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Snakes are everywhere, sucking onsensation Again, I picture the castle, the lake, the trees, the cars I breathe deep, pushingnot to the castle, but into darkness, a suffocating hole with no botto into the unknown

Chapter 9

The first time I was sucked into a vision, I touched a crystal ball and fell down a spiraling tunnel bursting with light Ultimately, I discovered that my Foreseer poas unique and that I didn’t require a crystal ball to use it All I had to do was close y, and I was there; in the past, present, or future

It’s like I’ve relapsed to the past when I had no control over my power Aislin and Nicholas are nowhere to be seen Just cold and darkness, the air thick like death My hands are flared to rab onto

"Aislin!" I holler, detecting the end approaching "Aislin, can you hearoff a cliff The force sends shockwaves through er sideways

"Gemma!" Aislin’s panicked voice rains down as she crashes to the bottom A moment later, a loud thump as Nicholas hits

"Are you okay?" I feel around, struggling to get s

"Nice job" Nicholas moans "You know this is exactly what they wanted And it proves that you’re very predictable, Ge about?" The toe of my sneakers bumps into him "Who are they?"

He shifts away froured you’d be done asking forme for it"

"How did they know…" I drift off "They read the visions, didn’t they?"

"Nope, not this time," he says "This time you were betrayed by your own fa called memoria tea?"

"Memory tea?" I wonder "Does that mean--"

Aislin claps her hands aniht" A pause of aard silence "My excitement was a little inappropriate for this situation, isn’t it?"

"A little," I reply, stewing over what Nicholas said "And the translation was kind of obvious… You say I was betrayed by my family and that my memory was tampered with"

"Not your memory Your mind" His footsteps pad closer "Your Aunt Nalina slipped you some memoria tea so that the Foreseers could have direct access into your hts

"She did what?!" I knew the tea was bad news

He gives a low chuckle "So for the last day or so, they’ve seen your decisions--your thoughts"

"All of the sohts, especially current ones about a certain faerie/Foreseer

"What’s the ht have seen sohts?"

"Why did they do it?" I ask, changing the subject "So they could find out if I aeniushis hands "She figured an answer out all on her own"

"So as up with the snake thing?" Aislin sounds undaunted "And what is this place?"

"This is what the Foreseers refer to as the holding cell," he answers "And the snake thing was from the Serpent’s Mark onthis particular mark," I say "That makes aveall over you," he explains with hilarity "It also is what hindered your power and took us all down here It was a gift, you know, fro to even try to guess who," I say "Because I’m sure you won’t tell ru smarter by the second, well except for the fact that you ended up down here"

"You know, it kind of sees," Aislin tells hih exhaustedly "How long does our imprisonment last?"

"For eternity and beyond, wah ha ha," Nicholas jokes, then subdues his huuess"

"Find us?" Darkness ss Claustrophobia creeps in "If they put us here, then they should knoe’re here"

"Oh, they knoe’re here," he reveals "It just depends on when they feel like freeing us You’ve pissed a lot of the around and unlawful plans to free your father Dyvinius is really upset And since he’s the man with the power, you could be here indefinitely"

"Indefinitely?" Aislin and I say, harulfs us I sit down on the se back on my arms I hear Aislin shift as she takes a seat Nicholas remains immobile

"So have you heard of any recent events of a Lost Soul wandering around, possessing human bodies?" I opt to throw it out there

Nicholas' silence says it all

"When was it?" I ask "And who did it happen to?" The edge of his finger touchesst the dead Faerie World" His tone is passive "If I share it, The Queen of the Afterlife e him to tell me? Or let him be?

"Once a year she bends the laws and sends a handful up It’s only a few, so they sneak under the radar," he starts, surprisingfor the one ill free her--the Lost Soul "

"But The Lost Souls and the Queen were banished I thought"