“Holy—” I jumped back, flinging my hands over my mouth. The telescope was in front of me. My skin was humming. Snowy mountains and trees were everywhere. I was back at Star Grove. I wasn’t lying on the ground, passed out. I was on my feet.  What the heck had happened?

I glanced around. Hadn’t anyone noticed my disappearance? It didn’t look like. Everyone seemed content in their little groups, working away on the assignment. Alex was still standing right behind me just like he had before I’d…I have no idea how to finish that sentence.

Alex stared at me strangely as he cocked an eyebrow. “You okay?”

Aislin was looking at me weirdly too. But neither of them appeared to be alarmed or completely freaked out, which seemed odd since I’d just disappeared for who knows how long. Or had I? Maybe I’d hallucinated or something. Perhaps I’d dazed off. God, it didn’t feel like it wasn‘t real, though. It had felt very real. Too real. Like I’d seen it before. Lived it before. Maybe I had. The mother had called the little girl Gemma. Maybe the little girl was me. But if that were true, then why had I called the woman, who I was certain wasn’t Sophia, mama. My mother had died when I was one, and the little girl had to be at least four.

Confusion swarmed my brain. I started to sweat and blood roared at my ears. Tears stung at my eyes, and I had to remind myself to breath.

“I have to go,” I whispered, making to move around Alex.

He stepped in front of me and held up his hand. “Go where?”

“I…To the bus.” I made another attempt to sidestep around him.

He mimicked my move at lightning speed, blocking me and stopping me dead in my tracks. “You can’t just go wandering off. We’re out in the middle of a forest.” His bright green eyes were filled with concern. It was weird. Why did he care? In fact, hadn’t he been the one to drive me up into the middle of the forest just a few days ago.

Despite my efforts not to, I started to cry, tears rolling down my ice-cold cheeks.

Alex’s eyes widened. “Are you…are you crying?”

“Um...Oh just shut up.” And then I dashed past him, my shoulder slamming into his.

“Gemma wait,” Alex yelled after me.

But I kept running, not thinking about the consequences of what I was about to do as I headed straight for the bus.

Chapter 12

I found the bus door cracked open—thank goodness—leaving it easy to open. The bus driver was MIA and the lights were off. With tears streaming down my face, I dropped down in the seat Alex and I had rode up in. I hugged my legs against my chest, and cried in the dark in typical Gemma style—all alone.

What was happening to me? Was I heading towards an emotional breakdown? Was I going to end up locked away in a padded cell somewhere, screaming at the top of my lungs that everything I said was true—that I wasn’t crazy?

Was I crazy, though? Was any of what was going on actually real? Or was my mind pushing on the boarders of sanity, conjuring up a fictional world?

Absentmindedly, I touched the pocket of my jeans where the list of dates rested. I pulled off my glove and reached in, the edges of paper grazing my skin as I took it out. Letters forming my name and the dates stared back at me.

It was real.

Tears raindropped down from my eyes and splattered against the paper, bleeding the red ink. Everything was so complicated. I desperately wished I could just piece it all together.

Through my blurry veil of tears, I thought I saw a flash of yellow just outside my window. With my heart thumping wildly, I leaned in for a closer look and saw a tall, dark figure zipping through the pine trees at an inhuman speed, heading directly for the bus. I’d almost forgotten about the monster.  How could I have been so stupid? Again. I needed to get off the bus. Right now. Before it was too late.

I leapt out of my seat, preparing to make a mad dash back to the telescopes where I could be safe. At least for the moment, anyway.  But electricity spun through my body, and I hit a dead halt.

Alex was making his way slowly up the aisle.  “What the heck are you doing out here?”

“Nothing.” The word rushed out. I shot a glance at the window. The tall, dark figure was gone.

He stopped just short of me, his eyes as round as two golf balls. “You’ve been crying.”

“So.” I stuffed the list into the pocket of my coat and wiped the tears off of my cheeks. “People cry all the time.”

“Yeah, but only when something horrible or sad happens to them.” He paused, looking out the window, then back at me. “Did something horrible or sad happen to you?”

I shook my head, afraid to speak. Afraid my voice would give away my lie.

He nodded at the window. “What were you looking at out there?”

“I was looking at…the stars.” It sounded more like a question than an answer.

He cocked his head to the side, his forehead creasing over with worry lines. “But weren’t you just looking at the stars through a telescope. Right before you ran off in a mad craze.”

I glared at him. Insulting me was not a good idea right now.

His expression softened a little.  “Gemma there’s obviously something bothering you, so tell me what it is please.”

I think it was the first time I’d ever heard him use the word please. Still, it didn’t mean I was going to break down and tell him all my secrets. Not with the risk of looking like a total lunatic. “There is nothing bothering me so, if you don’t mind, I think I’m going to get back to the class.”

I marched forward, but his hands came down on the back of the seats, keeping me from going any farther. I backed up, trying to widen the distance between us, but he matched my steps, narrowing it right back.

I tried not to freak out about the fact that I was being cornered like a cat. “Look, I don’t think—” My back hit the back door.

He stopped just inches short of me and reached for my face. I flinched as he wiped away stray tear rolling down my cheek. His fingers tingled against my skin, making me feel lightheaded and dizzy, and I had to grab hold of a nearby seat just to keep from falling over.

He raised his finger up into the moonlight speckling through the window and inspected the tear. “If nothing’s wrong,” he said in a voice barely above a whisper, “then what is this?”

I felt tired. Everything was just too...heavy. I couldn’t take it anymore. I sighed, a heavy hearted sigh. “It’s a tear.”

“Yeah, but why are tears falling from those purple eyes of yours.”

Normally, the purple eye comment would have pissed me off. But, like I said, I was tired. “Because I’m sad,” I told him, which was the truth. I was sad. “And my eyes are not purple. They’re violet.”

He cracked a smile, but it swiftly faded. “Sad about what?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged.

It got quiet. My body sparkled electrically as he kept his eyes on my, watching me with the most intense expression. I forgot to breathe again and had to suck in a big breath of air.

“I knew you could feel it,” he said softly.

“Feel what?” I replied breathlessly.

“The electricity,” he whispered in a voice so soft it sent another good shiver down my spine.

I had to catch my breath before I spoke. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Yes, you do.” He inched forward, the tips of his sneakers clipping the tips of mine.

Was it just me or was it getting hot in here? My thought process was melting like butter. The world shadowed around me. I could hear my heart thrumming in my chest, and I wondered if he could hear it to.

I felt like I was slipping away.

But I couldn’t slip away. I needed to remember all the lies he’d told. I needed to not lose myself. But his eyes were locked on mine, and I could feel my self-control disappearing.

He put his hand on my cheek. Every inch of my body firecrackered with sparks. It was like the freaking Fourth of July in here, all hot and sparkly. The ceiling lights flickered on, then back off again. Alex shut his eyes and leaned in. Um…was he going to do what I think he was going to do? No. There was no way—His lips brushed against mine. I froze, unsure of what to do, but then my instincts took over. I let my eyelids close and fell into the kiss.

“Alex! What are you doing?!”

Both our eyes shot open. Alex stepped back with a deer-in-the-headlights look. I stayed where I was with my back pressed against the cold metal of the door.

The lights were on and Aislin was standing at the front of the bus, her eyes wide. “What the heck is going on?!”

Alex stared at me with those beautiful green eyes of his as he traced his finger across his lips. The lips that had just been touching mine.

Holy crap.

He broke his gaze away from me and turned to face her. “Why would you think something was going on?”

Aislin placed her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes on him. “Alex, you should know better than to be doing something like this.”

What was she talking about? Him kissing me? Okay, I seriously wanted to get off the bus now. “Um, yeah, I think I’m going to go back outside.”

Alex’s arm came down in front of me. “No, you’re not.”

“Um, yes, I am.” I tried to push his arm out of the way, but he was too strong. “You can’t make me stay here.”

“Of course I can,” he said.

He wasn’t even looking at me, but I was pretty sure he could feel the burning death glare I was giving him by the way he shifted his weight.

“Alex, I really think—” Aislin began.

Alex held up his hand. “Aislin, just be quiet.”

She glared furiously at him, but her mouth stayed shut.

He turned back to me. “Now what did you see outside?”

I folded my arms across my chest. “Nothing.”

“That’s bull.” He was getting mad. I could tell by the way his skin was tingeing pink. However, when he spoke, his voice sounded absolutely calm. “Just tell me please.”

I thought I felt a chill slither down my spine. But figuring it was from the cold, I shrugged it off and shook my head. “No.”

He took a deep breath and said softly, “Please. I swear you can trust me.”

I could feel myself falling again—falling into his eyes. Maybe I could tell him about everything…about the monsters….about me…the chill slithered down my back again, this time feeling very slimy and very snake-like. I shuttered. “What is that?”

He furrowed his eyebrows. “What’s what?”

“It feels like there’s something slimy and cold on my back,” I told him, running my fingers along the back of my coat.

His gaze moved to over my shoulder, and his eyes widened in horror.

“What?” I followed his gaze and my heart stopped.  Frost, webbing its way across the back door. “What the—” I shot my attention to the side widows. Ice was covering them too. My foggy breath laced out in front of me. The air suddenly felt very heavy.

The air suddenly felt like death.