The Vision Read Free Page B

fresh cut because blood was still oozing out of it and dripping down my hair.
    “What happened?” Alex moved up behind me, inspecting the cut on my head. “You weren’t bleeding before, were you? I didn’t notice if you were.”
    “No, I don’t think so.” My eyes were fixed on the cut. Why was it so familiar? Not just the cut, but the pain that was starting to spread through my skull —a blinding pain like I had smacked my head on a rock or something…my eyes widened. “Oh my God.”
    “What is it?” Alex asked, alarmed.
    “I think…” I set the crystal ball down on the desk and bolted for the back door.
    Alex chased after me. “Where are you going?”
    “I think something’s wrong,” I answered, leaping down the back porch steps. I took off across the beach, heading for the cliff area where Nicholas had once knocked me out, before taking me to the cabin. I needed to see if there was blood on the rock I hit my head on. If there was blood on it then that meant…Well, I had no idea what it meant, just that it meant something wasn’t right.
    “Gemma!’ Alex yelled from right behind me. “Where the heck are you going?”
    I pointed at the rocky cliffs, pushing past a few people that were standing in my way. “There…I have to see something.” I slowed to a stop as I reached the cliffs.
    Alex stopped beside me, panting. “What do you need to see?”
    “I need to see if there’s blood on the rock that Nicholas shoved me down on,” I told him, heading down the path that twisted through the center of the cliffs.
    “But I thought you said that didn’t happen.” Alex followed at my heels as we made our way further down the path.
    “That your father erased it?”
    I glanced over my shoulder at him. “I thought he did but now...” I shook my head. “I have no idea what’s going on, but if there’s blood on one of these rocks back in here, then something’s up—something’s not right.” My head was pounding and blood was trickling down my ear. I pressed my hand against the wound and picked up my pace, ignoring the rocks cutting my bare feet.
    When I finally reached the end of the path, I swear my heart just about stopped. And all my confusion multiplied.
    “What the?” Alex moved to the side of me and squinted at the ground. “What is that?”
    “It’s….me?” I said, staring down at myself, lying on the ground, in a pool of blood. “Am I in a vision?” I wondered out loud.
    From my peripheral, I saw a dark figure appear, and I jumped back, knocking my shoulder into Alex’s chest.
    Nicholas, who was usually annoyingly calm—well, unless he was being chased by a Water Faerie in The Underworld—
    looked about as shocked as I was.
    His golden eyes widened as he glanced down at the
    “me” lying in the sand and then back at the real me.
    “What on earth…” He trailed off and something abruptly clicked across his face. He knew exactly what was going on.
    “Wow, Gemma,” he said with genuine astonishment. “I a m very impressed.” He paused and then he lunged for me.
    I don’t have the reflexes of a cat at all, and Nicholas was skilled in the art of lunging. Luckily, for my sake, Alex’s reflexes were that of a Keeper and with one swing of his fist, he knocked Nicholas out cold.
    Nicholas’ body slumped heavily to the ground.
    Alex shook out his hand. “His head is as hard as a rock.” I would have laughed, except I was too occupied with the fact that there was another “me” lying on the ground. I stepped over Nicholas and gradually made my way over to her—or me. Was she real? Or was she just a vision?
    Hesitantly, I reached down and placed a hand gently on her arm. It was like I had stuck my fingers in an electrical outlet.
    My eyes zipped wide as a blaze of electricity—more powerful than anything I had ever felt—zipped through me. I gasped, feeling the moment erase, as if it had never existed. The unconscious “me” buzzed with static, like a bad reception on