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"Right now yourto adjust to the power of the crystal, but it can’t quite figure out how to get there" He leaned overyou need to do is take a deep breath Then try to relax"

What was it with hi or sonore the flowery smell "Okay, I’m relaxed Nohat?"

"Let your es are already there, they just haven’t connected with your mind"

I inched away frohed "Yeah, I still don’t get it"

He placed his hands on ic eye ies before?"

My shoulders stiffened under his touch "Uh, Yeah, I guess"

"Well, this is kind of like looking at one of those" He pressed his fingertips into ently "Relax you eyes and let your ed off his hands--I couldn’t focus with hies

The little boy had couiding the little girl away from the lake Their faces were still blocked out by a sheet of haze, so I took a deep breath and letaway the rest of the surroundings so that the only thing I could see was the blurred ian to focus like a lens on a ca clearer and clearer

I was getting so close to being able to see who the little girl was Only a few more seconds and I probably would have had it But then the man stepped into view, and all of round with the tip of my sneaker "Crap"

"What?" Nicholas asked "What’s wrong?"

"I just about had it and then this man…I don’t know When he appeared, he ruined "

"Well, don’t look at him then Try to pretend he’s not there"

Easier said than done, since I knehat theto do here pretty soon I shook aze back to the vision I putthe tunnel forht before his face snapped into focus, the woain,discouraged "So what happens if I can’t do it?"

"You can," he assured limpse of each of their faces, and in the end, your ether"

"And what if I can’t see all of their faces before the vision ends?"

He laughed "Then I guess I’ll have to keep you down here until you do"

His words caused me to shiver But they also filled etting ready to head to the castle Okay, you can do this Ge in on the haziness of his face Bits and pieces shifted together And just as he was slipping out of reen, his hair brown

Alright I so had this

I flung irl froirl’s blurry face This time the haze disappearedThere’s no way that could be right I blinked And blinked again But nothing changed Her eyes--the color--violet Yes, violet The exact shade ofthe vision clearly suddenly became much more important todown to the lake Ti out I ran for her

"Hey! Where are you going?!" Nicholas called out

Ignoring hiht blue irises, her war becaured that out as soon as I’d caught sight of the little girl’s eyes I wasn’t that stupid If this little girl in the vision was me, then the woman had to be my mother

Tears streaet yanked underneath the water I spun around to the , satisfied grin on his face His dark grey eyes, his black hair, I grabbed onto every little detail I could, right down to the slight crookedness of his nose and the scar grazing his left cheek

My mouth dropped "Holy--"

A hand came down onout in frantic gasps

Nicholas held up his hands "Whoa What the heck happened? What did you see?"

"Nothing" I choked "It wasn’t i important since you’re all worked up"

"I’o back? The vision’s over"

He eyed olden eyes "Yeah, I know I can see everything now that it’s complete Beautiful place, by the way--the Keepers castle"

"This is the Keepers castle?" I said, stunned Alex had mentioned that the lake was the entrance to The Underworld, but he’d never said anything about the castle belonging to the Keepers Why would he keep that froht you’d have known that since you are a Keeper"

A…Was I? This had never been explained to me "Um…yeah, but I’ve never been here before," I told him and then added, "I’ve lived a very sheltered life" Which was true My life, up until a few days ago, had been very sheltered