I managed to make it to the statue unharmed, and without anyone jumping out at me. It was a statue of a man carved of white marble. There was something about the man’s face that looked familiar, but what had me puzzled even more was that in his hands was a crystal ball.

“What in the world,” I mumbled to myself. I leaned in to get a closer look at the plaque mounted at the statue’s feet.

My pulse quickened as I read the plaque: Julian Lucas.

Lucas? No. There was no way…Could this be a statue of my father?

I covered my mouth with my hands and started to back away.

“Don’t worry, it’s just a statue.”

I whirled around and then jumped back when I came face-to-face with a man that had a striking resemblance to the statue, only he was alive and breathing.

“Oh my God.” My voice trembled. I couldn’t believe it. His eyes…the color…violet. “Dad?”

He smiled. “hello, Gemma.”

Chapter 3

I had thought the alarming violet color of my eyes had been created from the star’s energy. But I was wrong because the man standing before me had the exact same alarming shade of violet radiating from his eyes.

“I—I…can’t…” Apparently, I had forgotten how to speak.

He gave me an understanding smile. “I know, it’s shocking, isn’t it?”

My eyes were wide as I nodded. “Yeah…it is.” We stared at each other, not believing what we were seeing. He looked so much like me; the same color of brown hair, the same pale skin—only his was creased with wrinkles—and of course the same shade of violet in his eyes.

“Am I dead?” I finally asked.

He shook his head. “Not quite.”

“Not quite?” I asked, trying not to panic. “Does that mean I’m going to be, then?”

He considered this carefully. “While you were walking down the mountain, you passed out and took yourself here in vision form.”

I swallowed hard. “So my body is still back on the mountain freezing to death?”

“Yes, but don’t worry, today isn’t the day you’re going to die, Gemma.” He turned around, the strange silver robe he was wearing swishing behind him. He motioned for me to follow him. “We only have a few minutes before you have to go back, and I have something very important I need to show you.”

“Okay…” I followed him, glancing around as I walked, wondering what this place was. “What do you need to show me?”

He looked at me, his violet eyes sparkling in the pale-yellow light that fluttered through the room. “I’m going to show you how you’re going to save the world.” I don’t know why, but I just about laughed at him. “You’re going to show me,” I pointed at myself, “how I’m going to save the world?”

“You sound like you don’t believe it’s possible,” he said.

I shrugged. “It’s just that I’ve seen things that have led me to believe otherwise.”

“You have seen them in your visions,” he said, not as a question, but as a statement.

I gaped at him. “So, you know about my visions?” He gave me a small smile as he turned down a hallway, lined with more columns and a ceiling swirled with yellows and blues that reminded me of Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night. “Where do you think you got the gift?”

“So you’re a Foreseer.” I wasn’t really surprised by this, seeing how I had been told multiple times that abilities, such as the Foreseer ability, was usually a hereditary thing.

Plus, I just saw the statue of him holding a crystal ball.

He nodded. “I am. And, like you, I also have unique abilities.”

Now that shocked me and I tripped over my own feet, catching myself before I dove onto the marble floor. “The same abilities as me?” I asked

“Yes, but that is a story for another time,” he told me, looking sad. “Right now, you need to save the world.” I had a ton of questions. I mean, this was my first time meeting him, and I wanted to know about him. But there was an urgency in his voice that kept me quiet.

At the end of the hall, a stairway stretched up to a mausoleum-like building. Two massive columns formed an entryway around the door, and at the top of the door, a bright red light glowed from the screen-covered window.

“What is this place?” I asked, hoping that it just looked like a mausoleum.

He didn’t answer as he walked up the stairs to the mausoleum in question. I followed him, the marble steps feeling cold underneath my bare feet as I climbed up the stairs. I was nervous and my heart fluttered in my chest as my father opened the door. The hinges creaked loudly, as if it had been sealed shut for ages. Then he stepped in, and, with great hesitance, I did too.

It was dark inside the tiny room and the air was damp.

The ceiling dripped with muddy water and the once white-tiled floor was stained brown with age. There were no windows and the column walls were cracked and worn away. Red lanterns softly lit a trail of red light down a narrow hallway.

“This way,” my father told me, gesturing down the hall.

The air grew heavier with each step I took. Columns continued to line the walls and I noticed that each one had an eye carved on it. Each eye was a different shape and color, and in the pupil was a circle that wrapped an S—the Foreseer’s mark. I wondered if this place was some kind of place for Foreseers.

“What is this place?” I asked.

My father shook his head. “A place where no one wants to be.”

His words scared me, but before I could press him further, we reached the end of the hall where a large blue trunk, trimmed with gold, sat on top of an antique table. My father raised the lid slowly, and I held my breath as he reached inside the trunk and took out a crystal ball.

He held the crystal ball out to me, his eyes gleaming a bright violet in the light it casted. “This, Gemma, is how you’re going to save the world.”

I eyed the crystal ball warily. “With a crystal ball?” He took my hand, his skin ice-cold, and set the crystal ball in it. “With this and your power.”

It wasn’t like any of the other crystal balls I have seen. It radiated a glittery, purple glow that came from a star-shaped light in the center. It was beautiful, that was for sure, and in a strange way, the purple glow kind of reminded me of my eyes.

I shook my head. “I don’t understand. How is my power going to save the world? I thought my power was what ended it?” I raised the crystal ball. “And what is this for?”

“I’m talking about your Foreseer power, not the stars’,” he said, shutting the lid of the trunk. He stood there silently for a moment, looking as though he was struggling to tell me something important. “I have done things in my life that have led me to this place. Things that are unforgivable—things which you will understand soon.” He paused. “Gemma, I need you to put the future back.”

“Okay…how do I do that exactly?” I glanced down at the crystal ball sparkling in my hand. “And how do I use this?”

“That, I cannot tell you.”

“Why not?”

“Because you have to figure it out on your own.” He smiled softly. “You and I are unique cases, even for our unique kind. We can both travel into visions without the assistance of a crystal, so, with enough strength, you should be able to change the vision I erased and recreated.” I stared at him, confused. “I’m sorry, but I don’t understand. You changed a vision?” He looked at me with regret in his eyes. “The vision I changed was so the world would end.”

I was taken back and I almost dropped the crystal ball.

“You made it so the world would end? How…why?”

“That’s not important,” he said, his voice growing sharp.

“What’s important is that you fix it—change it back to how it’s supposed to be. You need to make sure the world doesn’t end up like it did in the vision you saw.” I shivered as I remembered. “The one where everything ends in ice—the one where Stephan wins?”