The Underworld (3 page)

I real y think Alex should tel you the rest because I

wasn’t even there for most of it.”

This was so weird. I mean, the last time I’d talked to

Laylen, back when we were at his house, he’d warned

me to be careful when it came to trusting Alex. And

now here he was tel ing me trust him.

It didn’t make any sense.

“I…um…” I trailed off, staring confusedly at Laylen.

“Gemma, relax. It’l be alright.” Laylen got to his feet,

and gave me a pat on the shoulder, which puzzled me

even more. No one’s ever gave me a pat on the

shoulder before. “Everything wil be okay. Alex wil tel

you what happened.”

And with that, he left, the beaded curtains clinking

together as he ducked through them.

I watched the beaded curtains sway back and forth,

feeling so lost. My mind was racing wildly with ideas

of what could be going on; ideas ranging from Laylen

being brainwashed to Laylen not being Laylen at al ,

but a body snatcher that had possessed his body.

“Gemma,” Alex voice pul ed me out of my own

head.

Slowly, I turned and looked at him. My emotions

were al over the place, and the electricity was

sparking like a firecracker. Part of me was saying

run
, that something was off and I needed to get away.

But the other part of me held me to the sofa, wanting

to hear what Alex had to say.

“So are you going to listen to what I have to say,” he

asked, his eyebrow arching upward. “Or do you want

to try and run again.”

“I don’t know….” And yes, I understood how dumb

my answer was, but it was the truth so…

Alex sighed. “Why do you always have to be so

difficult?”

“How do you expect me to be?” I asked, staring

incredulously at him. “You were going to let your father

erase my mind.”

“No, I wasn’t.” He was losing his cool. “And if you’d

just quit being stubborn and listen, you’d know what

real y went on.”

I crossed my arms and flopped back in the chair,

debating what I should do. Keep being “stubborn” as

he’d so nicely put it. Or hear him out. “Fine, then tel

me what happened.”

Shock flickered across his face, just like it almost

always did when I decided to cooperate. “Okay…

Wel , where do you want me to start?”

I shrugged. Did it real y matter? It wasn’t like he was

going to tel me the truth or anything. “Wherever you

want.”

“Okay…” He seemed to be struggling on where to

begin. “Do you remember that necklace I gave you?”

I nodded as I touched my neck, and I quickly

realized that the locket was no longer there. “Wait.

Where is it?”

“Relax. I have it.”

That didn’t make me relax at al . “Why do you have

it?”

“I’m getting to that.” He took a deep breath and let it

out slowly. “When I gave you the necklace, I wasn’t just

giving it to you because it belonged to you. I gave it to

you because it has sugilite in it.”

I gave him a questioning look. “What’s sugilite?”

“It’s the purple stone in the center of the locket. It

protects whoever is wearing it from certain kinds of

magic.” He paused. “Like the mind erasing kind of

magic.”

“But I thought you said my mother gave me the

necklace when I was little?”

“She did, specifical y because the stone is sugilite.”

He leaned forward and rested his arms on his knees.

“She gave it to you because you have the stars

energy in you. It was her way of trying to protect you

from anyone who tried to use magic on you to get to

the star’s power.”

“So why didn’t it work when I was little?” My voice

bit sharp and was ful of bitterness. “When Sophia

detached my soul from my emotions, why didn’t it

protect me? Is that not a form of magic?”

Alex shook his head. “No, it’s a form of magic. But

Stephan…wel , he knew what it was and took it off of

you before Sophia detached your soul.”

“Stephan knows what the necklace is?” This

seemed to make the possibility of it actual y

protecting me and the star not possible.

He nodded. “That’s why I tucked it into your shirt. So

he wouldn’t see it and make you take it off.”

I remembered how, right before Alex had climbed

out of the Jeep back at the cabin—back when

Stephan had shown up with the Death Walkers—he

had reached over and tucked the necklace into my

shirt.
Whatever you do, keep that hidden. Don’t let

anyone know you have it
, he’d said.

“But why would you do that?” I questioned. “Why

give it to me at al if you knew it would stop someone

from being able to detach my soul? I thought you said

that my soul had to be detached to keep the stars

power thriving enough so that it could save the world.”

He gave a look that made my skin go electric.

“Because I wanted to stop anyone from being able to

detach your soul.”

I stifled a laugh. “I highly doubt that, especial y since

you’ve told me a ton of times that my soul has to be

detached.”

“Yeah…but I…” He drifted off.

“But you what?” I pressed.

“But,” he took a breath, “when I first gave you the

necklace, I was stil deciding whether or not I was

going to let my father see you wearing it. If he’d seen

it, then he’d have made you take it off before he tried

to use the
memoria
extraho
on you.”

As unsurprising as this was—I mean, how many

times had Alex lied and betrayed me—it stil made my

heart hurt a little. “If that’s the case, then why did you

give the necklace to me at al ?”

He shrugged, his eyes wide with confusion. “I have

no idea.”

I shook my head, the electricity nipping at me like

invisible gnats that I so wished I could swat away.

“Wel , that’s nice.”

“Look, Gemma,” he said, his voice very let’s-get-

down-to-business. “I know I’ve done some pretty

crappy things to you, but can’t we just move past it.

The point is, I did hide the necklace from my father. I

protected you from getting your mind taken away.”

“Why, though?” I asked suspiciously. “I mean you

were so dead set that Stephan was good and that I

was completely wrong about him sending my mom

into The Underworld. You were so determined that I

needed my emotions to be taken away so the star’s

power could save the world. So why the sudden

change of heart?”

He was quiet for a moment, which sent up a red

flag in my mind that he was about to tel me a lie.

“Stephan showing up with the Death Walkers,” he

final y said. “There has to be something else going on

—something bad if he is working with them.”

I eyed him over warily. “If that’s what you real y

believe, then why were you acting like you were on

Stephan’s side—you just stood there while he hurt me

and tried to take everything about me away. You

didn’t do
anything
.”

“I couldn’t do anything. I had to pretend that I was on

his side. Besides, I knew as soon as he tried to use

the
memoria
extraho
on you, he’d black out.”

“He blacked out?” I said. “Why?”

“Because that’s what the sugilite
does,” he

explained. “Those who try to use harmful magic on

someone who has sugilite on them, automatical y get

magical harm done on them instead. It’s how sugilite

works.”

“What kind of harmful magic gets done on them?” I

asked curiously, wondering if there was a possibility

that Stephan could perhaps be dead and that my

problems would be over.

“That al depends on the kind of magic the person

is trying to use. In my father’s case, since he was

trying to harm your mind, the
sugilite
harmed his mind

instead, to the point that it made him pass out.”

“So, what happened to him? Stephan, I mean. Did

you…kil him?”

He struggled to speak. “Gemma…I-I…I couldn’t…I

mean…” He took a deep breath, regaining his

composure. “I couldn’t kil my father…when I’m not

real y sure what’s going on.”

I tried to understand this—understand where he

was coming from. Laylen had told me when it came to

Alex and his father, Alex was sort of brainwashed. So

I think I was more surprised about him letting the

sugilite harm him, instead of not being able to…kil

him.

“So where is he?” I asked. “Stephan? Where did he

end up?”

“The Death Walkers took him with them,” he said

with this strange look in his eyes, as if he was trying to

figure something out.

They just took him and left. It sounded so…

unbelievable, especial y since the stupid things had

been working so hard to get a hold of me.

“They just up and left? And left you and me behind

unharmed?” I asked skeptical y.

He nodded. “Yeah, I know, it’s weird.”

Weird was putting it mildly. “So is Stephan…going

to return to normal, then?” I asked. “Or is his mind

harmed for good.”

A glint of panic flashed in his eyes, and I had my

answer before he said it. “No he’l return to normal

eventual y.”

“And then come after me again,” I mumbled.

Alex didn’t respond as he got to his feet and made

his way over to me. He pul ed something out of the

pocket of his jeans before sitting down beside me.

“Here.” He held out his hand. A silver heart-shaped

locket with a smal violet stone in the center of it

rested in the palm of his hand.

My locket.

I didn’t take it right away, instead I stared at it,

wondering if what Alex had just told me held any truth

to it or not. Could I trust him?

“You can have it back.” He urged his hand at me.

I stil didn’t take the necklace. “I stil don’t

understand why you took it off of me to begin with?”

He gave me a skeptical look. “You don’t know

why?”

“I…How would I?”

He stil looked like he had no idea how I didn’t know

the answer to my own question. But how the heck was

I supposed to know? I never knew anything.

“Because Aislin had to use magic on us to get us

out of there,” he said.

“Oh.” Now I was catching on. “And if I’d been

wearing the necklace, then the sugilite
would have

blocked her magic.”

He nodded. “So I took it off of you while we

transported back here.” He reached for my hand, but I

pul ed back, and he frowned. “I’m not going to hurt

you. I’m just trying to give you your necklace back.”

I quickly snatched up the necklace, the metal warm

against my palm. “Thanks.” I wrapped it around my

neck and fumbled with the clamp. If what he was

saying was true, then I wanted the necklace on at al

times.

“Want my help?” A playful grin played at his lips.

I shot him a dirty look. “No. I got it.” The last time he

had “helped me,” we ended up kissing. And that was

the last thing I wanted right now…I think.

It took me awhile, but I final y got the clamp on the

necklace hooked, the chain now secured around my

neck. It was then that a sudden thought occurred to

me. “Alex.”

“Hmm…?” He had been watching me struggle to

put the necklace on and seemed a little distracted.

“What happened to the memoria extraho?”

“Aislin and Adessa destroyed it,” he told me. “After

we got back, they used some kind of spel on it that

took its magic out of it.”

“So now it’s just a rock?”

He nodded.

Wel , I guess that meant there was one less thing I

had

to

worry

about. Although,

how

many

mind/memory/emotional erasing things were out

there, I had no clue. But with everything I’d seen lately,

I was guessing there might be more.

Alex suddenly shifted the subject. “Why don’t we go

get you something to eat? You’ve been out for almost

two days. You’ve got to be starving.”

“I’ve been out for two days?” I asked with

astonishment.

He stood up. “Yeah, it was the longest nap ever.”

I got to my feet. Even though I stil had a ton of other

questions, I was also very hungry. Besides, I wasn’t

sure I wanted him to be the one to answer al of my

questions. Although, there was one thing I was dying

to know—I had to know right now, even though

thinking about it made me sick to my stomach.

“Okay, but I have one more question.” I paused,