His violet eyes shined brightly in the sun as he looked at me. “I am, but I do get bored sometimes and changing the scenery helps pass the time.”

“Okay…but I don’t get something….how come the Foreseers put you in here? Why didn’t you just tell them what happened…that Stephan made you change the vision because he marked you with that.” I pointed at his wrist, which was covered by the sleeve of his robe.

He looked at me solemnly. “It’s the downfall of being a Foreseer, Gemma. There are no second chances or room for mistakes.”

“But you didn’t willingly make the mistake,” I argued as the ocean soaked at my feet. “Stephan made you do it.”

Silence passed between us as the ocean crashed back and forth and birds cawed in the background.

“You need to stop worrying about me,” he said. “You have other problems to deal with at the moment.”

I stopped and stared out at the ocean. “Like saving the world….because I already did that.”

“I know you did, but that is not what I’m talking about.”

I shielded my eyes from the sun. “Then what are you talking about?”

“What you’re in store for.” He gazed out at the ocean. “What waits for you in the near future.”

“I know what it is,” I told him. “I know that I die.”

“You’re still not getting it,” he said, sounding frustrated. “You need to push that aside, otherwise you will never be able to save the world.”

I dropped my hand and turned my head toward him. “But, I already did that.”

“Not quite.”He reached into the pocket of his silver rob and pulled out a ring trimmed with violet gems.Then, he took my hand and set the ring in it.

“What is it?” I asked, gazing down at the ring, shimmering in the sunlight.

“That I cannot tell you.”

I frowned. “Why do you always say that? How can you give me things like this,” I held up the ring, “and the mapping ball, but you can’t tell me how to use them? And how do you even have these things, if we’re inside your head?”

He gave me an understanding smile. “This is my loophole Gemma. I’m able to give you these things, because we are in my head and not in the real world. What I do in here does not matter out there. But I cannot tell you how to use them, because that would be interfering with what you need to do out in the real world. You have to figure out the answers for yourself and pave the world with your memories.”

I stared at the ring in the palm of my hand. “I still don’t get it.”

“You will, when the time is right.” He shut my hand around the ring. “This is your loophole, Gemma.”

“My loophole to what? Saving my life or saving the world? I asked, but the ocean blurred away and the sun began to dim—he was already sending me back.

“And no more trying to cheat, no matter what happens,” he called out, his voice sounding far away. “If you’re not careful, you’ll end up in here.”

I frowned, but said no more as I was yanked away, back to my room.

But when I opened my eyes, the boring tan walls of my room did not surround me.

All I could see was light.

Nothing but light.

Chapter 35

“Oh, my God, I’m dead,” were the first words that left my mouth.

“You’re not dead,” someone replied in a soft, purring voice.

I glanced around…I knew that voice. “But you are.”

“Am I?” the tricky half-faerie teased. “Are you sure about that?”

I shook my head. “I’m not sure about anything anymore.”

I heard the soft thump of his footsteps moving through the light, heading toward me. “Of course, you’re not. You never have been.” He paused. “In fact, you’re the most confused girl I have ever known…always looking for the answers in the wrong places.”

“What do you mean?” I asked and suddenly he was right there, his golden eyes only inches away from me, the smell of flowers and rain smothering me to the point that I gagged.

“How can you be here, if I’m not dead?” I asked.

“I will answer that shortly,” he said. “But right now you have to go back.” And with that he shoved me backward, his hands searing hot against my shoulders.

I let out a scream as darkness suffocated me.

My eyes flew open and I shot upright, gasping for air. It took me a minute to realize I was on my bedroom floor, safe and sound from potentially dead faeries.

What kind of detour was that? One minute I was talking to my father, and the next thing I know I’m being shoved down by Nicholas.

I got to my feet, the ring that my father gave me clutched tightly in my hand. What was I supposed to do next? The only thing I could do, really. And that was to go inform everyone that the mystery was not yet solved.

“Why does he keep giving you things without an explanation of what they are?” Alex asked as he sat on the couch, twirling the ring in his fingers.

I shrugged. “I don’t know…he said it was because I had to figure things out on my own…and pave the world with my memories, whatever that means.”

Alex gave me a knowing look and then exchanged a strange look with Laylen.

“So you think there might be a way that we don’t have to die?” Alex asked with a hopeful expression.

I shrugged, not wanting to crush his hope, but not wanting to lie either. “I don’t know…everyone keeps talking about loopholes…so maybe.”

Alex exchanged another look with Laylen. What was this? I mean, it wasn’t like the two of them really liked each other or anything, yet they seemed to be exchanging secrets with their eyes.

“Why do you keep giving each other weird looks like that?” I asked suspiciously.

“Yeah, what are you two up to?” Aislin asked form beside me, and I was glad she was noticing their weird behavior too.

Alex set the ring on the coffee table. “We’re not up to anything.” He got to his feet. “Laylen and I do, however, have somewhere to be.”

“Like where?” I asked at the same time Aislin said. “What?”

Laylen glanced at his watch. “Is it time already?”

Alex nodded and they headed for the door.

“Where are you going?” I called out, rising to my feet.

“Don’t worry,” Alex said, pausing in the doorway. “We’ll be back.”

Before I could say anything else, they walked out the front door and shut it behind them. I turned around and gaped at Aislin.

“Do you know what that was about?” I asked, pointing over my shoulder at the front door.

She shook her head, looking genuinely perplexed. “It was weird, though…definitely weird.”

I sat back down on the couch and picked up the ring my father gave me. “How is a ring my loophole?”

Aislin took the ring from me and examined it. “I’m not sure…but I think we could start by finding out what kind of ring it is.”

“Any ideas on how to do that?”

She shrugged and we both sat there, staring at the violet gemmed ring, wondering what to do next.

“So have you figured out what went wrong with your spell?” I asked, taking the ring from her. What are you for?

She shook her head. “It’s strange…from everything I read, it should work, and I can feel the power and everything, but when I try to use it, I get nothing.”

Without even thinking, I slipped the ring onto my finger.

“Gemma, what are you doing,” Aislin sputtered. “You can’t just put something like that on…what if it does something to you.”

We both waited in silence, for something to happen; sparks to fly, me to explode, but nothing happened.

I frowned disappointedly and Aislin let out a sigh.

“Did you ask your mom what it was?” Aislin pointed at the ring on my finger. “The ring, I mean.”

I shook my head, leaned back in the sofa, and put my feet up on the coffee table. “Not yet.”

We grew silent again. I could hear the wind howling outside, and I wondered if a storm was coming.

Aislin opened the laptop. “I think maybe we could—”

A loud bang cut her off. We both looked at each other and then we were on our feet, moving for the kitchen, where the bang came from.

Bang. Bang. Bang

We paused at the doorway of the kitchen, too afraid to enter as the banging continued to rattle at the air.

“What is that?” Aislin whispered.

I shook my head. “I don’t know…do you have like a weapon or something, just in ca…” I trailed off as smoke whirled across the floor, brushed across my ankles and drifted into the living room.

“Where is that coming from?” Aislin asked as more smoke swept across the floor.

“I don’t know.” For some reason, though, I thought of the vision I saw, the one where the streets of Afton were filled with fire.

Aislin slipped a knife out of the pocket of her shorts and held it up in front of her. “On the count of three?”

I nodded. “On the count of three…one…two…three.”

We both jumped into the kitchen, ready to kick some butt. But no butt kicking was necessary because the smoke was coming from a fire burning in the garbage can outside in the driveway. The back door had been left open and was swinging away against the wind, letting the smoke blow into the house.

Aislin lowered her knife. “Oh, thank God. For a second, I thought the house was burning down or something”

But I was not relieved. “Yeah, but who started the fire?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know…maybe some kids who were bored?”

“Maybe.” But her answer didn’t feel right.

We crept over to the door, watching the fire blaze against the night.

Something was wrong.

I could feel it.

The sight of the fire was setting off something inside me and I couldn’t stop thinking about the vision I had right after I was bit by the vampire; the chaos in the streets, the fires, Stephan. You need to prepare yourself, my father had said.

“Do you have a fire extinguisher?” Aislin asked.

I pointed to the cupboard below the kitchen sink, but my eyes stayed on the fire. “It’s under there.”

Moments later, Aislin was putting out the fire with a satisfied look rising on her face when she finished. “There, fire problem all taken care of.”

I forced a smile as she went back into the house and put the extinguisher back in the cupboard.

“Something’s not right,” I muttered.

Something definitely wasn’t right.

Chapter 36

Aislin and I went back to the living room and Aislin started searching the internet, trying to find more details on her spell, while I read through the Foreseer’s book, trying to figure out what the ring on my finger was for, even though I had no idea if it even had anything to do with Foreseers. But it was hard to concentrate when I couldn’t stop thinking about the fire. It felt like it was an omen or something—a warning that something bad lay ahead for all of us. But I couldn’t figure out how—I had changed the vision back to what it was. The world was not supposed to end anymore.