Laylen wandered away from us and started fiddling around with a set of black and blue ceramic boxes on a nearby shelf. Electric sparks started kissing at my body, moving from the tips of my toes to the top of my head. It wasn’t too hot or too strong, and I had to admit, I liked the way it made me feel, even though I knew I shouldn’t. There were small, fleeting moments like this where I could relax and soak up the tingling sensation on my skin. But I wondered if there would ever be a time where I could just freely enjoy it. Or freely enjoy my life? Would I ever just be normal? Maybe after I stopped this apocalyptic-end-of-the-world thing from happening, I just might be able to.

Maybe.

But what was even going to happen to me after I stopped the end of the world from happening? It had never been made clear to me. Nothing had been made clear to me, not really.

“Can I ask you something?” I asked Alex.

He fixed his gaze on a tiny black stone inside the counter. “Depends on what it is, I guess.”

I shook my head. I highly doubted he was going to give me a straight answer—or an answer at all—but I had to at least try, right? I took a deep breath and quickly threw my question out there. “What happens to me after the portal closes?”

Okay, so I’d learned from past experiences with Alex that he was a good actor. He could lie like a real pro.  Pretend to be something he wasn’t. Manipulate my thoughts. So when his face drained of all its color, my heart virtually stopped. Whatever the answer was, it had to be horrible.

“What is it?” My words rushed out of me in a panic.

He shook his head, his skin still very pale. “Gemma, I’m not sure we should be talking about this right now.”

“What do you mean you don’t think we should talk about this right now?” I stomped my foot on the floor—yes, like a two year-old, but considering the circumstances, I think it was totally called for. “Just tell me.”

“I’d rather not,” he said flatly.

“Well, I’d rather you did,” I retorted.

“No, this isn’t something we should be discussing right now.”

And that’s when I knew it.  I was never going to be normal. I was never going to be able to enjoy things, be happy, and do whatever I wanted with my life. Why? Because I was never going to have a life. The portal was going to kill me. “I’m going to die, aren’t I?”

“I don’t know.” He hesitated. “No one knows really. You could just go back to normal or….” He drifted off.

“Or I could die,” I finished for him.

He didn’t answer, but he was looking everywhere else except at me.

Freaking out, I whirled around on my heels, preparing to make a mad dash for the door, but my elbow bumped into something cold and hard. The Foreseers crystal ball. It bounced off the stand, rolled off the counter, and hit the floor with a loud clank.

“Crap,” I said. Without even thinking, I bent down to swipe it up.

Alex and Laylen yelled, “No!”

As my fingers grazed the glass, I felt my body being pulled. And then I was spiraling down a dark tunnel.

Chapter 21

The fall seemed endless, like I’d been sucked into a bottomless abyss. Fear set in as I realized that a bottomless abyss might be exactly what this was—a giant hole with no ending. Of course, if there was a bottom, and I hit it at the speed I was falling at then…Well, I didn’t want to think about it right now.

Below my feet, I saw a white light twinkling through the blackness. As I plunged closer to it, it began to shimmer brighter and brighter, eventually becoming so bright I had to shut my eyes or else I might go blind. Warmth blanketed around me, and I sucked in a breath as my feet hit the ground hard.

I toppled forward, landing face first onto a surface that felt scratchy and dry like grass. I quickly leapt to my feet. Yep, sure enough, the scratchy, dry surface was grass, and I had a mouth full of it.

I spat a few times, clearing out my mouth. My head was throbbing and where my stitches were ached. Worried I’d torn them open, I lifted up the bottom of my shirt and carefully peeled back the bandage. My skin looked red and swollen, but there was no blood and the stitches still seemed to be holding my skin together.

I pressed the bandaged back down and glanced around, seeing if I could recognize my surroundings. Bright orange and pink leaves danced through air, and the wind whispered against my hair. Tall trees trimmed a translucent lake. The place felt strangely familiar, like I’d been here before but couldn’t quite remember when. It was the same feeling I’d experience when I’d been sucked away back at the field trip.

Back before all hell had broken loose.

For a moment, I just stood there, soaking in the sunshine and breathing in the cool fall air. Then suddenly it dawned on me. I’d obviously gotten sucked into the Foreseers ball like Alex had warned might happen. He’d also warned me that I could get stuck inside it. All of my calmness was ripped away in the blink of an eye.

Okay. Okay. Don’t panic. Yeah, that was easier said than done. I gazed around frantically, crossing my fingers that somehow a magical door would materialize out of thin air. Magic existed, right? So why couldn’t I just conjure up a door. Because I’m not witch, that’s why. And, of course, no door ever appeared.

That’s when I really started freaking out.

“Help!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. “Someone! Anyone!”

Tears stung the corners of my eyes. Great. Now I was crying. I hated to think it, but not being able to feel right now would have come in real handy, because I was becoming hysterical. And being all frantic and crazed wasn’t going to get me anywhere.

I took a deep breath and tried to relax. Okay, you can do—

A stream of purple whipped past me. I jumped back, my hand pressing against my heart, my breath fumbling to regain its steadiness. My gaze darted after the purple blur, and I realized it wasn’t a blur but a little girl wearing a purple dress. She had to be around four or five years old. Her long brown hair whipped in the wind as she stood at the edge of the lake, staring out at the water.

Unsure of how a Foreseer vision’s worked, I approached her cautiously. Would I be able to communicate with her? God, I hoped so.

“Excuse me.” I went to tap her on the shoulder, but my hand slipped through her like I’d just tried to touch a ghost. Great. I raised the volume of my voice. “Hello!”

Nothing. The girl just stood there, completely unfazed by my loudness as she stared out at the lake.

Great. Now what? If I couldn’t communicate with anyone, then how was I ever going to figure a way out of here?

The little girl started twirling in circles, and I gasped as I caught sight of her face. It was all hazy, like bad reception on a television screen. I blinked my eyes and rubbed them with the heels of my hands, but the haze stayed.

“Don’t get too close to the lake,” a voice called out from behind me.

I spun around just as a boy ran past me.  He looked a few years older than the little girl and had dark brown hair.  His face was hazed over as well.

“You need to be careful or you might fall in,” he warned.

“Don’t worry,” the little girl replied, teeter-tottering near the edge of the water. “I won’t fall in.”

“Please just move away,” he begged, his hand extended out to her. “You don’t know how to swim.”

She took hold of his hand, and he guided her away from the lake.

I was having another weird déjà vu moment, just like I’d had when I’d disappeared into the field during the fieldtrip. The peoples’ faces had been blurry then too. So what did that mean?  Were the two linked somehow?  This had to be a vision, and the fieldtrip thingy…well, I didn’t know what that was. It couldn’t have been a vision, though. How could it have been? It wasn’t like I’d touched a Foreseer’s ball.

“You two get over here right now!” A man barked from somewhere behind me.

His voice made the atmosphere alter into a-graveyard-in-the-middle-of-the-night kind of setting. The kind of setting that makes the hair on your arms stand on end, and your stomach churn.

Before I could even turn around, the man appeared beside me. He was tall, husky, and had jet black hair similar to Marco’s. He wore a black button down shirt, grey slacks, and a gold chain dangled around his neck. His face was also hazy.

I quickly caught on that he was intimidating with the way he shook at my nerves. Even the kids seemed to back away from him.

“It’s time to go,” his voice iced out. “Go inside and pack your stuff.”

“Where am I going?” the little girl asked, gripping tightly to the little boy’s hand like her life depended on it.

“That’s none of your business!” the man roared.

Even though I couldn’t see the girls face, I knew she had to of flinched. I flinched. The fear that he might actually hurt the two of them howled through me. And what was I supposed to do if he did? Stand by and watch helplessly?

I heard the soft treading of approaching footsteps. Then a figure rushed by me. It was a woman with long brown hair and a face as hazy as the others.

She swept the little girl up in her arms and hugged her protectively. “You stay away from her!” she shouted at the man.

Her presence brought warmth that mixed with the chill the man sent out. The two combined created a mixture of emotions that buzzed through the air and made me nauseous.

“This is not your decision,” the man rumbled at the women. “You knew when she was born things like this may have to happen.”

“Mommy, I’m scared,” the girl whispered.

The woman—the mother smoothed back the little girl’s hair and kissed her on the forehead. “It’s going to be okay. You don’t need to be scared. I promise I won’t let anything happen to you.”

The man laughed the kind of laugh that sent fear soaring through my body. “I’d like to see you try.” He turned to the little boy. “Go inside, right now.”

The boy didn’t move.

“Now!” The man ordered.

“Yes, father.” The boy’s voice shook. He treaded up a hill, heading toward a castle-like building made of grey stone and tall towers. Where the building had come from, who knew?

After the boy disappeared inside the castle, the man turned back to the woman. “Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

She stood defiantly, holding the little girl tightly in her arms. “You’re not taking her anywhere. She’s my daughter, not yours.”

“So it’s going to be the hard way, then.” He lunged at the woman and snatched the little girl away.

The woman desperately fought to get her back, tearing and clawing at the man’s arms.

The girl reached for her mother, kicking and screaming with all her might. “I want to stay with you! Don’t let him take me!”

It didn’t matter, though. Their efforts were useless. The man stood strong, entirely unaffected by their attempts. And when he plucked a small black bag out of his pocket, the woman froze. Silence choked the air, and I could hear my heart thudding.