She nodded, still preoccupied with the hall where people moved to and from class.
“They won’t even notice we’re here,” I said, trying to calm her down, because her jittering was rubbing off on me a little. “And if they do, they’ll think we’re new students or something.” 62
“I know,” she muttered and started down the hall, with her head down.
I suddenly realized what the problem was. She wasn’t scared of being caught. She was scared off being here, in the halls that had tormented her for almost four years.
I wasn’t sure what to say to her, really I didn’t think there weren’t any words that could take her ach away. So I did the only think I could think to do. I took her hand, entwining our fingers together. Her pulse was racing, but not from my touch. She clutched on, not wanting to let go.
But eventually, we’d have to.
“So this is what Iceland looks like?” She frowned at the computer screen. “I thought you said it wasn’t cold there.”
“No, I said it wasn’t as cold.” I tapped my finger at the screen. “There’s still snow.” She tilted her head to the side, examining the photo. “What do you think that little roads for?”
“I don’t know, but this is the best picture I could find,” I told her, “Plus there’s a lot of bare space around, so we don’t have to worry about anyone seeing us appear out of thin air.”
“And then what? We just roam around until we find the address? The place looks pretty big.”
“We’ll get a taxi or something.”
“Seems kind of amateur.” She pouted.
“Don t worry.” I gave her hair a playful tug. “I’m sure they’ll be plenty of times where we’ll need your wonderful Foreseer power.”
“Yeah, I guess.” She clicked the mouse on the print page button and then rolled back the chair to stand. As she waited impatiently for the printer to screen out the picture, I spotted the figure of a vaguely familiar blonde-haired girl walking toward me. Kelsey something or 63
another. Really, I didn’t get it. I didn’t know if it was just a girl thing or what, but she really seemed determined to make Gemma s life a living hell.
“Oh my God,” she exclaimed, springing up and down on her toes.
I turned my back on her, taking Gemma’s arm, and whispering, “Code red.” She stared at me like I was a lunatic.
Shaking my head, I snatched the picture from the printer and dashed for the door, towing her along with me.
“What are you doing?” She worked to keep up with me.
“We’ve been spotted,” I hissed, not wanting to draw attention.
Her violet eyes skimmed the room and then her lip twitched. I heard Kelsey yammering something, but I was already swinging through the door. Gemma didn’t follow. She froze in the doorway.
“What are you doing?” I asked, but she only stared straight ahead at the wall. Kelsey jaunted up, an evil look on her face as she narrowed her eyes at Gemma.
“Well look who —”
Gemma let the door swing shut right in her face, her nose smashing into the glass.
“Ready to go?” she asked, grazing past me as if nothing had happened.
“Yeah,” I said with surprise. “Let’s go to Iceland.”
64
Chapter 15
(Gemma)
It might have been a childish thing to do. Letting the glass door hit her in the face like that, but I just wanted one moment to cause her as much pain as she caused me, during my four years of High School hell.
Of course hers ended up being physical pain, not emotional. But I was okay with that.
I studied the photo of Iceland as we made our way around the back of the school where some of the stoners liked to hide out and smoke. But it wasn’t break time, so I knew it would be vacant. Out of the view of the school yard and windows, I knew it would be safe.
But when I ducked behind the garbage can, I was caught off guard by a vampire feeding… “Mr.
Sterling?”
Alex and I exchanged baffled looks and then Alex swiped a stick from the ground. The woman vampire with auburn hair, dark skin, and a triangle mark on her neck the Mark of Malefiscus kept draining the blood from my old astronomy teacher’s neck. Alex prowled like a predator behind her and with one quick motion, rammed the stick through the vampire’s chest. Her perfect body exploded into ashes, blackening the snow where she once stood.
From behind his glasses, Mr. Sterling’s large eyes blinked uncontrollably. “What happened… I don’t…” He cupped his hand around his bleeding neck and Alex’s guided him away from the garbage can.
“Go inside and tell the nurse you were cut,” he instructed.
Mr. Sterling nodded, bewildered as he staggered for the back door of the school.
“Ready?” Alex asked, eager not to waste more time.
65
I held the picture in one hand and Alex’s hand in the other. I took in the snow lining the grass, the water, the shallow hills, feeling myself there. And when I opened my eyes, I was standing in the picture, only we were on a road.
“Son of a —” Alex cursed as the nose of an airplane dipped for us. We ran, tripping across the ice, and barely missed getting taken out by a plane. We didn’t stop running until we reached the fence, the top trimmed with barbed wire.
“How do we get over?” I asked, clutching onto the metal links Alex’s eyes searched for an escape route, while my gaze fixated on what was beyond the side of the fence. A parking lot, packed with cars. And there was one a bright red one that I focused on. I slid my hand onto his arm and felt the zap as I foresaw us over to the red car.
“Well, I guess that’s one way to do it.” He tried not to smile, but the corners of his mouth threatened upward.
“So what’s next?”
“A taxi.” He weaved thru the parking lot, his shoes crunching in the snow. I scurried after him, struggling to keep up. You know, it was confusing how this Keeper’s thing worked. When I was fighting, I could be graceful. Yet, here I was walking across the snow, and my feet didn’t want to stay under me.
The entrance doors glided open and we began our search for a payphone. But finally we gave up and Alex asked a security guard if there was a phone we could use. He must have thought we were a couple of homeless people, with the dirty look he gave us.
Thankfully, he spoke English and directed us to a phone booth, where I watched people scurry back and forth for the terminals, wondering if any of them were faeries, witches, or vampires in disguise.
He hung up the phone. “Taxi’s on its way.”
66
We found an empty seat and waited for the taxi to show up. Alex was jiggling his knee up and down, nervous energy effervescing through him. My skin grew hotter and I started to sweat underneath the jacket