A muffled cry came from the other side of the door.

“Oh my God, it’s my mom.” I reached for the doorknob, but Laylen pushed my hand back.

“Just calm down,” he said softly and squatted down.

“Jocelyn,” he whispered through the door. “Is that you?” The crying stopped.

“Open the door,” I hurried Laylen.

“Make sure to keep calm,” he said and then creaked open the door.

The room was empty except for my mom, chained to the wall, like a prisoner. She had just escaped from being one a few days ago and it tore at me heart to see her like this.

She looked like she was sleeping, her head hung down, her shoulders slumped. There was a piece of duct-tape over her mouth and I carefully pulled it off.

“Mom,” I said. “Can you hear me?”

Her head wobbled as she looked up and blinked at me, tears streaming down her face. “Gemma,” she croaked.

“It’s okay, mom,” I said softly. “We’re going to get you out of here.”

She blinked again, still a little dazed. Then suddenly she was going crazy. “You have to go. You have to go now.” She was tugging at the chains. “It’s a trap. Gemma, go!

GO!”

A canopy of gloom covered the room as a chil slithered into the air. I turned around, my heart pounding like a jack hammer as a thick fog crawled across the stone floor and swirled around my ankles. Cold crackled across the maroon walls and ceiling, coating them with icicles.

Do not panic, I told myself. To Laylen I said, “Can you get the chains off her?”

He nodded and grabbed the chains binding my mom’s wrist to the walls. He bent them and flexed them, trying to get the heavy metal to snap. But the chains were thick and covered with the Death Walker’s ice, and I could tell it was going to take him a moment.

I needed to prepare myself. I stood in the middle of the room, sword in hand, with no clue as to what I was going to do.

Aleesa let out a high-pitched scream, covered her ears, and backed into the corner of the room like a terrified little mouse.

Well, if they didn’t know we were here before, they sure do now.

The footsteps came, like a marching army, one by one, marching right for us. I glanced back at Laylen, still struggling to get the chains undone.

“I’m hurrying, I’m hurrying,” he said, bending at the metal links. “The damn things are thick and the ice is making it worse.”

I blocked him out—I blocked everything out. Something was taking over my body. A power I had never felt before.

And suddenly I knew what to do.

I held the Sword of Immortality in front of me, steadied in the perfect position that I knew any sword master would appreciate. My heart-rate slowed, my nerves calmed, and as the first black-cloaked figure entered the room, I swung the sword, stabbing it straight into its heart. Its yellow eyes lit up as its corpse-like body dropped to the floor.

I didn’t have time to prepare myself as another one walked into the room. I did this weird twirling thing that should have resulted with me landing on my face but instead, the sword jabbed into the Death Walker’s heart. I swung the sword again and again, the tip sinking through each of their rotting chests. The bodies were piling up as I moved like a pro, swinging the sword gracefully, my feet moving harmoniously along with it.

But more and more came charging in and before I knew it, the room was filled with Death Walkers. They circled me, the

yellow-glowing-eyed

monsters,

and

my

body

temperature started to descend. I glanced down at my hands, but they hadn’t turned blue yet.

And then Stephan walked in.

He was dressed head-to-toe in black, and he gazed at the Death Walkers’ bodies piled all over the floor, looking both annoyed and impressed.

“Well, I see that you’ve changed since the last time I met you,” he said unhappily.

He walked toward me, his boots cracking the ice covering the floors.

I stayed where I was, not stepping back, waiting until he was in swords reach, and then took a swing at him. But he flicked the sword away as if my new inner strength was nothing but a minor glitch to him.

“You know, you are a very hard girl to track down,” he said. “I send a faerie to find you, but he up and disappears.

I try to find you myself, but I never can seem to find you. So, finally, I thought to myself, what can I do? How can I get a hold of my star?” He traced the scar grazing his left cheek, where his Mark of Malefiscus once existed, until his parents cut it off. “Then, an idea hit me. If I can’t find you, why don’t I have you find me?” He walked in a circle around me with his hands behind his back. “See the thing is Gemma, there’s something you don’t understand.” He gave a dramatic pause. “I always win.”

I dared a quick glance over my shoulder, relieved to find that Laylen had gotten the chains freed from around my mother’s wrists. Now, if I could just get all three of us out…I glanced over at Aleesa, curled in the corner…all four of us.

“I wouldn’t put so much trust in people, Gemma,” Stephan’s voice ripped me back to him. “You never know what secrets they could be hiding.”

“And you would be the expert on that, wouldn’t you?” I asked, looking him straight in the eye.

He smiled, but my confidence seemed to take him back a little. “I’m not the only one in this room who is an expert at lying.” His gaze flickered behind me and I turned to find he was looking at my mother, sitting on the floor, her blue eyes saddened. “Should I tell her? Or would you like to Jocelyn?” I stared at my mom, waiting for her to explain what was going on. But she hung her head, refusing to look at me.

Laylen gave me an uneasy glance and I nodded my head Aleesa, signaling for him to get her and bring her closer.

“Ask her what’s on her wrist,” Stephan said. “Go ahead.” I think I already knew. “No…I—”

Laylen rolled up the sleeve of my mother’s faded grey shirt and there it was. A triangle outlining a red symbol.

“No,” I whispered, horrified. “How…”

“She’s had it forever, you know. Sophia, Marco…Didn’t you ever wonder how I got everyone to do what I asked. The only ones I didn’t mark were the ones who couldn’t be marked.” He frowned disappointedly.

Was he referring to Laylen, Aislin, Alex, and me…and also Aleesa?

“You mother’s a fighter,” Stephan continued. “She was always a fighter…it’s her gift, you know—her Keeper’s gift.

She always made things difficult for me, which is part of the reason why I sent her to The Underworld. In fact, I couldn’t even summon her to go—I had to threaten her with you.” He let out a breath of frustration. “The Underworld has weakened her, though.” An evil smile crept across his face.

“It has tainted her, which makes things easier for me.

Getting her to come here was as easy as a master whistling to call his dog.” His dark-eyed gaze landed on my mother. “Makes her easier to control…All I had to do was tug at the leash a little.”

Okay, this conversation was getting a little too metaphorical for me.

He turned his back to me and began rolling up the sleeves of his black button down shirt as if he was getting ready to fight me. A small part of me wanted to see how that fight would turn out, especially with my newfound badass fighting skills. But the other part of me knew what needed to be done.

With one swift dive, I slid across the icy floor, slipping between the two Death Walker’s legs and into my mom like a baseball player slides into home plate. I grabbed hold of Laylen’s arm, and extended a hand out to Aleesa. She looked horrified but, thankfully, she took hold of it.

Stephan turned around and his face dropped.

“Get her!” he screamed at the Death Walkers, but it was too late.

We were already gone.

Chapter 16

I knew as soon as we landed in the living room that we need to get the heck out of the beach house. It was as if I had gained these awesome leadership skills.