Shattered Promises 02 - Fractured Souls by Jessica Sorensen (motivational books for students TXT) 📕

liquid spills down my throat, soothing my insides. “But he’s in the City of Crystal and I’m not sure how to get him out of there since I have no idea what he’s doing down there.”

He tenses. “Well, with what you saw, he kind of has to be here to make it happen. He also has to have that gem you saw.”

“Which, from what my memories are telling me, Alex and I had once in a hideout hidden in the forest, but I don’t know exactly where it is because my memories haven’t connected that part yet.”

“Alex should know, though,” Laylen points out. “Let’s just hope the gem’s still there.”

I frown as I set my mug on the table. “The frustrating thing is that Alex is in the City of Crystal for pretty much no reason.”

Laylen shakes his head. “That’s not completely true. Because of Nicholas’s involvement, you now know that you need to have the Ira to get into The Underworld. It just sucks that he has it.”

“I know.” I mutter and sip on my coffee.

Laylen adds a spoonful of sugar to his coffee and stirs it. “I say we start with Alex and get him back here. Then we’ll make a plan to get the Ira and the gem. We just need to find a way to get into the City of Crystal.”

The idea of going there again doesn’t make me happy, but saving Alex does. So does the idea that he and I will be going into The Underworld to save my mother, even if she did look completely hollow, I still have hope that somehow, through all this, she’ll come back to me and be able to help figure out what Stephan’s up to. Or maybe, if I’m lucky, get the star’s energy out of me.

I set the cup down and take a deep breath. “I can probably get us into the City of Crystal, but I’ll need one of those ruby-filled crystal balls Nicholas is always using.”

Laylen cocks his head to the side. “You think you’ve learned enough about your power to be able to do that?”

I shrug, pretending to be casual, although on the inside I’m terrified that I won’t be able to do it or I’ll mess something up. If I can’t get it right, then what? My mom and Alex stay trapped wherever they are. “There’s only one way to find out.”

Laylen gets up from the chair, deeply thinking as he takes our empty mugs over to the sink. He rinses them off and turns around, leaning against the counter. “I know someone who probably has a lot of them.”

I get up from the chair. “Who?”

He gives me a small smile. “The person who owns the house we’re staying in. I think she’s got a whole room full of crystal balls.”

***

Laylen was right. Adessa does have a whole room full of crystal balls and she more than willingly lets us into it. I have the suspicion, though, that Laylen might be messing around with her emotions since at first Adessa seems reluctant, then suddenly she’s all too happy about the idea of taking us into the room concealed behind the shelves lining the walls of her store.

Once we’re in it she begins searching the seemingly endless amount of shelves that line the walls from front to back. Every time she dips down to look at the bottom row on the shelf her braided hair that runs halfway down her back brushes against the concrete floor. She’s also wearing heels with a patterned dress that make clicking sounds as she walks around and the noise reverberates around the room deafeningly.

“Why do you need this?” she asks, sliding a few jars and unique figurines out of the way.

I open my mouth to explain our dilemma to her, but Laylen shakes his head, exchanging a secretive glance with me as I pick up a strange looking clay eye. “Gemma just needs to look at one, for her training.”

My eyebrows dip down as I set the clay eye back on the shelf. I don’t get why he’s being so secretive with her when it’s obvious that she’s helping us.

Laylen crosses the narrow room and stops beside me. “We need to be careful who we tell,” he says. “Adessa doesn’t know about you, Stephan, or the star.”

I glance at Adessa as she wanders to the back section of the room and then I lean into Laylen. “Why does she think we’re staying with her?”

He shrugs, collecting up a two-headed horse statue from the shelf, and peeks under the bottom like he’s checking for a price sticker. “I just told her we needed help.”

“You don’t trust her?”

“No, I do, but it’s always better to be careful.”

I nod as he sets the statue down. “You know what, you’re right. I need to start working on doing the same... I let Nicholas know too much.”

“That’s because he has the power to fuck with your head,” Laylen tells me. “He’s always running around in circles and talking in vague sentences. It confuses people and makes it easy to slip up.”

“Well, I need to work on it,” I insist. “Regardless of how tricky he is.”

“I think I found it,” Adessa declares and we look in her direction as she walks toward us, carrying a miniature crystal ball with rubies floating in it. Red rays of light shimmer around the tiny storage area as the ceiling lights reflect against the glass.

Adessa offers me a small smile as she gives the crystal ball to me and I try not to grin as I take it from her because, for the first time, things actually seem like they’re going to be easy.

***

I spoke too soon. Way too soon. Yes, we got the crystal ball, but using it is turning out to be a pain in the ass. After Adessa gives us the crystal, Laylen and I return to the living. We ask Aislin to join us, figuring we all should go to The Underworld together