“My problem is that every time you have a problem, you run off with him.” He pointed over his shoulder toward the living room where I knew Laylen was sitting. “It’s driving me crazy.”

Okay…he was being honest, which was kind of weird.

“Well.” I took a step back because the sparks were a little overwhelming. “It seemed better to take Laylen with me this time because Stasha can’t kill him with her touch, him being immortal and all.”

“And that’s the only reason?” His bright green eyes glimmered like gems as he waited for me to answer.

“Yeah.” I think that was the right answer.

He relaxed and I started to relax until I remembered.

“Wait a minute,” I took a step toward him. “I have to ask you something.”

He looked confused. “Okay….”

I took a deep breath. “Did you know Stasha has the Mark of Malefiscus?”

His jaw fell. “She doesn’t.”

“Yes, she does. I saw the mark on her wrist, and she told us she’s had it since she was born.”

“That’s not possible. I would know if she had.” I hated that he would know. “So you’re saying you didn’t know.”

“I’m saying there’s no way she could have one, unless she got it after we stopped…dating.”

I rubbed my hands across my face, feeling the stress. “I guess she could have been lying about that part, but I don’t know why.”

“Or do you think I’m lying?” he questioned with an arch of his eyebrow.

I hesitated. “I don’t think you’re lying.” He shook his head. “Now who’s lying?”

I started to protest, but he was stepping for me, backing me up until my back pressed into the counter.

“You don’t believe me, do you?” he asked.

I held his gaze. “If you tell me you didn’t know, then I’ll believe you.”

He placed his hands on the counter, so I was trapped between his arms. Then he leaned in, his face merely inches away from me. “I didn’t know she had the mark.” He was telling the truth—I could see it in his eyes. But I waited a second or two, before confessing this, because…

well, because I was kind of enjoying being trapped between his arms.

“Okay, I believe you,” I finally said, and he waited a second or two before he stepped back and freed me from his arms. I shook off the sparks. “So, why do you think she’s marked then? And why would she have a Death Walker at her house?”

He gaped at me. “What?”

“Oh, did I forget to mention that?” I asked and he nodded with an astonished look on his face. “Well, she had one there.”

Alex ran his fingers through his hair. “This just doesn’t make any sense. I mean, why the sudden abundance of marks? They were supposed to be nonexistent.”

“Do you think your dad’s going around, marking everyone, like he did with Nicholas and some of the Keepers?” I asked.

“He could be.” He shrugged “I guess, but didn’t that witch Medea say she had it since she was born and that there were others.”

“I know….it’s so weird,” I mumbled. “Like something’s changed.”

We looked at each other, perplexed.

“Well, maybe it’s time for you to put everything back to what it was.” Alex pointed at my arm. “You think that thing’s ready to go?”

I raised my arm up, examining it. “Let’s find out.” I went and grabbed the mapping ball, and moments later I was standing in the kitchen with the Purple Flame burning vibrantly in my hand. Alex stood over by the counter, arms folded as he watched me with an uneasy look on his face.

I took a deep breath, crossed my fingers that it would work—it had to work—and set the glittering mapping ball into my hand.

Then, I was gone.

Chapter 29

It was too dark--I had to be dead. I panicked, thinking how completely and one hundred percent stupid it was for me to believe that a note left on my bed and a talk-show-host voice would give me the correct way to get inside the mapping ball. Go find the Purple Flame, go erase the death marks, what had I been thinking?

But then, I realized that my eyes were just closed, and when I opened them up, I was dazzled by the most beautiful sight. And I’m not talking about Alex. Stars. Yes, stars, sparkling beneath my feet like diamonds.

“It’s beautiful,” I whispered in amazement. But my amazement quickly vanished as the comprehension of not having any idea of what I was doing draped over me.

I walked across the stars, my heart sinking in despair.

“What am I supposed to do?”

As if answering me, one of the stars, right in front of my feet, flickered. I jumped back as it lit up against the darkness like a movie screen. On the screen was a man probably about twenty years-old with dark brown hair and violet eyes—my dad. He was talking to an older woman with long red hair, wearing a perfectly pressed tan dress…it was Sophia.

“Well, I don’t see how that would be possible,” Sophia said to my father as they walked up the hill toward the Keeper’s castle. “Jocelyn’s too busy with things. She’s supposed to be taking her Keeper’s test soon.”

“I understand your concern.” My dad tried to dazzle her with a charming smile. “But I promise you, I won’t keep her out that long.”

Sophia, unaffected by my dad’s charm, fixed him with a stern gaze—a gaze I have seen many times. “Well, I’ll have to think about it and discuss it with her father.” My father smiled, his violet eyes shining like jewels in the sunlight. “That’s all I’m asking.”

Sophia gave him a nod and walked away leaving him on the hill. My father picked up a rock and threw it into the lake, making the dark blue water ripple. He looked happy, not like someone who had—or would be the cause of the world ending in ice and death.

The scene dulled away and dropped back into the star.

Not the vision I was looking for, but it was interesting to see my dad, just a normal guy, wanting to ask my mom out.

Another star lit up, ill uminating the darkness with another screen. My father, still twenty-something years-old, sat next to a woman with dark brown hair and bright blue irises—my mom. They were in what looked like the corner of a library, huddled together, a stack of books piled at their feet.

“I still don’t understand why you have to help him,” my mother said to my father in a low voice.

My father took her hands in his. “Everything will be okay.

I’ll help Stephan and he assured me that we can be together if I do—that your parents won’t have any problems with us wanting to get married.”

My mother looked like she wanted to say something, but couldn’t. “Julian, please don’t do this.”

“It’ll be alright.” My dad held her face in his hands.

“Stephan just needs my help with something and then this will all be over.”

She swallowed hard, and again she looked like she wanted to say something. “But, help with what? Has he even told you?”

He shook his head. “He hasn’t, but I’m sure it’ll be fine.” My mother scratched at her wrist, right where the Mark of Malefiscus marked her skin. But her long-sleeved white shirt covered it up and I wondered if my father knew it was there. She kept scratching and scratching at it like she was trying to scratch it away.

“Please, don’t go, Julian,” she begged “I’m begging you not to.”

My father pressed his lips together and leaned in to kiss her. “I have to, otherwise, I’ll never have this.” I let out a shaky breath as the picture faded back into the star. They seemed so normal and in love, not evil, not marked with the Mark of Malefiscus, not about to end the world.

I moved on to the next star and waited for it to light up.

But when the screen blazed across the blackness, my body tensed up. Stephan, dressed all in black sitting at a long mahogany table. Across from him, was my dad. His arms were resting on the table, the sleeves of his dark blue shirt rolled up revealing that his arms and wrists were free of marks.

“I have to say, Julian, I’m surprised you showed up.” Stephan’s grin was as evil as ever. “Jocelyn must mean a lot to you.”