I woke up, stretching my arms and yawning widely. That was the best sleep I had gotten since I had graduated. It was dreamless, peaceful.
There were no dreams about authorities hunting me down or trying to hurt my friends. Everything was still and calm.
I looked around me, taking in my surroundings. My bed appeared to be a huge, squishy white mattress that felt like foam and went on as far as I could see. Above me, I could see only mist and occasional ocean blue sky when the mist cleared for a second. I stood up, feeling wobbly on the mattress, like I could fall at any moment.
As I looked down to steady myself, I noticed that my dress was the palest pink. It was long and floaty, like it was blowing in a breeze that wasn't there. It had delicate little shoulder straps. It was very pretty, but something seemed off. Something was out of place.
I gasped as I realised it wasn't the dress at all that was throwing me. It was me. I held up my hand in front of my face, gulping as the bright sparkles glittered off my arm. As well as the sparkles, I had a see through quality. I didn't look like a diamond. Diamonds were silvery and somewhat menacing in their own way.
I was translucent and glowing. I was floaty and soft, a reassuring, peaceful aura about me. I didn't know what was happening to me. I closed my eyes and tried to launch into the air, seeing if I could fly. When nothing happened, I was even more confused.
I walked along the squishy white foam, unsteady with every step. What happened now? It seemed pretty certain that I was dead. That I would never see Jamie and my friends again. I felt a tear fall down my cheek, but when I went to wipe it away, I couldn't feel my face. After walking for what seemed like hours, a twisted stair case appeared in front of me, sparkling gold. I couldn't see where it led to as it disappeared in the mist, but maybe I could find someone or something up there to tell me what was going on.
As I put my left foot on the first step, I heard a swoosh behind me.
"Cassie, don't walk up those stairs."
I turned around, shocked to see Drew in front of me. He looked different from when he had been in the Diamond Generation. He looked more healthy and glowing, somehow more at peace. His light blue eyes, nearly identical to his sister's, glistened in the mist.
"Drew? What...wha... where are we?"
He put his hand on my shoulder, smiling kindly. It was funny just how much he looked like Mel, the only difference was he had shorter hair and was very muscular.
"You are hovering between life and death. This is our in-between port."
I narrowed my eyes, shaking my head. I looked around me once more, not seeing anything but Drew and the staircase that I still had my hand on.
"So... I'm.... I'm not dead?"
He shook his head, dropping his hand down from my shoulder.
"No. But if you walk up that staircase, you will be. Walking up those stairs means you will never go back. You won't be alive anymore Cassie, you will be gone."
I frowned, feeling more confused than I ever had.
"But Drew... I...I want to go up the stairs. I have to."
He nodded in understanding.
"I know. But you have to fight it. Your whole being wants to go up the stairs, you think that you belong there. But you don't. Fight it. You still have so much to do in The Generations. You can't leave just yet."
I glanced up the staircase again, desperate to see the top. To see something other than mist. Despite his words, I still had a firm hold on the golden banister.
"If...if I'm not dead, then neither are you."
He smiled sadly and shrugged, his whole person looking dejected.
"I'm afraid I am actually. I've been up the stairs already. I'm officially dead. I was granted special permission to hang out in the in-between place in case Mel ended up here. I hope with all my heart she doesn't, but if she did....then at least I'll be here to greet her."
"You're actually really dead? When they erased you, you really did die?"
He nodded again.
"Yes. For me, there was no choice in walking up those stairs. It was automatic. But you are hovering, which means it's up to you. You can either walk up the stairs and die, or you can go back down to the gens. Everything will be screaming at you to walk up those stairs...but you mustn't. You have to fight it."
I scratched my head in confusion, nothing made sense.
"What's at the top? What's up there Drew?"
He chuckled lightly, his cool eyes sparkling.
"I can't tell you that. You only ever get to find out if you choose it. But you know that you have to go back down. You can't walk up those stairs. You are needed down there."
I sat lightly on the step I had been standing on. I figured a few minutes of sitting down would stop me from wanting to go up, but the force was still undeniably pulling me.
"I don't want to go back down. My friends are being tortured. Jamie is being hurt. We are all prisoners and I can't watch anymore. Death is the better option."
He joined me to sit on the step, putting an arm around my shoulder.
"Hey now, you know that isn't true. You have to go back down. Mel and the others are safe. Jamie is safe. Maisie and her friends saved you, remember?"
"Of course I remember. But it wasn't real, it was a hallucination from the venom."
He soothed patterns into my shoulder. Despite the fact I was hovering between life and death, it was relaxing sitting here with a ghost.
"It wasn't a hallucination. When Maisie was given the choice to be erased or tortured, she knew what she was doing. She chose to be erased, knowing that she wouldn't really die because she's not a Diamond. She's a Sapphire living as a Diamond. So she disappeared, a trick she has learnt over time and went back to the Diamond Gen to see if she could find any of the other Sapphires hiding in that world that Popkins had helped. When he was arrested, he admitted to helping more people switch generations than we could have ever known, so Maisie knew there were some Sapphires hiding."
It was alot to take in, the fact that Maisie wasn't dead after all and that she really had entered The Coal Jailhouse to save us. I carried on listening to Drew.
"She also knew that being a Sapphire with certain Diamond abilities meant that they would be able to step into another body and over take it. There were exactly two hundred and thirty six prison guard authorities working at The Coal Jailhouse, Maisie found two hundred and thirty Sapphires in the Diamond Gen all willing to help her. The remaining six guards who didn't get over taken are now being held hostage in their own prison by the Sapphires slash Diamonds slash Now Prison Guards. Most of the inmates they were torturing at the prison have all been released apart from a few who really did commit bad crimes. The rest were innocent."
I shook my head in disbelief.
"Woah."
His light chuckle filled the air again.
"Woah indeed. Pretty impressive huh? Everyone is safe. Maisie is now reunited with you all having left the guards body and given him a dozen doses of the venom they gave you. He won't be waking up anytime soon. It's time for you to go back and see them. They are waiting."
I nodded, then stood up, admiring my floaty pink dress all over again as it blew gently in the breeze.
Drew cried out as I climbed to step two on the staircase. I hadn't even realised I was doing it.
"It's not me, I... I can't help it. I want to see what's at the top."
My left foot climbed step three followed by my right, then step four. I looked back at Drew, alarm written all over his face.
"Fight it. Come down Cassie. Come on."
He held out his hand for me to take. I took it, but stayed where I was.
"If the venom killed me....or at least sent me to this weird hovering place....then maybe I don't deserve to live anyway. Maybe I'm meant to walk up these stairs. I'm obviously not strong enough for life down there."
Drew raised an eyebrow, a smirk on his face.
"So are you saying I was weak because I let them erase me?"
I shook my head quickly.
"No. No of course not. You didn't deserve to die Drew, it was all my fault."
He scoffed and rolled his eyes.
"Of course it wasn't your fault. And what about Rosie? Does she deserve to be up here as well....just because she was weak?"
I shook my head again, mortified.
"No. I didn't mean it like that. I never knew Rosie but I'm sure she was brave and strong... I know they put her through unimaginable hell."
"They did. In fact, they tortured her worse than they have tortured anyone for years. She couldn't take it anymore. So she ended up at the top of those stairs."
I shuddered.
"But why? Why her?"
He let go of my hand and I took a step down, wanting to hear why they did what they did to Rosie.
"Because Miles and Rosie were about to cause them a whole lot of trouble. It was Rosie who figured it out first, that there was another generation. The Sapphires. When her and Miles were studying at Pearl Eds they used to sneak off together and talk to each other about how they could change the rules of graduation. How it wasn't fair that some people were forced into a world they didn't belong in. Along the way, they fell deeply in love. The authorities took her first and let Miles stay. They figured that Miles would settle down and act as he should if he knew he could be thrown in jail at any point. But them taking Rosie made his vendetta stronger. And you know the rest. Miles has a good heart Cassie. Don't let the group isolate him."
We stood there, looking at each other for quite some time. The need for me to go upstairs was taking over me. My hands were shaking as I tried to resist. I backed up three steps, all the while looking at Drew.
"I'm sorry."
I was ashamed that I wasn't strong enough to stop what was happening. That I didn't have enough power to come back down.
"The venom didn't land you here Cassie. It's the fact that you were tortured without your stone. You need your Sapphire, then you will become strong again."
I shrugged sadly.
"What difference does it make Drew? I belong up here."
I took another step. He put his hand to his mouth.
"Cassie, if you go past the next step there is no return. The force will be too strong, please.... don't do it. They need you."
I sighed, knowing that he was wrong. I knew where I had to go. I held my hand up to him sadly as a goodbye, and turned around ready to take the next step.
"Jamie."
I squeezed my eyes shut, not wanting to hear. It was no use. Drew said the name again.
"Jamie is waiting for you. Go and see him."
I held on to the banister, shaking as I realised my right foot was already on the step of no return. If I stepped my left foot up, it was over. Done.
"If you take another step, Jamie will want to die anyway. And you running away from The Rubies and having everyone help would have all been for nothing. The fight isn't over Cassie. Don't let them do it alone. Go down and help my sister. Help Maisie and Miles. Help Popkins when he has helped so many. Go back and see Jamie."
I let out a sob and turned around with force, practically throwing myself down the stairs. Drew caught me, engulfing me in a huge hug. I squeezed him back, tears running down my face.
"I'll tell Mel you said hi."
He kissed me on the cheek and grinned.
"That's my girl. Now hold on tight and go and beat them Cassie. Win for us."
I nodded slowly and took a deep breath, squealing as Drew pushed me hard. I swirled around and around in the mist, speeding lower and lower. Back in the human days, there was something called planes that flew thousands of feet in the sky. Sometimes, people even jumped out of these planes with what was called a parachute that kept you from hurtling to the ground for a certain death. This was what I imagined was happening to me now, that I had jumped out of a plane without a parachute.
The whole world was spinning as I fell harder and faster, my vision going blurry. I screamed as it appeared I was about to hit into solid ground, pleasantly surprised as I glided softly instead, right onto the grass outside The Coal Jailhouse next to where my struggling body lay. Jamie was hunched over me in a heap, doing compressions on my chest, willing me to live. I took a deep breath and morphed myself back into my body, gasping as I opened my eyes looking right at Jamie.
Darkness surrounded me again, but this time in a good way. Jamie threw himself on me, crying and holding me to his chest, repeating 'I love you' over and over again.
I hugged him back, sending up a silent thank you to Drew. I was strong enough to fight once more.