“Huh?” Alex and I say at the same time.
She ruthlessly grins as she swings our arms back and forth between us. “It’ll take a lot of skill. Seeing things quicker than the human eye and placing all of us in the right spot. One false move and we’ll be stuck in either the future or the past. Maybe forever.”
“Sounds pretty simple to me,” I say sarcastically.
She shrugs again, as though she doesn’t care about anything, and it makes me want to bawl my eyes out. “I told you it was hard.” She rubs her hand across her face. “Honestly, we’d be better off here anyways, rotting in our own heads.”
“No fucking way. I’d rather die.” I summon a deep breath. “I’m going to try it.”
“This is a bad idea,” Alex says as I lace my fingers through his and tug him closer. “Using your power like this… it’s too risky and unknown.”
A scream rings through the air and we all flinch, glancing at the door in panic.
“It’s more risky staying down here.” I cup the side of his neck and guide him closer as my mom holds my hand from behind me. “Now kiss me.”
His brows furrow as I lean in and crash my lips against his. I channel every emotion he instills in me as I taste him and let his tongue feel mine. I feel a gentle tug, but it’s not enough. I need something more powerful—something I’ve never felt before.
I pull away and Alex opens his eyes when the high-pitched shrieks of the Fey grow louder as they get closer to the cell.
“I need something more,” I say, my eyes glued to the doorway, my pulse hammering with fear. I bet the Water Fey can sense it. I bet they’re devouring it as they search for us. “I need to feel something new; that’s when it’s most intense.”
Alex rakes his free hand through his hair, leaving his arm on the back of his neck, his elbow bent upward. “What haven’t you felt yet?”
“I don’t know,” I say, ignoring my mother’s laughs of hysteria. “I felt so many already.”
He swallows hard, his hand falling to the side. The screams of the Water Fey quake around the room and the vines are starting to revive, turning back to a healthy shade of green. They’re close and so is the Queen. If I don’t get us out of here, then we’re doomed just like my mom said.
“How about this.” Alex puts a hand on the side of my face and gazes deep into my eyes. His chest rises and falls with his ragged breath and his pulse throbs though his fingertips. “Gemma, I love you.”
I’m not sure if he means it, if they’re just desperate words or not. The idea of love scares the hell out of me, though.
It’s not the reaction I was expecting, but it does the trick. As a new brand of fear emerges in me, one based on something that’s potentially good, but also terrifying, the prickle stabs the back of my neck. The electricity devours my soul, fractures it open, and leaves it vulnerable and exposed. Alex leans forward to kiss me, feeding the sensation even more. The longer we kiss, the more energy develops between us; until I feel like I’m going to erupt like a volcano full of liquid hot magma. Then I let my mind see what it needs to.
I picture myself sitting on the bed in the room at the beach house, the ocean right outside. I let myself see it happen, us dropping right into the place, safely in the middle of the room with the sunlight spilling through the windows and open doors.
Then I jump a second back and drop us into the world, praying to God I’ve got it right.
Chapter 29
This isn’t how I pictured my reunion with my mom. Maybe it was a delusional thought process, but I’d imagined more hugs and happy tears. Instead I get insane laughter and looks of disdain as well as loathing.
Things only get worse the second I drop us down into the bedroom of the beach house. I land on my ass on the bed and Alex lands across from me still holding my hand.
“Where’s my mom,” I say, uncrossing my legs and pushing to my feet. I spring off the bed, the ashes of the curtains still scattered all over the comforter and floor, and spot her lifelessly laying just to the side of a large metal trunk. I drop down on my knees beside her. Her eyes are sealed shut, her skin lined with veins that contrast with her pale skin. She’s breathing, but barely.
“No… no… no… no…” I shake my head in denial. She looks like she’s sleeping, even when I lift her head up and place it on my lap.
Alex crouches down beside me and for a second he just looks at me. I wonder if he’s thinking about how he said he loved me. Did he mean it? Why did he do it?
“Is she going to be okay?” I ask him, forcing him to focus on the bigger problem.