“Why!?” I cried, tears dripping from my eyes.

She looked livid. “For power—he wanted to be powerful, just like Stephan.”

I jumped to my feet, trembling with anger. “You’re lying.

He wouldn’t be trying to fix it, if that was the case.”

“Time changes peoples’ minds, Gemma.” She tried to get to her feet, but the weight of the chains dragged her back down. “And he’s been locked up alone in the Room of Forbidden for so long, I’m sure he’s had time to clear all the power hunger out of his head.”

“No, you’re lying!” I screamed. How could this be true?

My father made this mess all because he had wanted to be powerful like Stephan, because he wanted the Mark of Malefiscus.

I turned around and stormed out of the room. My mother called my name, but I slammed the door, stomped down the hall, and burst into my room.

All this time, spent in here, wondering about my parents, only to find out that one wanted to be evil and one was marked with evil.

I snatched a brush from off my dresser and chucked it across the room. It made a loud thump as it dented the wall, and bits and pieces of tan paint and drywal crumbled to the floor.

“Good job, Gemma. Like that’s going to help,” I muttered to myself.

I slumped to the floor and rested my head against the door. What was I supposed to do? Try to get back to where my dad is—to this Room of Forbidden—and get some more details on how to fix his mistakes? I wasn’t sure I wanted to do that. Not after what I had just been told.

“Ah! What am I going to do?”

Just as I said it, the sunlight hit my window and fluttered through my room. Something on my bed twinkled red. I slowly got to my feet, and my heart just about leapt out of my throat.

A miniature ruby-filled crystal ball glistened from the middle of my bed. I glanced around my room. Where did this come from? I inched my way over and picked up the tiny crystal ball. Underneath it was a piece of paper.

Go to the City of Crystal and get the Purple Flame.

Sincerely,

A Friend

I flipped the paper over, but there was nothing on the back. Who left this? Who had been in my room? I went over to the window, pushed it open, and glanced down below.

There was no one there on the walkway or in the driveway.

Although, for a second I thought I caught a hint of something flowery. But it was probably just my imagination.

Chapter 18

“The Purple Flame?” Aislin asked. She was still sitting on the floor of the living room, with the laptop opened up in front of her, the note I found on my bed clasped in her hands.

“Does anyone know what it is?” I asked, hopeful.

All three of them shook their heads.

“Okay...Well, does anyone know how to find out what it is?” I asked, losing some of my hopefulness.

Alex and Aislin exchanged a look.

“What do you think?” Alex asked her. “Do you think it would say anything about it?”

“I don’t know…maybe” Aislin deliberated. “But it would be extremely risky….I mean, what if he’s there?” I shot Laylen a huh look and he shrugged, like he had no idea what they were talking about either.

“Who’s where?” I asked, looking back and forth between Aislin and Alex.

Aislin gave Alex a chary look. “Our house. We would need to go to our house.”

My jaw just about smacked against the floor. “You want us to go to your house—to Stephan’s house.” Had they lost their minds?

“Maybe…I mean he had that book.” Aislin shut the laptop.

“What book?” I asked, totally not on board with this plan. I mean, yeah, I was all for going somewhere that Stephan could possibly be, if it meant saving someone’s life. But to do it for a book? A book?

“History book,” Alex said as if it made the situation better, and I raised my eyebrows at him. “A book that outlines the history of the Foreseers.”

“And you think this book might know what a Purple Flame is?” I asked, warming up to the idea a little.

“I’m guessing it will.” Alex folded his arms and leaned back in the chair. “And it’s probably our best bet since we don’t have a Foreseer around to help us anymore.” My stomach rolled as I thought of Nicholas. “But, do we dare risk going to your house—to Stephan’s house, all for a book?”

Alex face sank as if he had just realized this was a problem.

We all mulled this over, Aislin tapping a pen, Laylen twisting his lip ring, and me tracing the gross olive-green lines on my arm.

“Could you do a Tracker Spell?” I asked Aislin.

She shook her head, still tapping the pen. “My father’s immune to magic, remember.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot,” I mumbled.

Silence.

“I’ll go,” Alex announced, getting to his feet. “My father never was there anyway, so I doubt he’ll be hanging around now.”

I jumped to my feet. “No way. It’s way too dangerous.” Alex gave me a look that said: look who’s being bossy now. “It’s okay,” he said. “Like I said, he was never there even when we lived there. I think he only came there like twice to check up on us.”

“But what if he is?” I stressed, stepping closer to him.

“I can take care of myself, Gemma,” he said with a small smile.

“Well, at least let me Foresee us there or something,” I said in a panic.

He pressed his lips together, shaking his head. “Can’t.

There’s Praesidium everywhere, and besides, you don’t know what my place looks like.”

I gestured at Aislin. “Well, let Aislin transport you …” He was shaking his head. “Can’t use magic in the house.”

I gaped at him.

“What?” He shrugged. “We lived there, and since we knew about all the things that go bump-in-the-night, we wanted to be protected.” He glanced at Aislin and she nodded.

“So what? You’re just going to drive there?” I was astounded by the idea.

“Basically, yeah,” he said with a shrug. Then he patted me on the shoulder, like I was his buddy or something, an idea which I didn’t like. “Don’t worry, I already said there’s like a one percent chance he won’t be there. He never was there—he never was anywhere we were unless it was convenient for him.”

I swallowed the giant lump rising in my throat. “Well, at least wait until dark, so he doesn’t see you coming if he’s there. Plus, there’ll be lights on in the house, warning you if he’s there.”

He nodded. “Alright, I will.”

For the rest of the day, we all basically kept to ourselves. Aleesa finally came downstairs and Aislin took her into the kitchen to feed her. She was like a child, in a way, even though she was probably about sixteen. Being in a torture chamber probably had stunted her maturity, like my emotional holl owness had done to me.

I was sitting on the couch, biting at my nails, as Alex prepared to leave.

“I still don’t think you should go alone.” I tapped my foot nervously. “I should go with you. I mean, I am a Keeper now.”

He slipped the knife into the pocket of his jeans and something occurred to him. “You know what; you can go if you want.”

I blinked at him. “What?”

He met my eyes. “You’re right. You are a Keeper now, and this will be good practice for you—you can be my look out, even though I’m sure my father won’t be there—he probably doesn’t even know where the house is….I mean, he dropped Aislin and I off to live there and basically bailed.”

I stared at him, mystified by his words.

“What? You beg me to let you go, so I do, and now you don’t want to go?” he teased.

I gave him an ‘oh-shut-up’ look. “No, it’s just weird that you’re letting me go.”

“I already said, you’re a Keeper now and you can make your own decisions.” He leaned in, his breathing picking up.

“Besides, you can be our quick exit just in case something happens. All we have to do is get out of the yard and you should have your Foreseer ability.”