I drop out of the sky, like a bird with a broken wing, with no control over my landing. My feet crash into the ground and sink into the dirt. I trip forward, my knees bending, and roll my ankle to the side.
I hop forward, trying to shake it off. "One of these times, I'm going to break apart."
"Are you alright?" Nicholas settles beside me and swiftly grabs ahold of my hand.
I tug my hand out of his and put weight on my sore ankle. Traveling by crystal is going to end up killing me with all the injuries I've been getting. "I'm fine. I'm just not very good at landing."
"You'll get the hang of it, eventually," he says. "In fact, I could give you private lessons."
I shake my head and hobble forward toward the lake that's rippling in the soft breeze. "No, thanks." I shield my eyes and turn in a circle, taking in the green grass, the leaves dancing across the land and the castle looming in the distance. "So, what do I do now?"
"You wait until the vision starts." His sneakers scuff the dirt as he hurries to my side. "You'll have to tell me when it does, though, so I can help you see it clearly."
"You can't see when it starts?"
"It's your vision, so only you can see it. That's the way things work."
I motion at the trees around the lake. "What does this look like to you?"
His shoulder presses against mine and the scent of lilacs, forest and rain invade my nostrils. "Everything looks grey," he breathes. "There's a little haze and color here and there, but most of it is distorted."
I'm about to knee him in the leg to get him to back off when a streak of purple whizzes by us. The little girl dances and spins in the sand near the lake, her long, brown hair blowing in the wind.
"Okay, it's starting." I move away from Nicholas and hike toward the shore.
"What do you see?" he calls out.
"A girl dancing in front of a lake."
"Can you see her face?"
I shake my head. "It's as blurry as it was the first time I saw the vision."
"Then you need to focus harder," he says simply, trailing behind me.
Like it's that simple. I glance over my shoulder at him. "Focus harder on what? The images?"
He gives me a look that puts me on edge and then he struts up behind me. His fingers enfold around my upper arms and I start to step forward, but he lures me back. "Right now, your mind is trying to adjust to the power of the crystal, but it can't quite figure out how to get completely there. The first thing you need to do is relax."
I try to overlook the flowery aroma and focus on relaxing. My mind searches for something that will make me calm. Laylen's face appears in my head, but then it shifts to Alex. But Alex doesn't make me calm. At all. He makes me uneasy, irrational and just plain insane. At the moment, though, seeing his green eyes settles my unstable pulse so I latch onto the image of him. "Okay, I'm relaxed."
"Good, now let your mind focus. The images are already in your head, but you haven't connected them to what you're seeing yet." His fingers creep up to my shoulders like little spiders. "Have you ever looked at one of those magic eye pictures before?"
My shoulders stiffen under his touch. "Uh, yeah, I think so? In school, once, when I was a kid."
"This is kind of like looking at one of those." He begins to massage circles on my skin. "Relax your eyes and let your mind make sense of the images."
Jerking my shoulders upward, I shrug off his hands and concentrate on the images. The boy has raced up to the girl and is guiding her away from the lake. Their faces are hazy, so I hold onto the image of Alex and it relaxes my eyes and unwinds my body. A tunnel starts to form and the trees and lake begin to blur into colors and shapeless images. Slowly, the girl's face alters like a lens on a camera. It's coming into focus—
The man strides up the hills toward the shoreline and darkness sweeps across the land. The calm drains from my body and smothers my concentration with it.
"Shit," I mutter.
"What's wrong?" Nicholas asks.
"I almost had it and then this man appeared and he ruined my concentration."
"Don't look at him then. Try to pretend he's not there."
Easier said than done. I know what the man does—how evil he is. I return my line of concentration to the boy and cling onto the image of Alex again. The tunnel gradually shapes into a tornado, swirling around until it peaks at the bottom. The boy's features began to surface through the haze, but before I can link the image to my mind, the tunnel snaps back as the woman sprints up to the man.
"What happens if I can't do it?" I ask with discouragement. "Then, what am I supposed to do?"
"You can do it," he insists, still hovering over my shoulder. "All you have to do is catch a glimpse of each of their faces and, in the end; your mind will connect the pieces together."
"And what if I can't see all of their faces before the vision ends?"
He lets out a hushed chuckle. "Then I guess I'll have to keep you down here until you do."
Determination washes away my discouragement and I avert my attention back to the vision. The boy is heading back to the castle. Shoving anything related to stress out of my head, I relax and the tunnel develops again. Bits and pieces shift like a puzzle being put together and the haze begins to fade away. He has green eyes that match the leaves and grass, brown hair, and a sad look on his face. What a minute. That can't be... no there's no way.
As he disappears into the castle, I fling my concentration to the man, who is yanking the girl from the woman's arms. I focus on nothing else, except piecing together the girl's face. My head is pounding, but I refuse to look away. Seconds later, the tunnel spins and the blurriness crumples.
My jaw drops to the ground. Her eyes... The color... Violet. "It can't be," I mutter, slowly walking towards them. "It's not possible."
But no matter how many times I blink, she looks the same and a painful revelation slams against my chest. The girl is me. It makes no sense, though. I can't remember this happening. Besides I thought I was supposed to see the future, not the past.
The woman—my mother, starts to back down the hill to the lake, and I will my legs to move and chase after her. Suddenly solving the vision is much more important than anything else in my life.
"Hey! Where are you going?!" Nicholas shouts after me.
The tunnel zooms onto my mother's face; bright blue irises, a warm smile, snow-white skin. I think of the picture I found. As beautiful as she was in the picture, she's a hundred times more beautiful in person. It's all making sense now, pieces connecting, and the weight of it sends me to my knees.
Tears stream down my cheeks as I watch her get dragged beneath the water and the man leaves her, walking back up the hill. He has a sickening grin on his face, a scar on his cheek and hair as dark as the night sky. I grab onto every little detail I can. I hate this man, and I have to figure out who he is. I hate him with so much passion that it makes everything else inside me numb. I will kill him one day, like he killed my mom—I will make him pay.
"What the heck happened? What did you see?" Nicholas asks as the image of the man fades into the grass.
"Nothing." I suck back the tears and stare out at the dark, still water. "It wasn't important."
"It had to be something important since you're all worked up."
"I'm fine," I tell him and get my feet under me. "But can you answer one question?"
His mouth turns upward into a pleased grin. "Sure."
"Is it possible to see a vision that takes place in the past?"
"Yeah, but it's not very common, since there really isn't much point in seeing the past," He pauses, contemplating. "So I'm guessing your vision took place in the past?"
"Yeah, I think so...." I trail off, recollecting everything I've seen and how much it hurts, deep inside my chest. "Can we just go back now? The vision's over."
He eyes me over with his golden eyes. "I know it is. I can see everything now that the vision is complete. It's a beautiful place, by the way. Well, minus the Keepers' castle."
"This is the Keepers' castle?" Alex had mentioned that the lake was the entrance to the Underworld, but he never said anything about the castle belonging to the Keepers. Why would he keep that from me?
He thrums his finger on his chin. "I thought you would have known that since you're a Keeper."
I disregard his question because I have no idea if I'm a Keeper or if he's supposed to think I am one. "Can we go back now?"
"What did you see?" He eludes my question and strides toward me. "Was there a purpose to it?"
"I don't know." There's a personal purpose to it, but the bigger picture is unclear. Something is tugging at the back of my mind, but it won't emerge. "Is there supposed to be purpose to every vision? Is that maybe the reason why I saw it?"
"Sometimes, but not always. Normally, Foreseers use the crystal to see a vision that has a purpose." He tucks his hands into the pockets of his pants. "But your vision was started by accident, so maybe there's a reason you saw it, and maybe not. And maybe that's why you saw a vision from the past."
I know there's a reason I saw it. It's not just about me watching what happened to my mother. I'm remembering it too, when it first happened, something I've never been able to do before. "Please take me back." I hold out my hand for him to take.
"Are you sure you want to go back? We can stay here a little bit longer... Get to know each other a little better." He moves toward me and I back away toward the trees.
"What the hell is your problem?" I ask as my back brushes against the trunk of a tree. "Don't you know when someone's not interested?"
"Oh, come on, Gemma." He reaches above me and his hand comes down to the side of my head. Autumn leaves fall from the branches and shower down over our heads. "Let's stay here for a while and enjoy the seclusion."
I maintain a firm voice. "There's no reason for me to stick around here. Now, please, take me back."
His mouth curves into a devious grin, then as quick as a flick of a firefly he leans forward and presses his lips to mine and his hand comes up to my breast.
I shove him back and slap him across the face. "Don't you ever touch me without permission again."
He rubs his cheek. "Feisty." He grins.
I march forward and lean into his face, stabbing my finger roughly against his chest. "If you don't take me back now, I'll show you how feisty I can be."
"Relax. I'll take you back." He lowers his hand from his face and there's a handprint on his cheek. He links arms with me and steers me back toward the hill. "But can I just say that you're a little nervous for a Keeper?"
But I'm not a Keeper. I'm just a confused girl stuck in a world that doesn't make sense. I feel the now- familiar pull bringing me back to the normal world; I shut my eyes and let myself go.
A little girl laughs as she runs around a tree and her fingers snag at the leaves on the low branches. "You can't catch me. You can't catch me."
A little boy with green eyes and dark brown hair chases after her. "Wanna bet?"
They both laugh as the girl runs out from behind a tree and sprints across the grass into a field of violet flowers. Her violet eyes blend with the flowers in the field and there's freedom in the way she runs, like she has no burdens bearing down on her shoulders; no fallen star, claiming hold of her heart. The boy dashes after her, moving faster. As he nears her, she stops in the center of the field and reels toward him. Her eyes sparkle as she considers something, then she races toward him and throws her arms around his neck.
He catches her and they both laugh. "You're really on one today, aren't you? But that's okay. I'm having fun."
She smiles brightly. "You're my best friend in the whole-wide world, Alex."
When I open my eyes, my feet are planted back on the podium in front of the empty throne with Nicholas at my side. The sky above looks a little darker and the blades of glass a little sharper, like the scenery has slightly altered. Or maybe it's my perception? Alex is sitting at the foot of the throne and a thousand emotions rush across his face at once as he rises to his feet. "Are you okay?" he asks me.
I look into his eyes that match the little boy's eyes in the vision. You've known all along. "I'm fine."
Nicholas frees my hand from his sweaty grip, saunters up next to the throne, and takes a seat in it. "Everything looks smaller from up here."
Alex rolls his eyes. "That's just what the Foreseers' need—someone like you in charge."
Nicholas props his foot up on his knee, grips onto the armrest and raises his chin. "I think it would be one of the smartest moves they could ever make."
"I'm ready to go," I interrupt them. "I don't want to be here anymore."
Nicholas shakes his head as he stands up from the throne. "And if I was in charge, I would have never let you go." He steps down beside me. "Because you have a lot of power, Gemma. You just don't know it yet."
I don't know a lot of things yet, but I have a feeling I will, soon enough, because the truth is catching up with me, like a rushing wave ready to crash onto the idle sand of a beach.
