“Yeah, but what’s the mark for?” I ask. “And why would his parents cut it off?”
Laylen swallows hard, his throat muscles bobbing up and down. “Maybe it was his Immortal mark… but I’m not sure. From what I know, you have to have some sort of supernatural blood in you to bear the mark; such as Vampire.” He glances down at the Mark of Immortality on his arm.
“Maybe he is something,” I tell him. “And he’s hiding it... maybe that’s what the mark is.” I pause, summoning the courage to ask. “What exactly does a red and black triangle represent.”
His face twists with puzzlement. “I have no idea. I’ve never heard of such a thing… why do you ask?”
“Well, I first saw it on Draven and then, when I blacked out, I saw it on me,” I tell him, my voice shaking with my nerves. “And then, just barely, when I was going out of the vision, Stephan stopped in front of me, touched the scar on his cheek, and told me I had one on me, too.” My hands tremble as I fear what this all might mean. “And when I looked down on my warm, it was there.”
“I’m not sure…” Laylen rubs his hand across his jawline, deliberating my words with worry lacing his demeanor. “Gemma, I honestly don’t remember seeing it on Draven, either.’
I touch my forearm. “He had it right there.”
“Maybe I missed it.” He sounds unconvinced, though, and it makes me uneasy, like he either thinks I’m crazy or is worried that there might be something wrong with me.
“It couldn’t be a symbol of Immortality, could it? Maybe it’s the one that makes him Immortal amongst the Immortals.”
“Maybe.”
I sit in silence, trying to figure out what it all means, not just with the symbol in question, but also with the future. The fact that Stephan wants to end the world, using me, and the fact that he can’t be killed… what other option does this leave me with except that I’ll end up being the person solely responsible for ending the world? And then what? I’ll either die in the frozen streets or be killed with the use of the star’s energy.
“Are you okay?” Laylen asks.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I sound hollow and I’m not sure why. Yes, I just saw the end of the world, but Alex has told me about it before this. Still, he made it seem possible that we could stop it and now it doesn’t seem realistic. I’m going to be the thing that makes it happen.
“Gemma, we’ll figure something out,” he assures me, brushing his finger across my jawline. “We’ll get to your mom and maybe she’ll know something… how to stop Stephan. I mean, he put her in the lake for a reason. I can have Aislin look around to see if we can figure out what kind of marks there are that would be bad enough that someone’s parents might cut it off.”
“I think I better get back to Nicholas and my training.” I stand up from the bed and trudge for the door.
“Gemma.” Laylen gets to his feet and trails behind me. “Are you sure you’re okay? You’ve been through a lot within the last few weeks. I’m worried you’re going to break apart.”
I force a tight smile, letting the hollowness seep into my body. “I’m fine,” I repeat and walk out. However, what I really want to say is that I think I’m already broken.
Chapter 14
I’ve started having this reoccurring nightmare, but it doesn’t just happen at night. It goes on during the day as well. In it, my mom is begging me to help her, save her from the treacherous place she’s been imprisoned in. Each time I can see The Underworld and what it looks like, a secret cave buried beneath the lake; a place sculpted out of rocks, mud, vines, and a home for water Fey that thrive on torturing. Every time I manage to make it there, to my mother, who’s trapped in chains and secured to a wall. Yet, as soon as I come close to reaching her, the triangular mark appears on my arm and, instead of saving her, I suddenly want to kill her.
When I wake up, I sometimes continue to feel the dark filling me.
This isn’t my only problem. I also have to deal with Nicholas who is a pain in the ass. It’s been two days of excruciating training, falling into and out of visions. I need a break from seeing things I don’t want to see and I need a break from perverted Faeries. What I really want is for this to all be over and I’m doing everything I can to make that happen, even if it means taking a risk or two.
Aislin and Laylen have been spending a lot of time together, looking through books and asking around about marks and the strange triangular symbol that no one seems to know about. Laylen even asked some of the Vampires if they knew that Draven had one and either they don’t know or are denying it.