“What is this place?” I trace my fingers along one of the eyes. “Does it have something to do with the Foreseers?”

My father shakes his head, the lantern swinging from his hand. “This is a place where no one wants to be.”

I’m about to ask him to explain more, but we reach the end of the tunnel where there’s a large midnight blue trunk, trimmed with gold, perched on top of a Victorian table. My father sets the lantern down beside the legs, then raises the lid of the trunk and sticks his hand inside, retrieving a crystal ball orbed with soft light.

He extends his hand out toward me, his violet eyes more dark lavender. “This is how you’re going to reset time and hopefully create a better future for the world.”

I eye the crystal ball warily. “With just a crystal ball?” I look up at him. “How?”

He takes my hand, his skin alarmingly chilled, and he carefully places the crystal ball my palm. “No, with this and your power.”

It isn’t like any of the other crystal ball I’ve seen. The outer glass is crystal clear, allowing me to see inside to the center where a star-shaped center bursts with light.

“I don’t understand….” I’m transfixed by the crystal ball, unable to take my eyes off it, as though it’s beckoning me to use it. “I thought my power was what ended the world?” I lift the crystal ball to eye-level. “This crystal has a lot of power…”

“That it does.” He shuts the lid on the trunk. “And when I say power, I’m talking about your Foreseer power, not the star’s power.” He stands silently for a moment, struggling to tell me something important. “I’ve done some things in my life that have led me to this place. Things that are unforgivable—things which you’ll understand soon. But I need you to put the future back and fix some of those mistakes.”

I wonder if the evil in my blood came from him. “Unforgivable things?”

“I can’t answer that right now,” he says. “Nor can I tell you how to use the crystal ball.”

It fills like I’ve been stuck in some sort of riddle world, where I have to figure out the answers from a bunch of stuff that doesn’t seemed to be linked to anything. “Why can’t you tell me anything?”

“Because you have to figure it out on your own.” He tries to offer me an encouraging smile. “You and I are unique cases. We can both travel into visions without the assistance of a crystal. With enough strength, you should be able to change the vision I erased and recreated.”

I’m dumbstruck, my fingers tightening around the crystal. “You changed a vision? I thought you weren’t allowed to do that?”

“You’re not.” Regret seizes his expression. “The vision I changed was so the world would end… And to this day, I regret it.”

Evil. Evil. Evil. The word echoes in my head. “You made it so the world would end? How…why would you do that?” I step back. Maybe he’s still evil and he’s getting me to do his evil work.

“Relax, Gemma. I assure you there are good reasons for why I did the things. Granted, it’s not an excuse, but at the time it seemed like it was the only option.”

I back away until my back brushes the wall. “There are no such things as good reasons for doing something evil.” I shake my head, feeling the ache of another hidden wound.

“You’ve never done anything bad that felt like it was the only option at the time?” he questions with accusation.

I open my mouth to say no, but deep down I know it’s a lie. “Yes, but…”

“No buts. This isn’t important right now.” His voice is startlingly sharp, his hands balling into fists, anger controlling him. “What’s important is that you fix it—change everything back to how it was originally supposed to be. You need to make sure the world doesn’t end up like it did in the vision you saw.”

I shiver as the images surface, the one’s I’ve seen of the world in its icy demise. “The one where the world ends in ice—the one where Stephan and Demetrius and the Death Walkers win?”

He relaxes a little. “Yes, that’s what you need to stop from happening.”

I want to argue with him more, but there’s a voice in the back of my mind reminding me that if this works correctly, I’ll have Alex back. I see the bigger picture of what my father was talking about and it makes him seem less evil, or me slightly more—I’m not sure.

“Alright, but you need to tell me what to do, because I have no clue,” I say, moving back toward him.

He taps the crystal ball I’m holding with his finger. “Everything you need to know is in here.” He places his finger to my temple. “And in here.” Then he turns his back on me and starts to walk away. “It’s time for you to go back. Good-bye, Gemma. I have great confidence that you’ll be able to fix my mistakes.”

I start to chase after him, desperate to know more, but the walls around me bow in and out and the entire room starts to spin and becomes distorted like funhouse. My knees lock up on me and I can’t move. My father walks further away from me and the tunnel begins flickering in and out of focus. I attempt to run after him again, wiggling my legs and arms and putting all my strength in it, but he just keeps getting further and further out of reach.

“But I don’t understand any of it!” I shout, clutching onto the crystal ball. “How am I supposed to change visions if what I’ve been taught is that they’re not changeable? And how do I know which ones to change?” I stop fighting, my feet like heavy like bricks, and I’m submerged by darkness. “Dad, I don’t understand!”

“Don’t worry.” His voice seems to come from everywhere. “You will.”

Before I can say anything else, I’m being flipped upward and tossed into the darkness.

Cold water splashes across my face and over my body, soaking my skin and my clothes. My body feels like it’s been ran over by a truck and my eyelids are so heavy it aches to try and open them. The air smells salty and is filled with the soft lull of the ocean. For a while, I just lie there, trying to decipher what’s going on because I’m too exhausted to move. But when water crashes over me again, I open my eyes just in time to see another wave headed at me. I scramble to my feet, hacking up water as I race up the beach and out of the ocean’s reach. I can’t believe what I’m seeing. The ocean before me, sunlight reflecting against it, and behind me, houses and people basking in the sand. I’m back at the beach house in Maryland.

I would think that what had just happened was a dream, but I’m still clutching the crystal ball my father gave me.

“I’m here, which means…”I sprint off for the beach house where Alex, Aislin, Laylen, and my mom are, at least from what I can remember. I’m just hoping that it worked—that I’m back to a place in time where Alex is alive, I’m not possessed and everything is good, well as good as it can be.

I make it to the house in record time, panting, sweaty, but feeling better than I have in a while. I barrel up the stairs of the back porch and fling open the screen door. “Mom,” I yell, stumbling into the kitchen. “Mom! Alex! Aislin! Anyone!”

Silence.

I hurry from the kitchen to the living room, calling out everyone’s names, but the only noise comes from a grandfather clock in the corner of the room next to the sofa. Where is everyone? Did they go looking for me? Or did it… God, no I hate to think it, but I can’t help it. My father gave me very little details on how this would work which makes me wonder if maybe Alex is still dead or something and that’s where everyone is.

After searching the entire house and not finding any clues to where they could be, I begin looking for a phone. But then I realize I don’t have anyone’s number so it’s pointless. I’m about to endeavor out and start searching the streets when the front door opens and Alex enters, breathless. His dark-brown hair is messy, like he’d been raking his fingers through it repeatedly. His green eyes are wide and his lean muscles look taut through his T-shirt. His lips… God, his lips look so kissable.