I shook my head. This was getting out of hand. If I didn’t figure out how to control this power of mine, one day I was going to slip into a vision at the worse time possible. Like say when I was driving or something.
I shook my head. That was a scary thought.
Deciding I should focus on the vision, I pushed that thought aside. I was standing in a forest thick with trees, where I caught a glimpse of the tip of a grey stone castle peaking through spaces between the trees. I knew I had to be the forest that surrounded the lake—the lake that was the entrance to The Underworld.
It was bright outside, the sky a clear blue. As I started to move through the trees, heading for the castle, I wondered what I was supposed to see.
Perhaps something with Stephan? Although, I sure hoped it wasn’t the vision of my mother being forced into The Underworld. I had seen that more times than I ever wanted to.
But as a cool breeze swept through my hair and kissed at my cheeks, the impulse to head to the castle drifted away, and I found myself suddenly heading in the opposite direction, deeper into the forest.
I walked for what seemed like forever, my legs practically moving on their own, maneuvering me effortlessly passed bushes, trees, and tipped over tree trunks. I swear it was like I knew where I was going without really knowing. If that made any sense.
As I’d just started to wonder just how far my legs were planning to take me, I came to a stop in front of a steep hill. I stared up at it skeptically, taking in its loose dirt and the steep incline. How the heck was I supposed to climb up it?
But I wasn’t supposed to climb up it. That’s what my thoughts were telling me. So instead, I moved to the side, walking at the bottom of the hill, searching for…
well, I wasn’t sure. But I hoped I’d know when I saw it.
After awhile, I began to get frustrated at the fact that this vision seemed pointless. I mean why hadn’t I seen anyone? And why did it feel like I had to put together a puzzle in order to understand the meaning of the vision? This had never happened before—usually I just watched the vision. So why was it different now?
Before I could conjure up an answer for these questions, I spotted something. A bush, budding with violet flowers at the foot of the hill. Violet flowers…
hmm, it was ringing a bell.
I walked up to the bush and picked one of the violet flowers. The smell was intoxicating and caused my memories to spin in my head, little images of the countless times that I’d picked these flowers when I was a child. It also brought up a memory of this bush and that there was something behind it.
Yes, behind it.
I squatted down and examined behind the bush, letting my fingers dig through the damp soil as I inched my way up the steep side of the hill and around to the back of the bush.
My jaw dropped. A small hole had been dug into the hill. It was hidden by the violet bush so well that I wouldn’t have seen it if I hadn’t been looking for it. I grabbed a hold of the branches of the bush, the thorns cutting at the palms of my hands as I hoisted myself up to where I could see down into the dark hole. There was a ladder that lead to…well I couldn’t tell —I could only see a dirt floor. But there was a light on, glowing faintly from somewhere inside.
I took a deep breath and lowered my feet down to the top step of the ladder. Another deep breath and I started to climb down, my hands sweating against the cool metal. When my feet reached the floor, I immediately spun around. I wasn’t going to lie, but I half expected a Death Walker to pop out and grab me. But no. What was there was probably more surprising than finding a Death Walker.
I was standing in a hollowed out room, the floors and walls made of dirt. There was an old wooden table pressed up against the back wall where a candle burned, the orange glow of the flame lighting up the tiny dirt room. Next to the table was a blue metal trunk, and right in front of trunk was me. Well, the younger me anyway, sitting on the dirt floor. Small, and around four years old, my violet eyes giving away that it was indeed me. Sitting across from me was a little boy with dark brown hair and bright green eyes.
Alex. I knew that now—my memories were able to make the connection.
“So what do you thinks going to happen?” Little Gemma asked. “After they take me away?” Little Alex shook his head. “I don’t know…”
“Do you think we’ll ever see each other again?” Little Gemma asked, her violet eyes wide with fear.
He nodded. “I promise we will, no matter what they say.”
She looked terrified, tears bubbling up at the corner of her eyes, and I could actually feel her fear, worry, and sadness inside me, as if we’d connected. “Do you think Marco and Sophia will be nice to me?”
“How could they not?” Little Alex said. “No one could ever be mean to you.”
Okay, well, that was the biggest bunch of crap I’d ever heard. But I think he actually meant it.
If only he knew.
As I stood there watching this peaceful scene between the younger Alex and I, I couldn’t help but think how grown up we were acting for being so young. And look at us now, arguing all the time, lying to one another. It made this moment—although peaceful—almost painful to watch, because I knew that right after this happened everything would change. This Alex and Gemma would be no more.
“I have an idea,” Alex said, pulling a small, silver pocket knife out of his pocket “How about you and I become blood brothers.”
Little Gemma scowled at him. “I’m not a boy.” Alex laughed. “Okay, how about blood friends?” The tears in her eyes escaped down her cheeks.
“What do I have to do to become one?”
“I’ll make a little cut on my hand and on yours and then we press them together and make a promise, okay?”
She looked wary. “Will it hurt?”
“Only for a minute.”
She wiped the tears away from her cheeks and looked at Alex with confidence. “Okay, let’s do it.” She gave her hand to Alex and he carefully made a small cut in the palm of her hand. She winced ever so slightly, but didn’t put up a fuss. I glanced down at my hand, looking closer at the palm of it, and sure enough, right in the center there was a trace of a very thin, small white scar. Strange…I’d never noticed it before.
Alex made a small cut in his palm and then he raised his hand out in front of him. “Okay, put yours up to mine.”
She did, and they pressed their palms together.
“ Forem,” Alex said. “Now you say it.” She took a deep breath. “ Forem.” Alex dropped his hand and so did she. “There, that’s all it takes.”
“But what does forem mean,” Little Gemma asked.
“It means—”
Someone yelled from above. It was too muffled to understand exactly what the person yelled, but the deepness of the voice told me it belonged to a man.
The children’s eyes went round, and Alex jumped to his feet. “We have to go,” he said, holding out his hand to help little Gemma to her feet.
“Do you think you’re dad will be mad at us,” little Gemma asked, panicking. “for us disappearing?”
“I don’t know…” Alex sounded scared. “Let’s just hurry up, okay.”
Little Gemma, all big eyed and sad, nodded. Then she glanced around at the little hideout, taking one last look as if she knew she’d never return. “Okay.” They climbed up the ladder, and I followed up after them. I stepped out from the behind the violet bush just in time to see Stephan waving his finger violently as he scolded Alex and me for wandering off. Then he marched them back through the trees, toward the castle. I didn’t follow. I didn’t want to see what happened next. I couldn’t watch my soul get ripped away. I couldn’t watch the little girl with the sad violet eyes be no more. So I sat down on the ground and shut my eyes, waiting to be yanked away.