Page 31 of The Mist of Stars
“It’d mean that the reality you and I are in right now might not even be real,” she finishes for me. “And I know it sounds crazy, but?—”
“It’d explain a few things,” I follow her train of thought. “One being why we’re even here.”
“You think this is a vision?”
“It seems like one to me.”
“Me, too,” she mumbles with a frown. “What’re we supposed to do with this knowledge? I mean, are we supposed to fix it? How? Why? Why is any of this happening?—”
“Do you hear that?” the Evan guy suddenly says.
When I peek through the leafy branches of the bush, I see him stand up and scan the backyard. Vision Gemma is also on edge, rising to her feet and shielding her eyes from the sunlight as she peers around.
“We need to go someplace else for now,” I whisper. “Maybe if we explore this world a bit, we can find some clues.”
“Good idea.” She carefully turns and creeps out from behind the bush before hoisting herself over the short, wooden fence that divides this backyard from the next.
I follow, landing in the grass with a soft thud. Then we hunker down and move quickly up the fence and toward the gate. I can hear Vision Gemma and the Evan guy yammering about hearing voices, but we make it out of there before they notice us. Probably a good thing, too. Being spotted in a vision is a tricky sort of situation, especially when you’re spotted by yourself.
Once we reach the front yard, we jog down the sidewalk toward the corner of the quaint neighborhood. The air is quiet, the sky is sunny, but almost too still, and another thing is off.
“There’s no one around,” I note as we stop at the curb.
Gemma casts a quick glance around, the sunlight reflecting in her eyes, and strands of her hair blow around her face. “Yeah, what’s up with that?”
“I don’t know.” I rotate in a circle, hoping to see someone—anyone.
But nope. Not a single person in sight.
“Come on,” I mutter, threading my fingers through hers. “I think we need to get out of the open until we figure out what’s happening.”
“Shouldn’t we be trying to get out of here?” she wonders, holding my hand as I steer her farther down the sidewalk.
“I’m not sure how we get out of here,” I explain as I rush past the trees and houses lining the street.
She blinks at me. “Why did you come in here then?”
“Because I needed to make sure you were okay.” I feel too exposed. I can feel her gaze on me, dissecting me.
“You don’t know how I got in here?”
I shrug, glancing from left to right. “No. I honestly thought you were unconscious, but now that I’m in here, I think you somehow put yourself into a vision, and without a crystal ball.”
She crinkles her nose. “I don’t like the idea of me being able to see the future and the past. And I don’t even have the foreseer mark.”
“Well, maybe you do in this life, and your powers still exist inside you.”
“That means I’m the one who must get us out of here. It’s odd, though, that it happened right after I got hit with the chill of death.”
“It might not be as odd as you think.” I guide us across the street, taking long strides. “You may have gotten so frozen that your grasp on these dormant powers slipped loose.”
“Maybe.” She stares off momentarily. “I’ve already gone into two visions, though. This one was just without a crystal ball.”
I grind to a halt in front of a house that’s boarded up and has colorful graffiti all over the bricks. “I feel like all of these houses are empty.”
“What if they’re not?” she points out.
“Only one way to find out.” I tug her with me as I embark up the path lined with wilting flowers.