Page 13 of The Mist of Stars

“Are you sure?” he questions suspiciously.

“Um, yeah. I’m pretty sure I know what’s on my body.” I resist an eye roll. “Why are you pushing this so hard?”

“Because the witches who made the simulator created it from the glass of a foreseer’s crystal ball,” Professor G. informs us. “Now, no one at the academy has foreseer powers. At least, none has been recorded. But you two didn’t go into the simulation. You went into a vision, which means, somehow, the foreseer power was channeled.”

“Did you ever think the simulator doesn’t work properly?” Alex questions with an arch of his brow.

Despite his cocky tone and demeanor, I can see that he’s restlessly bouncing his knee up and down.

“We tested it at least ten times,” Professor G. stresses. “And it worked every single time except for when you two used it.”

“Well, I guess the eleventh time’s the charm.” With that, Alex pushes to his feet. “And I guess that means you’ve got your work cut out for you fixing it.” His gaze lands on me. “Let’s go, Gemma.”

Usually, if Alex demanded something from me, I’d tell him to kick himself in the balls. However, the way Professor G. is looking at me right now, like I’m hiding a foreseer mark on my body, it’s creeping me out. So, I get up, and we walk out of the office together.

Alex heads off toward the exit of the castle, and I have no clue where to go. Home?

“Come talk with me for a second.” Alex’s voice carries down the empty hallway. He’s standing near the exit doors, and sunlight is filtering through the glass.

“Why?” I question with a raise of my brows.

He heaves a tolerant sigh. “Please just come talk with me outside for a few minutes.” He presses me with a pleading look.

Well, that’s a new look for him. Maybe that’s why I agree to do it. Or perhaps I’m just hoping he has answers as to why weentered a vision. And better yet, why did he propose to me in that vision?

Now that I think about it, there’s no way that would ever happen, so perhaps we didn’t go into a vision. Maybe Professor G. was wrong, and we merely hallucinated.

As I step outside behind Alex, the door swings shut behind me. A crisp breeze wraps around us as we trot down the stairway and hike toward the parking lot where his SUV is parked. He unlocks it, and we climb in, closing the door and sealing us from the outside world.

“All right, dude, what’s up?” I ask, like nothing weird just took place over the last thirty minutes.

He roughly yanks his fingers through his hair. “Something’s off.”

“Um, yeah,” I say, likeduh. “We either just went into a vision or we hallucinated. My bet is the latter.”

His brows furrow. “Why would you think that?”

I shrug. “Because you and I were together in … well, whatever we just saw. Like, together enough that you asked me to marry you. That’s insane!”

“Is it?” he mumbles with a frown.

I gape at him. “What?”

“Nothing.” He shakes his head and erases the confusion from his expression. “Look, it wasn’t a hallucination. It was a vision. Whether it was real or not, I don’t know—I don’t know much about visions. Your father does, though, so I think we should talk to him about this, because Professor G. was acting pushy about seeing if one of us had a foreseer mark.”

“That’s not weird, considering what happened.”

“Maybe, but I got this feeling that something was off. Like he was eager to find out if you had the mark.”

Now that I think about it, he was being kind of pushy about it.

“All right, you can meet me at my house, and we’ll see what my dad says.” I reach for the door to get out, but he stops me by placing his hand on my arm.

Zap.

Electricity zaps across my skin, his touch burning me, but in the most wonderful way possible.

I suck in a sharp breath, and Alex jerks away. His eyes search mine, his features creased with suspicion.