“What!” I exclaimed and Gemma gasped.
“I’ve been avoiding my duties as a Banshee,” she said. “Once I turned, I got myself sentenced to the Foreseer’s crystal to keep my whereabouts hidden. But now… when I go there, Helena can make me stay if she chooses to.”
“You have to come back,” I muttered. “It’s… I…”
“I will one day.” She patted my head like I was still two-years-old. “It’s not good-bye forever.”
“There’s got to be another way,” I said, determined that there was. “Maybe Nicholas could take me to the Afterlife.”
“Only a Banshee can carry a Lost Soul to the Afterlife.” She sank down on the coffee table tucking her hair behind her ears. “And Gemma’s the one that’s going. I’ve already explained this.”
“Maybe we could find another Banshee then,” Gemma suggested, biting at her nails.
“We can’t,” I answered for my mom. “No other Banshee will bring your soul back.” 153
This was so stupid. Both of them were exactly the same, throwing their lives down like it didn’t matter, like they were worth nothing.
“Now that everyone understands their job.” My mother stood. “Should we get started?”
“You know,” Gemma said, lying on her bed, her hands overlapped across her stomach as if she was preparing her body for death. “In the dream I had the one where I died Nicholas was the one that appeared to me.”
“That’s because you secretly have the hots for me.” He rolled around in the computer chair, but without his body, it was just a chair moving on its own.
“Or maybe she just feared it’d be you,” I said, from the other side of the room because apparently the electricity would keep the poison from working. And when she actually took it, I was going to have to clear the room altogether, something I was really struggling with.
“Or maybe it’s because she can’t stop thinking about me.” The chair spun in a circle.
“Or maybe it’s because for three straight weeks you wouldn’t leave me alone,” Gemma said, her eyebrows furrowing. “I mean, you were watching me day and night, even when you shouldn’t have been.”
She pressed her lips together as Nicholas let out a laugh.
“Say whatever you want,” he said. “He can’t hurt me.”
It took me a minute to catch on. “Wait. Was he… when you say watching…”
“Yes,” Aislin said shaking the vile. “We all know Nicholas is a pervert. Now will you all shut up so I don’t mess this up? It’s important.”
I sealed my lips and leaned back against the wall.
154
“Okay.” Aislin sat down at the foot of the bed. “I need complete silence.” She waited until the house was hushed. “Signa hoc venenum cum osculum vitae,” she whispered, swishing the liquid. “Servare quicumque bibit spirans. Sed signa voluntas osculum mortem et eorum cor mittimus.” The vile bubbled, morphing to a shade darker than black. “Now, that’s death.”
“Is it time to go?” My mother entered the room.
Aislin showed her the vile. “We’re all set.”
My mother nodded. Aislin ran over and hugged her. “This isn’t good-bye,” my mother whispered. “I’ll be back one day.”
Aislin pulled away, rubbing the tears from her eyes and nodding.
Then it was my turn. She pulled me into a hug and it almost popped my lungs.
I cleared my throat as I backed away. “You better come back.”
“I’ll do my best.” She turned. “Gemma, I’ll meet you there.” Then she was gone, as quick as she’d arrived, like a mere visit from a ghost.
I was sadder than I expected. A rush of emotion overcame me, making me uncomfortable. I cleared my throat hard and tried to gain composure.
“Are you ready?” Aislin asked Gemma.
Gemma nodded and took the vile from her hand. “As ready as I’ll ever be.” Aislin looked over her shoulder. “You need to go downstairs.” I pressed my lips together, stepping for the bed.
But Aislin held up her hand.
155
“You can’t be near her at all. She needs to be calm.”
I locked eyes with Gemma and thought of our Forever Promise, made one dreary day, when two kids were trying to hold on to something that might never be again. And it was like she understood, like she knew what I was thinking. She touched the scar on her hand.
It was one of the hardest things, walking away, leaving that room, knowing she would breathe her last breath.
But I left, just like I was supposed to.
When I walked into the kitchen, Laylen was there messing around with the pipes under the sink.
“You’re not going to see her before she…” I trailed off, not bothering to even try to say it.
He focused on twisting a bolt. “I can’t… it’s too…”
I nodded, rolling up my sleeves. “So you need any help.”
He shrugged. “Sure.”
I reached for the wrench, feeling her slipping away as she died.
156
Chapter 33
(Gemma)
Iwatched him leave, his eyes sad, his muscles tense as he forced them to move. He took the electricity with him, along with some of my soul apparently. When I returned, I’d press him for the details.
I clutched my hand around the vile, letting out a hefty sigh. “So this is it? The Kiss of Death.”
“Don’t worry,” Aislin assured me from the foot of my bed. “You’ll come back.” I knew I would. After all, I wasn’t finished with life quite yet. I’d seen what was going to happen with my future. And since I hadn’t been able to change it, as far as I was concerned, my life was over. Alex and I would go to the lake and take our own lives, along with Stephan, Demetrius, and every Death Walker on this Earth.
“I wonder how it tastes?” I examined the bottle as it bubbled. “Because it looks really gross.”
“It probably tastes gross,” Aislin said. “I’m sure death can’t taste good.”
“Well.” I raised it in the air, like I was making a toast. “Here’s to coming back to life and freeing the souls.” Then I kissed my lips to the rim, tipped it back, and swallowed. “You’re right… It doesn’t taste…”
My limbs went numb, my heart silencing. I fell back on my bed, into my soul, absorbed by the darkness of death.
When I opened my eyes, I was standing in a field, the breeze a soft lull as it skipped across the grass. Crows circled above me like death and I thought of my nightmare. Then they dove for me and I shielded my head. Their beaks clipped my hair and hands.