He looked as though he was choosing his next words very carefully. “I think because your emotions are so new to you that sometimes they come off a little….strong. And with the excessive amount of fear you shot at the Water Faeries, I think it sent them into shock.”

“Strong,” I said, insulted.

He pressed his lips together, doing that thing that he hadn’t done in awhile. You know the one where he is trying to hide the fact that he finds my irritation amusing.

The look—which used to make me angry—was having a different effect on me. It was making my skin tingle, and I was pretty sure it wasn’t from the electricity. But I refused to let him know this, or he would probably do it to me all the time, which honestly, wasn’t sounding that bad to me at the moment.

“So how are we going to get my mom to wake up?” I asked, changing the subject.

The looked Alex was giving me was quickly erased.

“Gemma…I don’t know for sure that she will.”

“But you don’t know for sure that she won’t,” I pointed out.

Everyone looked at me, and I could see it on their faces. They felt sorry for me. Even Laylen looked at me this way. But why? Because they all thought my mom wasn’t going to ever wake up.

“Gemma,” Alex started to say.

“I don’t want to hear it,” I told him. “She’ll wake up. I know she will.” Then I stood up and headed back to my mom.

She looked dead. I wasn’t even going to try and sugarcoat it because that’s how she looked. She lay in a bed with her eyes shut. Her veins were a dark purplish-blue against her pale skin. The rise and fall of her chest was the only thing that let me know she was still alive.

“Mom,” I whispered, staring down at her. The prickle traced down my neck, and suddenly the word

“mom” didn’t seem so awkward. “Mom,” I said louder, tears soaking my eyes “Mom.”

And then I was falling down on the bed next to her, crying. And I cried until I fell asleep.

When I woke up, dawn was hitting the windows.

The ocean’s waves were swishing outside, and the house was silent. My eyes felt puffy and swol en, and I wondered how long I had been crying before I fell asleep. I sat up and rubbed my eyes.

“Gemma.”

Her voice scared the crap out of me, and I fell out of the bed.

“Ow,” I said, rubbing my elbow as I got back to my feet.

My mom was sitting up in the bed, staring at me in alarm. “Are you alright?”

I nodded at her, giving her the same look of alarm.

“Are you alright?”

She swallowed hard and then started coughing. “I think I need some water.”

“Okay, I’ll go get you some,” I told her.

I quickly went into the kitchen, took a glass out of the cupboard, and flipped on the faucet. While I was filling up a cup of water, I thought I heard someone move up behind me, and I nearly screamed at the top of my lungs when I turned and came face to face with a very tall, blue-eyed, blond-haired vampire/Keeper.

“Holy crap.” I pressed my hand to my racing heart.

“You just about scared me to death.”

“Sorry,” he apologized like it was his fault I was so jumpy. He had on a pair of jeans and a dark red t-shirt, so I was guessing he had been awake for awhile

“I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s okay…” I glanced around the kitchen. “What are you doing?”

He shrugged, looking so sad it made my heart hurt.

“I don’t know…I heard someone get up, so I came to check who it was.”

“Oh.” I shut off the faucet. “I didn’t wake you up, did I?”

He shook his head. “I was already awake.”

“So is my mom,” I told him, excitedly.

“Is she…okay?”

“I don’t know. But I’m going to go find out.” I headed to leave, but stopped at the doorway. “You want to come with me?”

“Wouldn’t you rather go wake up Alex,” Laylen said, still standing over by the sink. “I’m sure he has a ton of questions for her.”

I had a ton of questions for her, but I needed to make sure she was alright before I started bombarding her with them, which was exactly why I wasn’t going to go wake up Alex. “I’d rather you come.”

“Okay.” He nodded and followed me out of the kitchen.

During our thirty second walk to my mom, I asked Laylen how things had been while Alex and I were gone. He told me they had been fine—that everything was fine—but I could tell that they weren’t. He seemed really unfocused. I decided that a little later I would ask Aislin how he had been while we were gone. But first, I needed to check on my mother.

She wasn’t in the bed when we entered the room.

She was out on the deck, staring out at the ocean. I carefully approached her, the floorboards creaking underneath my weight, but she didn’t turn around.

I came to a stop beside her and handed her the cup of water. She took a few swallows and set the glass on the railing. I waited for her to say something, but all she did was look out at the ocean with a lost expression on her face.

“Mom,” I said, concerned she might have slipped into a state of shock again.

My mother turned and looked at me. Then her eyes moved to Laylen. “Laylen…is that you?” He stepped up beside me. “Yeah, it’s me.” She smiled, but it looked wrong, like she had to work really hard to make the corners of her mouth curve upward. “You’ve grown up so much.” She looked at me, and in the brightness of the rising sun, I could see her eyes held a deep sorrow in them. “And you…” she burst into tears, alarming me. “You’re—

You’re still …” she trailed off, thinking about something as tears continued to stream down her cheeks. Then she let out a sigh. “You’re still you.” I wasn’t sure what to tell her—that I wasn’t still me, but someone trying to figure out how to be me. But I was afraid saying this might break her heart, and she already looked really broken.

“So what’s been going on,” she asked and took another sip of water, “while I’ve been gone.” What happened? That was the million dollar question, wasn’t it? I took a deep breath and started to explain.

*** I tried my best to get everything right and fill her in on everything that had happened. There was so much though, and truthfully, I really didn’t know much. But I told her everything I knew. I told her about my lifeless years and how the prickle came and freed me. I told her about the Death Walkers and how Stephan was working with them. How he had the Mark of Malefiscus and how he put the mark on Nicholas. I explained to her my special Foreseer gift and the visions I saw. And even though I didn’t want to, I gave her the details of how Stephan had tried to take it all away from me again. And how the locket—the locket she gave me—had saved me.

She took it all in, processing my every word. When I struggled with certain details, Laylen jumped in and aided me through them. We also had to explain to her what Laylen was, even though it really didn’t have anything to do with any of this. But I felt like she should know everything—after being trapped in a place of death and fear for as long as she had.

When I was done, she sat there in silence. We were still out on the deck. The sun was beaming down. The ocean was roaring and people were out on the beach, splashing and playing in the salty water without a care in the world.

They were lucky—not having to know the dangers that were out there.

“Gemma,” my mom said after I finished talking. “I’m so sorry.” She reached over and tentatively took my hand. I could feel her pulse racing through her touch.

“I’m so sorry you had to go through this.” I swallowed hard, feeling my insides lurch. “It’s not your fault…I—I know you tried to protect me.” She shook her head. “I should have tried harder.” I didn’t want her to feel responsible. She did what she could—I watched her do it. Before I could try to convince her, it wasn’t her fault, though, she said, “I need to talk to Alex.”

“Alex,” I gave her a quizzical look. “Why do you need to talk to him?”