Balancing the little girl in one arm, he dangled the bag in front of the woman. “Now, like I said, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” whispered the woman.

“Wouldn’t I?” He looked down at the little girl in his arms. “Hey sweetie, how would you like to go for a swim in the lake?”

The girl hovered back. “But I can’t swim.”

“You’ll be fine,” the man coaxed. “Someone will be there to help you.”

“Knock it off!” screamed the woman, clenching her hands into fists. “I know you’re bluffing. You need her too much.”

The man laughed wickedly, making the hairs on my arms stand on end. “There are ways to get her back when I need her. She’d probably be better off down there anyway until its time.”

The woman’s breathing faltered. “Please don’t do this. Please.”

The man laughed again. “Oh, I won’t just as long as you get into the lake yourself.”

Go in the lake! Why! What was he going to do to her? Try and drown her?

I felt sick.

“You’ll never get away with this.” Her voice was edging near a sob. “I know the real reason why you want her, and sooner or later, someone else is going to figure it out. You’ll never be able to get away with it.”

“Oh, I highly doubt it. I have everyone wrapped around my little finger.” He set the girl down on the ground, pointed his finger at the castle, and ordered the little girl to, “Go inside.”

The little girl didn’t budge.

“Go!” The man hollered.

Again she didn’t budge. She was brave a one, because I’m pretty sure I’d have been running for my life by now.

“Go ahead honey,” her mother urged in a soothing voice. “It’s alright. I’ll be okay.”

It took the girl a second, but she finally walked away, casting one last glance back at her mother before starting up the hill toward the castle.

My heart broke for the little girl and the mother. Somehow—and I don’t know how—I knew it would be the last time they’d see each other. She’d grow up motherless, perhaps even hating the people who’d be chosen to raise her. There’d forever be an empty hole resting in her heart.

“Now it’s time to deal with you,” the man said turning back to the woman.  He let a pause drag out, like he was trying to instill fear with his silence. “Get in the lake. Now.”

No. No. No. No. No. There was no way he was really going to throw her in the lake. No. He couldn’t. Could he?

“You’ve been planning this all along, haven’t you?” Her voice quivered. “Every single word that’s come out of your mouth has been nothing but a lie.”

“You know me very well,” he said. “Now quit stalling and get into the lake.”

Shaking her head, she backed up toward the water. The man followed after her, matching her every step.

I chased after them, desperately wishing I could do something to stop the man from forcing the woman into the lake. I still wasn’t sure what was going to happen when she got into the lake, but it had to be something very bad. My gut instinct was telling me so.

“You’re wrong about not getting caught.” She’d reached the brink of the lake, the waves rolling up against the heels of her feet. “There are people who you don’t have wrapped around your finger.”

“Then I’ll have to take care of them as well.” He tugged open the black bag, scooped out a handful of something that looked like ash, and sprinkled it into the lake, making the water cloud a dark grey.

“Don’t think you’ve won.” She raised her chin high and stepped back, submerging her legs into the water. “Someday it will all catch up with you.”

Another few steps and the water was waist deep on her. The lake lay dead calm, like the calm before the storm. Then came the loud swoosh! Water splashed up and she plunged down.

I let out a blood curdling scream.

The man turned his back on the drowning woman and strolled away, whistling some funky tune that sounded like a combination between “It’s a Small Word After All” and “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.”

Without even thinking, I ran into the water, forcing myself to go farther and farther as the cold water ascended higher and higher. But when it reached waist deep on me, I realized two things: 1) Like the little girl, I couldn’t swim, and 2) I couldn’t actually touch the woman, so how was I supposed to save her?

Shortly after these thoughts crossed my mind, a third reason why I shouldn’t have gone into the water dawned on me. Because, obviously, there was something wrong with the lake. Why I hadn’t thought of this before was beyond me. I’d heard the swish. I’d seen the splash. Heck, I’d seen the man dump some creepy ashy stuff into it.

I should have known better than to go running into it.

But I didn’t, and it was too late now. A bony hand had already grabbed me by the ankle and was trying to jerk me beneath the water. I kicked and screamed and fought with every ounce of strength I had, but whatever the hand belong to was strong. It pulled me under the ice-cold water and kept dragging me deeper and deeper down. I couldn’t see a thing. My oxygen supply was dwindling.So this is what it feels like to die was the last thought I had before I blacked out.

Chapter 22

I gasped for air as my eyes shot open. Purple walls and glass counters surrounded me. I was back at Adessa’s.  I’d made it. I wasn’t dead. My skin was dry. My feet were planted firmly to the checkerboard tile. The Foreseer’s Crystal Ball was cupped in my hand.

“Ah!” I shrieked and dropped the ball. It hit the ground hard, causing it to crack down the center.

“Gemma.”

I looked away from the broken ball and found Alex standing right next to me, his green eyes wider than usual, his mouth set in a worried line.

Behind him stood Laylen, with the same worried expression on his face.

I breathed heavily. “What the heck happened?”

“What do you mean what the heck happened? You touched the Foreseer’s ball after I told you not to.” His voice, although full of anger, slightly shook.

“It was an accident,” I snapped. “I didn’t mean to touch that—that—” I waved my hand at the broken Foreseer ball.  “Thing.”

All three of us stared down at it. Water was seeping out through the crack, forming a puddle on the floor.

“Well, what happened?” Alex asked, his voice a little calmer now, but he still looked concerned.

What happened? Well, let me see. I got sucked into a tunnel, hit my face on the ground, and watched a woman get murdered. All I got to come out of my mouth, though, was, “I-I…”

“Did you go into a vision?” Alex asked, speaking slowly like I was incompetent.

“Yeah. I mean, at least I think I did.”

“And you were able to come back,” he stated with amazement.

A loud crash suddenly echoed through the room. Scaring me half to death, I jumped and ended up ramming my shoulder into Alex’s chest.

“Sorry.” Laylen apologized as he swept up a black ceramic candlestick he’d apparently knocked onto the floor.

I let my breathing slow down. Man, I was getting jumpy. But really, could you blame me?

“I’m going to take her outside, and see if I can get her to calm down.” Alex told Laylen.

Laylen nodded, and Alex led me to the front door. He made me wait there while he checked inside the GTO to make sure everything was safe. Once he gave me the go ahead, I went outside, and we climbed in the back seat of the car.

Both of us were quiet for awhile, the night spilling through the cab of the car. I could barely see anything, which did nothing for my nerves.

“So what did you see?”  Alex finally asked.

“Um…” I fumbled for some sort of words that could explain the horrible scene I’d just been forced to watch.  “Something….You know, I’m not sure I really want to talk about it.”

“Well, you have to,” he said. “If you saw a vision, I need to know what happened. It’s important.”

I massaged the sides of my temples and sighed. “Fine.”

I gave a recap of every detail I could remember about the vision. Of course, I couldn’t describe what the people looked like, since their faces had been blurred over. And none of them had said any names, so the chance of us being able to figure out who the people where were slim to none.

“You know you were really lucky, right?” Alex asked me when I’d finished.

“Lucky how?” Did he not get that I’d just witness a woman being murdered?

“Well, for starters, you were lucky you even made it back. I’ve heard stories about people getting stuck inside visions and never returning. And you were also lucky you didn’t get captured by the Water Faerie.”

“Water Faerie,” I repeated, mystified. “What’s a Water Faerie?”

“It’s what pulled both you and the woman down in the lake. Water Faeries are the Guardian’s of The Underworld.”

“The Underworld?” I said “As in the place where the Greeks believed people went after they died.”

“Kind of.” He seemed hesitant to embellish on the subject, but I wasn’t going to let him get away with keeping anymore secrets from me. Not this time. Not after what I’d just witness.

“Tell me,” I demanded. “Or I’ll just go ask Laylen to explain it to me.”

I thought that might make him angry, but instead, he just stared at me with what I thought looked like a trace of hurt in his bright green eyes. What he’d be hurt about, though, I had no idea. I’d probably just imagined it or something.

“Fine.” He threw his hands in the air, giving in, which shocked that crap out of me. “The Underworld is the land of the dead. It’s also a prison. After we—the Keepers capture someone like, say for instance, a vampire that had been on a killing spree, we sentence them to a life down in The Underworld as a form of punishment.”

I questioned whether he’d used a vampire as his example intentionally, as a way to get back at me for threatening to go ask Laylen if he didn’t start explaining things. “But why wouldn’t you just kill them instead. I mean, you killed that Death Walker. Why can’t you kill a vampire too?”

“Trust me, death is a milder punishment then getting sent down there. Most go insane from the torture after only a few weeks time.”

Something suddenly occurred to me. “Hold on just a second. Does that mean the woman I saw get dragged down into the lake is going to end up in the Underworld?”

“Maybe,” he answered reluctantly. “The Water Faeries usually don’t kill the people or the things they capture. They are under strict orders to take whatever they catch straight to the prison.”

“But why do they want prisoners?”

“Because they feed off their fear. It’s what keeps them thriving even in their dead form.”