I took in her words, unsure whether or not to believe them. Yes, all those things could be caused by loopholes, but a loophole in a vision was different. Visions were seeing things that were going to happen.
“I don’t know mom…” I gave her a doubtful look.
“Do not give up.” Her tone was firm—demanding. “I want you to go into your room and read through that Foreseer’s book—find your loophole. Promise me, Gemma. Promise me you won’t give up.”
“Okay, okay, I promise,” I said because I didn’t have another choice, not with the desperate look on her face; the look that I assume almost every mother would give to their daughter if they were put in our situation.
And so, like almost every daughter, I got to my feet, obeying my mother, to try to find my loophole.
Reading the Foreseer’s book was hurting my brain, and I was only about three quarters of the way through it.
Finally, I let out a sigh and set the book aside. I needed a quicker way to read through all this information and I found myself wondering if Aislin knew a spell that could give me a speed reading ability or something.
But then another idea occurred to me; an idea which I had to sit on for a while before I talked myself into doing it.
I neededa loophole.
I shut my eyes and let my brain focus on seeing a loophole. I wasn’t sure if what I was doing was right, but I had to try. I had to try and find a way for Alex and me to have our forever.
I just had to.
But as I tried to push my brain beyond the boundaries of seeing something that probably wasn’t supposed to be seen, I felt an explosion from inside my skull, like my brain had burst.
My eyes shot open.
I saw spots
Then I tumbled off the bed and blacked out.
Chapter 34
“You can’t cheat your way there,” a voice said.
My eyelids fluttered open, and the first thing I saw were shoes. A pair of black shoes that shined in the light that flowed around them.
“If you want to find out the answer,” the voice said. “You have to search for it on your own.”
I rolled over on my back and looked up at my father, towering above me. “Am I in your head again?” I asked.
He smiled a gentle smile and helped me to my feet. “So you discovered where I am, then?”
I nodded, glancing around, noticing we weren’t in the same place as we were before. We were on a beach. The ocean’s waves crashed toward us and the bright light was the sun shining from the clear blue sky.
“Where are we?” I asked, getting to my feet.
“We are wherever I need us to be,” he said, heading down the shore.
I followed him. “But I thought you were in the Room of Forbidden….I thought you were stuck in your own head.” His violet eyes shined brightly in the sun as he looked at me. “I am, but I do get bored sometimes and changing the scenery helps pass the time.”
“Okay…but I don’t get something….how come the Foreseers put you in here? Why didn’t you just tell them what happened…that Stephan made you change the vision because he marked you with that.” I pointed at his wrist, which was covered by the sleeve of his robe.
He looked at me solemnly. “It’s the downfal of being a Foreseer, Gemma. There are no second chances or room for mistakes.”
“But you didn’t willingly make the mistake,” I argued as the ocean soaked at my feet. “Stephan made you do it.” Silence passed between us as the ocean crashed back and forth and birds cawed in the background.
“You need to stop worrying about me,” he said. “You have other problems to deal with at the moment.” I stopped and stared out at the ocean. “Like saving the world….because I already did that.”
“I know you did, but that is not what I’m talking about.” I shielded my eyes from the sun. “Then what are you talking about?”
“What you’re in store for.” He gazed out at the ocean.
“What waits for you in the near future.”
“I know what it is,” I told him. “I know that I die.”
“You’re still not getting it,” he said, sounding frustrated.
“You need to push that aside, otherwise you will never be able to save the world.”
I dropped my hand and turned my head toward him. “But, I already did that.”
“Not quite.” He reached into the pocket of his silver rob and pulled out a ring trimmed with violet gems. Then, he took my hand and set the ring in it.
“What is it?” I asked, gazing down at the ring, shimmering in the sunlight.
“That I cannot tell you.”
I frowned. “Why do you always say that? How can you give me things like this,” I held up the ring, “and the mapping ball, but you can’t tell me how to use them? And how do you even have these things, if we’re inside your head?”
He gave me an understanding smile. “This is my loophole Gemma. I’m able to give you these things, because we are in my head and not in the real world. What I do in here does not matter out there. But I cannot tell you how to use them, because that would be interfering with what you need to do out in the real world. You have to figure out the answers for yourself and pave the world with your memories.”
I stared at the ring in the palm of my hand. “I still don’t get it.”
“You will, when the time is right.” He shut my hand around the ring. “This is your loophole, Gemma.”
“My loophole to what? Saving my life or saving the world?
I asked, but the ocean blurred away and the sun began to dim—he was already sending me back.
“And no more trying to cheat, no matter what happens,” he called out, his voice sounding far away. “If you’re not careful, you’ll end up in here.”
I frowned, but said no more as I was yanked away, back to my room.
But when I opened my eyes, the boring tan walls of my room did not surround me.
All I could see was light.
Nothing but light.
Chapter 35
“Oh, my God, I’m dead,” were the first words that left my mouth.
“You’re not dead,” someone replied in a soft, purring voice.
I glanced around…I knew that voice. “But you are.”
“Am I?” the tricky half-faerie teased. “Are you sure about that?”
I shook my head. “I’m not sure about anything anymore.” I heard the soft thump of his footsteps moving through the light, heading toward me. “Of course, you’re not. You never have been.” He paused. “In fact, you’re the most confused girl I have ever known…always looking for the answers in the wrong places.”
“What do you mean?” I asked and suddenly he was right there, his golden eyes only inches away from me, the smell of flowers and rain smothering me to the point that I gagged.
“How can you be here, if I’m not dead?” I asked.
“I will answer that shortly,” he said. “But right now you have to go back.” And with that he shoved me backward, his hands searing hot against my shoulders.
I let out a scream as darkness suffocated me.
My eyes flew open and I shot upright, gasping for air. It took me a minute to realize I was on my bedroom floor, safe and sound from potentially dead faeries.
What kind of detour was that? One minute I was talking to my father, and the next thing I know I’m being shoved down by Nicholas.
I got to my feet, the ring that my father gave me clutched tightly in my hand. What was I supposed to do next? The only thing I could do, really. And that was to go inform everyone that the mystery was not yet solved.
“Why does he keep giving you things without an explanation of what they are?” Alex asked as he sat on the couch, twirling the ring in his fingers.
I shrugged. “I don’t know…he said it was because I had to figure things out on my own…and pave the world with my memories, whatever that means.”
Alex gave me a knowing look and then exchanged a strange look with Laylen.