The Hidden Gemstone

Chapter: 29

Alex's POV:

The jet was easily as comfortable as my room.

It wasn't huge, but it provided more than enough space for the four of us to get comfortable. Inside, the cabinets held all the luxuries - maybe more - required for a trip to Hawaii, including food, clothes - both masculine and feminine - toiletries, and a few other items. There was a portable charger into which the four of us took turns plugging our phones.

I was suddenly grateful for all those luxuries as I realized that none of us had packed for the trip that lay ahead. Of course, we didn't intend on staying long, but we also didn't know how much time the search would take. If we were lucky, we might be back on the same day.

If we weren't... well, it would probably be best if I didn't go down that road.

It had been about half an hour since we took off, and I hadn't spoken a word since then. The others hadn't pushed me either. As I stared out of the window, my mind kept going back to the vision, and my efforts did little to bring it back. Eventually, I gave up.

I'd been thinking of the vision for too long when Cody came to sit beside me. I was aware of his every movement, but I didn't look at him. And I wasn't going to, but the sound of his voice changed my mind.

"Listen, I know you're probably having a hard time processing... whatever happened back there," he said. "But we can't help you unless you tell us what actually happened."

I searched his face and found nothing but genuine concern and curiosity. Sighing, I turned away from the window and faced Zoe and Elijah who were sitting across from me, looking at me with the same expression Cody was.

"I don't know exactly what it was," I admitted. "But I saw some horrible things. And then I saw Dina. She told me that it was... the vision of a world without me." The sound of that phrase still felt strange, but I had no other way of describing what I saw.

"When you say a world without you," Zoe said, her brows drawn taut. "Do you mean a world where-"

"No one knows who I am," I finished. "Better yet, a world where I don't exist."

Silence fell over us as the three of them exchanged glances with each other. After a long moment, Cody cleared his throat and angled his body toward mine. "What exactly did you see, sunshine?"

I sighed inaudibly. I didn't want to say it all out loud, but they deserved an explanation as to why I blacked out. "I was in a wasteland. It was like a bomb had detonated. All around me..." I proceeded to tell them the whole story, trying hard to roll the words swiftly off my tongue without them getting stuck in my throat.

When I was finished, they were all looking at me with wide eyes, full of horror. I looked away, not being able to look them in the eye.

"So, what you're saying is," Elijah said, "without you, we're toast?"

"Pretty much," I answered, staring at my hands. I didn't want them to think their lives depended on me, but how couldn't they? After all, that was exactly what Dina told me.

The survival of your people rests on your shoulders.

I shuddered at the thought of holding that kind of responsibility, that kind of burden. I couldn't save them, even if I tried. I wasn't capable of doing so. I didn't even trust myself in a fight without nearly bleeding myself to death.

Then I thought of what Emma said after she patched up my wounds.

You have a team, Alex. You're not alone.

You deserve those three as much as they deserve you.

I glanced at each of them one by one, and my gaze lingered on Cody for a moment too long. He was staring into nothingness, probably processing the scene I'd explained. His blue eyes were intense, and the longer I looked at the ocean in them, the easier it was for me to forget how they looked when he was dying.