“Nicholas didn’t have one, I don’t think,” Alex said. “Jocelyn said that Stephan gave them to the Keeper’s he marked.”

“I still can’t believe it…all this time…my mom….” I shook my head, thinking about before, when I knew nothing about her—when I thought she was dead—and I use to wonder what kind of a person she had been. And now I had her back, but it turns out she was marked with evil.

“Gemma.” Alex voice was cautious. “I think you should go talk to your mom about this…there are some other things you need to know and I think you should hear them from her.”

“Bad things?” I asked, even though I was sure they were.

He wavered momentarily. “Not necessary bad things, but things you need to know.”

I nodded and got to my feet. “Where is she?”

He pointed over his shoulder at the stairs. “Up in Marco and Sophia’s old room.”

He gave me one more look that made me feel like I was some sort of Greek Goddess shimmering in the sunlight, and then I headed off up the stairs to go chat about the dark side with my mom.

She looked miserable, lying on the floor, bound to the wall by chains. What I was wondering, though, was where all the stuff came from? The hooks in the wall that held the chains—the chains themselves. Had Marco and Sophia owned this stuff or had someone went out and bought them?

Her head was resting on a pillow, her brown hair a tangled mess. Her eyes were shut and she was breathing softly.

I shut the door behind me and her eyes shot open.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up,” I said apologetically.

She sat up and I went over and sat cross-legged on the floor in front of her. We both stared at one another, not knowing where to start.

“I’m sorry, Gemma,” she finally said with a guilty look on her face.

I traced a star pattern in the carpet with my finger. “It’s okay. I understand you couldn’t say anything about the mark to me.” I paused. “But there’s one thing I don’t understand. How is it you’re marked, yet you went to The Underworld to protect me?And how was it you could tell us all those things that day—about the ending of the world? Shouldn’t the mark have stopped you?”

She shook her head. “There are always loopholes, Gemma.”

“You keep saying that, but it doesn’t make sense to me at all.”

“I know. Some things are hard to understand and even harder to explain.” She rested her head back against the wall. “Sometimes my mind gets all cloudy as if it doesn’t belong to me, and I say words that aren’t my own.” She traced the cut of the Blood Promise on the palm of her hand. “It’s not cloudy right now, but it won’t last forever.”

“The Blood Promise won’t?” I asked.

She shook her head sadly. “I won’t.”

She was freaking me out. “What do you mean? You’re not leaving me again, are you?”

She didn’t answer right away, and when she did speak, she dodged around my question. “Remember how you told me that you saw the vision of Stephan forcing me into the lake.”

I nodded. “How could I forget?”

She smiled, but it was forced. “Well, you didn’t understand the vision completely—there were things that happened that confused you.”

“Like what?” I asked.

She let out a sigh. “Stephan didn’t force me into the lake, like he—and you—thought. I went in there on my own….I chose to go to The Underworld on my own.”

I was shaking my head. “No, you didn’t…I saw him force you to go in there.”

She reached for my hand, the chains dragging across the floor. “No, you didn’t. That’s what it may have looked like, but that’s not what happened.” I was still shaking my head as she continued on, “I’ve always had this gift....kind of like super willpower, and for the longest time, even after Stephan marked me, it stayed with me—made me strong.”

“How did he mark you?” I asked. “How did he mark everyone? Didn’t anyone fight back?”

“That’s hard to do when there are Death Walker’s there,” she explained, her blue eyes drifting off into empty space. “He picked us off one by one…And some didn’t make it out alive…like Laylen’s parents.”

“I—I—But he told me his parents died in a car accident right after you were sent to The Underworld?”

“No, they died putting up a fight when Stephan ambushed them.”

I swallowed hard. “Does Laylen know this?”

She shook her head. “There is a lot of memory tampering that has gone on throughout the years, including with Laylen.”

I remembered Laylen mentioning memory loss once, when he had been changed into a vampire, and he couldn’t remember how.

“But why did you want to go to The Underworld?” I asked, fearing her answer. “Why would you ever want to go to a place like that? So full of death and torture?”

“Because I could feel Stephan gaining control over me,” she whispered. “I was the hardest to gain control over. Even after he marked me, he still couldn’t get me to do things, especially when it came to you. But he kept working and breaking me down and finally I felt it diminishing—my gift. I knew it wouldn’t be long before I wouldn’t have the say, and I just couldn’t do it—I couldn’t just stand around and watch them detach your soul and ruin your life.”

“So you decided just to leave me then?” I was trying not to get angry, but it was hard. “Even though you knew they would still take away my soul?”

“I’m sorry.” She tightened her grip on my hands, her bright blue irises pressing me to understand. “But even if I stayed, it would have happened.”

So that was it. My mom had never sacrificed her life to try and save mine. She had sacrificed it so she wouldn’t have to watch my life get ruined.

“So you wish I would have never went and saved you from The Underworld?” My anger was starting to show through my voice. “Do you wish I would have left you there?”

“No. I understand now that running away never solves anything. Everything still happened to you, and instead of trying to fight, I gave up. I will never give up again. We will figure out a way to fix this.”

All of a sudden, I felt so alone, even with my mom in the room. “And how are we supposed to fix them? Do you know how to work a mapping ball?”

Her mouth curved to a frown. “Alex told me about that…So you saw your father?”

“Yeah…I saw him,” I said.

“And did he tell you what he did?” She asked in a clipped tone. “Did he tell you how he ended the world?”

“Kind of…he said he made some mistakes and changed and recreated a vision so the world would end.”

“Did he tell you why he did it?” The tone of her voice was piercing.

I shook my head slowly. “No, he never said why.”

“Because he wanted this.” She rolled back the sleeve of her shirt and held up her arm, showing me the Mark of Malefiscus on her wrist.

“No.” I scooted away from her. “No, that’s not true.”

She took me by the shoulders and looked me straight in the eye. “Yes, he did. He wanted the mark. He wanted the mark”

“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 drywall 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?