“No, he’s not!” I cry as I tug on the ties around my arms and legs. “Aislin, please untie me. I need to be with him.”
She finally is able to get up, and then she moves over to me, her eyes swollen; tears streaming down her cheeks. She unfastens the ties around my wrists, her fingers shaking. As soon as she gets the last one, I spring upright and scramble over to where Alex is lying on the floor. His eyes are open, though distant and blank; his arms and legs are sprawled on the floor. He’s not breathing. I check his pulse with my fingertips. Nothing. I try to feel the sparks. Nothing. I feel nothing.
I vaguely hear Aislin say something to me, but I can’t make out her words. There’s so much pain. Emptiness. I feel like I’m being pushed down from it. Sinking. Falling. Dying.
***
There’s a frozen lake before me and icicles dangle from the leafless tree branches. The dark sky casts a shadow over the icy land and the air is as chilly as death. Alex’s arms are wrapped tightly around me as we stand near the edge of the frozen water, holding onto one another as if our lives depend on it.
“We’ll be all right, won’t we?” I ask him, but he doesn’t respond.
A gentle breeze blows through my hair and the silence around us makes the world feel desolate, hollow, and empty. At the moment, though, I feel at whole; at peace, calm.
I tip my head back and look up at him to tell him my worries, but he shushes me as he brushes my hair away from my face. “It will be all right,” he whispers, but his voice is unsteady.
My lips part to argue, but a crackle rises through the air and sucks the words from my lips. Moments later, tall, cloaked figures emerge from the trees surrounding us.
“Death Walkers.” I look at Alex in terror. “What do we do?”
He sweeps my hair back again and pulls me closer to him. “It will be all right,” he whispers again. “Just trust me.”
I feel warmth and pain. Heat and agony. Then suddenly I’m suffocated by light. Yet for some reason, it feels like everything will be okay.
Gripping onto him, I take a deep breath and let the warmth engulf me, allowing myself to get taken away from the world as I hold onto Alex, refusing to let go. There’s a soft tug and I can feel him slipping away, though. I let out a scream, but I get lost in the light.
***
“Gemma,” a voice calls out to me. “Can you hear me?”
My body tenses as light encircles me. “Who’s there?”
“Come toward me,” the voice echoes around me.
I lift my hand to my forehead and try to shield my eyes from the blinding light, but I still can’t see a thing. “Whoever you are, I can’t see you. The light’s too bright.”
“Yes, you can,” the voice assures me. “You just have to look harder.”
The voice sounds familiar, but I’m certain that it doesn’t belonged to Nicholas, even though it seems like something he would say to f**k with my head. The voice is much deeper, though, and sounds older and wiser.
I blink a few times and the light begins to dim. Slowly at first, and then more quickly, until there’s nothing left other than a soft glow orbing around me. I can see my hands and arms… my feet… I start to get my bearings when, suddenly, my legs are ripped out from under me.
I fall for what seems like forever until, finally, I land on my back. My vision comes into focus and I’m shocked to my very core at what I see. A midnight-blue marble floor rests below me, a cathedral ceiling painted with intricate art above me, and tile walls made of sapphire blue and shimmering silver surround me. It’s beautiful. Too beautiful.
“I have to be dead,” I mutter, getting to my feet. I examine myself. My skin is pale, but that’s normal, yet I can feel the air coming in and out of my lungs, my heart still beating in my chest. I have to be alive, but where the hell am I?
“Hello!” I call out, turning in a circle as I take in a row of columns on each side of me forming a hallway that leads to a colossal statue.
I walk toward the statue, taking each step carefully, afraid that any second someone—or something—will jump out from behind one of the columns. Quite honestly, though—deep down—I think I’m hoping Alex will appear from somewhere. Surprise me. Tell me he’s okay… that he didn’t… die.
I start crying again as I reach the end, thinking about where Alex could be and if he’s alive. My heart feels like it’s shattered. Broken. I’m broken. Just like the statue with a crack down the center, although it’s still in tact. Made of flawless, white marble and perfect edges, it forms a figure that looks like a tall man. Looking closer, there is something about the angles of the face that look familiar, and there’s a crystal ball chiseled in his hand.
“What in the hell?” I lean closer, squinting at the plaque mounted on the statue’s feet. As soon as I read it, my pulse quickens to the point that it knocks the breath out of me. “Julian Lucas. Lucas? No. There is no way.” I cover my mouth with my hand and back away. Where am I? What is this place?
“Don’t worry, it’s just a statue,” someone says from right behind me.
I spin around and jump back when I come face-to-face with a man that has a striking resemblance to the statue, only he’s alive and breathing with shoulder length, brown hair and violet eyes.
“Oh, my God, you’re… you’re…”
“Hello, Gemma,” he says calmly. “I’m so glad you finally found me.”
“But you’re… how… why…” I can’t form sentences. I’m in too much shock to process reality.
Thankfully, my dad understands. “Don’t worry. I’m here to help you.”
“Help me with what?” I finally get a full sentence out.
He smiles. “Fix the past and create a better future.”
I glance around at the strange place. “What do you mean? Where am I?”
“You’re in the only place I can be,” he says, turning around and putting a hand on the small of my back to guide me with him as he walks forward.
I walk nervously with him, my heart still erratic in my chest. “What do you mean by fix the past?”
“I mean, we’re going to do what probably seems like the impossible,” he says as we walk up the tiled path. “We’re going to reset time and erase some of the past to hopefully create a better future for the world.”
My heart quiets inside my chest. Calms. For the briefest moment, I swear I can feel the sparks. If what he’s saying is true—if we’re going to erase some of the past to hopefully help the world—then maybe I can also help Alex.
Maybe I can reset it so he doesn’t die.
Maybe I can bring him back.