Page 24 of The Mist of Stars
My soul had a spell around it?
But why?
And when?
I need to figure out the answers so I can stop it from happening.
8GEMMA
“Okay, what the hell happened in there?” Aislin asks the moment we’re in her Jeep. The rain has let up to a drizzle, but the dreary sky whispers a foreshadowing warning. “You went into a crystal ball, right?”
“Yeah, but I don’t know how since I don’t have the mark,” I remind her as she turns on the engine and cranks up the heat. “I’m thinking that Nicholas guy had something to do with it.”
Her brows knit. “Who?”
“That blond guy who came into the store.”
She stares at me like I’ve lost my mind. “Gem, no one but us and Amelia were in that store.” She pauses. “Unless you saw a ghost.”
“Are you messing with me?” I ask, searching her eyes.
“No.” Genuine honesty glitters from her eyes. “Areyoumessing withme?”
A sharp nip of unease bites at me. “Aislin, I swear I saw someone in there. A blond guy who said his name was Nicholas. He was around our age, kind of looked familiar, but I don’t know why, and he was creepy as hell. He went into the vision with me, but when I came out of it, he wasn’t there anymore.”
Silence stretches between us as we both try to grapple with what happened.
“That’s super creepy and weird,” Aislin finally says as she tugs the hood of her jacket off her head. “I’m not sure who that guy was, but he doesn’t sound like a ghost.”
“I know.” I mull over what he could be, but come to no conclusion. That’s probably not what I should be fixated on, though. “We need to figure out how I’m going into visions without the mark.”
She nods in agreement as she drives forward. “What did you see when you were in there?”
“Something really weird. I was part of it. I was living with people I didn’t recognize, and they were talking about how my soul was broken, like they cast a spell on it so I didn’t feel anything.” I touch my hand to my chest. “What if there’s truth to that?”
“Your soul’s not broken,” she assures me as she drives down the puddled road. “In fact, you have the biggest soul ever.” She falls silent for a bit, and then the corners of her lips quirk. “It’s why Henry likes you so much.”
I give her a look. “Dude, why did you have to remind me?”
“Because we need a change of subject.” She adjusts the temperature. “What are you going to do about him? Because, eventually, you’ll have to tell him you don’t feel the same way he does about you.”
“Maybe he just wants to go out on a date as friends,” I offer. She side-eyes me, and I sigh. “Fine, I know he doesn’t, but I don’t know how to tell him I don’t feel the same way.” I pick at my chipped nail polish. “I’ve never had to break someone’s heart before. What’s your advice on the best way to do that?”
“Hey, I haven’t broken that many hearts.”
“You’ve broken some.”
“All right, I guess that’s fair.” She thrums her fingernails on the steering wheel as she slows down for a bend in the road. “Honestly, I don’t think there’s an easy way to do it. Just tell him the truth nicely to try to lessen the heartache.”
I nod, going over in my head how to do that. It sounds awful, telling someone that.
“Who do you like right now, anyway? Is it still?—”
“Shh,” she hisses.
I laugh. “Dude, he’s not here.”
“I know, but …” She chews on her bottom lip. “He’s Alex’s best friend. Do you know how complicated that would make things?”