ever happened.”

The prickle stabs at the back of my neck “You want me to forget about all the times we f**ked too,” I say and we both wince. “Sorry,” I tell him quickly. “I don’t know what’s coming over me.”

He swiftly shakes his head. “Don’t apologize. I feel the same way too.” He turns away and grips the steering wheel until his knuckles turn white. “I feel so frustrated all the time… I’m usually so good at doing what I need to do… but with you… I can’t seem to keep my hands off you.” He takes his hands off the steering wheel and reaches for the door handle. “And I need to, to protect you.”

He gets out and goes into the house. I follow moments later, pretending as if nothing happened, as if it didn’t feel like my heart was breaking because there may be a chance that we never will be able to be together.

In the kitchen, Aislin is at the table with a bunch of herbs and leaves scattered in front of her, along with some candles and her spell book.

“Did you get the book?” she asks Alex as I’m locking the door.

“I’ve got it.” I hold it up and show it to her.

Alex removes his jacket and sets it on the back of the chair, then puts the box of herbs and other magic stuff he picked up for Aislin on the table. “How’s everything been here?”

“Everything’s been fine.” She turns a page in her spell book. “Jocelyn’s asleep, and Laylen’s showing Aleesa what a TV is, and I’m trying to figure out a spell that will remove the mark.”

I yawn, feeling exhaustion overwhelming me, not to mention the idea of being in the same room as Alex is making me feel sick. “I’m going to bed,” I say then I drag myself to my bedroom, strip down into my bra and underwear, never fully making it into my pajamas as I flop down on the bed and pass out with the Foreseer book in my hand.

Chapter 20

Light. Everywhere. I’m blinded by it, suffocating.

“It’ll be all right,” Alex whispers, bushing my hair out of my face. “I want to protect you forever, no matter what happens. No matter what it costs. I would die for you Gemma.”

I want to tell him that I can’t allow that. That if he dies, I die right along with him, not because of the star, but because of a broken heart, but my lips are sealed by an emotion surfacing, one I know I have to shove down.

The light flickers and the lake materialize before us. The water is glistening with ice, and death is in the air. They sky is grey, the clouds thick, the trees frosted with snow.

“It’ll be alright,” Alex says again and I clutch onto him tightly as the light drowns me. “I’m here Gemma. I’ll always be here for you, no matter what.”

Images flash through my mind. Death Walkers… Stephan… fire…

Then nothing but ash falling from the sky and not even Alex and I survive.

***

“Wake up. Come on, open your eyes.” A hand touches my arm and there’s no jolt, no spark, no warmth.

My eyes shoot open and with one swift movement I shove the person leaning over my bed down to the floor. Then I leap to my feet with my fist raised, ready to fight.

“What the hell,” Aislin hisses from the floor as she gets her feet back underneath her. “Calm down Gemma, it’s just me.”

I lower my fist and turn on my lamp. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry.” Suddenly realizing I’m wearing nothing but my underwear, I pick up the blanket and wrap it around me.

Aislin is wearing a plaid pajama set, her hair pulled up into a messy bun, and she has a jacket on. “Were you having a nightmare? You were making weird noises when I came in.”

“Maybe… I honestly can’t remember,” I lie, sitting down on the bed with the blanket wrapped around me, thinking of the light vision and what it could mean. That Alex and I weren’t going to survive?

“Gemma, you know you can talk to me about stuff,” she says standing beside my bed. “I’m sure it’s hard taking on all of this on your own.”

“Thanks, but I’m not ready to talk about certain things just yet.” I notice she has a bag draped over her shoulder. “Are you going somewhere?”

She nods, looking guilty. “And you are too... I mean, if you’ll help me?”

“Help you with what?” I ask interestedly.

“With a spell.”

“To remove the Mark of Malefiscus?”

“Hopefully,” she says, taking her spell book out of the bag and opening it to a marked page. “I found a spell that could help… The Spell of Zaleena.”

I squint down at the page. There’s a drawing of a woman with her head angled back, her hands spanned to the side of her, her mouth open and a spirit rising out of it.

“And you think this spell’s going to remove the Mark of Malefiscus?” I ask as she closes the book and tucks it back in her bag.

“The spell isn’t exactly for removing a mark,” she says. “But it’s supposed to give the witch who performs the spell the gift of being able to separate and remove evil from those who are good.”

“Is it dangerous?”

“I don’t think so…” She seems uncertain. “It shouldn’t be, but when it comes to magic, you never know.” She shrugs. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to. But I think your energy might come in handy because it’s a really powerful spell. And I could use your company.”

Weird. Was this how the start of friendships worked?

“Okay, let me get dressed and I’ll go with you,” I say. “But where exactly are we going?”

She hesitates then sighs. “To the cemetery.”

***

The cemetery is located at the edge of town next to the forest and the hill line of the mountains. The moon and stars are covered by the clouds, the streets are lit up by lampposts, and the air is still, except for the scuffing of our shoes as we walk up the sidewalk.

“How intense is this spell going to be?” I ask, wrapping my jacket tightly around me. “You said you need power, so I’m guessing pretty intense.”

“Yeah, it’ll be pretty intense.” She grows quiet, lost in her thoughts. I can tell something’s bothering her and I’m about to ask her when she blurts out, “Gemma, do you like Laylen?” She sighs. “I don’t mean to go all high school on you, but I just want—no—need to know if you like him as more than a friend, like maybe the same way as you do with Alex.” She bites her lip, waiting for me to answer.

I feel extremely uncomfortable as I try to figure out the right thing to say. “Laylen and I are just friends,” I finally tell her, wondering if that’s the answer she wants.

“It’s just that sometimes you two seem… I don’t know. You just seem happier when you’re around each other and then there was the whole biting thing….”

“The biting thing we didn’t want to happen… we just got into a mess and then things got out of control.” It feels like I need to say something that will make her feel better but I can’t figure out what that is. “And I think we’re more comfortable around each other because Laylen has always been honest with me and he doesn’t have painful history with me.”

She looks hurt. “I get it… what I did to him in the past is unforgivable.”

“I wouldn’t say that.” I pause, drawing the hood of my jacket over my head as the cool breeze picks up. “Have you ever tried sitting down and talking to him?”

She shrugs, hugging her arms around herself. “I’m worried what will happen… Of what he’ll say.”

“We’ll you won’t know until you try.”

She glances at me. “Yeah, you’re probably right, but can I ask you a question?”

“Um… sure.”

“Have you forgiven Alex?”

“I…” I trail off, unsure how to respond because I honestly don’t know if I have or not. “I’m not sure… maybe…”

“But you could see yourself doing so?” she asks, sidestepping a lamppost.

I nod and it feels right. “I think one day I could.”

She pauses. “Gemma, I’m sorry for lying to you in the beginning, but I think if you’ll give me another chance, you and I could be friends.”

I start to smile, but then suddenly, something crashes behind us. We spin around, scanning the street, the yards, the trees, for where the noise came from, but there’s nothing nearby.

“Keep your guard up,” Aislin warns as we start walking again.

By the time we reach the cemetery, we’ve both grown edgy and that edginess only amplifies at the sight of the small area dotted with graves and sealed up by an iron gate. Trees shadow the grass and a gravel path runs through the entrance and up the center of it.

“Okay, this is really—”

Another thud from behind us, this time much louder and nearer. Aislin draws a knife out of her purse as we reel around again.

“What the hell?” Aislin lowers her knife. “What are you doing here?”

Aleesa stands beneath the light of the lamppost in pink pajamas, wide eyed and terrified. She opens her mouth and lets out a scream that echoes around us and causes dogs to bark in the distance.

“Stop!” Aislin conceals her hand over Aleesa’s mouth. “Shhh… it’s okay.” After Aleesa settles down, Aislin moves her hand away. “What are you doing here?”

“I saw you leaving from out the window,” Aleesa says. “And I followed you... I wanted to come with you.”

Aislin frowns and snags hold of my arm, steering us away from Aleesa. “What should we do with her?” she whispers.

I shrug. “Take her with us, I guess. I mean, what else are we going to do? Take her back? The sun will be coming up in like an hour and I’m pretty sure we don’t want to be sitting out in the cemetery performing a witch spell when it does.”

“Yeah, I guess so, but still, she’s so jumpy.”

“Yeah, but considering her past that’s understandable.”

Aislin appears guilt-ridden. “Yeah, you’re right.” She waves Aleesa over. “Come on, you can come with us.”

Aleesa’s eyes light up with happiness as she skips toward us and follows us into the cemetery. Aislin tells me we have to find a fresh grave, so we wander around the yard, looking for one and finally find one in the corner of the cemetery beneath a massive oak tree.

Aislin takes some black and red candles out of her bag and places them on the grass in a circle around the grave. “Alright, now we just need to sit in a circle around the candles,” she says, lighting each candle with a lighter.

I take a seat in the cool grass and so do Aislin and Aleesa. Then Aislin sprinkles silver dust over the candles, making the color of the flames turn blood red.

She retrieves her spell book and opens it up. “Okay,” she mutters, placing a red and green leaf in the center of our circle. “Are you guys ready for this?” she asks and must take our silence as a yes, because she takes a deep breath and chats. “EGO dico ut maleena ut orior oriri ortus iterum. EGO dico ut maleena ut orior oriri ortus iterum!” Aislin screams, throwing her head back and elevating her hands above her head.

The candle’s flames shift to yellow with a black center, casting an eerie glow around us, making every shadow seem like it’s closing in on us. Then the flames grow bigger, more powerful, begin to ravel together until there’s one giant flame stretching toward the sky. It takes the form of a woman, who rises above us and opens her hollow eyes.

“EGO dico ut maleena ut orior oriri ortus iterum!” Aislin yells again and the flame woman opens her mouth.