The Hidden Gemstone

Chapter: 17

Cody's POV:

Alex was white as paper.

Even though whatever Ryan was trying to do wasn't finished yet, the sight of the woman he had seemingly formed out of thin air had shaken her to the core. I'd never seen her like this and I hadn't thought I ever would. She was good at suppressing her emotions, especially shock, but I doubted she was unaware of anyone or anything right now other than the woman in front of her.

The haze that the woman had been formed out of was colorless but I could still see the noticeable resemblance between her and Alex. The same hair, the same facial features, and the same spark in the eyes. Still stranger, she didn't just reflect Alex; her resemblance to Xander was uncanny in a way I couldn't describe. I could guess without being told that the woman was their mother.

"Mom?" Alex croaked out, her voice barely a whisper that I wouldn't have heard if I wasn't standing right beside her

One of the other two people that formed out of the haze was her father but she didn't seem to pay much attention to him. The third person was a baby, not more than a year old. Alex's father was holding him in his arms so I couldn't see him, but I knew he was one of her brothers.

"On July 29, 1997, your parents stood in this very clearing with your little brother," Ryan said. I didn't think Alex could get any shakier but I was proved wrong. I knew the day was important before Ryan even said so. It was the day Alex's mother died. "And trust me, you need to know what really happened."

He dropped his hands and the scene in front of us played.

"You don't have to hide what you know, Christina," Alex's father said. "You can tell me."

Her mother seemed to weigh on this. Her expression resembled the one Alex wore whenever she was thinking deeply.

When she didn't say anything, the man continued, "He's the one, isn't he?" he gestured toward the baby in his arms.

At that, the woman went white - or so I thought, since there wasn't any color in the first place - and reached out toward Xander immediately. "Billy, you don't know what you-"

"Answer the question, Christina," the man said, taking a step back to get Xander out of his mother's reach.

Everything about this felt wrong; this part of the past shouldn't have been put to display for anyone other than a Gray to watch. Neither Alex nor Ryan seemed to care about that though; she was struggling to process the last fifteen seconds while he seemed to be enjoying everything.

"Billy," the woman, Christina, said, trying to remain calm but couldn't hide the tension in her voice. "Please, just listen to me. This isn't what you think-"

"Your name was on the list," the man cut her off. "Just say it and don't make me do something that we'll both regret."

The woman remained silent, tension visible on every part of her face. When she didn't respond, the man inhaled sharply before reaching into his back pocket and taking out a gun.

And he pointed it at Xander.

Alex's hands flew up to her mouth. She was shaking now, her eyes shining with tears. She seemed stuck, wanting to move but not having the ability to do so. I looked over at Zoe and Elijah and found them stuck in a situation similar to mine, trying to figure out how to get the scene to stop.

"Billy, no-" Christina said, her face horror struck but before she could reach out again, her husband took another step back. Desperate, she spoke, "There was one more condition!"

The man stopped and looked at her. He narrowed his eyes before asking, "What was it?"

"Give me my son and I'll tell you," she said in a firm but shaky voice. When he hesitated, she spoke louder, "I said give me my son!"