Date: 2013-06-08 04:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Fantasy; Supernatural; Romance; Young Adult
Description: Alternate cover image for B00D9XY7MC In a desperate search for silence in the closing chapters of Synergy Charlie battled her ultimate fear and left the only sanctuary she has ever known. She has paid a devastating price for that fateful move. She lost her foundation. As Charlie tries to comprehend the agonizing grief that is engulfing her soul she realizes that her entire life was an orchestration designed to protect her from the evil that is hunting her now. Before Charlie can begin to comprehend the unspeakable danger that is on the horizon she must first overcome old fallacies and falterin

Redefined

By

Jamie Magee

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to any real people or event is purely coincidental.

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2011 by Jamie Magee

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the express consent of the publisher and author, except where permitted by law.

Other Books by Jamie Magee

Insight (Book 1)

Embody (Book 2)

Image (Book 3)

Vital (Book 4)

Vindicate (Book 5)

Enflame (Book 6)

New Series

See (Book 1)

Witness (Book 2)

Synergy (Book 3)

Redefined (Book 4)

Where To Find Jamie Online:

http://authorjamiemagee.blogspot.com

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“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” Joseph Campbell

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter One

It’s not supposed to feel like this. I mean, all your life you struggle for independence, to be able to make your own decisions, to break free from the restrictions and guidelines of your parents - and the moment you get just that, you don’t want it. You want to hear your mom tell you what step to take next. You want to look into her eyes and see approval, direction. You want to feel that protection.

What I feel now is the last thing I dreamed I would feel each time Draven and I’d plotted our escape as we grew up side by side. I wanted my parents. I wanted to know that they were safe. That whatever I’d gotten myself into could be undone. That somewhere in the midst of a past I can’t remember and a future I could not comprehend, I would find myself.

Draven and I’d been alone in his guest room for almost half an hour now. We hadn’t said much. He had continued to sway me side to side, humming slightly. Every once in a while I would feel his body tense and glance up at him to see his jaw locked and his eyes closed tightly. For no reason, out of nowhere he squeezed his arms around me so tight that I couldn’t breathe.

“Are you okay?” I asked as I gasped under the pressure.

Instantly, he let his arms fall loose as he moved to the bed and sat down, burying his face in his hands.

“No, you’re not,” I mumbled as I sat down next to him.

I saw him dare to smile as his hands fell. “I can’t hide anything from you,” he murmured.

“Right, so tell me what’s going on inside your head,” I whispered as I gently wrapped my arm around him.

He moved his head slowly from side to side. “I just keep seeing me pull that light from you…I keep seeing what you went through in The Realm with Aden.”

My stomach sank instantly as I felt the guilt for a memory that had remained dormant in my mind, the time that Aden and I’d innocently fallen asleep side-by-side years ago. The fight that Draven and Aden had because of it. That realm, all the lingering insinuations that this family had given about Aden and me knowing each other before this life, seemed to add salt to the wounds that I’d forgotten were open.

“Listen to me,” I said as I turned his face so he would look at me. “We’re here now. Landen and Willow got you through that. I know they will get you through whatever hunger happens to surface again…” My thoughts cascaded over the memory of them giving him all of that glowing energy. “For all you know, that craving is forever gone now.”

“I know,” he whispered as he stole a gentle kiss from my lips. “I just see what happened before, how I lost control, how once I lost it I couldn't get it back. I was a prisoner in this body, watching it destroy the one thing that gives me reason to fight this curse… ” His angry eyes poured over me. “It was too much - the fear in your eyes, fear of me.”

My eyes glassed over as I felt the emotions of that last fight, how I pushed him, how dangerous that was.

“It was my fault. Madison told me not to let you turn anger into passion, to make you mad and teach you that you could be mad and still have control…I don’t think she was wrong. I just think I pushed too hard in a place and time that I shouldn’t have.”

He looked away from me. “If you hadn’t pushed me there, I never would have believed that it would’ve been possible.” He hung his head as his long fingers massaged his eyes. “I still don’t think it’s possible to do on my own…if it weren’t for Landen and Willow, the energy they pushed into me, we wouldn’t be sitting here.”

“And if it weren’t for us, they wouldn’t be. Everything we do comes right back to us. Karma is the law in every dimension. We can debate this for hours, but by you helping them, you helped yourself; therefore, you did find a way to stop, to stare the biggest fear you had in the eye and find a win.”

His eyes rose to meet mine as he smiled weakly. “You’re too good, Charlie. I just told you that your parents are missing, and in the middle of that you are still worried about me, about us.”

“Because us is me. We are one in the same. I know together we’ll figure this out.”

“And I know...that if something happens to me, Aden will protect you,” he said in a placid tone laced with jealousy as he looked away from me.

“Stop it.”

As a familiar disdain filled his eyes, he grumbled, “Stop what?”

“That memory is mine again - that fight, what the three of us went through a few years ago. I hear and feel every mean word we said to each other. I’m not going to let you take something that we have gotten over, something that only happened because I was jet-lagged from my flight, and hide behind it, assume that it doesn’t matter what happens to you, that your brother will be there to pick up the pieces.”

“I’d rather him pick them up than Silas,” he said as he leaned back on his arms and prepared to watch me unravel in my anger.

“Nobody is picking up anything because you are not going anywhere. Do you hear me?!” I said louder than I needed to as I pushed him back before pinning his arms above his head. “I don’t care what wall is knocked down in Aden’s head, I don’t care if someone takes my memory. This is now. This is forever. Stop pushing me away. I don’t deserve it!”

His eyes were hungry - not for a light, but for a promise that I was his, that no matter what we went through, my heart - which was thundering in my chest - belonged to him. As if he could hear it racing, he placed his hand there.

“It’s yours,” I whispered. “Always has been.” My voice trailed off for no reason.

I felt light-headed, on the verge of fainting. As a cold sweat washed over me, I leaned back and slowly crawled off him. As I stood, I swayed. It felt like I was being washed away...vanishing.

“Charlie?” Draven said as he sat up.

My mind started to fire random images at me. I glanced to the window, to the fields of flowers I could see framed there. My vision flashed like a camera. Everything turned white every other instant, and that fading feeling kept washing over me.

Voices, sounds from a past I knew and a past I didn’t know echoed around me. I raised my hands to my ears, trying to stop it. I squinted my eyes closed, thinking I could stop the flashing visions, but that just made them clearer.

I saw a place like Chara but it was clearly not that land. The air was regal, yet simple. All of nature was vibrant and seemed to pulse with the vibration of the universe.

There was a home, a beautiful, eccentric home that rested near several more. It was mine, but it couldn’t be; it just couldn’t be. I saw my parents there. My mother was not some uptight businesswoman, but an advocate like my father.

I saw an entire life with them in that place, one that held more time than my youth would have supplied. My mind was at war. I kept trying to push myself back to the life that was real, to the childhood I did have.

I focused on the apartment in New York, but I found it furnished far differently than my mother had ever had it decorated. I focused on her office, but there was another man behind her desk. The bookshelf with all my photos and her trinkets now held images of someone else’s family.

Frantically, my mind rushed to my home in Salem. It was there, but it was far more secluded than I had left it. A large brick wall was around the property. Each room had white sheets covering the furniture.

I could hear Draven saying my name, his hand rushing over my skin as my knees buckled. Slowly, we fell beside the bed.

“Tell me you’re real,” I breathed, terrified that his memory would vanish next, that the life I had with him would wash away in this psychotic break I was having.

“Look at me!” he demanded as if he had said it a thousand times before.

I focused on the emerald green-laced-with-black eyes that had always been my strength. I heard his voice whisper eternal promises to me and I grasped each word as if it were a lifeline.

My mind jerked me backward, forcing my eyes closed once again as I heard my mother’s voice whisper to me across a distant wind. I saw a different side of her, someone that would come into my room hours after I’d fallen asleep and caress my hair, my back, as I dreamed. When I spoke random words in my sleep, she would smile and tears would glass over her eyes.

“You are precious, my little one. Your blood is regal, and you will prevail,” she would whisper to me.

I started to breathe rapidly in and out. “Tell me you’re real,” I said to Draven, trying to ensure that my lifeline to reality was still there.

I felt him squeeze my arms, my wrists, and my waist. When his hands reached for my thighs, my soul seized, anchored by the vibrant touch of his passionate embrace.

For no reason, he hissed and tensed. My eyes flew open. A cold sweat was across his brow. One glance to my skin told me that I was glowing, that the glow was reaching for him, that a part of him, his essence - which was dimmer, ashy - was reaching for that light. At some points on our skin, the essence of each of us was winding together.

Draven was tense, hard as a rock, only breathing through a locked jaw - which sounded more like a fierce growl.

“Don’t let me go,” I pleaded weakly, thinking that my life was being erased before my eyes.

From pure exhaustion, my eyes fell closed and my neck went limp. I felt Draven turn me in his lap as he wrapped his legs and arms around me as tightly as he could.

My head fell back against his shoulder.

“Right here, Charlie...right here.”

His lips kissed my neck. I felt him holding back, putting a wall up, doing his best to hold on to me and not cross a dangerous line. His embrace was so strong that it was trembling.

His lips moved up my neck, leaving a warm, humming sensation as a trail. Just under my ear, he whispered, “I’ve got you.”

My mind jerked me back again. My house in Salem was there again. My mother had a few less lines around her eyes. So did Nana and Madison’s parents. They were sitting in a circle in the den of my house with Evan, with the ghost of Draven’s mom and my father. Candles were glowing in the room as they all closed their eyes and a sphere of energy formed between them. In that energy, they were watching the lives of people I didn’t know - at least not all of them. Landen and Willow’s images were there, along with others and ours. Others that I was sure I knew but had not met would often flash into view. It was like they were watching the universe move warriors into place.

They aged in that circle, telling me this was done more than once. I even saw Kara and her husband sitting with them at some point. I heard the discussions on whether or not the path they had chosen was correct. They all adamantly agreed that not only should we remain in the dark, but that they had to play their role in not pushing thoughts into our minds, that we had to find our own way.

I saw my mother sealing the house. I saw her leave an envelope on the kitchen table with my name on it. A key was lying across it, and in an instant I could see what it went to: a safe in the floor of our basement.

I saw my father appear, put his hand in hers, and a light surround them. The vision didn’t stop. I saw them running through darkness. I could feel the dead all around them. They charged through a dark, mystic forest, and right before they reached what could only be a waterfall, I heard a boy scream, “Charlie!”

Both of my parents stopped and looked back at this boy, who looked so much like my father. My mother hugged him tighter than she had ever hugged me. My father squeezed his shoulder, then all at once that waterfall, the light around it, reached out and absorbed my parents.

I screamed through gritted teeth, feeling that fading wave wash over me. I didn’t feel the closing of one chapter of my life. I felt the beginning of a new book...my life had been redefined.

Before I could grieve or find anger for this supernatural light that had taken my parents, that home - the one that looked like it belonged in Chara but surely didn’t - came into view. My mind was trying to tell me that they were home, that they had honored my plea and set me free to live in the one place they would not have let their worst enemy reside in.

My chest was rising and falling deeply, but the rapid speed was faltering. Draven had leaned my head back and was staring into me, watching my hell. Hopefully, he understood it far better than I did. I was exhausted and confused.

I was so close to sleep and it scared me. I feared falling asleep and waking up in a new world, a world where I could not go home to my mom and sister, where I could not hear my father’s music guiding me.

Draven’s legs and arms loosened from around me. I reached to clutch his legs in a firm protest that he couldn’t let me go, that he was my anchor - the one and only anchor to my sanity.

“Shh,” he whispered in that hypnotic voice of his. “I’m going to get that key.”

“No,” I moaned as I tried to focus so I could do it myself, so I could see it all myself.

He adjusted one of my hands around his wrist and the other one against my stomach. “Play me a song.”

“No guitar,” I muttered.

“Pretend. Play in your mind,” he said just before he kissed my temple.

I didn’t move.

“Play,” he said, moving his wrist.

I started to move my fingers against his skin to a song my father had taught me to play.

“Beautiful. That sounds beautiful. Keep playing for me, Charlie,” he said as his hands slowly moved across my thighs. When he grew still, I knew he was seeing, that he had left to chase the visions that had assaulted my mind.

Safely in his embrace, my heart began to beat slower. The shock was wearing off. Fear was trying to settle, but I didn’t have time to be afraid. I kept trying to hold on to memories.

I could see it all both ways, I really could. I could see the life of seclusion that was lived by my family, and I could see a life that was lived center stage for the world to see. My parents as the famed musician and the powerful executive.

Something was telling me that the memory of my parents had been erased from the world I grew up in; that was my gut feeling. Nothing was robbing my memories again. They were showing me that they had gone…home.

Kara. I kept trying to see Kara in my mind. I heard conversations that I wasn’t around to hear in the recent past: Kara and Mom preparing to part for a short time, the two of them planning on making it seem sudden, rushed even, like they had no choice, no time.

Why? Why would they do that to me? Why would they not let me say goodbye the right way? I should be furious. If I was, then at least that anger would help me find a way to change this - but I was numb, numb with shock. I had to figure out how true this was, how real this was. If I knew where Kara was, I would move to her right now, but conveniently she was traveling to some unknown place with her husband.

Just as my breath came back to a slow rise and fall as I finished playing that phantom song against Draven’s skin, I felt him move. His arms went around my waist, pulling me against his firm body as he leaned his head toward my neck and slowly kissed the soft skin there before whispering, “I’ve got you.”

I held his arms against me, squinting my eyes closed, seeing flashes of that mental break in my mind.

“This dimension is making me lose my mind. We have to get out of here.”

He sat something down next to us then raised his hands to my heart. “This is home. Right here inside you is home.”

I felt a sharp pain in my chest as he said that. As if he could sense it, he pressed harder against my skin as his legs drew upward, surrounding me with his body.

“None of that can be real. It’s Bianca. She is messing with my head again.”

“It was real.”

I swallowed the tears that were encasing my throat. “You just saw Nana. Within this hour, you saw her talking to the police at my house. This is not real.”

“I went there. The brick wall around your home is in place, and everything is covered - the house was sealed. I took the note and got what she left in the safe, then moved to my house. It’s late there. Nana was asleep, sound asleep. I went to wake her and ask her what the hell was going on, then Mom appeared.”

Hearing the crack in his voice, I leaned back to look into his eyes.

“I heard her voice in my mind. She told me not to ask questions that they could not answer, that they had fought hard to untwist our past and lead us to today. She said we had to see our way to the end, that we would know and understand our path when we needed to, that they could not and would not explain what they knew, for their words had been sealed.”

“Sealed by who?”

“Creator. I don’t know what that means, but I heard that and I saw an astounding respect in her eyes.”

“This isn’t real. None of this is real.”

“You’re in shock. It’s okay; it’s just shock. We have been through a lot in the last seventy-two hours.”

“A lot? My entire life was just erased,” I bit out.

“Not for you, not for us - but for those that would search for us.”

“My family does not have the power to cover up something like this, to create something like this. Neither does yours. It’s not real...it’s just not.”

His eyes filled with an unstated wonder as I saw him reflecting the images of that eccentric home that my mind had opened up for me.

“I don’t know what heaven you fell from, but I’m glad that you are in the hell of my arms right now. I’m going to keep you safe, Charlie.”

“This is heaven,” I said as I reached my hand for his face. My skin was cool against the heat of his.

He furrowed his brow in disbelief as he slowly moved closer to my lips. Very carefully, he let his frame mine. I felt my soul reach for his, my essence. He must have felt it, too, because a cool sweat came to his skin as he pulled away and hissed through his teeth, “They have amped you up for sure.”

“What does that mean?” I asked as I tried to turn in his arms, but he held me forward, my arms in place. It was obvious that he knew I wanted to touch him that I wanted to feel his skin against mine. I needed an escape. I needed to feel my heaven.

“You’re glowing.”

“And you are in control.”

“Let’s keep it that way,” he said as he pulled in a deep breath.

He reached for whatever he had set beside us in a vain attempt to distract me from his failing composure. I didn’t look away until I felt the weight of it in my lap. When I glanced down, I noticed the smell of cedar for the first time and saw a wooden block in my lap. I thought it was a box at first, but there was no way to open it. On the outside, there were carvings and four rings, and divided by a line were surrounding spears. Triangles were behind and around this image, and words were written across the side of it, words I could not read: ‘multa ceciderunt ut altius surgeren.’

“That was the only thing in the safe. I checked for hidden doors, asked Mom if there was anything else. She said this would make us invincible.”

“A wooden block?”

He shrugged as he let his head fall back on the bed, squinted his eyes closed, and breathed in deeply.

I leaned away, wanting to give him space, but his arms clutched me against him. I reached beside him for the letter with my name on it. When I opened it, there were seven very thin sheets of paper in it, so thin that you could see right through them.

“She said the story is unwritten, that when we move forward words will come,” Draven muttered as he stared at me from beneath hooded eyes. He was exhausted, too.

“Seven pages...must mean it’s a short story.” I guess humor was my only defense right now.

He smirked. “After what we just saw our parents do across our childhood, I have a feeling that is no ordinary paper.”

The paper was short, barely as long as my hand, and it had an odd texture to it that I could not place.

“Seeing your dad and my mom sitting in some kind of meditation was the one thing that was telling me that this was not real.”

I heard a laugh deep within his chest as he rushed his hand across my skin. “Agreed. But then again, they have been married to ghosts for some time now.”

“I don’t get the charade. I mean, for the world, sure - but for us? That is so wrong.”

“We’ll figure it out,” he said, moving his hand more slowly against my skin now. He trusted himself, which made me feel safe.

A knock at the door made us both jump, but we caught our breath when we heard Madison and Aden bickering on the other side of the door.

“Come in,” Draven said with a husky voice, not bothering to move the way either of us were positioned.

Madison charged through the door. “Where’s that ring?” she bit out harshly before she figured out that we were entangled on the floor, looking like we had just been to hell and back.

“Why?” I asked weakly as she fell to her knees in front of us.

She shook her head no once, telling me it didn’t matter. It didn’t take any effort for me to ‘see’ her. She had just watched Drake arrive for dinner and was having a wicked panic attack - but like always, she shelved her problems and was now trying to figure out what was wrong with us.

Draven’s grip tightened on me as he sat up a little straighter. I guess I wasn’t the only one terrified that I might vanish or be recreated the way my parents had managed to do.

Aden had followed Madison’s lead, only he was not as obsessive as Madison. He saw what he needed in my mind, then reached for the box - the pensive expression that he was known for absorbed me.

“Did you hear what she said?” Draven asked him in a raspy voice.

Aden nodded weakly. “I’ve seen this.”

“Where?” Draven asked quickly.

“Not the box. The symbol. I saw it in The Realm when that girl told me to shield my energy. I tried to think of armor, but this came to mind instead.

“What now?” Madison asked as her eyes returned to emerald and she reached for my arm to offer me some comfort.

“Rest,” Draven said. “We have to rest - and after we rest, we finish what we started: we set the damned free, end the hell of The Realm, and take down anyone who gets in our way.”

“You can add ‘joining forces with those that have the same vision’ to that list,” I heard someone say from the doorway.

We all glanced up to see August leaning in the frame. He pointed over his shoulder. “I happen to know a dinner table that is full of not only good food, but people who have the same goal,” he said with a wise smirk.

“Ring,” Madison mouthed.

I weakly shook my head no. She was going to have to figure out how to deal with Drake without Monroe’s magic to aid her. Her face hardened as she stood and pulled Aden up as if he were some kind of shield and pushed him past August.

“I can bring your dinner here,” August said as his old eyes appraised Draven and me.

“We’re good. Didn’t mean to be rude and hide out up here,” Draven said with the manners his father demanded his boys always have.

August stepped forward and held his hand out to help me up. Draven followed, gripping the box. I managed to slide the envelope into my back pocket without anyone noticing.

“Man of many languages, aren’t you?” Draven asked.

August nodded once, being ever so humble.

“Can you read this?” Draven asked, handing him the cedar box that had no way to open it.

August took the box carefully, glanced at the words, then let his concerned stare rise to meet ours.

Chapter Two

August let his aged hands move across the symbols of the box as his eyes moved between the two of us.

“Many have fallen, only to rise higher,” he finally said just as his eyes moved to the box again. “A path that all great deities must face,” he mumbled to himself.

“They fall?” I questioned.

“People do not follow souls that had everything handed to them. They follow souls who have lost their way more than once and found a way to rise higher - for they know those souls will lead them to do the same.”

“Can you open that?” Draven muttered as he reached for my hand.

“I doubt it.” August moved the box all around. “It’s sealed with divine magic - and this box knows I am not the one needed to open the gifts it has.”

“How do I open it?” I asked, knowing it was mine - well, all of ours.

He pursed his lips. “I’ll see if I can decode any of this symbolism for you, but honestly something this protected will not open until it is needed.”

“Perfect,” I muttered. So much for making battle plans.

Before we could ask another question, an older woman walked up behind August and nudged him. She was small, silver hair, wise eyes. With only a glance, I could see that she was his soul mate: Nyla, Landen’s grandmother.

“I send you to tell them it was time to eat, and I find you in a discussion of what will be? Let these children rest, August,” she said in a teasing but firm tone.

“Not his fault, Mrs. Nyla. We needed help,” Draven answered politely.

“Well, I may not have the insight my dear August has, but I know that all of you have been through a tremendous experience and that right now food and rest will make your path clear. Come,” she said as she turned and walked down the stairs to emphasize the point that it was time to eat.

August glanced at me. “May I keep this for a while, see what I can do to help you understand it? With what I already know, perhaps the scroll left behind by Willow and Landen may add to it. I admit, it may confuse it more, but at least I will feel as if I am doing all that I can.”

I nodded to tell him yes, still unable to look in his eyes for very long.

“Tell me,” he said quietly, “what else is troubling you? Why is it that your aura reflects grief when you glance into my eyes?”

My heart began to beat so fiercely that it hurt to breathe. I didn’t know how to answer him, and I surely didn’t know that my aura was reflecting grief for him, my family for sure. But his statement reminded me that I was sure that his granddaughter was now a Witness.

I wasn’t prepared to witness the agony I was sure to see in his eyes - not after the day I’d lived through.

Draven held August’s stare as his eyes turned to black. I was sure he was searching through August’s memories to find the best way to explain to him what we knew, at the same time trying to judge what response he may have, what response they would all have. Once his eyes were emerald green again, he tilted his head and said, “I’m interested in the auras all of you seem to see.”

“All can see them,” August answered with smiling eyes. “You just have to tell yourself to see what you already feel, the energy of others.”

I glanced nervously between them, wanting a way out of this room, a way out of having to tell August anything I knew or assumed.

Draven cleared his throat. “When you spoke to my brother and Charlie about older generations, about Witnesses, you seemed intrigued by them.”

“I am.”

“Can I assume that you are also open-minded about Witnesses, agree that they still exist, that they are guardians, especially to the ones they love?”

“You can,” August said as he stood up a little straighter.

Draven reached his arm around my waist. “This is hard to say.”

August nodded once as he pursed his lips just before he said, “Let me take your burden away...I noticed the passages that Perodine has been studying endlessly for the past day or so. I read into her concerns, and I’m aware that some members of this family will be given the divine fate of a Witness.”

“You know?” I uttered.

“I’m aware that there are only two members of this family not accounted for at the table set downstairs.”

“And you’re not sad?” I asked.

“I am concerned. I will not lie, I know that Witnesses are warriors and that for them to be called, the war we fight must need them.”

“Does everyone know?” Draven asked.

August’s eyes grew dim. “I’ve spoken to my son Ashten. He is aware, and so is Aubrey, his soul mate - but the children, Landen, Brady, the others...do not know.”

“Why are you waiting to tell them?” Draven asked as he looked all around August.

“They will not take this well. You see, each of my grandchildren strives to take the burden of the curse they feel this family has from each other. Willow and Landen stand at the forefront of that quest. After what they have been through they would feel the blame, find fault in random past decisions they’ve made, even seek to undo the path that Clarissa and Dane are on - but I know that would be dangerous, that the roles we are falling into, the expansion of how wide our net will cast, is a telling sign that the trial of Jupiter is in play.”

“I don’t understand how the planets play into whatever you are fighting,” I said quietly, too astounded to search for my answers in his thoughts.

“Honestly, we don’t either,” he said with a sad smile.

“Jupiter...is that a bad planet?” I asked in a whisper, knowing that more than likely, in some way we were now twisted into this.

August smiled slightly as his eyes moved between Draven and me. “No. None of them are bad. Jupiter usually represents luck, expansion. You being here, surfacing when you did, was nothing less than luck. The new doorways you open are an example of expansion. It seems that the trials are overlaying, leading us in new directions, giving us less time to prepare for them.”

“That doesn't sound so scary,” Draven said, glancing down at me. “So Willow and Landen are going to take this badly?”

“Very. We just want them to rest now. I admit that Ashten and Aubrey are not calm about this. They fear for their daughter, what her role will bring, but they are strong parents, and right now they are turning their attention to helping all of you - for if one falls, I fear you may all fall.”

The certainty in his voice sent chill bumps across my skin.

“Um...maybe you know this, too,” I uttered. “Madison...Madison thinks that maybe, somehow, that in The Realm a part of Drake may be in Landen, and vice versa. I don’t know what that means for all of you.”

“That is troubling,” August muttered, “and it is something that I feared may approach, a ploy by Donalt. All he has to do is have access to a vessel that Willow’s heart loves. When that happens, he will have the power of her heart instantly.”

“I don’t get that. What makes Willow’s heart so different?” I asked.

“There is nothing more powerful in Willow’s heart than any other. The reason it is plagued, targeted by Donalt, is that she has fought for over four million years to destroy him. Willpower and thoughts of redemption, for that amount of time are very powerful. Truth is, I have no idea why she is targeted. I simply know that Donalt is seeking her essence as if it is the one tool he needs to reach some demented plan of his.”

“Well, I guess we can’t let that happen, can we?” Draven stated, obviously vowing to join this army of souls.

“I hope not,” August said with a forced smile. “Dinner is ready, and rest is needed to unravel all that we know.”

He reached for us and we followed with little enthusiasm. I wanted to figure this out now, and honestly I feared rest. I feared my own mind.

Before we stepped outside, Draven pulled me closer to him. His lips rested on my temple before he pulled me to his chest.

“I’m not going to let anything happen to you, Charlie. You and me; this is our family.”

I felt my heart leap. I felt myself anchor to this reality, and that allowed me to breathe a little easier.

Knowing that we could not be rude any longer, we found our way outside to the massive porch where Willow and Landen’s family was surrounding an elegant dinner table with more food than I had ever seen. Everything seemed so fresh, so colorful and inviting.

Almost strategically, the seat Madison was given was near Drake, across from Willow and Landen, in the center of the table. Our seat was near the end of the table, where August sat at the head of it. I kept my eyes low as they offered thanks for the food and the random conversations began around us.

Madison had made every effort not to look at Drake. I knew why. Even though I was three seats away from him, I could feel the pull of his energy - the dominance that seemed to echo around him. God help my best friend. That boy needed a warning label attached to him. He could make you dizzy without even bothering to look you in the eyes.

I felt Monroe’s stare and found her on the other side of the porch with Preston and Libby. Though they were not speaking, they were most definitely communicating. They would glance at each other, then to Willow and Landen. I wanted to pull Monroe aside and ask her to show me everything she knew about her father, what was about to happen. I didn’t care that the planet of Jupiter was one of luck or expansion. I felt an ominous cloud approaching us all.

“So, Charlie, who taught you to play?” Nyla asked me curiously, trying to pull me into the casual conversation that Aden and Draven were creating, one that was avoiding what we’d been through, might go through.

“My...my father,” I said as I blushed and memories ignited in my mind of the ghostly image that guided my fingertips when I was barely five. “Draven’s dad helped, too.”

Nyla smiled kindly. “Sounds like a wonderful father. So music was his gift?”

“It was.” I glanced at Draven. “It was his escape from the darkness he battled within.”

“Music is that for everyone, is it not?” Nyla said as a warm smile came across her tenderly aged face. “Can I convince you to play after dinner? I’m sure we are all hungry for such an escape.”

I nodded shyly, not sure if she knew how literally I meant that music was an escape from darkness. Something told me she knew, that somehow my aura or the time she spent with Monroe and her brothers had led her to know more about me than I realized.

I noticed Grayson and Draven locked in a stare and I quickly asked where they were with a simple thought, wanting in on this private conversation. Instantly, I was gone from the table.

Where I was made no sense. It looked like I was standing over a blue ocean, but it was laced with flames, and those flames were fighting with the water, fighting to reach where I was, on a stone pedestal hundreds of feet in the air. I could see a spinning sky, one that looked as if it were trying to stop or at least focus on certain points, stars - seven of them maybe. I gasped when I saw a wall of water, one that looked entirely too much like the one I had seen my parents in front of before.

The most troubling thing of all was the blood I could see spilling down the steps. I pulled myself out, not wanting to see the source of that blood.

Sensing me tense, Draven’s stare was now on me. He tilted his head in the direction of Monroe, quietly telling me that it was her thoughts that we were in. I glanced at Grayson. He nodded once to confirm that that was where he found the thought. The confusion and fear in his eyes told me he had no idea what was about to happen to us, to his sister.

Nyla, along with several others whose names I could not remember, cleared away the dinner dishes and began to set an array of desserts before us all. Aden decided to slide down a seat, finding himself next to me. Draven glanced across me to him, then to August.

“I really am curious as to why you and Perodine insinuated that Charlie knew my brother before this life as well.”

Aden’s body instantly became rigid. The tension at our end of the table built in that instant.

I gave Draven a glare like no other. Under his breath he said, “She didn’t say not to ask others.”

I knew then he was prodding, trying to figure out how I had a past here, but apparently my parents were from some other distant world.

“Son,” August said, glancing at Landen, who was at the center of the table, “please take my grandson’s lead and never take anything we say or assume to be fact. We are merely rambling through ancient text and a sky that has now been altered by time, trying simply...to save each other...and the world we live in.”

Draven clenched his jaw, clearly not liking the fact that his question was avoided.

“I’ve seen how Landen has fought against you, and I respect him for that, trust me. But what you don’t get is that our battlefield is in a realm that is created with our thoughts, emotions. Right now, none of us have any idea if what my brother and Charlie witnessed in that realm today was a clue to how we landed in this twisted fate or if it was nothing more than The Realm taking fears and insinuations and bringing them to life. I have to know what I’m really up against here.”

Obviously, Landen and Drake both heard the clipped tone Draven spoke with because they glanced in our direction at the same time. Madison noticed the fear in my emotion, the instant desire for an escape. She pushed back from her seat then gracefully took Nyla’s seat across from me. Landen and Drake kept their seats and listened to the quiet conversations that were going on around them, but I felt them focusing their senses - whatever they may be - in our direction. I assumed Willow would have noticed the tension with her sense of emotions, but apparently she was doing everything in her power not to feel anything. The balance in the weather around us was telling me that.

“It was The Realm,” Aden said under his breath, trying to subdue Draven’s fears.

August cleared his throat. “I would have to agree. No doubt, each of you have old souls that very well may have crossed in the past, and those memories may twist. Dreams are symbolic. You have to find a way to unwind those symbols to understand the dream clearly. But even when you do, you will find that recent fears or life-changing experiences may have led you to see untruths. We toyed with your thoughts before battle and we should not have.”

“The Realm is a lucid dream, though,” Draven countered.

“Still a dream.” August glanced at Aden’s classic pensive stare. “I would advise differently if all members of the illusion saw and felt what you are questioning me about, but with one glance at any of your auras I know that whatever it was is indeed a play on internal trepidation.” He cleared his throat as he sat forward. “Charlie, were you shocked by what you saw?”

I shrugged. “It’s not now, so it doesn’t really matter, does it?”

August nodded as he glanced at Aden. “It concerned you. Still does.”

“I always worry about my brother. Hurting him would be hurting me.”

August raised his brow. “Whatever you saw was meant to hurt you, Aden, not Charlie or Draven.” He glanced at Madison. “Or you.” His hands folded before him. “On your course, each of you will be forced to overcome emotions that are deadly in some way. Concern, or rather worry, seems to be interlaced with your aura, Aden. It’s not a weakness. You’re a plotter; you plan your way around problems that are not tangible yet. When you feel yourself fill with that emotion, know that either you are being tested by your soul so you can rise and teach others how to overcome that emotion or that your enemy is using that emotion to push you away because you are getting closer to its defeat.”

His attention returned to Draven. “You aura is full of electric energy. Not only do you find yourself being surprised by life often, but you also often surprise life. Charlie shares this with you. Where you carry anger, she carries a degree of balance. Trust her, if she feels that what happened in that realm was not shocking, earth-shattering, or even believable, then it wasn’t. Someone was targeting Aden.”

“In order to target Draven,” Aden bit out, a bit too loudly.

At that moment, Drake politely nodded to those around him before standing from his place at the table and taking a piece of cake to Preston, who was a few feet from our end of the table. Drake then leaned against the post of the porch by his baby brother, keeping his dark, mesmerizing eyes focused on Draven, as if he were ready at any moment to protect and defend Draven, an act that brought me both comfort and anxiety.

I didn’t like these instant bonds that were forming with these people who were strangers before this day began. The four of us, Draven, Aden, Madison, and I, had been on our own in this for so long that it was hard to let anyone else in, trust them. Grayson had been around us for weeks and had barely broken through that barrier. I noticed that he kept his distance in this conversation, staring in the direction of Monroe, expanding his eyes to darkness every other moment as if he were reassuring himself that Monroe had not revealed another thought.

“Move forward. Do not let anyone toy with your thoughts. It is very clear to everyone here where all of your hearts are aimed,” August said sincerely.

I watched as Madison cast her eyes absently to her side, not daring to rise to meet Drake’s but exactly where they needed to be if she wanted to sense a reaction in him.

“Let me assure you,” August said as he glanced between Draven and Aden, “there is no light or energy connecting Charlie to anyone but Draven.” He noticed Draven’s stare and returned it. “Isn’t that right, Drake?” August said in an elevated voice, inviting Drake into this dangerous conversation, clearly noticing that out of all of our newfound friends, Draven trusted Drake the most.

Draven locked eyes with Drake. “He’s right,” Drake said, as if he only wanted Draven to hear it.

“I want to learn to see this light thing. Teach me?” Draven said to Drake, who nodded once in response.

“Do you really have to see it to believe it?” I asked with a quiver in my voice, not able to handle his self-doubt on top of everything else.

The tension around Draven fell instantly as he caught my stare, then reached to pull me to him. In my ear he whispered, “No, no, no,” repeating it softly. “I think it will help us see better. I think the colors have emotions so we would be able to see people like Bianca more clearly.”

I moved my cheek against his so my lips could reach his ear. “Tell your brother you trust him - love him.”

August was right before: I don’t know how he picked that up about Aden, but Aden was the planner - the one that saw every curve in the road. He always seemed calm because by the time we reached that curve, he had figured out a way around it. He was tripping over what he saw in The Realm, thinking that he and Draven would have another fight over me. But years had passed since that first one, and Draven and I had been through too much to let something trivial stop us - at least not for long.

His arms tightened around me as I lowered my head to his shoulder.

I heard Nyla say, “What am I going to do with all of you?” I glanced up to see her standing behind August with her hands on his shoulders. “Every time I walk away, the energy around all of you dims. Music, that’s what we need. At least if you’re playing, August will not be able to bore you with his love of philosophy.”

“My fault completely,” Draven said as I rose from his embrace.

Nyla smiled at him, but he didn't notice, he was staring at Aden, begging for forgiveness without a word. Aden nodded in the direction of the yard, asking Draven to leave the table with him.

“We are going to get some equipment. Playing sounds awesome,” Draven said as he cleverly made an excuse for himself and Aden to leave the table.

I decided to help clear away the plates. Almost everyone had gotten up, and I was afraid that I was about to be pulled into another uncomfortable conversation. Before Madison could follow me, Beth, Drake’s mother, and Stella, Marc’s soul mate, took the empty seats by her and began a simple conversation about random things that I knew Madison could care less to speak about. She knew just like I did that they were probing her, trying to make her feel comfortable around all of them, thinking that she was the answer to so many lost questions.

I decided that I would take in the dishes I had in my hand, then find an excuse to pull her away from them. I promised her as much with a glance as I passed her to go into the house.

I was quickly scolded for cleaning by Rose - I think she was Willow’s grandmother - and a girl who I thought was Felicity, Brady’s soul mate, for helping. They took my dishes then encouraged me to go outside with everyone else.

As I walked toward the entry hall, I caught a glimpse of light in the den that was off to the left. It was a crystal willow tree on the mantel. The setting sun shining on the crystal had caused the room to be illuminated. I stepped curiously into the den. The swimming reflections on the wall were dominated by the colors of red and blue. Instantly, images of what I’d seen in Monroe’s thoughts at dinner rushed through my mind; the emotions of what I saw, how ominous it was. I’d learned the hard way that her messages were never crystal clear, but they held more truth than first glance would allow you to believe.

When I couldn’t stand thinking about it anymore, I pulled myself out of my thoughts and turned to go to the porch - but standing in the threshold of the den was Landen. Holding my gaze, he stepped forward, pulling the double doors closed behind him. Then, slowly, he stepped closer to me, allowing his blue eyes - which seemed as deep as the ocean - to cascade over my mesmerized expression.

In my mind, I kept seeing the powerful energy wave over him, that Phoenix flying into his soul. His energy was so dominant now that I could not help staring at him. I knew that something or someone very powerful had saved him just hours ago, that he had a purpose beyond the borders of my imagination.

My mind was making every point not to let me forget that my parents were gone and had lived a secret life while they were here. I remembered seeing Landen and Willow’s image within that circle of meditation. Distance from that shocking revelation allowed me to believe that I should be right here, that searching for Landen for so long was a worthwhile quest.

When he reached my side he gently touched my arm, and with his touch I felt a calm ease through me. It was clear to me that he shared Willow’s gift of emotion, which right now he was using to calm me down for some reason. I had no doubt I was proving to be difficult to subdue. Anxiety was the air I breathed, at least lately.

He tried to smile, but something would not allow him to. “Charlie,” he said quietly. “Am I right in thinking that you have a hard time lying? If I asked you a question…would I hear the truth in your voice?”

Fantastic. Madison lies to him, and now I’m in the hot seat. Oh well. Sure, why not? I’ll let him know that he is currently sharing his essence with not only Drake, but also a freaking Phoenix. I’d put my own personal trepidations on the backburner for now. Maybe when I dared to approach them again, I would find a way to understand them.

At that moment, the only thing I could hear was the pounding of my racing heart. Adrenaline was taking over the anxiety. That was good...right?

Chapter Three

Landen must have given up on making me calm or thought I was calm enough because he let his hand fall from my arm. He tilted his head and smiled slightly, revealing his dimples, which made him look less fierce, more approachable.

“Why is talking to me making you uncomfortable?” he uttered so silently that I barely heard him.

“I’m shy,” I answered, careful to take any hint of a lie out of my words.

He nodded once in response. “Charlie...what happened to me? What did that realm do to my family? My soul?”

“Look, I’m not a doctor. I heal the damned, that’s all. I really don’t know.”

“Tell me,” he said as he lowered his head down so I could see into him.

I let out a jagged breath. “Listen, I’m not the best at seeing. Draven is. Actually, anyone beyond me would be able to see, to tell you what you went through.”

“I’m asking you to tell me what you saw, not what you can see within me.”

I swallowed nervously. “You are fiercely protected.”

He grimaced. “I was told how my absence troubled Willow. It’s not her fault. She had unlocked new powers just before I was taken, and she hadn’t been given the chance to learn to control them.” He glanced away, trying to hide the regret in his eyes. “I should have stayed in Chara that morning, helped her through that breakthrough - but she showed me your image, Madison’s, and all I could think about was that I had taken a wrong turn, that I should have come for all of you the instant I was told you were seeking me.”

“She’ll get it. She seems to have control now.”

“I know she will, that in some forgotten past she has faced this and overcome it.” He sighed. “What I need to know right now is how to overcome or accept what happened to me. Every fiber in my being is screaming at me to ask you, not the others. You had to have seen something.”

I felt an instant empathy for him. I knew how it felt not to know what had happened to you, how insane that could make you, and I knew he needed to be as sane as possible if he was going to be the answer this family assumed he was.

“What do you know about Phoenixes?” I blurted out.

His entire body went rigid. “I know enough.”

“That’s what I saw.”

“You saw Phoenix?”

It was odd, his wording. It was as if he thought it was a person and not a flaming symbol.

“It grieved for you, then a powerful wave of energy encased you. It rejoiced, then soared through the room and -”

He gripped his chest. “Flew into me.”

“Right,” I breathed. That came out way easier than I thought it would.

He clenched his jaw and squinted his eyes closed, as if he were trying to remember something. In his mind and all around him I could see fragments of very distant past lives, lives that were by no means perfect. They were spent trying to fight evil with evil.

“It was too beautiful to be a bad thing,” I murmured.

He nodded once as he opened his eyes. “I just had to know if that was an illusion.”

“Everything in The Realm is an illusion - but that one, it had to represent something sacred to you.”

Before he could ask me another question, one of the den doors opened. Grayson was standing there. He looked protectively over me, then said, “Are you going to play, too? We are going to see our way home to bring back some equipment, but Draven doesn’t want to bring more than we need.”

“Yeah,” I said as I began to walk toward him.

Landen reached out for my arm and as he did I felt the emotions of gratitude and protection instantly swarm through me.

“I just need one more moment.”

His tone was definite, telling me one way or the other that he was going to have that moment - and I didn’t want to put Grayson, someone who stayed on edge, in a position to defy Landen.

I sighed as I watched my escape from this room vanish with my guilt. The unyielding concern in Landen’s blue eyes was impossible to ignore.

I nodded once at Grayson. He hesitated then closed the door, but I could see his shadow below the frame. He was giving Landen one - just one - minute.

Landen urged me to walk farther into the den, away from the door.

“Listen,” he whispered intently, “I think you’re in danger.”

Like that was a news flash.

“That one,” Landen said, nodding to the door, “he has a good intent. He would lay down his life for his sister, for any of you. He would cut out his own soul before he submitted to any darkness. But the other...” Landen glanced to the window toward the porch with now smoldering blue eyes to where I assumed Winston was still sitting. “There’s nothing there.”

“What do you mean?” I asked as my insides faded away and fear consumed me.

Instinctively, Landen reached for my arm, taking away that fear and establishing an odd calm in my emotions. It wasn’t mind-numbing; it was just calm enough to take the edge out of my emotions, and for me to still reason what he was saying.

“I mean there is nothing. It’s almost like he’s a ghost or an illusion. He has a blank emotion, no intent. His energy is lingering so closely to his body that at first glance you would think he didn’t have any. That girl, the one in The Realm - she felt the same way.”

I felt a sick feeling rise in the back of my throat. I’d never really cared for Winston, and the fact that he’d now been compared to Bianca, escaped Chara, and was literally forced back here by Clarissa and Dane led me to believe that in some way he might have already crossed over.

Noticing that I was not appalled by what he was saying, Landen went on. “Watch your back. Brady and Marc are keeping their eye on him, but if you guys are alone with him, choose your words carefully.”

“Should I ask what Willow says about this?” I whispered, knowing that before, when he was lost, she was the one that seemed to have the most intense senses, powers.

“No, at least not yet. She’s exhausted, and I’ve done everything I can to distract her from it. My father told me how dangerous she was when I was gone, and that terrifies me - it terrifies her, too.”

I wanted to tell him that the last emotion I saw in that girl was fear when he was gone. Instead, I had to find a way to carefully ask him about his sister without giving away anything I knew about her.

“Would Clarissa have brought him here, given him to you, if she thought he was dangerous?”

His eyes seemed to cloud with unwanted thoughts. “She would never do that on purpose, but she was not herself when we saw her.”

I stopped him there before I was forced to answer questions that would bring him heartache.

“Don’t worry about us,” I said as confidently as I could, knowing that Draven would rip Winston in two if he had the slightest reason.

“Listen,” Landen said, “just before you came, before The Realm, Dane was possessed, walked among us, listening to us, our plots and plans. We knew instantly he was off, that something was wrong, but Willow defended him. It’s not the same with your friend. Dane had emotions he could turn off and on at will, memories and demeanors that would occasionally prove Willow’s point that it was really him. Winston...there is nothing there.”

“I’ll let the others know. We’ll figure something out, see him when he’s not looking or something,” I mumbled, telling myself that Silas surely would not have sent him here if he knew he was dangerous...unless...unless he was looking for a way to show me that I still needed him. I shook my head once, scolding myself for thinking that he would be that childish.

Grayson opened the door again, suggesting for the second time that I end my conversation with Landen.

“We’ll figure it out,” he said quietly.

“Maybe we should fight our own battles, and when they cross we fight together,” I mumbled.

My words caused his eyes to widen for an instant, as if a memory had been triggered. That dark past of his was flashing through his thoughts.

“That might be the only way out of this,” he said under his breath.

He held my gaze. “I really am sorry that I didn’t drop everything and come for you the moment Austin said you existed - not because I feel like it would have stopped any of this, but because I should have. I should have reached out for people like you from day one instead of thinking that I could do this on my own. I should have realized that your battles, mine, are one and the same.”

I reached for his hand, which was still on my arm. “You did. Thousands of years ago you reached out for me. You and Willow gave me direction, a new sense of purpose, and now your family of souls is accounted for.”

Before he could ask me why I said that, I moved toward Grayson, and left the room.

“You all right?” Grayson asked under his breath.

“Yeah. He just wanted to know what happened in The Realm.”

“Did you tell him?”

“Kind of.” I glanced up at him just as we reached the front door. “What’s going on with Monroe?”

“I don’t know. They have been encouraging her to meditate and now because of that I keep seeing those odd images. Before, when I looked into her I would see our home, Mom. It’s like she’s moved past that like she’s grasping whatever she is - and that scares the bloody hell out of me.”

“Me, too,” I uttered. “What about Winston? Have you looked into him to see where he went or why?”

“Tried, brick wall,” he said in a seething tone as Willow opened the glass door and stepped in.

“Hey,” she said, looking between us, obviously picking up on Grayson’s anger and my stifled fear. “Everything okay?” she asked protectively, locking eyes with me.

If I didn’t know before, I knew now that this girl would literally put everything she was dealing with to the side to save another soul. An admirable trait, but Landen was right: she needed to rest, let us deal with this.

“Just trying to take it all in,” I said with a forced smile, stepping past her, not giving her a chance to ask me anything else.

I glanced over my shoulder to see Landen stepping out of the den and reaching for her. I told myself they would be all right. Just like us, they just needed a chance to process all of this.

They had backed Jeeps up to the porch and were setting up basic equipment. My first thought was to rescue Madison from whatever conversation she was stuck in, but when I stepped around the porch I found her seat empty and Beth and Felicity still sitting there.

“Did you see where Madison went?”

Beth nodded toward the open field. “She said after something like what you just went through, all of you play music and she sketches.”

I followed their stare, and in the twilight of the day I saw Madison in the distance, in a field of flowers with an open sketchbook, clearly searching for her own personal escape. I began to move my fingers across my thumb, craving mine, the hum of an electrifying guitar under my fingertips, the embodying power of music that allows me to hide from my fears.

“Very true,” I mumbled, bowing slightly to Beth, Drake’s mom, before turning to find Draven and Aden.

They were at the foot of the stairs between the steps and the jeeps – at least their bodies were. Both of their eyes were dark, and every second or two an amp or a part of a drum would appear around them.

I thought about leaving them to it and talking to Monroe, but when I glanced up to see her on the porch I saw that Grayson had her attention. They were staring into each other deeply as Preston and Libby sat by beside them. I knew he would get further with her than I would at this point. She only really opened up to me when we were all alone, and there were far too many people around now.

Draven’s eyes turned green as my favorite guitar - my father’s, the one that was black one with smoke lines racing through it - appeared in his hand.

“Thought this would make you feel more at home,” he said, holding my stare and looking for a break in my composure, hoping it wouldn’t make me cry instead.

“It does,” I said as I pulled his waist against me. “Makes me believe they’re still real.”

His lips caught mine and we both held back the urge to display the passion our relationship was known for. His forehead leaned against mine as his hand reached for my neck and his fingertips tenderly outlined my jawline.

“One way or another, you are going to see them again - I swear. Nothing is going to hurt you, not one scratch.”

I squeezed his side. “See me,” I whispered as I opened my mind and revealed the conversation I had with Landen, the warning he had about Winston.

Within a second, Draven’s expression turned stone cold as anger engulfed his image. He leaned away from me as his eyes searched for Winston.

“Don’t go near him.” Draven’s tone was so firm, so commanding that it made my stomach twist. I felt like I was the one in trouble.

He instantly responded to my expression. “Not alone – promise,” he said quietly to me, so quietly that I only heard it because I was watching his perfect lips.

I nodded. “I’ll find a power source,” I said a little louder, feeling the glances of this family on us. They seemed curious about us, about our passion for each other, for music - which made sense; this place basically worshiped love and the things that created it.

Draven smirked. “Hopefully, you won’t have to go all the way to the actual windmill,” he said, taking my lead as he nodded toward the field then reached out and nudged Brady, who was a few feet away. That was when I realized that this dimension was powered by natural power, when I developed an even deeper respect for this place.

“You won’t,” Brady said, trying not to laugh. He was setting up Aden’s drums as they appeared piece by piece.

Draven kissed my forehead before his eyes turned dark as coal once again.

“There is a power outlet on the side of the house,” Brady said, nodding in the direction I needed to go, then glancing over his shoulder in the other direction. I saw Ashten and Winston coming from around the corner of the porch. I guess Landen was right: they really weren’t letting him out of their sight.

I grinned to thank him then carefully laid the cords behind the bushes so no one would trip over them. It was now dark and the sky looked like a blanket of diamonds. We didn't have this many stars in my dimension, that was for sure.

As soon as that thought emerged, I squinted my eyes closed and held my temples. My mind was showing me a sky that had four times as many stars - not only stars, but also planets that could be clearly seen moving above me.

I gasped and began to breathe deeply in and out. I struggled with the cords I was plugging in. As soon as they were secure I turned to rush back to my anchor, Draven. I didn’t want to have another mental collapse in the side yard all alone.

One problem: there was a tall, dark shadow behind me. As he stepped closer, the gleam from the porch light revealed his face: Drake.

“Hey,” I said with little enthusiasm as I tried to hide the fact that my heart was racing and my insides were caving in. I didn’t have the mental strength for a one-on-one with him. I was sure of it.

His magnetism was almost too powerful to handle. I didn’t know if I should treat him as a king or just an ordinary boy that I’d saved a few hours ago. Of course, he then helped save Draven, so to say the least I was pretty much speechless, frozen in place.

His eyes slowly moved over me as he stepped closer.

“Are you sure you want to stay here, in Chara?” he asked, as if we were old friends.

“I...um...we have been trying to get here for a while, so yeah,” I said with the slightest tremble in my voice, not sure why he would ask such a question.

Whatever he had planned to say to me seemed to fade from his image. “Are you all right? You look pale,” he asked as concern built in his tall, dominant stance.

I don’t know why, but my bottom lip started to tremble. I didn’t know how to answer him. I wasn’t much for lying, and I didn’t care to explain the truth to anyone. I couldn’t speak about what I’d seen and gone through upstairs because that would make it real.

“No, you’re not,” he said as he slowly moved toward me and sympathy filled his dark eyes. “Did someone hurt you?”

The tears that were glassing over my eyes spilled down my cheeks.

“My entire life is a fabrication - some kind of orchestrated play or something. I was led to believe one thing, only to find out at the worst possible moment that it was just that - all fake. And the people who could soothe me, explain why - my parents – are gone, and I doubt I’ll ever see them again.”

He reached in his suit pocket and pulled loose a satin handkerchief, then wiped away my tears. Feeling like a fool, I took it from him and cleared away my face.

“I’m not a crier,” I muttered.

“Trust me, I am the last person that you have to justify yourself to.” Those dark eyes of his swept across my face in the tenderest way, leading me to find comfort with him. “Kinda know how you feel.”

I smirked. “I knew I liked you.”

“Did you?” he said, tilting his head and gazing down into my eyes.

“Draven doesn’t trust a lot of people, let them get close to him. He has found trust with you, and the two of you have barely spoken a paragraph to each other. Why is that?”

His eyes moved rapidly across my image. “Old souls, I suppose. I have to say I feel the same way. There is something very familiar about him.”

“He’s been looking for a mentor, someone to help him with…with the cravings he has.”

“Cravings?”

“Energy. I want to help him, but he puts a wall up between us.”

Drake seemed deeply perplexed as he glanced in the direction of the sound of guitars tuning up to play. “We are going to have to figure out how to get that wall down, then.”

“Make him strong for me. What happened in The Realm would not have happened if that dark energy had not poured into him. Can you teach him how to block that?”

His eyes looked deeply into mine. “Consider it done.”

I let out a jagged breath.

“You want to talk about what is going on with you now?” he asked quietly.

I moved my head from side to side. “I’ll be all right.”

“But you are not right now. You’re in shock.”

“I just don’t get it. Why could my parents have not laid it out? I almost feel like they didn’t think I could handle it. I should be mad, furious about that, but I can’t find the energy to be that way.”

He clenched his jaw before smiling slightly. “Sometimes, if you think back over what they said in ordinary moments, you will see that they were always pointing in the direction you needed to go, dropping clues here and there. No one knows where we are going to end up, but your parents had to have known what I sense right now.”

“Dare I ask?”

“Born royalty,” he said so quietly that I doubted I heard him correctly.

I cleared my throat. “Listen, I don’t know if you want my advice or not - or if you even care - but here goes.” I glanced over him. “I’ve watched my best friend sketch your image a million times over. She’s stubborn, obsessive, and jealous by nature. She can see clearly, and right now she feels like a replacement. It’s not your fault - this is just the second time this has happened to her.”

He raised his brow to question me.

“Don’t ask. He doesn’t matter - or he won’t before it’s all over with. Just be honest with her. And if you dare to get to know her and she dares to let you in, don’t hurt her - or I’ll find a way to hurt you.”

Those words made him smile slightly as he glanced away.

“No disrespect, but you gotta give her a break. I mean, she looks just like Willow, and she can see everything you’ve said to Willow.”

“They don’t look alike to me,” he said as his eyes met mine again.

I tilted my head to question him.

“I never saw Willow’s image, only her soul - and those two could not be more different if they tried.”

“Are you trying to suck up to me or something? Get points in with the best friend?” I teased, not believing I had the courage to do that with a king.

He smiled a smile that was so breathtaking that I felt my breath catch. Madison needed more than a ring if she was going to deal with this boy.

“Does your friend Madison not admire intelligence, a game of cat and mouse, surrounded by mystery?” His dark eyes gleamed with anticipation.

“No doubt,” I said with a smirk.

“Well,” he said, almost humbly, “I wanted to talk to Madison - alone. I knew she would never agree to such a thing,” he grinned boyishly, “so I followed you over here.”

My eyes grew wide when I realized that I had been used in a ploy.

He raised his hands, trying to hide a smile. “I saw how upset you looked at dinner. I wanted you to know I was going to protect you. I just figured Madison would surface, too.”

“Sorry that part failed, but thanks for making me feel better.”

He gently moved his head from side to side. “She’s bound to have felt the emotions I watched you battle. I would imagine that she closed her sketchbook and began scanning the crowd for you, perhaps stepping into the house, finally asking Draven where you went - and right about now she should step around the side of the house.”

Before I could say another word, Madison rounded the corner of the house. Her hasty walk halted when her eyes met Drake’s.

“Touché, Mr. Blakeshire,” I said under my breath, trying not to grin. Madison may be furious at this moment, but in the end she would definitely admire his tact, even if she never admitted it aloud.

Madison turned crimson. “They’re waiting on you to play.”

“Right.” I glanced up at Drake. “Good luck.”

As I walked by Madison, she reached for my arm. “The ring.”

“Not a chance.” I glanced at her to show her how tender he was with me. Compassion filled her eyes as I squeezed her shoulder. “Doesn’t hurt to talk.”

Sure that she had seen what I wanted her to - and not allowing her to argue with me - I continued my walk around the side of the house, finding Grayson and Draven discussing what they would play. Winston was staring at my father’s guitar, which had been placed on a stand next to Draven. Almost defensively, I walked over to it and let my hand rest on the stalk. Just before I went to tell him to leave it alone, a blue shock of energy thrashed out at Winston, giving him more of a warning to stay away than the idle threat I was planning on stating. Winston jumped back, screaming a slew of curse words. His charge backward landed him in Marc and Brady’s arms. Stiffly, they both pushed him to his feet, then inspected his hand, finding no damage.

“Don’t play that,” Winston said, scowling at me like I’d struck him.

“Why were you touching it anyway?” I said, as if I were defending my father himself.

Winston refused to answer. Instead, his eyes smoldered into me.

“She asked you a question,” Marc seethed, gripping the back of Winston’s arm. I knew then that Landen was totally serious when he said they didn’t trust him.

Brady stood in front him, glaring down, instantly Draven was there. He gently urged Brady out of his way, then proceeded to glare down at Winston.

“I’m only going to ask you once.”

“Thought I heard something,” Winston said so subtly that I barely heard him from where I was. “Don’t let her play it.”

Draven nodded for him to go to his guitar. Marc released him, trusting Draven’s judgment, then took a seat on the steps and prepared, like the others, to watch us play.

Draven walked over to me, to the guitar that I was unknowingly protecting with my body. I moved to the side to let him see it, as if it were a wounded child that belonged to us. Without hesitation, he reached for the stalk. I saw nothing, but I heard a slight gasp and looked to the source. Olivia had walked out of the house with Chrispin, her soul mate, in tow. I assumed her gasp was for the mock stage we had set up and turned my attention back to Draven. He’d placed it around him and was checking the power source, every part of it, finding no reason to believe that it would hurt me or was unsafe to play.

“What was that about?”

“I don’t know,” he almost whispered as he carefully took the strap off himself. “I want you to play it to spite him, but if you want me to take it home, I will.”

I felt this pull, this odd energy. At first I thought it was Draven, the way he always made me feel with a glance, but then I was almost sure it was coming from the guitar. It was the music in me wanting an escape.

“It’s mine. I’m playing it.”

Draven’s grin nearly took my breath away as he placed the guitar around me. I glanced at the growing audience on the porch, noticing that even though Aden was teasing them with his drums, their very own Brady was playing a commanding tune. They were staring at us, at me, and I couldn't figure out why. I noticed that Rose, Willow’s grandmother, was leaning close to August, whispering something to him with which he seemed to concur.

I glanced over my shoulder before taking a seat next to Draven and the microphone he had in front of him. This was as acoustic as we got, and I almost feared it would be too much for this crowd.

I noticed Drake and Madison lingering in the front yard in the moonlight, talking calmly. At least it appeared that way. Willow and Landen had joined everyone else on the porch. They were sitting with the children off to the side. Willow was staring at me in what looked like misguided admiration. I nodded in Madison’s direction, giving her some hope that her endless quest for a girl that looked just like her did have some positive effect. She grinned widely and gave them her stare instead.

The music was starting to shift into one of our original mild songs. I adjusted my fingers around the strings, and as I did I saw my father’s image cross my mind. I assumed it was only because of the simple desire to know that he was okay, but as Draven began to sing and I played more, I saw more images.

I squinted my eyes closed, seeing that home that I never lived in become more and more real in my mind. It was entirely more eccentric than the apartment in New York or our home in Salem, but I felt family there. My family. I felt an ache to find it once more, even though I knew it would be lifetimes before I was ever afforded such a pleasure.

I breathed in, just trying to tell my mind to store the memories, not unravel them - and when I did I heard one of my father’s songs. It was one of the most aggressive ones he’d ever written. I’d yet to master the rhythm of the guitar in it, but right now the song was blaring in my mind, so much so that I opened my eyes and glanced down at my hands, fearing I was playing the wrong song. Oddly, what I was playing, what Draven was singing, was not what I was hearing.

My heart began to race as my mind tried to grasp what I was seeing, hearing. The lyrics of this song held at the most 10-15 words, but I couldn’t remember them. An anxiety built within me, simply because I knew I was supposed to see something, hear something. I felt the warning, the direction, and I was blind to it. I decided that as soon as I was done playing I was going to talk to Monroe, make her explain to me what she was seeing, demand for her to tell me if it had anything to do with my parents.

I glanced in her direction, noticing Monroe standing in front of Willow and Landen, holding Landen’s hand. Fear spiked through me, knowing that with a touch Monroe could speak volumes. Before I could utter a “No” or even ponder an explanation as to what he might be seeing, Landen stood and jumped to the side of the porch, then ran at full force through the field to the opening of the string in the distance. Willow raced to the stairs and chased after him, closing the gap faster than I would have guessed possible. The others scrambled to their feet, unsure as to why they’d run. Instinctively, August, Nyla, and Landen’s parents stopped them all, knowing that they must now know. They knew Clarissa was dead.

Monroe locked stares with me as grief absorbed her expression. The music had stopped and we sat frozen, unsure of what to do. I stood, placing my guitar in its stand. Monroe’s eyes grew wide with fear. I stepped forward, but she shook her head, telling me not to. Then, as if it were the voice of God Himself, I heard my father’s song bolt from the night sky. It was fleeting, only lasting a few seconds. I turned to see a blue light gleam from the guitar, reaching for the sky then spider-webbing across the starry night.

Winston threw his guitar down and was daring to step closer to mine. Aden had abandoned his drums and was at Draven’s side. As if in slow motion, the blue light fell back to its source. Winston charged toward it and just as he reached it, it struck him once more. This time the force was so intent, so focused that when it hit him, his image flickered - and when it did, I saw a demon: Bianca. Before I could utter her name or bring a scowl to my expression, it was Winston again.

The guitar struck again, but this time when the light reached to stab him, Winston caught it. Holding it in a sphere, in a sultry tone he seethed, “I told you not to play it. Now we have to do this the hard way.”

Winston turned and threw the light at Aden as if it were a baseball, a dangerous fast pitch.

Draven and Brady both tried to dive in front of him to protect him, but they failed. The light hit Aden in the center of his chest, then spider-webbed beneath his skin. He fell to his knees, holding his head, screaming in agony. Brady was beside him. Draven was daring to move to block me.

The image of Winston sneered at me, “Have fun with that,” then - as if the cavalry had arrived - waves of energy were forced at this image, all coming from Willow’s family.

At first the image didn’t look affected, but then it started to flicker rapidly. Before it vanished, it reached its hand toward me and screamed, “Nothing! You saw nothing!” then I felt a charge of electricity echo across my body.

At first I could not process why it was not as fierce as I was sure it would be, but then I saw the guitar, the blue shield it had cast over me - too late to save me from the first blow of pain, but just in time to protect my mind, body, and soul from being blinded once more.

The image vanished. Silence rained in the aftermath.

Chapter Four

I thought the numb feeling was from the evaporating adrenaline, but as my knees gave way and began to buckle, I knew it was something else entirely. I felt Draven’s arms clasp around me before the harsh ground accepted me. I couldn't make out the voices, the overlapping screams that erupted in the aftermath. As I locked frantic eyes with Draven, I thought of Aden, how he’d been struck. I couldn't hear him scream anymore - at least I didn’t think I did.

Among all the faces hovered over me I saw Libby, Willow’s baby sister, and Preston. They both reached for my arms. Just as the numb feeling that was all but paralyzing my body took control, I heard them whisper, “Sleep now,” and I drifted against my will into a deep dream.

As the images that had erupted in my mind before swirled around me, a past I shouldn’t know came into clear view. I could hear laughter, absolute bliss...the sound of my mother calling me to dinner...my father playing in the den...I saw myself running through the hallways and rooms...I saw an entire life that not only I had never lived, but never would. This was some sick, twisted dream. My mind was playing out a deep desire of mine. I’d always grieved for a life I never had - a life just like this.

This house was filled with fine furniture that surely had been handcrafted for each room. The paintings, vases, and random pieces of artwork were each powerful enough to invoke conversation. I felt old blood, a deep heritage. I felt honored to be a member of this family - proud of both the past and the future that was promised by right of birth. That was a far cry from the childhood I did have, the one where my mom’s housekeeper made me dinner, how everything we were was so basic, so routine. A damning, endless cycle.

The images stopped firing. The sound of my mother, the music of my father, and my foolish giggle as I ran through the house all stopped. But I was still there.

I was standing in the study, which was a rather dark room. A deep, rich wood framed most of the walls. Priceless rugs were spread across the floor, highlighting the regal crimson and black velvet furniture.

With wide eyes I spun slowly in place, looking at the paintings, the couch that had the oddest wave to the back of it, along with each eccentric piece of the room.

I could hear the popping sound of wood and smell cedar. Right when that occurred, the symbols on the box my mother had left for me, spinning rings with stars and triangles within them started to reflect off the walls in a larger form, making the symbolism seem less complex. I continued my spin, gazing across the symbols, looking for an answer that was clearly hidden from me.

Just as I faced the fireplace, I not only found the source of the light and the symbols, but I also realized that I was not alone. Lounging in an oversized regal chair before a burning fireplace was a complete stranger that I could swear I was grateful to see: the boy I’d seen my mother hug tightly in that vision.

At first glance he looked like my father, only younger, barely twenty, but when I looked closer, past the broad shoulders, sleek build, and dark hair, I could clearly see that those eyes were not my father’s. The base of them was a deep shade of night, but from their centers a pristine blue flamed outward. I could swear I was looking into both my mother and father’s eyes at the same time. This beautiful stranger was a perfect combination of the people I was missing dearly right about now.

Sadness filled my gaze as I realized my mind had fabricated him to give me peace.

“Well hallo, Sista,” he said smoothly as he slowly turned a guitar pick across his long fingers.

I could only stare absently at him. My mind was at war. Images of him - more than could be reasoned - were flashing in my thoughts. I saw him at every age, right beside me. I saw us live a life together that had never existed. It wasn’t in a past. It was very modern. Maybe even more modern than the life I was living now. I couldn’t conceive any of this.

“What, no hug? No ‘It’s awesome to see you, Cashton’? ‘I’ve missed you dearly, my sweet brother’?”

“Cashton?” I whispered.

My heart fluttered as my soul grasped hope for the first time in a long time. How could this be? How come this place felt so real to me? How come I felt like I had just awakened from a horrible nightmare?

Before, when I rode out that mental break, I held on to the life I did know, thinking that something malevolent was planting memories in my mind, but right now I was starting to grasp the world that my mind was trying to show me, and that world had nothing that I would call malevolent in it, not after what I’d lived through.

Cashton leaned forward, his firm jawline flexing for a moment.

“You want to explain to me why I just saw Mum and Dad rushing through The Fall?”

“The what?”

I knew what that was. I was sure of it. It was a passage, a powerful energy source that The Selected Elite could pass through to reach the dark reality. The one that I was firmly placed in right now. The one I saw my parents absorbed into...wait - how did I know that?

He angled his chin down and stared up at me from under his thick lashes.

“Oh, don’t play games with me. I may have been trapped in this veil for longer than I care to evaluate, but I’m not completely mad.” He leaned back. “Is that it? They think I’ve gone mad, failed beyond failure - and they have sent you to bring me home?”

I glanced around the room, deciding that I was going to grasp this illusion, this mental totem. It was going to keep me from going insane.

“What? Don’t like what I’ve done with the room? So what if I took the creepy clock out? It always wigged you out, too.”

Right as he said that, I glanced to where a clock that I should not know existed should be.

“It’s a fabrication. A perk of the veil. I created it right when I landed, and that is why I’m still sane enough to look you in the eye and tell you I’m not going home. I have something I have to do.”

“You’re dead?” I breathed. I had never once had a conversation like this with the damned shadows that called me. The idea of him dead was tearing me in two. I felt my soul cry. Agony consumed me for no reason at all.

“No. I’m not dead. I’m stuck. So you were right, the veil had expanded, my descent was not wide enough to pass it, yada, yada, yada - but I’m going to find my way out of here,” he said with a dominant nod, as if he wanted to emphasize his point.

“I only know how to help dead people move on. Not stuck people. I don’t know who your parents are or where they went.” I figured the best way to use this illusion to my benefit was to call it out on what it was.

“You don’t know who my parents are?” He smirked as he stood up and took two swift steps toward me, raised the back of his hand and rested it on my forehead. He then turned my chin from side to side as he looked into my eyes. “Sometimes The Fall mucks up your senses for a bit. You know that. You’ll snap out of it, and when you do you will tell me how in the hell you convinced not only Dad but Mum to guide you over here. Why they chose not to speak one word to me, only offered me a sorrowful glance, then touched me, branded me with your image – telling me that I was tethered to you now. I realize they knew they were being watched, but still...they could have said something.”

I raised one eyebrow to point out that he was absolutely mad. Pretty eyes, but mad as hell.

“Don’t look at me in that tone. All you have to do is help me find the queen of the veil, and I’ll be just fine, Sista. You can go home then and stay out of this war.”

“This is my home,” I bit out, thinking that maybe, just maybe, my body was telling me to let go, that the blow that came from Winston had threatened my life.

His eyes narrowed, and for an instant all I could see was that stunning blue. The judgment behind them reminded me so much of my mother.

“Are you telling me that you were born here?” he said in a ghost of a whisper.

I glanced around the room we were in. “I yearn for this, but my life was more modern, more real.” No sense in telling him that I’d seen this place vividly before I was knocked out.

“More real?” he said, raising his brow, revealing the dark around the blue of his eyes. There I saw my father, the man that pushed me to see things differently.

“It wasn’t this all right. My dad died before I was born, my mom was a workaholic, and my sister was my best friend and second mom.”

“We have no sista,” he said as confusion took over his image.

“I do,” I said in a matter-of-fact tone. Oh, how I missed Kara.

“You mean to tell me they both came over here? They had you here?”

“Umm...yeah.”

“Dear Creator, how long have I been here?” he said as he brushed his fingers through his dark hair and closed his eyes as if he were trying to add up the time in his mind.

“Not a clue,” I muttered.

“You have no idea what a risk that was, how dangerous that was – all for what, to make me come home? What did they think? That adding guilt to me would guarantee my return?”

“Where do you think you are?”

“Where do I think I am?” He raised his hands in the air as he turned to walk away, then stopped, turned to face me, and peered down. “I told you, I’m not mad. I did not descend into a dimension, or even The Realm. I fell into the veil. I can’t get out of the blooming place on account of some supernatural rules – but you, if you are here, then that must mean they know without a doubt that the queen of the veil has been awakened, and now she can set me free to fulfill my charge.”

“Which is...?”

“Which is? That is not the point. The point is that you are my anchor now. With you, I can get out, find her, become alive and do just that.”

“Just that?” He had no idea what ‘that’ was. I was sure of it.

“Don’t mock me. Living here with death has side effects, like a slow fall into amnesia.”

“Must run in the family,” I muttered, thinking of how easily I lost my memory before.

“What, death? Um, yeah, it runs in every family, sweetheart.”

I rolled my eyes. “I meant the amnesia. I’ve lost my memory before.”

“Before? How about right now?!”

“I don’t know you.”

I had to take control of this dream or descent into death. This boy Cashton, was it ? - was not going to pull me in with him. Granted, I’d never seen visions this clear or felt this connected to a soul the first time I met it, but this had to be an illusion.

“That’s a lie. I can see it in your eyes.”

“This is a dream. You are the subject of recent trauma. I lost my family, and now my mind has recreated a family for me, giving me memories that are not mine and offering me you as a source of protection.”

“Hallo?! I know you lost your family because, like I said, I just watched Mum and Dad pass through The Fall. I caught them just before the wave of light reached for them. They said nothing. A clutching hug from Mum and only a touch on my shoulder from Dad that showed me your image. They tethered me to your being, ensuring that I would find you instantly.”

Yup, I was losing my freaking mind. I was so close to believing him. My heart and soul were already there, and my mind was the final hold out.

“Why didn’t they just pull me with them? If they could have both gotten here, lived here long enough to have you, then surely they could have avoided that nonsense and stepped in and pulled me back.”

I pursed my lips, telling him that that did seem more logical.

“They knew I wouldn’t, that my charge had to be complete. That is why they sent you.”

“Listen, dude. You’re twisted. I was not only born here, but recently I have been well informed that I have lived here for a while, apparently as a Witness at some point. Some said that I have lived longer. So, even though you look like a young version of my father and have my mother’s blue eyes in the center of your eyes – you’re an illusion.”

“You’re joking?” His eyes grew wide. “A Witness?”

“A fallen Witness, it seems.”

“Oh, dear Creator,” he muttered under his breath.

“Yeah, tell me about it. Listen, I really don’t care what I was. I can’t change the past, but I can control the now - and right now my parents are missing, a demon is chasing me, and recently I have landed myself in a new dimension that seems to have just as many if not more questions than I already have about this twisted roller coaster of fate that I’m on.”

“You need to take a seat, sweetheart,” he said, nodding to an odd shaped black velvet couch. The back of it waved up and down, creating really low points and really high points.

I did as he asked, not feeling my body make any effort to wake up anytime soon. He paced a few times, moving his fingers at a rapid speed against his legs...musician; bet every guitar I owned.

He finally sat down next to me.

“I don’t know where to start with you, but let me be clear: Mum and Dad are not coming back - at least not anytime soon. It was nearly impossible to pass The Fall when I came. If you have been here as long as you say, it would have to be just that - impossible.”

“Apparently not. They just hit the exit door.”

He smirked as he playfully narrowed his eyes and tilted his head before he spoke.

“Our bloodline is the oldest of The Selected. It would have taken a lot of energy and power to do such a thing, but nevertheless our ancestors’ energy would have allowed it if they felt there was no other way.”

“The Selected?”

“Yes. All right, here are the basics for you. There are two, two full - and at one time beautiful - universes side by side. Between them is The Fall - the star Sirius centers it. The Fall is meant to be open, a free passage for souls to pass through at death. Long ago, this side began to darken, and as it did less and less souls would travel through it. Then before long, only The Selected. Just before I came, there was a threat by less open minds to close The Fall, to cut off the dead limb, if you will - but our father, our family knew that was our death sentence, that there had to be balance.”

“So you are saying that my parents are from a twin universe? That they managed to come over here forty years or so ago and have me, only to leave me now?” Yup, one of us was mad.

He clenched his jaw as those eyes focused on me.

“You went rogue, didn’t you? You followed me, even though I told you not to, and they came over here just to save not only your arse, but mine.”

“Right,” I said, nodding along, playing into his insanity.

“Exactly why do you not believe me, sweetheart?”

“Umm...maybe because your math doesn’t add up. I told you, apparently I have been here a while, so how is it that we supposedly shared a family forever ago and our parents, you and me, are still young?”

“I told you, we are from the blood of The Selected.”

“Meaning...?”

“Meaning that we were not only born, but live against The Fall. Our home is on the outskirts of the cycle of life, and we age incredibly slow because of that. We easily live through eternities without gaining a blithering wrinkle.”

“Do you know what an eternity is?”

“I do, but apparently you do not. It is a cycle that is just over four million years. It’s when the stars begin again. Everyone on the other side of The Fall lives for long periods of time in one form, but we live extremely long due to the blood of The Selected that runs through our veins.”

“Sure,” I said with a sigh.

“It doesn’t matter if you believe me or not. You are here, so there is the proof. Now we just have to figure out why. Mum and Dad would not have left us both here unless they had no other choice...we must be at the brink of the end...the pieces must all be here now. Time to act.”

“To do what?”

It was clear that I was frustrating him to no end.

“To turn this universe back to the way it was meant to be, to end those who continue their threat of darkness.”

I cringed, thinking of Draven.

“Darkness is not bad,” I muttered.

“Evil is, which is bred on this side. Its creation began here and will end here.”

“You realize that my father’s energy was dark, right? That my mom was light? That they had to fight to be together? That his internal war led to his death, to me being raised by a grieving mother that refused to let any sound be elevated?”

“All for show, sweetheart,” he said with heavy grief as those breathtaking eyes eased over my ever-growing furious expression.

“Not a show. It was my life.”

“We are on stage right now, and every move we make is watched by those we must end. Our parents would do anything for not only us, but for the universe they have all but ruled with other selected souls.” His eyes slowly danced across my image. “I know that look in your eyes. This is not all new to you.”

Unable to hold his stare, I glanced away.

“I think you’re an illusion, my mind’s way of putting my parents on a pedestal so I can fight what is in front of me.”

“That is a lie. You always glance away before you speak a lie.”

“It is new to me, like hours new to me. I had a mental break that tried to erase my past and create a new one just before I fell into this dream.”

“Backlash.”

“Back what?”

“You felt that when they crossed, the energy lashed over you. Bet you felt drained, like someone pulled your power plug or something. Got a little dizzy, your head spun a bit as the life they lived was erased and the real one was set in place.”

“Something like that,” I muttered.

“And you don’t believe it?” he pushed.

“Just had a really hard few days. Hard to believe anything right now.”

“You’re in shock.”

“So I’ve been told.”

“They didn’t tell you one blooming thing, did they? They didn’t because they knew the backlash would occur and I would be pulled to you instantly. That can only mean one thing.”

“Waiting...” I said, refusing to show any interest in this.

“You were hunting someone, and you became the prey. If you lived as long as you say you did and were forced to become a Witness, then yeah, they came over here to save you. The thing is, they had to have known exactly when you were supposed to fall in order to do that - which means your falling was predicted. You fell into a life with others that were sent here or were being watched were.”

I just glanced away.

“Stop it. What I’m saying is ringing true. How did you rise into a Witness, and how or why did you fall when you did? Tell me you at least know that much.”

“I’m not clear on any of it. Apparently, I lived in a city that was destroyed by Mother Nature and the boy with me and myself rose into the life of a Witness. Years later I met a couple that explained exactly what that was to us and forewarned me that I would find someone in a future that I could help and may choose to, as you say, fall with them. Apparently, I met my boyfriend in that life, helped him. He was punished for trying to be good and then fell, and I followed. And then - TA-DA! I was born to a grieving mother. Fast forward eighteen years and you’ll find me sitting in this dream.”

“I have no idea who is around you, but I have no doubt that the master Escort you were to bring down was near or in your life before you rose to a Witness. You were saved by those warriors of light and harbored until the time was right for you to fall. Mum and Dad were told, and they caught you, staged a life, and protected you until this point.”

“What about before that?” I asked, wondering why I saw that image of Aden at my birth in The Realm, why he thought that was his place - if any of that was even real at all.

“No telling. It was not planned for you to be over here when I left. If you came anyway, you could have landed where you weren’t supposed to be. You could have landed right where you were supposed to be, too. Our path is never clear. Some of us feel it, some see it, and some dream it. The only safe way is to feel it because sight can be our biggest enemy. Things are never what they seem, and even if you are crystal clear without a doubt you are supposed to be somewhere - lo and behold, some fool who relies on sight will trip you up.”

He let out a deep sigh as his concerned gaze waved over me. “We are not supposed to be close to one another until the final strike, until the end of this war. Yet, they not only put us side by side, but more than likely they put you side by side with others as well.”

“Other what?”

“Warriors. Either the end is here or they had no choice but to use them to find you. I need to figure out which of the two.”

“You make no sense. You just said you’re tethered to me.”

“I can shield myself. Perks of death. Take off your shirt.”

“Excuse me?!”

“You heard me. Don’t get your drawers in a wad. We used to take baths together, for Creator’s sake.”

Not waiting for my argument, he went to the side of the room and grabbed an overgrown mirror, then carried it to the fireplace. Before the fire, there was a wooden circle with all those stars, rings, and triangles on it. He moved it from the light, taking the moving symbols away from the glow of the room.

“All right fine, then. Just show me your back,” he said in disbelief when he noticed I hadn’t moved.

I stood and walked over to him. With one arm he angled me so my back was to the fire.

“Go on now, bare your back.”

I let my hoodie fall to the floor and pulled my tank top up so he could see my back. He held the mirror before me.

“Little closer.”

I stepped back, and as I did I could see in the mirror that same pattern on my back. It was deep within my skin and glowing ever so slightly.

“The crest of The Selected. Yours has grown. I guess you were right: you do belong on the front lines,” he said with dismay and grief in his deep tone.

“What is this?” I said with a gasp.

The crest began at the top of my shoulders and expanded the width of my back all the way down to my waist. The rings were defined within two triangles. There were glowing circles and paths between them. If you had a vague imagination, you would be able to see two universes side by side, protected by a pentagram.

“We would get through this reunion a lot faster if you would stop asking questions that I just answered,” he said, then handed me the mirror so he could walk around and see my mark more clearly. “All those with our bloodline are born with this mark. That is how we know who can move through The Fall, who will be the ambassadors-slash-warriors for this side. It takes a while for it to show up. Usually you have wicked dreams first that outline your life plan. Your mark was barely showing when I left. You begged me to take you, but I didn’t because this is the last place I would want my sista.”

His fingertips outlined a space by my spine in the center of my back. In the mirror, I could see his brow furrow, sadness there.

“What?”

“Nothing,” he said under his breath, then pulled my shirt down, as if he did not want to see whatever he had discovered there any longer. “You said we had a sista?” he said as he took the mirror from me and walked it back to the wall.

Completely perplexed, I adjusted my tank top before picking up my hoodie.

“I have one. Kara has a different father.”

I saw his shoulders flex as he finished hanging the mirror. It was clear that he could not stand the idea of my mom with another man. I knew my mother couldn’t either, that she would never change her path because she loved Kara, but she only truly loved one man: my father.

“Has she shown any supernatural gifts? Any at all?”

“No, but my best friends have, my boyfriend has.”

“Boyfriend?” he said, looking over his shoulder in disbelief.

“Yeah, want a quick history? When I was a Witness, he was dark. I convinced him to change his ways, and he fell. I fell with him, and we found each other here.”

“What kind of dark?” he asked as he turned to face me.

“One that is fighting who he is to be in balance,” I answered cautiously.

“What does he fight?”

“What do you mean? He fights to not become what he is.”

He furrowed his eyebrows as if I were speaking a foreign language.

“Mom and Dad love him,” I bluntly stated, oddly wanting his approval for some reason. I was really starting to fall for the long lost family idea of this dream.

He sighed. “Well, considering how high their standards are, bravo.” There was disdain in his tone.

“Are you fighting with them over someone you want to be with?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Not really the point, now is it? The point is, I need you to get me out of here.”

“I don’t know how to do that.”

“You don’t have to do anything. I told you, they tethered me to you,” he grimaced, “as if that even needed to be done in the first place.” He sighed. “Whatever dimension you are in, I can roam.”

“Call me crazy, but if you were looking for a quote-un-quote queen of the veil, would she not be in the veil where you have been?”

He ignored me as a thought obviously kicked into place. “What did you mean before – that you know how to help souls move on?”

“I’m haunted. All of my friends are. We hear whispers and then call them into place, show them love, and allow them to move on.”

“Not supernatural beings, though?”

“I don’t know what you are calling ‘supernatural.’”

“Meaning you, people like you, people that have defined powers and extended life patterns.”

“No. The souls I help are damned.”

“A little shocked that they are dead?” he asked, raising one eyebrow as if he were trying to get me to remember something.

“You could say that. In general, they lived bad lives, and they need to be reminded that they were not bad.”

“Right. What emotion do you feel when you help them? What lingers in your soul?”

“It doesn’t get easier, if that is what you are asking.”

“Little shocking - seizes your soul as you decide to either fear it or take hold of the adrenaline and ride the wave.”

“You could say that.”

He let out a deep sigh as his eyes looked over me in the protective way that only a big brother could.

“I may not clearly know my life plan, but my advice to you: figure out how to master shock.”

“Why?” I breathed because that direction sounded all too familiar.

“So you can recognize and guide others through it.”

I cringed as I thought of my time in Pompeii, how I failed so badly at guiding those souls through the shock of that explosion. We did not ride out the adrenaline. We submitted to fear and cowered away.

“It will take some time. You’re being tested, but fret not; I’m here now.”

“I thought I was supposed to help you find a queen of the veil? Why would she not be in the veil?”

“Not that simple. You see, there are seven, seven that are to bring balance in their own way. The queen of the veil is light, pure light - and last I knew she was at home with you. I doubt Dad would have put the cart before the horse. She must be here if he left you here.”

“What would I have to do with it? ”

He smirked and mocked a bow. “I suppose we will see. The more I talk to you, the more I remember - and breaking out of here will help me gain even more. I don’t know where we are. Honestly, we could just be the search and rescue at this point.”

“What? You don’t remember what your cause is?”

“The Selected live on for eons, and from time to time we feel an urge to penetrate The Fall. We don’t know why until we pass it. In that span of light and power, we are told what we are to do and why. My issue -- I landed here and lost that reason, and now apparently my baby sista is here to rescue me…among other things.”

“You said seven?”

“That’s right.”

I pulled the envelope out of my back pocket and handed it to him. He glanced down at my name.

“Charlie.”

“That’s me.”

He pursed his lips.

“What?”

“A ghost named Charlie has been lingering around me for almost twenty years. Saw him as a good friend - that is, until a few hours ago when he turned into my father.”

“He has a way of not pushing himself on you.”

“You have no idea,” he muttered as he opened the envelope.

“Nothing is on them.”

“Unwritten stories, sweetheart. Words will come as those that live them make steps to claim their rights. They are intact, though, so no one is truly failing at this point.”

I could not disagree more.

“Mom left a box, too...well, a block of wood.” I pointed to the crest he had moved from the fire. “It has that crest on it.”

“Awesome,” he breathed. “Anything for the likes of me?”

“I don’t know, man. I’m going to figure out how to get them back. I think a demon is holding them hostage or something.”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “They went home and no one could hold them if they wanted to. In order to trap them, they would have to have known who they were, and you have clearly explained to me that they have staged false lives.”

My soul was at war. Part of me wanted to grasp these images in my mind, believe that my parents were safe, that I would rescue my brother as planned and move on to save this reality. The other part knew that evil was holding my family as hostages.

“I would love to believe you, but I’m going to wake up in a bit, and all my problems will still be there.”

“You want to wake up now, fine. Let’s rock and roll, sweetheart.”

He nodded his head, and I felt a bolt of energy wave over me. My eyes closed, and as they did I saw not only those forgotten memories of this place, but also the mark on my back...flashes of this life, of growing up with my overworked mother came to me...her caressing my back, outlining it with her nails as she put me to sleep when I was young – it all seized my breath.

That Fall or whatever came into view once again. I could see Cashton racing after them, my father reaching for his shoulder. Just before he wrapped his arms around my mother, a blinding light consumed them. I screamed in my dream, trying to catch my mom, trying to tell my dad to wait – and that scream chased me into my waking moment. I rose up from a bed, gasping through the last part of it, trying to figure out where I was.

Chapter Five

This room was a bedroom, obviously. I was on a bed. Oddly, every wall, floor to ceiling, was bookshelves. Thousands of old books stared back at me. The energy of them, the stories they held singed the air with brilliance. To my left in an oversized chair, I saw Draven. His hooded eyes were dark as night. To my right, I felt someone sit on the edge of the bed: Madison.

Hovering over my head was Cashton. “So now that we are awake, can you bother to believe me?”

“He’s not here,” Madison mumbled, closing the book in her hand and leaning toward me from the edge of the bed.

Frantically, I looked between her and Cashton, wondering if we were talking about the same person.

“Where am I? Am I still dreaming?” I managed to say between gasps, noticing how dry my mouth was.

“Not anymore,” she whispered as her concerned green eyes took inventory of my demeanor. “This is August’s home.”

“Who is this?” Cashton said with approval in his tone as those eyes of his moved over her image.

I glanced from him to Madison. She was acting like she could not see him, even though he was feet from her.

“Chara,” I murmured as I fell back and covered my eyes with the palms of my hands.

Madison scooted closer to me. “Are you all right? You look like you have seen a ghost or something.”

“Or something,” Cashton said with thick humor in his voice.

“Madison, do you think we’re alone?” I asked quietly, trying not to look at Cashton - to play into this psychotic break.

“Hardly.”

I sighed, only to see Cashton smirk.

“This family is relentless. Almost too nice for my blood,” Madison said, glancing at the closed door that must lead to the rest of the house.

“She can’t see me unless I want her to, and I don’t simply because I have no idea what you have gotten yourself into,” Cashton said as he crossed his arms.

“I’m not the one that misguided my descent and landed in the veil, rendering myself with next to no memory,” I bit back.

Madison’s eyes grew wide for an instant. “Charlie, you all right?”

That made Cashton laugh and me blush.

“No. Odd dream that is all too real at the moment.”

Her eyes expanded, trying to see it. I made no effort to hide anything.

“What is that? How come her eyes are darker?” Cashton asked in disbelief.

“It’s called seeing. We see the living, too.”

“Figures,” he mumbled.

“Umm...yeah, we do - but I see nothing of that dream. Tell me about it,” Madison urged.

Cashton put his finger to his lips, then made the ‘crazy’ gesture - meaning Madison would think that I had lost it if I told her. My eyes questioned him. Clearly, he had no idea how close Madison and I were.

“I don’t know who to trust,” he stated in an obvious tone. “Is she marked? Have you seen it? How much like you is she? What emotion does she fight?” he asked me as he looked over her once more. I glared, knowing all too well that he was checking her out for more reasons than curiosity.

I smirked as I moved my head from side to side. The answer to his question would take me far too long to explain. Madison had an obsessive personality. She would become addicted to a project or cause and not rest until she had conquered it.

“Where is Draven?” I asked with a gasp.

“Learning control,” Madison answered.

“Why do you look mad?” I asked as I scooted up in the bed.

“Because I don’t like the company he is keeping - though you might.”

“Drake?”

She nodded once.

“He’s with him now?” I asked, bewildered, thinking that was so unlike him just to leave me, not knowing if I was okay or not. But then again, I did ask Drake to help him.

“Yeah. I’m supposed to get him when you wake up.”

“How long have I been asleep?”

“Three days, close to four.”

“What?!” I asked, glancing to Cashton. He had moved around the room and was now hovering over Draven’s still body.

“Music,” Cashton muttered. “That gives him a point in the ‘win’ box for me. Hard to tell if he is right for you without his soul in his body, though,” he mused, almost to himself.

I furrowed my eyes in his direction, letting him know that I couldn’t care less what he thought of Draven.

“Yeah,” Madison said. “Those little ones gave you one hell of a sleeping drug. Jason, the doctor, Willow’s dad, said that you were shocked but it was mild, like sticking a fork into a socket. The little ones put you down because you had not slept in almost two days at that point. They said, ‘She’s blocking the message. She has to dream,’” Madison said with a raised eyebrow, clearly not fond of six-year-olds running the show. “If it makes you feel any better, they knocked us out, too, but we only slept for like a few hours.”

“Children?” Cashton said, standing up straight as he looked over his shoulder at me. “Children that had the power to knock you out?”

I only gave him a weak nod.

“Aden. Is he okay?” I asked Madison.

Her expression grew grim. I felt my insides cave. “He’s not here anymore.”

“What?!” I gasped as grief struck me in my core and I rose to meet her eye-to-eye.

“Whoa. Stop.” Madison said, clenching her arms to her stomach. “He’s not dead or anything, geez. But I think you’re trying to kill me.”

Confusion took over my grief. Madison showed instant signs of relief in her demeanor.

“Madison, what the hell? What happened to you - us?” I asked, careful not to move, think, or feel.

“A lot,” she breathed out. “Aden is in another dimension. I don’t know the name, but I know it’s a step up from this one. Well, maybe not a step up. Let’s just say it’s a place where the citizens connect with their higher selves often and meditation is a way of life - like seriously meditating.”

“Why is he there?”

Sorrowfully, she glanced away. “That bitch knocked the wall down, Charlie. Aden had a flood invade his mind. Not just a glimpse of past lives, but all of them, in detail. He needed to deal with that...get away from Draven’s glare. You know him. He had to go away, analyze it, plan for the worst just so he could have peace of mind.”

“Worrying to find peace of mind...interesting,” Cashton said with a glance that made me think that phrase should have triggered a memory of something.

“Draven would never hurt him,” I said in instant defense.

“No, but he’s a man - and a jealous one at that. Aden woke first, asked to be taken there. From what I saw through Olivia, he hadn’t put it all together yet. There was something he didn't understand and somehow he knew those people would be able to help him.”

“What did Draven say about that?”

“He wasn’t awake when he left, and when he found out he was mad, furious that he didn’t even talk to him about it. I think he’s scared you are going to blame him for Aden leaving the way he did.”

“Stupid,” I breathed, dreading standing between those brothers once again. It wasn’t the wall thing. It was because it was something I’d always done: played the peacemaker. Long before we figured out the light and darkness thing, it was clear they were night and day, two perfect opposites.

“Men,” she scoffed as she rolled her eyes. “Anyways, that little knockout had us all wake up with something different - at least the three of us. Aden’s wall was knocked down, we know that; my sixth sense of emotions has been elevated to a level I can’t stand, and Draven is now intensely aware of his energy.”

“What?!”

What did she mean? He was bad now? Pulling energy...is that why he was with Drake now?

“Freaking-A, Charlie,” Madison said as she bent forward again. “Get a grip on that anxiety. You’re killing me.”

Cashton was now intensely focused on Madison. “I need fire, sweetheart. Like now.”

“Why?”

“Because it hurts,” Madison said. “Draven is fine. The awareness is helping him with control.”

“Because she’s being hunted,” Cashton said at the same time. “I need to know who and why.”

I took in a deep, soothing breath. Hunted. He had no idea.

“I dreamed something. I want to see if what I saw is the same on you.”

“Excuse me?” she said, raising her brow.

“Fire. Is there a fireplace in a private room?” I asked.

She reached in her pocket and pulled out a Zippo.

“Picking up bad habits?” I asked with a warning glare.

“No. It’s for my caracole pencils.”

I nodded for Cashton to leave or vanish or something, but he refused with a bit of a sinful smile on his lips. I stood up and guided Madison against the wall.

“Charlie?”

“I’m not going to hurt you,” I said as I eased her shirt up.

Cashton took the Zippo from me and turned the flame up. He then guided it across her back, so close to her skin that she moved forward a bit. The mark was there, nearly the same as mine, yet the details were out of whack. He lowered the lighter to her spine, in the middle of her back, and examined the mark there. It was way different than mine. She had more spheres in her rings.

“Dear Creator,” he mumbled.

“What?” I mouthed.

He shook his head from side to side. “The two of you should not be this close to each other. You’re making it too easy for them to target you.”

“Who?”

“Who what?” Madison asked, growing frustrated with me.

“Obsession, right?” Cashton said. “She’s an obsessed soul.”

I pursed my lips, halting any clear answer.

He smirked. “You look like Mum when you do that, and she only does that when she knows I’m right and doesn’t want to admit it.”

“There is a mark on you, Madison. A lot like mine.”

“What?” she said as she turned quickly.

She glanced at the lighter in Cashton’s hand. “How are you doing that, Charlie?”

“For the sake of not sounding crazy, I’m going to go with ‘I don’t know.’”

I turned my back to her and pulled up my tank top. As I felt the lighter come close to my skin, I heard her gasp.

“This is like the box.”

“Yeah,” I said, pulling my shirt down as I turned to face her. Cashton closed the Zippo and handed it back to me. I gave it back to Madison, who took it with shaking hands. “I saw mine in my dream.”

“They branded us?!”

“No. I remember my mom tracing mine when I was really little. It’s deep within us and apparently has some kind of life plan or something.”

She didn’t know what to say or do, and my shock and panic were not helping her at all. She clenched her waist as if she were bracing herself.

“Someone amped her up, either trying to drain her or teach her how to use it real fast. She needs to control this, or she is going to purge it and the one she is fighting will claim that as a victory,” Cashton warned.

“So is Willow helping you with the emotions thing?” I asked, knowing that girl had more than likely fought what she was going through in some way.

“Willow is M.I.A.”

“Excuse me?” I asked, halting my peaking anxiety. I had just saved Landen and Drake, and now she was off the reservation. No way.

“Thanks,” she said, nodding to me, noticing how shielded my emotions were. “They just found them late yesterday. We were all out cold, so we couldn’t tell them to look in New Orleans - and when we did tell them they were on the move, so it took them a day or so to find them.”

“Are they okay?”

“I assume they’re with your buddy.”

“Silas,” I seethed.

Instantly, I grasped what had happened. Bianca, disguised as Winston, was given to us by Clarissa, and she got him from Silas. Why would the all-knowing Silas send her right to me? Right to Chara? Was he that cold? What was he looking for - for me to run to him for help? Was he trying to prove I still needed him, even after finding this family, after Draven apparently finding his peace? And where was the real Winston? Was he a part of this - or was he a victim?

“Yep. I haven’t gotten all the details yet. I haven’t really left you for long and they all scattered to find them when we woke up.”

A tingling sensation engulfed my mind. I saw Madison and Olivia sitting at the foot of this bed practicing this meditation thing. I saw something else, too. I saw Madison’s soul rise from her body and wander around the room as Olivia coached her on what she should be feeling, seeing...what she was capable of.

My eyes grew wide and I held my breath, thinking that would halt my emotions - which were everything from terror to joy.

Madison’s eyebrows rose slightly as a smirk lingered on the corners of her lips. “Looks like that little sleeping pill helped your seeing issue. I was blocking you with everything I had - and you still got through.”

“What did you see?” Cashton asked.

I ignored him.

“Madison.” I gulped, ignoring that notion. I knew my seeing was getting stronger before I went to sleep. “How...why...is that safe? To move outside of your body like that?”

“You’re telling me you forgot how to do that?!” Cashton exclaimed, like it was as simple as walking.

She glanced at the book in her hand, then up to me. “We are energy and we can move anywhere, at anytime. We just have to believe we can. It’s just like The Realm, only it’s here.”

“Truth.” Cashton said. “Half the reason we live for so long is because we never exert our bodies - we use our souls to move around more than the vessel.”

“Was...was...was it hard?” I asked Madison.

I didn’t know what to say. The images in my mind were too clear. I felt like I was there, that the lesson she learned was mine as well, like I had done this as Cashton claimed I had. Then again, my ability to see had been amped up for sure. It was like I was staring at real life and TV side by side. It was rather annoying, to say the least.

“It’s hard to let go, but once you feel that peace, you drift. Olivia is a good teacher.”

“Where’s Monroe?” I asked, instantly seeing her in a kitchen, one that looked like it belonged to this house simply because that room had books from wall to wall as well. “Grayson? Is he here?”

Madison nodded to confirm the question I was asking myself.

“She’s downstairs. Grayson...he left. He’s looking to either save or kill Winston, and he’s doing so from Esterious.

“Save or kill?” I repeated.

“Yeah. If he didn’t cross over and is with his dad against his will, he plans to save him. If he did - he’s going to kill him.”

“‘Kill’ is a little harsh,” I said, hoping that two brothers could not be pushed to that point, fearing for the twins that I loved. I didn’t want them to follow that direction.

With a protective glare Cashton asked, “How many people are you fighting with? Better yet, how many people are you with that you should be avoiding?”

I returned his glare, which was more than likely causing Madison to question my sanity.

“Apparently, Grayson has no choice. If Winston crossed over to be like his dad, then he will give up the location of Monroe. Can’t let that happen,” Madison said with heavy regret in her voice. “They weren’t worried about the fact that Bianca was here, though. Something about how she would never be able to find the passage again if she wanted to.”

I closed my eyes, trying to find a direction, figure out why I lost my parents and sister and had gained a brother...why I was marked...what was real and what was fake.

“Charlie, does the eleventh hour mean anything to you?” Madison asked, cringing slightly from the rage that was boiling inside of me.

“No. Why?” I asked, searching for a balance in my emotions.

She shrugged. “At that hour twice a day the kids go into deep meditation without warning. Each time they stay under longer. It was also the only hour you stirred in your sleep, the one the rest of us woke at.”

“Echo,” Cashton breathed. “Looks like we are the search and rescue. That means that all of you have fouled up somewhere, and now the prodigies cannot see forward.”

“What time is it now?” I asked, ignoring him. I didn’t have time to think of past mistakes. I had to live now.

“Dawn broke a few hours ago,” Madison answered.

I eased my hands through my oily hair, then glanced back at Draven’s still body. I knew he would not approve of my instant decision, and I didn’t know how long I had before he was done with the lesson Drake was teaching him now.

“Here’s my plan. Bianca, she is the core of this, not a freaking distraction. I want to talk to Britain, see my way there. Then I am going to find Silas and rip him to shreds for allowing her to breach this dimension. Will you come?”

She swallowed. “Why would I not?”

“Where are you going again?” Cashton scorned.

“I need to figure out who I can trust,” I said to myself. “I need a shower, clothes.”

Madison stood and pulled my bag out from under the bed, then nodded to the door by Draven. “If you don’t want him to know you’re awake, you better walk softly...he’s intensely aware of you.”

“Oh, I bet he is,” Cashton joked.

I felt my heart begin to race. I was never one to take orders from anyone - especially Draven. We had a balance to our relationship. At least we did before all of this. The tone in Madison’s whisper was laced with a warning. She wasn’t afraid of defying his request to get him when I woke, but she knew he was going to be infuriated when he discovered where we went.

I crept by his still body, not daring to breathe or feel a single emotion. Behind the door, I found a massive bathroom, complete with an oversized claw-foot bathtub. It was inviting, no doubt, but I didn’t have time for a bath. There was a shower stall a few feet behind it. A quick shower - that’s what I needed to wake from this haze.

Cashton had the audacity to follow me into the bath. I took the screen that framed a dressing corner and blocked him from the side of the bath that had the shower in it.

“You need space,” he said into the echo of the room.

“No joke,” I muttered as I turned on the water.

“Not from me. From her.”

“You’re insane. She’s my best friend. We are like the same person.”

“Hardly,” he stated so quietly that I barely heard him. “Mum let you run with her.”

“Run? She let her move in with me.”

“Here?” he asked as I rinsed off. I swear I had never taken a faster shower in my life.

“No, in Salem. A different dimension.”

“How did you get here?”

“I helped out another girl. This is her home.”

“So Mum made sure you got here with her?”

“Yup.”

“This is a fork in the road, sweetheart. Time to divide.”

“Not leaving her or anyone,” I said in a harsh whisper as I turned off the water and dried off.

“Not forever. Trust me, you will have eons to spend with your bestie, but right now the two of you are a moving bull’s-eye.”

“I led her here. She is fighting right now with a sixth sense and a confused heart. This is the last moment in existence that I would leave her.”

I’d pulled my clothes on and was drying my hair fiercely with a towel.

“Fine then. You are just making this harder on yourself. She’s going to get hurt because of you.”

“Why me?” I bit out, thinking that Drake was the one that had a dagger against her fragile heart.

“Because more than a few people in the veil had to have figured out who Mum and Dad were, that they left you here - meaning the one you must take down is squarely focused on you. When he finds you, he will find her - and for kicks and giggles, he will take her out just to do his brother a favor.”

“His brother?”

“Whatever, fellow king.”

“King? I fight demons.”

“Doubt it. Demons are rather easy to kill. No soul. Sounds to me like you are fighting misguided Escorts.”

“That, too,” I agreed, not caring to mention that my boyfriend, that he had yet to approve of, was in fact an Escort that was fighting that label.

Once I was as ready as I was going to be, I pushed past Cashton and eased the door open. Draven was sitting in his still position in the oversized chair. Madison had made the bed and was sitting on the edge of it. As I passed Draven, I felt him tense. I kept my eyes on him as I went to Madison’s side.

“That’s not you. They’re sparring,” she mumbled.

“Another mark for the ‘win’ box. If he is going to love you, he better damn well know how to protect you,” Cashton said, glancing over Draven with heavy judgment in his eyes.

I furrowed my eyebrows at him before glancing back at Draven, a glistening sweat spread across his brow as his body tensed.

“He’s teaching him to fight with his energy, with a thought, how to build it with his thoughts and not pull from anyone - you.”

“Teaching him? You don’t know how to do that either?” Cashton said just before he pressed his lips together and moved his head from side to side.

“Ready?” I asked Madison as I sat next to her on the side of the bed.

“Yeah.”

“Do you think Britain is in The Realm?”

I wanted to face Britain first. I knew he would build my anger to a point where it wouldn’t matter how calm Silas was, and I would carry that anger to him as a weapon.

“No,” Madison uttered with an odd resolve. “He’s at home.”

“K,” I said, nodding at her, not sure how she knew that. “Take the lead.”

My skin blushed as I saw what could only be Britain’s bedroom at the home in Salem. I’d never been in there, but clearly Madison had. I felt a pull on my soul, and the next thing I saw was the dim room. It was the middle of the night in this dimension. Madison was beside me at the threshold of the doorway. Cashton was leaning against the wall with crossed arms. I was really starting to buy this whole ‘I’m tethered to you’ thing at this point - but seriously, he was going to have to learn that I needed space, especially when Draven and I were alone.

A king-size bed centered the room, and candles were lit along the dresser that lined the side wall. Music, a soft symphony, was playing. An empty bottle of wine was beside the romantic display of candles. Two wine glasses holding only a sip of wine were there as well.

Two? I thought as my eyes moved to the bed.

There, I saw Britain. He was lying on his back, his eyes closed, hands behind his pillow. His shirt was off, and the cascading candle light shadowed each muscle in his broad chest, but...he wasn’t alone. Next to him, lying on her side, casually draping her arm across him with closed eyes and an exhausted smile was a girl I despised almost as much as Bianca.

It was Anna, and all she had on was a thin white tank top. I couldn’t see what she or Britain had on under the tangled sheets around them. I was sure I didn’t want to.

This girl had made no secret that she wanted Draven, having flirted openly with him in front of me since we were in middle school. She had a thing for musicians. She’d even tried to get Aden’s attention at one time. The last time I saw her, she was with Todd, another musician friend of Draven and Aden’s, and all too happily I let her know that he was cheating on her. Madison had called her a ‘frenemy’ more than once, meaning she hated her, too, but tolerated her.

I doubted that tolerance was going to last beyond this second.

Chapter Six

I could feel the rage coming off Madison. It was literally burning my skin. If you ever have a death wish, cheat on a Scorpio. They are ruthlessly territorial.

I reached for the light switch, illuminating the room.

“Petal,” Cashton said under his breath, as if Britain were below both Madison and me. I didn’t understand the title he gave him, but his tone was on point. Draven was right: this boy was a lowlife energy addict.

Instantly, Britain’s eyes opened and met Madison’s. There was no pain in her expression, none at all. Only fury. She raised her hand slightly, and an unseen force ripped the sheets away from them. I held in a gasp then let it out when I saw that he was wearing jeans and that Anna had a skirt on. The flames on the candles roared higher, as if they were under the command of Madison’s fury. Britain slowly sat up, holding her stare, looking like prey to the predator that Madison surely was at this moment.

I didn’t have a chance to register this power she was displaying. I guess I halfway thought we were in The Realm, a place where such actions would be normal. Mild, but normal.

“Anna,” Britain said calmly.

She stirred, letting her smile grow, but she never opened her eyes.

“Too tired, baby,” she mumbled.

“Classic,” Cashton said with a sinful smirk as his eyes moved across Anna.

I casually moved in front of him and slugged my elbow back, slamming it right into his gut.

I heard him groan, then laugh. “Oh, please. Not my type. Too easy to catch.” He moved so he was beside me. “Why do you know him? This is beneath the both of you. You can’t save the bottom feeders until you conquer the top of the food chain. Seriously, I don’t think you were sent here to save me. I think I was left here to save you.”

I tilted my head and raised one eyebrow, agreeing with that notion. I needed to be saved, no doubt.

An unseen force knocked Anna out of the bed, and the tension in the room stifled the flames of the candles. Dazed and confused, Anna rose to her knees, then took inventory of the room. A devious smile came to the corners of her lips as her eyes locked on us. Madison didn’t return her stare. She was still holding Britain’s gaze.

“How nice of you to stop by,” Anna said with a fake yawn, “but I’m afraid we are not up for company. Kinda exhausted.”

“Tell your whore to leave,” Madison seethed.

“Nice,” Cashton said across a laugh.

Britain’s steel blue eyes glistened with anticipation. “Anna, dear, my girlfriend wants you to leave my room. Obey her.”

His tone was inciting, as if he were enjoying the jealousy Madison was displaying. But he was a fool. If anything, he should ask her to stay so he would have a witness to the thrashing he was about to receive. Then again, it wouldn't matter if he didn’t survive it.

Anna crawled seductively onto the bed. “Not a chance, lover. This is my place now.”

“Now,” Britain growled.

The anger in his voice caused Anna’s skin to blush to a deep crimson. Hollow-eyed, she stared at him as she tensed, then backed away. She searched the ground for her hoodie, then her boots, before coming our way.

I crossed my arms as I glared at her. “You’re an insult to the female race,” I scorned.

“Female race?” Cashton chimed in. “That is a little selective, sweetheart.”

Anna looked me up and down as if I were child. “Why is that? Because I can seduce them? Take them from you with a few simple gestures?”

Cashton belted into laughter. “Oh, dear. The delusion. You almost have to feel sorry for her. Poor chap - if he didn’t take advantage of her, she really would have no purpose.”

That made me smirk. I was starting to like the brother that my apparent psychotic break was producing.

“No,” I breathed sardonically. “Because you have no sense of self-worth. You think love is physical, and you sacrifice your body for an illusion - a fleeting one. You will always be the other woman, never the one, simply because you’re a disgrace. You must really hate yourself. You would have to in order to become what all women have fought to suppress. A real man loves a woman's soul, not her body, not her empty words that echo only what he wants to hear. A real man wants to be challenged, wants to be seduced with the mind, body, and soul - not just one.”

“True, true,” Cashton said as he put his arm around me and nodded his head as if he were proud of me.

Anna’s eyes fell in shame, then she pushed past us, leaving me alone with Britain and Madison’s scorn.

“This is the part where you and I exit, too,” Cashton said to me as his arm that was around me pulled me awkwardly backward and out of the room. I doubted Madison or Britain noticed.

I glared up at Cashton as I moved down the hall far enough away so that I wouldn’t eavesdrop, but close enough to rush in there and defend her if I needed to.

I could not believe the audacity Britain had. One thing was for sure, though: today was Drake’s lucky day. I could see some revenge loving in Madison’s future. She wouldn’t play Drake, but she would speak to him just to spite Britain - and who knows, maybe they might figure out they like each other after all.

“Seriously, why are we here?” Cashton asked as he leaned against the wall opposite mine. The blue in his eyes was judging me down to my core.

“He knows the demon that I am chasing, the one that knocked me out and landed me in that dream with you.”

“I thought prodigy children did that?” he asked as he glanced at the door we’d come through, seeming to rethink his first impression of Britain - which made sense. Britain had that effect on a lot of people. Madison and I had even debated that in the past. The Britain I knew and the one she knew were not the same. It was almost like he knew exactly what he needed to be for whomever he focused on at the time. I claimed it was because he was an Escort. She seemed to think differently. Madison always said there was more to Britain than met the eye, and the way she said it always led me to believe that it wasn’t a compliment - and more than likely, that was why she had kept him at arm’s length.

“The children put me to sleep, but before that, a girl that was masked as one of my friends fired a bolt of energy at me. Britain and that girl run together, but he kinda has a thing for Madison, so I thought he’d help us out and tell us where Bianca is.”

“Does he now,” Cashton said under his breath. It was clear that he was not fond of Britain, but it wasn’t because he was a ‘petal’ or whatever he had called him. “Wait a second - you let a bolt of energy hit you?”

I furrowed my brow at him. What kind of power did he think I had?

“Well, yeah, but one of Dad’s guitars stopped it right after it blared one of his songs.”

He moved his head from side to side. “What a mess.”

“Tell me about it. Britain was the Escort that took my memory. Both he and Bianca have been a headache for awhile.”

“A low-lying, misguided petal was able to take your memory?” he asked, tilting his head as if he knew that to be impossible.

“I got it back. My boyfriend brought most of it back with music. Why do you keep calling him a ‘petal’?”

“Another mark in the ‘win’ box for your beloved,” he said with a sigh. “Petal: an Escort that has lived a few cycles and is now called upon by its master to use for various uses. Your buddy in there is putting off a scent and a vibration that states he is just that, a petal. But what you’re telling me doesn’t add up. Even if you were completely oblivious to any of your heritage or powers, it would have taken someone with a lot of stout to pull that off.”

I cringed, wondering what he would call Draven, how he would react when he figured out that I was in love with an Escort. Then it hit me: he thought Britain was dangerous – and I’d just left Madison alone with him. I tried to leave to go back to her side, but Cashton blocked my path.

“The point is,” Cashton said, sighing as he pushed his hands into his jean pockets, “he should not have been able to do that at all. You should know how to move without your vessel, how to use energy as a weapon and as a shield.”

“I think you are claiming the wrong sister. Sounds more like what Willow and her family can do.”

“The girl that brought you to Chara?”

“Right.”

“Confluence. She brought you to a meeting point so you can go your way and your bestie in there can go hers.”

“Not leaving Madison behind. She is more than likely falling apart right now.”

“Doubt it. I have a feeling that Madison has known for a while that she has her own master Escort to conquer. One way or another, she is building toward that battle whilst keeping your rear end in line. Straighten up so she can do her thing and you can do yours.”

“And who are we supposed to divide and kill again?” I asked sarcastically, pointing out how absurd he sounded.

“If I told you that, it would take the fun out of it, now wouldn’t it?” he teased, but that just aggravated me to no end.

“Whatever. I don’t know who he is or what the hell is going on. I came to Chara to help Draven with his transition, and I happened to bring along not only Madison, but also a child that needs my protection. Bianca acted like she knew exactly who was at the core of this issue – so either it’s her I have to stop, or she knows who that person is.”

“I’m sure she has toyed with you far more than you realize. She and Britain are not even from the same line.”

“‘Line’?”

“Seven lines - are you not paying attention? Madison has to conquer obsession. You have to conquer shock. Britain falls within obsession - not your issue.”

“How do you know that? And it is my issue because he can help me find Bianca, and he hurt my friend.”

“Is your nose suffering from amnesia, too?” he mocked dryly.

“Apparently.”

“They all have a scent. He has lingered near shock. Not recently, though. He’s not your way to that girl.”

I threw a glare at him. “If you dare tell me not to go after Bianca, I will find a way to stuff you back into my subconscious.”

He smirked. “I am as real as you. And you are right: I have a feeling that the girl you hunt is from the line of shock - but do you not see how that proves my point? The two of you are side by side, and two Escorts from two different lines have already found you. You are making it too easy for them. The confluences are over. Divide and conquer.”

“It’s not over. It’s hours old.”

“Hours that are pointing an arrow at you,” he said with a nod in my direction.

“Lucky for me, I have a big brother to protect me. Wait - no, you’re not real.”

“You’re awake, aren’t you?”

“Yup, and no one can see you.”

“On point. And what would be my reason behind that?”

I raised one eyebrow to emphasize the point that he was an illusion.

He playfully squinted his eyes. “I’m going to have to stay near you until I: one, find the queen of the veil; and two, you know what the hell you are doing. If I show myself now, your enemies will realize that you are getting on the right track and they will strike you harder. This is a mess. A blooming mess. All the power in you, and you are ignoring it.”

“I am not. I help the damned.”

“Yeah, you said that. Bravo. You are slowly starving out the lines, but you are stronger than that. You need to live up to that crest on your back.”

“A crest that my mother made no effort to explain to me. Hell, she didn’t even bother to tell me she could see,” I said with a glare. I guess I was nonchalantly moving through the stages of grief, past denial and on to anger.

“You learn faster if you live through it,” he said under his breath as he evaluated my composure.

“Apparently not.”

He nodded as he clenched his jaw. “You just haven’t been stimulated. Mum was hiding you. Coming through The Fall mucks with your senses. She probably didn’t completely put it all together until it was too late, but that doesn’t matter. She - they - risked everything to get you here, and I will be damned if either of us lets them or our bloodline down.”

My eyes started to glass over. I hated myself for being mad at my mom. I missed her so much.

In the blink of an eye, Cashton had pulled me to his chest.

“Shh, now, sista. I’ve got you.”

I clenched his back as I pulled him closer. His energy was so familiar. A perfect mix of both of my parents. I didn’t care that he was an illusion. He made me feel closer to the people I’d lost in this pointless war.

“You know I’m going to be hard on you. I never wanted you over here. I wanted you safe at home, speaking sense into those who dared to close The Fall. Now that you are here, I have no choice. I have to make you invincible - because even if I told you what your future held, you wouldn’t believe me...”

I nodded weakly against his chest as I squeezed my eyes closed. The tingling sensation in my mind started to fire off again. I could see that home. I could see and hear heated discussions between us. If these memories of mine were right, I did follow him here. He was not only my big brother, but also my best friend - the only one that really got me.

I tried so hard to hold on to those images to understand them more, but it was pointless. My heart stopped each time my mom or dad came into view, and grief would take over.

“We’ll figure it out. I’m not telling you to tell your bestie goodbye. I’m telling you that she has her own fate to conquer - and if you stand too close, she will use you as an excuse not to attempt it.”

He hit that right on the money.

Right about then, Madison charged out of the room. I slowly dropped my arms from around Cashton, but she was too mad to question my odd way of hanging my arms in the air.

“The lake,” she fumed.

I nodded once then sent my soul there. I guess she was telling me to move on and find Silas. That she got nothing out of Britain.

Once we manifested in the dog park near the lake, I let silence fall for a few minutes, allowing nature to entertain us with its gentle melody. Cashton was right behind me, surveying the area before taking stock of Madison’s frail composure. No doubt, Britain didn’t see this. She held it in until he was out of sight.

I really didn’t know what to say to her.

“We can talk about it if you want. But…I’m not sure he is good for you, Madison.”

“Right,” she mumbled, letting some of the tension leave her. “So why do you want to talk to Silas again?”

“He let Clarissa lead Winston into Chara, he knew Willow and Landen in a past life, he knows what’s going to happen, and he’s going to tell me how – now.”

“Maybe I should take out note cards,” Cashton mocked, pointing out once again that I was too entangled with too many powerful souls.

She moved her head from side to side. “He’s furious, Charlie. I don’t even know him that well, but that moment in The Realm when that image of Aden was kneeling by the bed, something snapped inside of Silas. I thought it was jealousy, but at the same time I saw understanding in him. Not the good kind, though. He was putting something together for the first time in over two thousand years, and he has every intent not to let you slip through his fingers.”

“So you have made it to The Realm. Good. At least you have toyed with the power that you can use at any moment,” Cashton muttered.

“Not his. Not anymore,” I said under my breath.

“Not anyone’s,” Cashton said, narrowing his eyes at me, showing my mother’s blue. I got that he was saying that I was not property, but I didn’t have the time or mind power to explain to him what I meant by that.

“Right,” Madison breathed. “Listen, I don’t care that Draven is going to rip me apart with his emotion of rage when he comes back and finds us gone, but it would be nice not to endure that - not today. So call Silas, think about him, or figure out how to see your way to Louisiana. I’ve never been there, have you?”

I moved my head from side to side and began to reach out to Silas.

I know you can hear me, I thought. Just so you know: I survived Winston - that is, if you care. I know you’re busy letting people die to build your army and all. I’m leaving here in 5...4...3...2...

At that moment, Madison let out a groan as she leaned forward and grasped her stomach. The next second, I felt a grip on my arm, then a hand lifting my chin, giving me no choice but to look into the glowing honey eyes of Silas.

“He’s got two seconds to take his hands off you - or I will do it for him,” Cashton seethed.

Oddly, Silas looked right at him and slowly let go of his grip on me. Cashton’s shoulders were pulled back. Every sleek muscle in his body was flexed.

Deciding to ignore Cashton, Silas looked at me. “Why would I not care?” His tone was harsh.

I was dumbfounded for a second. How could he see Cashton, a psychotic break of mine?

Madison let out a gasp then took a few steps back, closing her eyes and breathing deeply.

“You want to get a grip on your emotions. Act like a Witness and fix that,” Cashton said with a sneer that was aimed at Silas.

Silas stepped away from me and walked over to Madison. She stepped back, but he was faster than she was. He rested his hands on her shoulder - and the second he did that all the tension left her body. She nodded once at him, but he didn’t notice. He was already walking back to me.

“Nice...so you can give that emotion, but not feel it? I thought I knew you - at least the boy I met in Pompeii, not this man who knowingly sent a missile right at me. Lucky for you, there were people there to help me fight her off.”

“You think I sent her to you?” he asked sardonically, glancing from me to Cashton.

“How else would Clarissa and Dane even know that he was supposed to be in Chara? They’re under your command, at least your guidance.”

“When that boy showed up in The Realm, we were at war, giving you and your new friends leeway. I didn’t know he was mirrored when he left The Realm.”

“Don’t give me ‘I was too busy helping you to notice.’ You weren’t too busy to invoke a fight with Draven and Drake. Maybe he slipped through your fingers then.”

“THAT IS MY WAR!” he yelled so loud that I felt my insides tremble.

Cashton stepped between Silas and me and breathed in deeply. “Is it, now? Your scent states differently.”

Madison was at my side instantly. “Back away - now,” she breathed.

Silas raised his hands and stepped back from us. I don’t know if it was out of respect, fear, or if he knew that yelling at me was the last thing he should have done.

“I’m bonded to you,” Silas stated flatly. “When he pulls from you, he pulls from me. I had to stop him, or it would have been over - for all of us.”

“I had him under control. I pushed him on purpose,” I threw back at him.

“Why?” he bit out. “Did you have a death wish? I tell you what, Julia if there is one thing you suck at, it’s timing.”

Julia - that was the name I went by when I was at his side, and the sound of it singed my mind with the millions and millions of times he’s said it in both anger and passion. I also knew that his remark about timing had nothing to do with me choosing to do that in The Realm and everything to do with when I left him without a warning, a plan, or a goodbye.

I dodged around Cashton, ready to fight this out with Silas.

“Well, if there is one thing you suck at, Silas, it’s being honest and open. You never told me that you could feel when my energy was pulled. All you said was that you would kill him if he pulled it. I had no choice but to teach him to be in control so you wouldn’t.”

“He can’t kill him - not even if he tried,” Cashton said in the most condescending tone that ever existed.

“Watch me,” Silas seethed.

“You have an identity crisis right about now,” Cashton said with a playful glare. “Ah, don’t look at me in that tone. You feel it, don’t you?”

Silas moved his glare to me. “Our love is a necessary evil. Simple as that. I have to love you in order to do my job. You don’t like it? Too bad. You’re going to get over it. He will not hurt you. End of story.”

Cashton moved his head slowly from side to side. “Seriously, you suck when it comes to swooning girls, don’t you? All work and no play.”

“Silas, what the hell is going on right now? Madison said those kids were stuck in some kind of deep meditation, that Monroe is. And right when I get Monroe to a safe place, you send Bianca at me.”

“I did not send her to you!” Silas bellowed.

“Watch it,” Cashton said, raising his chin.

“Look,” Silas exhaled, “that boy is lost. His own brother has a mark on his head. You survived it. He was mirrored at some point between me and you.”

“Where is Bianca?”

“Not a clue.”

“You better figure it out. I’m going to put that petal in her place once and for all,” I sneered.

Silas furrowed his brow, questioning my vocabulary. “You need to calm down and stop trying to solve everyone else’s issues. I’m keeping you alive. Let it be.”

“Their problems are mine,” I bit back.

“Not trying to dodge her away from that girl, are you?” Cashton asked as he tilted his chin up and judged Silas.

Before he could answer, Madison gasped then said, “We need to go, Charlie.” I heard a warning in her voice, but I assumed it was because she was over him, this conversation.

“Silas, she knocked a wall down in Aden’s head, and he took off. I need to understand why or how to put the wall back up. I can’t have him and Draven pitted against each other on top of everything else.”

Silas smirked. “Why would I want that wall up?” he asked, forcing anger into every word.

Madison screamed out in agony, doing her best not to bend forward. I was sure whatever calm energy Silas had given her had worn off, but I was wrong. I knew I was wrong when I heard “You want to change your tone,” and felt Draven’s hands firmly on my hips. It was clear then that Madison was picking up on the smoldering rage I saw in Draven’s eyes.

“She called me here...I guess she was lonely,” Silas taunted.

“Boy, do you have a death wish,” Cashton said under his breath.

Draven urged me behind him as he and Silas moved face to face.

“You touch her, look at her, give me one reason - and I will end you,” Draven promised in a tone that was so calm, I felt the chill within the words.

“You want one reason?” Silas said, tilting his head slightly. “I die - she dies.”

“Stop it!” I yelled as I pushed between them. “Silas, tell me how to put up the wall,” I demanded.

“No.” He locked eyes with Draven. “Because this time I’m going to kill both of them, and I couldn’t care less what protest Mother Nature puts in front of me. If I’d known that before - that there were two - this day would never have come.”

Draven pulled me aside and charged forward, but he hit an invisible wall. So did Silas when he moved forward. Wide-eyed, I looked at Madison.

“Wake now - before I get really mad,” she seethed, looking between Draven and me.

Cashton let a laugh bellow in his chest. “Looks like someone is learning to use her powers for good.”

Letting out a gasp, I glanced at Silas, letting him know those words hurt me more than a thousand deaths.

I reached for Draven and said, “Wake.” Still holding his stare, I saw the space around us return to the bedroom in which my body lay.

Madison stood abruptly and charged out of the room, leaving me to stare deep into emerald green eyes laced in black and fury.

Chapter Seven

I threw a glare at Cashton, telling him to make his exit now. He raised his hand, telling me I had five minutes and that was it, then vanished into thin air.

Draven was different, his energy. I was still sitting on the bed; he was leaning over me, each strong arm flexed at my sides, his jaw locked. I gasped, feeling him. Not his skin, but his essence. It felt like a warm, tantalizing blanket was all around me, teasing my flesh with its raw power. I felt his rage, his passion, and his love in this blanket encasing me. It was like his soul was around him, not within his gorgeous body. His energy - even with the anger I felt in it - was releasing all the tension in my body; it was lifting me, hypnotizing me, inviting me into a plane of existence I didn’t even know was possible.

The only time I’d even come close to feeling something this powerful was when I was around Drake, but even his gaze could not compare to this. No, this was directed at me. This was claiming me as its own. This wasn’t the Draven I knew before I was sent into a deep sleep. No, not at all. But I wasn’t complaining. I liked it. I wanted more. I wanted to feel his skin, to see if the energy was stronger near the source, if I could climb into this feeling and never come up for air. He had me mesmerized, and he hadn’t said a word or even touched me.

I took in a slow, deep breath.

“Wow,” I gasped. “I think I like this new Draven.” My voice was a deep whisper, laced with an invitation, one that I’d never had the courage to display with words.

His eyes flickered with desire, but that was soon stifled by the anger there.

“You sleep for three days - and the first thing you do when you wake up is go to him?”

I swallowed my desire and found my defense. As I leaned forward, he leaned back at the same time, not letting me touch him.

“No,” I said, ignoring the unspoken rejection. “After I woke up from the most wicked dream you could ever imagine, I talked to Madison. I talked to her because she was here, waiting on me to wake up. When I figured out what was going on while I was knocked out, I took a shower, then went to Britain to figure out how to find and kill Bianca. That didn’t go so well, by the way. So then I went to Silas to figure out why he sent Winston to us, knowing Bianca was mirroring him. I wanted to know how to put that wall up in Aden’s head.”

“Why are you so worried about that wall?” he asked scornfully as he stood up and crossed his arms.

If I weren’t looking directly at him, I might have mistaken him for Drake. He was in black dress slacks, a black button up shirt, and his dark wavy hair waywardly swooshed out of his eyes. He was dressed like a modern king, not like the musician I knew, the one who I’d rarely seen without jeans - holy ones, at that.

“Because obviously it has driven a divide in our circle. Aden is alone in another dimension, and you are here. Did you even try to talk to him?”

“I don’t need to talk to him. I can feel him. He doesn’t want to be bothered.”

“I don’t believe you.”

Those were obviously the wrong words to say. If looks could kill, I would be a goner. That glare was powerful.

“We’re twins, Charlie. You know we have a solid connection. We are very aware of each other.”

I had to hesitate before I had a response. I knew what he said was true; opposites or not, they were very in tune with each other. Aden had told me after my accident that he was relieved that Draven and I were all right, that he didn’t think he could handle another second of us being apart. I promised him that no matter what happened between Draven and me that he would always be my friend. I knew nothing would ever divide Draven and me; I just said that to reassure him.

He looked at me like I didn’t hear him then said, “It hurt, Charlie. I mean it really hurt. I’d never wished I wasn’t a twin until that happened.”

I brushed off his comment at the time, thinking it was just brotherly love he was picking up on - but right now I’m starting to think maybe there was more to it, that they were connected on a different level. If that were true and there was a wall knocked down, one that would give Aden emotions he didn’t want Draven to sense – I’d run, too.

“All right,” I said in a quiet whisper, “I get it.” I stood just to be closer to him. I felt like I was on the edge of that hypnotizing blanket of his energy, and I wanted to be inside of it. “I’m not going to argue with you about this. I told you before, it doesn’t matter what he remembers, if there was something in a forgotten past. This is now - and right now I’m yours and you’re mine. I don’t like the idea of him being alone, dealing with it. I know him, too, and I know that if he did see something, it more than likely made him sick to his stomach because in this life he could never see me like that. We are strong together and weak apart. Winston is either evil or lost, and Grayson is hunting him. Aden is in another dimension. You are sparring with Drake in some kind of training session. Madison is fighting insights on steroids. I was alone, looking for answers - trying to figure out how to fix us. I don’t regret not telling you I was awake, but I’m sorry that you took my intent the wrong way. I was scared, and when I’m scared I have to run – even if I don’t know what direction I’m running in.”

His eyes softened, then turned to coal. I knew he was searching through where I went, what Madison and I’d done, and I held nothing back. He wanted in, and I was going to let him in because I had nothing to hide. I was his. We were one.

After a moment, the green I loved so much flooded his eyes and he stepped forward. When his hand settled on my waist I gasped, knowing for sure now that his energy was the strongest next to his skin. He lifted his other hand, allowing his fingertips to coax my lips closer to his. I held my breath, imagining how different his touch would be. And when his lips touched mine I realized I had a very weak imagination. I felt a hum that started with his soft lips, then eased through my body, gripping my core and pulling me higher into this unknown plane of existence. I pulled him closer, feeling his firm body press against mine, the energy that accepted me as his.

Normally, his touch was almost greedy, like mine, wanting more. But now his lips were moving slowly, as if he knew the power behind his newfound energy would spin my mind out of control, as if he were savoring every gentle movement of my lips against his.

He pulled away just as the dizzying sensation caused my knees to buckle. I felt his arm tighten and brace around me.

“Always run to me, Charlie. I’ll take the fear away, fight your war. I love you.”

After finding my balance in his arms, I whispered, “Love you,” as a blush surfaced over every inch of my body. “I’m not complaining, trust me - but are you okay? Is this energy thing a good thing or a bad thing?”

His eyes cascaded over me, doing their best to hide the hunger I saw there - not for my light, but for me.

“I can hold you without my guard up once again. That makes it a good thing in my book.”

I watched as his eyes drifted into mine, pulling me closer. If my soul were not firmly attached to my body, I would be within him. I was craving that sensation, and it didn’t make any sense to me. Was that even possible? To mingle my energy with his – my soul with his? The thought of it alone was making my heart hammer in my chest.

I remember feeling something close to this the first time he kissed me, the first time he told me he loved me, but something told me that my imagination would not give that notion justice if I tried; the kiss that was still humming on my lips backed up that point.

His eyes grew curious. I knew that look. I’d shown him everything I did today, and now he was thinking back over it, taking it in at a slower rate. After what seemed like forever, he sighed.

“I knew that bastard would hurt her. Anna? Really? That was low.”

“Easy target,” I agreed.

“I’d rather starve,” he said as the jealousy that that girl had manifested in me was reflected in my tense composure. It wasn’t just her that was causing that feeling. I didn’t like the way he referred to the desire to pull energy to him, like he was feeding on it - which I guess he was – but the reference was too chilling for me to handle.

He pulled me closer to him and slowly let his hand caress my back.

“We’ll put that wall up, one way or the other. August offered to give Aden a drug to stop it, but he refused. I won’t offer. I’ll cram it down his throat.”

“A drug?”

He nodded slowly as he began to sway me to the soundless room. “It’s called Rhelm. Apparently, it’s natural and takes recent memory away. They use it here if someone sees them move between passages or if something is too traumatic to remember. They told him that they didn’t know how well it would work. Aden refused it anyway, told them that right now he needed to remember to help us.”

“Let’s just go there - the two of us, talk to him,” I pleaded.

“I’ll give him until tomorrow. We have plans tonight.”

“Do we?” I questioned, wondering how we could have plans if I were knocked out cold until a few hours ago.

He nodded once, reaching to caress a lock of my long dark hair out of my eyes. “Alamos was sure you would wake today.”

“How? Magic or something?”

A ghost of a smile echoed on his lips as his emerald green eyes filled with admiration. “Because deities rise after three days.”

“What?!” I asked, tensing.

His arms pulled me closer, removing my tension. “Yeah, apparently we are seen that way, at least thought of in that manner. It appears that some of our actions, the paths we have taken, mirror those that were taken by those who were thought to be deities in ancient times, across different dimensions. They think we are repeating some of those paths, growing stronger because of it.”

“I’m not a god, and I don’t want anyone to think of any of us in that manner,” I said shortly, appalled that anyone would think that way about me - us.

As always, he found my sarcasm inviting and grinned. “Agreed, but you’re awake – as it was predicted – so I’m going to go with it for now.”

“What plans do we have?” I asked, fearing the answer.

“Dinner with a king,” he said as if he were talking about the weather.

“I don’t want to go there – it’s dangerous,” I quickly countered.

“We’ll be safe. Those herbs we used to seal the school when we brought back the shadows were nothing compared to what Perodine and Alamos use. They have sealed several wings. They would have sealed more but they feared the power would be weakened if it was stretched to thin.”

“Why do we have to have dinner with him? Is he like your new best friend now?”

I could see my answers coming to me as my seeing ability produced an intense tingling sensation, but I was too impatient to analyze them. I wanted him to explain them to me.

He smiled slightly. “I’ve spent a lot of time with Drake over the last few days. I’ve looked deep into him, and I know I can trust his intentions. He recognized the energy I had instantly and has been working with me on how to use it, not let it seep too far from me.”

“Is that why you feel more intense?” I asked, letting my hand ease up his strong arms.

The desire in his eyes built. “I feel intense because this is yours, my soul. Others feel something around me, but not on this level. He taught me that first.”

The tingling sensation engulfed my mind, taking the image of him along with this room away and replacing them with flickering visions that showed Drake and Draven standing in a stone room with only torches lighting the way.

I watched as Drake lifted Draven into thin air with a glance, how Draven was taught not only to do that but also to use his energy as a weapon, one that was forceful enough to knock a grown man across the room, to start fires or put them out. I felt like I was watching a movie set in an ancient time. The lack of realism for what I was seeing made me lose that vision, forcing me back into the moment.

Knowing that I’d seen everything he was taught, Draven grinned then stepped back slightly. A second later, I was rising in the air. I braced my arms over my head so I wouldn’t hit the ceiling. He laughed a boyish laugh, one that I hadn’t heard in months as his hands clasped my waist and pulled me down again.

“Fun, huh?” he said, trying to stifle his joy.

“I could think of a few other words,” I said once I was sure my feet were on the ground again.

“It’s just like The Realm - only it’s here.”

“You sound like Madison.”

He nodded, pulling me against him again. “She was a fast learner. They think the time in The Realm allowed us not to be afraid of it, grasp it within minutes – whereas it took Willow and Landen days.”

“You think I can learn this?”

“Oh, dear, why are you so dense?” I heard Cashton say. “I already told you that you are currently not living up to your potential.”

Within that breath, Cashton was pinned to the opposite wall and Draven was taking dominant steps to him. When he reached him, he braced his forearm across Cashton’s chest.

“Draven!” I screamed, but he and Cashton were locked in a stare. Cashton was grinning as he appraised Draven.

I’d let Draven look into my thoughts, and he’d given me no indication that he could see Cashton – which in the back of mind told me that Cashton was just an illusion helping me through this trauma. Now I didn’t know what to think.

With matched strength, Cashton removed Draven’s arm and held his hand out.

“Welcome to the family, mate.”

Draven looked to me, then to Cashton.

“Um...if you can see him, then more than likely he is not the result of a psychotic break and he is my brother from a...um...I guess a different life.”

“This life. You just took a side road to the dark side,” Cashton said, glancing at me as if he were annoyed that I didn’t believe him.

Almost in shock, Draven reached to shake his hand.

“So you let Silas and Draven see you - but not Madison or Britain?”

“Silas will move on soon enough. And hey, if this boy is yours, then he is a brother of mine, right? You said Mum and Dad loved him. I can see the appeal. He’ll fit right in.”

Draven was desperately searching my thoughts for who this was. And I guess now that Cashton had decided to let Draven see him, what he had seen before was now different. I could see my dream, all the words that Cashton had said to me in Draven’s mind now.

“Cashton claims that Mom and Dad are gone, really gone - like moved on to another reality. That they left us both here to fulfill a charge or something. He claims that I should not linger so close to Madison because she has a different line or master to kill.”

“Excuse me?” Draven said, raising his brow.

“Shock,” Cashton said, pointing to Draven. “See what I mean?”

I moved my head from side to side.

Draven was focused on Cashton, his eyes as dark as coal.

“Let him see you,” I almost pleaded to Cashton, knowing that Draven would not trust Cashton unless he knew there was truth behind his every word.

“Not all of it, sweetheart,” Cashton said under his breath.

“Why not?” I protested.

“Because I’m not quite sure where he is on his path.”

I was watching Draven. Cashton was selective; he only showed Draven The Fall, my parents vanishing into it, and a few scattered memories of a life I had on the other side.

“The Selected?” Draven said, looking at me.

I shrugged my shoulders.

Cashton slowly circled Draven, breathing in. “Interesting.”

“What?” Draven and I said at the same time.

“Your scent is of another line, yet you are firmly attached to my sista. Is anger an issue for you?”

Draven smirked.

Cashton raised his chin. “Not going to count you out yet. My sista has an issue with anger; doubt she has ever really felt the real deal. So I suppose this is a good match, that you can be angry enough for the two of you and conquer shock in the end.”

“Why did you tell her to stay away from Madison?” Draven asked, knowing I would never do such a thing.

“If you cross paths with or stand too close to another that has your fate, you make an easy target.”

Draven glanced at me. The look in his eyes told me he already knew that.

“What do you know?” I asked aloud, trying to see it, but he answered before I had a chance to look through his mind.

“Landen kinda said the same thing.”

“What does Landen fight?” Cashton asked.

“Currently a web of spells.”

“In the past?” Cashton pressed.

“A ghost of a horrible king,” Draven said with a nod.

“Name.”

“Donalt.”

“Fear,” Cashton said as he closed his eyes for a second.

Draven nodded. “Yeah. The people in that dimension look pretty terrified.”

“How much fear does Landen have?” Cashton asked him.

Draven raised his brow. “Didn’t seem like much.”

“You can work with him – at a calculated distance,” Cashton said to me.

“Thanks for the permission. Why?” I bit out.

“The masters of shock and fear work together. Usually, right after you feel an emotion of shock, fear follows. More than likely, the one you must take on is next to or close to the one Landen will have to conquer.”

“And Madison has her own little master somewhere else,” I mocked.

“Madison isn’t going to get very far until she finds her balance,” Cashton said with a raised brow.

“Which is...?”

“Which is none of your business, little one. If I tell you, you will tell her and she may or may not seek it, therefore making it forced, not natural.”

“What would be forced?” I argued.

Cashton locked his jaw before he spoke. “Are you forced to love this boy?” he asked as he tilted his head toward Draven. “Did anyone ever suggest that you should? Don’t you dare say Mum and Dad did because they know better. The answer is no. You were pulled to him, and now you are fighting to hold on to him.”

“True.”

“See, don’t force your buddy, don’t push her down a road because only she knows what road to take.”

“You don’t get it. The four of us, Draven and his brother, Madison and me - we have common gifts and conflicts. First and foremost, we all came here together and we brought a girl here that needs us to keep her safe.”

“You said there was a web?” Cashton said, looking at Draven.

“Something like that. Landen is working on unraveling it.”

“Right, then. Well, that means that we are off track. That all of you have been pitted against each other.”

“We are not fighting each other,” I maintained.

“I’ll tell you right now, it is not good that Silas and Draven are against each other,” Cashton retorted.

“There’s a news flash,” I said under my breath.

“We are just going to have to move through what you have started and hope we make it out in time to get ourselves on the right path,” Cashton stated assertively.

I glanced at Draven, knowing that on top of everything else, he had already committed us to going back to that palace tonight.

“What is the dinner tonight about?” I asked him.

“Dinner. That’s civil,” Cashton teased.

Still not knowing how to take Cashton, Draven gave his attention to me.

“We’ve developed a battle plan. We need to draw out those against Drake.”

“So, Drake’s problems are now ours as well?” I said with wide eyes.

I couldn’t figure out why he was so attached to him if his brother was in obvious pain in some other dimension - if Grayson was hunting Winston in The Realm.

“Not just his. Willow and Landen’s, too. Drake is almost paralyzed by the threat of war in his kingdom, and that distraction is causing the darkness to gain ground. He needs our help to stifle the threat of war. Once that is done then he can help us. They think the vortex of the darkness is within that dimension, that if it’s under control then we can strike the darkness at its core.”

“That is not the core of it, though I can see how you may think that,” Cashton added.

I ignored him. “How can we stop a war?” I asked as I reached for my temples, thinking that if I massaged them, my head would stop tingling and bubbling up images of all that Draven had done while I was asleep, as well as the random images that were backing up what Cashton was saying.

Draven looked concerned and proud at the same time as he moved my fingers away and began to move his in small circles on my temples. The hum of his skin was having a far greater effect than what I was doing.

“Well, apparently Donalt was a master Escort, and he had several in his court. They were placed there as backups if this trial by planet didn’t pan out, or at the very least to make the trials more difficult. Drake has to assume control of the dimension, let the kingdom know that Donalt is dead and that he will rule. The only problem is that this day was prophesied, and it was said that he could not rule without Willow - or whatever body her soul was in. That was the heart of the plan. Donalt predicted this day for a reason: he had every intention of having Willow fall in love with Drake, then taking control of his body and her heart and ruling for another four million years without interruption.”

“That is not his intention,” Cashton threw in.

“You want to clue me in? That is what I was told,” Draven bit out at him.

“I’m sure you were, and I have no doubt that the people that clued you in were also the people that in part created this web.”

“So what - don’t help them?” I said as Draven let his fingers fall from my temple.

“You’re stuck now. I mean that you guys have got to rise out of today and see the real fate. Donalt is not of this world. He is role playing with you.”

Draven and I both locked gazes. We knew what that demon looked like and what he was capable of, also that his children were in our care. That was one hell of a role play if it were true.

“I may be meant to fight shock or whatever, but I can’t let the master of fear conquer anything. I have to protect his daughter.”

“His what?!” Cashton belted.

“You heard me. I brought Monroe here, and Mom and Dad knew that. I have to protect her, and if that means helping Landen and Willow then so be it.”

“All right, then. What have we signed my sista up for?” Cashton asked Draven.

“Drake has to play into the public. They are the power - not just in numbers, but in energy. Basically, he has to take what was predicted and act it out. The first step is to stop the powerful Escorts that are in the court. He’s not even entirely sure who they are.”

Cashton smirked as he looked over Draven once. “Ah, trust me – he is not aware.”

Neither one of us bothered to push Cashton to explain himself. He wasn’t showing it to us with his thoughts, so he surely wouldn’t tell us with his words. I was starting to think that he was only throwing lines like that at us to make us think – to lead us to find our own way of figuring this out.

“How?” I asked Draven.

“By replacing the court,” he answered casually, as if it were an obvious answer.

“Excuse me?”

“Yep, there is always a loophole. Having two people here that were there when they were established plays into our hands.”

Draven nodded to say yes as I saw flickering images of Perodine and Alamos in lives from so long ago. I saw Perodine as a young woman, I watched her witness the arrival of Donalt. He was a young man, fiercely attractive. At that time he looked harmless.

“Donalt was born on an island on the far side of the dimension. That island was thought to be sacred, the vortex to the heavens. Years later when the dimension went dark, the island remained in the sun. It was also forbidden to travel there. It was thought that if you did, you would perish - simply because you were unworthy.”

He paused to see if I was following him. I nodded once, telling him to go on. In my mind, I could hear Alamos explaining this to him.

“Even though Alamos has been guiding Drake through these trials, he’s been plotting this night. Life on the island perished close to two million years ago, but he asked August to help him find members of Chara to help rebuild it, restore it to a modern sacred ground.”

“I see,” I mumbled as I saw the ruins of that place disappear and luxurious homes appeared. It would take a skilled eye to realize that this place was built in under a month’s time.

Draven’s grin grew. I knew I was making him proud with how insanely easy I was seeing now, but I didn’t feel proud; I felt out of control.

“Alamos said that he knew that if all of them survived to the point of the Jupiter trial that we would have an edge, that we could play the card of that island. The people in this dimension are deeply superstitious, and if anyone arrives on the shores of Delen openly supporting Drake, even the traitors will have to play into the people.”

“Who is arriving from that island, mate?” Cashton asked.

I already knew the answer: us. We were posing as sacred people who supported Drake’s rule.

My wince gave Cashton the answer he needed.

“Fan-freaking-tastic,” he slurred.

“If all goes well and Drake is supported as the ruler and Esterious turns out to be the heart of the darkness, the power The Realm is using, then we should see a domino effect, one that hopefully will lead to the end of The Realm, the harvest of damned souls for power.”

“Funny how all of you were led to believe that,” Cashton said as he leaned against the wall and crossed his arms.

“Are you telling us not to do this?” I asked, knowing from the images I was seeing through Draven that I had little to no choice. They were counting on us.

“I’m telling you that dimension is not the heart of anything. It’s one sovereign Escort’s playground.”

“Well, his playground has a lot of damned souls in it, and until you showed up in my life I was kinda focused on redeeming the damned.”

“Good focus. Just had the means out of whack.”

I glanced at Draven, trying to see what plan he had committed to. I heard Alamos tell him how he would play the part of the ruler of that island and that he would arrive with me and Madison on his arm. Madison, a girl that looks...just...like...Willow.

“Does Madison know you are using her in this game? Having her play Willow is not a good idea.”

“They planned to use Olivia because her features are close enough, but Madison all but demanded to play the part.”

He was right. I saw her say it in his thoughts. I knew it was to protect Olivia and me. She was fond of Olivia, and Madison knew if she did this she would be next to me.

“Tonight, a massive ship will dock on the shores of Delen, and I along with you, my counterpart, and my sister Madison will get off, accompanied by three hundred members of Chara who will be posing as our guards, our court, our priest.”

“You really think we can pull this off - fool those people?”

A shy smile came to the corners of Draven’s lips. “I’ve been assured that not only is there a bold connection of energy between me and you, but because that energy is so bold, we can easily play this part.” His gaze drifted all around me as wonder filled his eyes. “Anyway,” he said with a breath, focusing himself again, “I play the part of the leader of the sacred people and offer my support to Drake as ruler - and just by chance, my sister looks exactly like the deities they have been waiting on.”

“Oh, mate, trust me: your energy is right on point. More than likely too much on point,” Cashton said as those eyes of his landed on me. He was worried about me. As far as he was concerned, we just put a big ‘X’ across ourselves.

“How does this help them?” I asked Draven.

“Apparently these ceremonies, the courting of a king to his would-be queen, can take months. But having an army of Chara citizens in that palace unquestioned would allow them not only to protect Drake, but also whomever he spends his time with. It’s his own Trojan Horse. The court that belonged to Donalt cannot refuse the people from the place of his birth, and apparently my level of energy is powerful enough to resemble Donalt's - not to mention that both Perodine and Alamos are going to condone this - and they never agree. That act will almost seal the deal that the court and the kingdom will play along with this plan.”

“Okay, so that makes sense. But how are we going to clear up anything tonight if we are embarking on this masquerade?”

“It’s going to prove whether August’s theory is correct.”

Cashton and I both looked at him like he was insane. What did August have to do with this?

“They think the children are slipping away because Willow and Landen are not moving forward, that this trial that lingers around Jupiter has to do with expansion, moving ahead. The only clear action we can take is to get the dimension of Esterious out of limbo. Apparently, the children were at their happiest the day the sun shined in Delen for the first time, and in the weeks since then they have drifted into themselves. A few days ago when Landen and Willow took off, not to be heard from, and we fell asleep, they began to meditate deeply.”

“The prodigies are your clocks,” Cashton stated. “They can’t see or move forward unless you do. So, it sounds to me like these chaps you are running with have been guided blindly and now they are waking up. Tonight might do you some good in the long run. At least draw out who you two are supposed to conquer.”

I took in a deep breath then locked eyes with Cashton, seeing the dark and the blue at once.

“If I move forward, I see our parents again?”

“Little one,” he said with a sigh, “sometimes you have to leave the nest to find your wings. If we prevail, we can visit. We lose, it’s not really going to matter, now is it?”

“This is not us, Cashton. We don’t play the part of kings and run between dimensions and realms; we play music and help the damned.” I glanced at Draven. “I think I have only seen him in a suit, like, once before.”

Draven grinned to agree.

“It’s a corner you have backed yourself into for now,” Cashton said. “Just don’t lose sight of the escape Dad surely taught you.”

Draven reached for me and pulled me to him. “I think we are going to play live soon. I had planned to play in New Orleans for a friend of Dad’s.” I nodded, vaguely remembering him mentioning that in the past. “Apparently, Nana and Dad still think I need to. This suit is not me, I agree. But I honestly thought setting this up would make you happy because it would protect Monroe in the long run.”

I tightened my arm around him, feeling the hum of his energy and silently told him that I would have done the same with the exception of letting his brother take off. But if he was planning on playing soon, then he was planning on tracking down Aden.

“What time is it?” I asked, knowing if there was one person who knew what paths to cross or not to cross, it was Monroe. I wanted to talk to her.

“Ten forty-five.”

“Monroe’s here?” I questioned, seeing my answer as I said it.

She was on a porch. I hoped it was the one attached to this house. I only had fifteen minutes before she fell into a deep meditation.

Before he could answer me, I was out the door, running down the steps to find her. I needed her help.

Chapter Eight

If this were any other time, I might have stopped to see what books were filling the shelves on every single wall in this house, even the ones on the wide staircase that I followed down to the bottom floor. When I reached the bottom stair I heard muffled voices coming from what I thought was a study at the end of the hall. I decided to go the opposite way toward the front door. It was open, but there was a glass door blocking my way. At first glance it was mesmerizing, simply because the house I was in was dim from all the books along the walls. But outside the sun was bright, the field was a lush green, and the flowers across it were so bright that they seemed unnatural.

I opened the glass door, feeling a cool, yet bleakly warm breeze flow over me. It slammed behind me louder than I intended, and out of the corner of my eye I saw a small, frail figure jump at the sound of it. My eyes darted in that direction, and near the corner of the porch, sitting on a pillow pallet, was Monroe. She looked so out of place, dressed head-to-toe in her signature Goth style within an array of light that the sun was cascading over her.

Her dark eyes met mine with what looked like dismay. Cautiously, I began to walk to her. Holding her stare, I saw the same visions I’d seen days ago: the stairway, the raging water encased with flames, blood trickling down the steps.

A ghost of a smile came to her eyes just as I reached her.

“You slept, so now you know your legacy,” she said so quietly that I almost doubted she said it aloud.

“It’s been mentioned to me,” I said as I kneeled in front of her.

Right about then, Cashton appeared beside me. I expected some sarcastic remark from him or another all-knowing comment, but not a word came from him. Instead, he bowed to one knee and lowered his head.

“Rise,” Monroe said with a whisper.

As he raised his head so his eyes were level with hers, I had to let out a gasp: Monroe’s eyes - which were always dark - had begun to change. They were lighter now, a few shades darker than Silas’, yet emerald green and gray swam within that deep hazel shade.

“I have hope now,” Cashton whispered to her.

Monroe smiled innocently. “And it is needed, Selected.”

“How twisted are we?” he asked with a deep husk in his voice.

“More than words can explain.”

“Has the queen of the veil emerged?” he asked with an ache in his voice.

“Emerging.”

“Is she in transition?”

Monroe’s eyes echoed a ‘Yes.’

“How do you know that, Monroe?” I asked nervously.

“She knows it all,” Cashton said with awe in his voice. “The essence that created her was hand-picked by the Creator himself. Metallic. Her energy is metallic.”

I could not disagree more. I was determined to kill her father; so was Willow.

“Monroe, do you know what I am doing tonight?”

Her eyes - which were beyond mesmerizing - stated ‘Yes.’

“And you are not going to stop me?”

“It’s a path you chose.”

“Right, and it was done to protect you. So you tell me if it is wrong.”

Nothing.

“Do you know your brothers are pitted against each other?”

She nodded with a degree of sadness in her eyes.

“Should I be standing between them? Would that protect you longer?”

If I could just hide her long enough to figure out what was going on, that would help. I didn’t need Winston letting her father or anyone in his command know where Monroe was. She was already at risk because Bianca was here before.

“My brothers are not the ones you should stand between.”

A sick feeling rose in my throat. “Look at me,” I commanded. Her eyes locked with mine. “Right now, you stop me. If going through with what they have planned tonight is dangerous or will hurt us in the long run, you stop me. Do you hear me?”

Cashton looked at me like I was insane, like I had no right to talk to her that way.

“Even if I chose to, I could not stop you.”

“What would you do if you were me, Monroe? And don’t say we are all one, so it doesn’t matter - because no matter what, something has to be done.”

“We are all one. What we are going through now proves that. If you do nothing, there is no reason for anyone to wake, especially me. If you move forward and fail, at least you know what isn’t the answer. You feel it, Charlie, inside. You feel it.”

Her eyes slowly closed as she sat up straighter, and instantly I felt a calm feeling all around me. I didn’t even have to look at the clock; it had to have been eleven by now, and she had slipped away before my eyes.

I didn’t move from my place. I wanted to ‘see’ her, to know what she was witnessing in this deep thought - but all I could see was placid darkness. Figures.

“Leaving a few details out of your life on this side,” Cashton said with a whisper, standing and moving away as if he thought it rude to gaze at her while she was meditating.

“I told you I was protecting someone.”

“You have no idea who she is, do you?”

“Enlighten me.”

“Not a chance. If she has kept you blind, then she has a reason. Mum saw her? She stayed with you?”

“Yeah, Mom almost demanded it.”

“That must be what clicked her into place. I bet she was always confused about what her soul was telling her. Probably fought it right up to the point where she left with Dad.”

“Are you telling me that The Fall can muck with your senses for the better part of forty years?” I got that he was defending her - but still, Mom could have prepared me for this.

“They took a huge gamble, a tremendous risk both coming here. Finding each other was a miracle in itself – conceiving you, ensuring that when you fell from the grace of a Witness that you landed safely was nothing less than a miracle, one that they had to perform blindly with only whispers of their soul to guide them.”

“They suffered,” I said as tears encased my throat.

I had always felt robbed, that my parents were robbed – but Cashton was making it out to be my fault, that my mother lived the life she did to save me from bad choices or what have you.

“They are not suffering now,” he said, reaching for my hand. I took it, and he pulled me into a hug. “I know this is a lot, but you have to understand that the time they were here was a breath compared to what they lived together before and will after this point. They took on a role for a mere moment to help us out, to get us to the fate we were born to reach. We are going to make them proud.”

“Kara is not going to understand that.”

“Your sista?” he questioned. I nodded against his chest. “Where is she?”

“Mom set it up for her husband to fly her away. She is with him, but Mom and I were all she had.”

“She made sure she was safe and happy. When we get through this we can watch over her from where we stand, visit. The time has come for you to fly, little one. I’ll help you through it until I have to fight my own master Escort.”

“At least you have a way to reach the queen of the veil,” I said, letting him go and nodding to Monroe.

“Trying to get rid of me?” he teased.

“Just not used to having someone at my side constantly.”

“Well, I’m going to stay at your side until you get through this night - but don’t get any crazy ideas. I don’t plan on bunking with you and Draven.”

That made me blush. I don’t think Draven and I had ever shared a bed for an entire night. We always fell asleep wherever sleep found us. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the freedom to do that. Half of me was scared; the other half was overjoyed.

For no reason, Monroe began a near silent chant.

‘...there was a girl...she loved him so, she divided her soul...there was a boy...he loved her so, he divided his soul...’

She repeated that a few times before growing silent again. I glanced up at Cashton, but his eyes were firmly placed on Monroe, evaluating her every move. You would think she was a queen or a goddess with the amount of respect he was giving her.

“That was one of my favorite stories,” I heard someone say from behind me.

Defensively, I looked over my shoulder to find Rose standing at the top of the stairs that led to the porch. Across her arm were some kind of dress or dresses. She draped them across the railing then came to my side.

I smiled shyly when I realized that she didn’t acknowledge Cashton. I truly hoped he wasn’t about to find a way to make me look like a fool in front of this sweet lady.

“What story is that?” I mumbled as visions of this woman started to spill into my mind. I didn’t get it; one minute I had to strain to see, and the next second it was a flood I could not control. Maybe it was Chara itself that was doing it to me.

Rose walked over to Monroe, and from her pocket she pulled out a small bouquet of what looked like green weeds and placed them in Monroe’s lap before smiling slightly.

“What’s that?” I asked, squinting from the visions of her life that flashed before me. She was a gifted traveler, had seen worlds and places that only the wildest imaginations could think to create.

“Many names in many dimensions. I call it mugwort simply because that is the easiest name to remember.”

I smirked, thinking that would be a ridiculously hard word to forget.

“And what does it do?”

“Protects you on your journey into the dream world. May I?” Rose asked as she pulled a necklace out of her pocket.

One glance at the necklace that resembled an odd shaped black rock told me that it was a family heirloom.

“That’s yours,” Cashton said with a gasp.

I could tell he wanted to show himself to her just so he could grasp it from her. Every muscle in his body was tensed, and the blue in his dark eyes was flaring.

Rose unclasped the silver chain that was thicker than any jewelry I’d ever owned and reached to put it around my neck. Immediately, the intensity of the visions stopped. They were still there, but it was more like distant thoughts, ones I could call to action if needed - but now they were not controlling me anymore. I didn’t have to think to silence them.

I reached for the black rock around my neck. It was polished to the point where it looked like a glass. The musician in me saw the shape as a guitar, but I knew few others would see it that way. Inside, if I looked very closely I could see something moving within the rock, almost like green leaves...then again, it kinda looked like green stars.

“What’s this?”

“I assume it’s yours. Is it helping?” she asked in a whisper.

Cashton had relaxed now that the necklace was on me.

I smirked. “For months I’ve been trying to see the right way again, and now something has flipped the switch and my mind is flooding - but this...this is balancing me.” I locked eyes with her. “Why do you think it’s mine? What’s in it?”

She smiled wisely. “When I was young, August and I met a couple, and that couple gave us the scroll that we have been using as a guide through these trials. The girl gave me two necklaces, and the boy handed over two rings. I was told that the necklace you are wearing did not belong to them and that I would know instantly to whom it did belong when I saw her.”

I moved my head slowly from side to side, seeing the story she was telling me play out. It was Willow and Landen that had given this to her, apparently at the end of one of the many lives they had lived together. Rose asked no questions when she saw her future granddaughter. I would have asked thousands.

“So I guess we don’t know what’s in it?” My eyes glanced at Cashton, but he was not offering any answers.

She grinned. “Should it matter if it’s helping you?”

“Curiosity.”

She nodded and grinned. “Well, that’s a black diamond, a stone that is as old as the universe itself. What’s within it is as much of a mystery as what we are all going through.”

“A diamond?” I gasped. The stone was an inch long and thick. “I can’t take this,” I said, reaching for the clasp. As I did so, my fingertips were shocked.

Cashton just smirked, like he knew that was going to happen.

“Looks as if it disagrees,” Rose said with a hint of humor.

I swallowed nervously and let my hands fall.

“What did you mean before? ‘I love that story’?” I asked, nodding to where Monroe was still sitting in meditation.

“I’ve traveled far. I’m sure you have seen as much. Every culture has a story of evolution, and no matter how complicated that story is they simplify it for the sake of children, to answer their questions when they ask about their beginning.”

I nodded, telling her to go on.

“That story - or what she was chanting - reminds me of one that is told in the dimension that rests at the peak of the string. They are aware of alternate dimensions. Some citizens have even dared to travel the paths.” Her gaze moved to the open fields. “When their children ask them to explain how there could be another world, this story is told. Who came up with it is just as much a mystery. Basically, there was a couple that was so powerful, so in love, that they divided their souls so that they could live two lives at once – two worlds side by side.” She smirked. “There are other stories that link to that one, saying that at some point the couple lost themselves or were trapped apart in opposite worlds. They had to find each other, join with each other in a sacred bond - and when they did so, the paths of the string were created so everyone could travel between the worlds. There is nothing like an old myth to make the mind wonder.”

“I don’t get it,” I sighed, trying to see it - but as far as I could tell, Rose was explaining this the same way she had first understood it. I guess I was just slow when it came to mythology.

“Soul mates,” Cashton said as he threw his hands in the air. “One made of two. Divided, then joined again.”

I nodded once, still not getting it. He playfully squinted his eyes at me as if to scorn me for being closed-minded.

“Well, we are all meant to understand myths in our own way,” Rose offered.

She walked over to the railing and nodded for me to come. I looked longingly at Monroe before complying and following her.

“These were made for you and Madison for tonight. Because you are the taken one, your gown is plum with a black cover up. Your untaken friend has the ivory one.”

“Do we really have time to do this?” I asked, gently taking the garments from her.

“I’m afraid we have no choice. With all of you here now we can not only fight the core but also diminish the points of power. Olivia will be here shortly to help all of you get ready, and I have no doubt that you will do well.”

“How am I supposed to act out the role of some kind of queen when I have no knowledge of any culture in that dimension?”

She grinned slightly as her eyes fell to the necklace that had decided it would rather stay on my neck. “I have no doubt you will be able to see your answers quite clearly.”

And with that, she smiled and walked down the steps, then out into the field.

I clutched the gowns to me with one hand and pointed to the necklace with my other hand with wide, questioning eyes.

“What is it?” I mouthed.

“Mum gave it to you. It has rested on every female in our family - which means you didn’t go rogue. She gave that to you because your path had opened.”

“They still had to save us.”

“I’m sure they have been watching closely. The move they made to save you was dangerous, but they knew if they were successful that they would give both of us a fighting chance.”

“Fighting?” I said, raising my eyebrows, telling him that was not my style. I’m a peacemaker.

He let out a low whistle. “Good thing your boy has enough anger for the both of you.”

“And what is your emotion, brother?”

“Ah, now why would I tell you that right when you are starting to trust me?” he said with a wink.

I focused intently on him, but I couldn’t see it. I suppose it was an emotion that was not easily seen outwardly. Must not be too bad.

“Fine, tell me whenever.”

I turned to take the dresses in, as well as to figure out where Draven and Madison were. After draping the gowns across the banister, I followed the voices at the end of the hallway. I swear I could feel Draven down there. I could not get over how electric his energy was now. It was causing butterflies in my stomach. I felt like I was walking up to my crush for the first time.

When I reached the study I found a room with a high ceiling, which allowed even more room for the endless books and bookshelves. There was an oak table in the center, and around it were August, Draven, and Landen. Madison was nowhere in sight.

I guess I was under the illusion that Landen was missing or off with Silas somewhere. My eyes grew wide when I saw him leaned across the table. His dark, wavy hair was waywardly tossed to the side, and his skin was tanner than the last time I saw him. His rather tight black T-shirt amplified that, along with his lean muscles, and his blue eyes seemed like they were on fire as they studied the black book Draven had given him days ago.

Landen’s eyes rose to meet mine when I stepped across the threshold. There was not a smile in them, which was odd. From every perspective I’d seen, this family saw him as a peacemaker. Adventurous and stubborn as hell, but definitely a peacemaker.

“You didn’t tell me he was a Phoenix,” Cashton said from behind me. “We really need to work on our communication. A flaming bird is something that you would think would come up in common conversation.”

Draven smirked, but it was clear that no one else could see Cashton.

There was a sting in the air, kinda like what I felt next to Madison before. I wasn’t sure where it was coming from, so I lowered my eyes from Landen and eased my way to Draven’s side. August looked up when I reached him.

“You look well,” August noted. He glanced at my necklace and winked at me. “Balanced, too, it seems.”

Draven reached his arm around me, taking the sting in the air away. He turned me with little effort and reached for the diamond necklace on my chest. When his eyes met mine, I let him see where I got it from. He glanced at Cashton, who was looking over everything that was on the desk. He even moved a sheet of paper, but no one seemed to notice.

“What are you guys doing?” I asked, noticing the block of wooden box my mother had left.

“What we always do,” Landen commented dryly. “Sifting through half-truths and myths to find a direction.”

“This one is getting his head right,” Cashton said with a nod to Landen. “I like him.”

Landen’s words pierced the blanket of energy that Draven was giving me. I squinted at the pain of it.

Landen’s eyes grew curious as Draven casually pulled me closer.

“They were trying to figure out how to put the wall up in Aden’s head. It appears that this is probably a box. They just can’t open it to see what is in it,” Draven answered.

My eyes met Cashton’s, looking for answer. “It’s a binding box. It will connect two that have been unnaturally divided - painfully.”

For some reason, his words made Draven tense.

“Your biggest problem is that Aden is going to have to agree to this,” Landen said, apparently picking up the conversation they were having before I walked in the room.

His words stung once again, and unconsciously I stepped back, finding myself against Draven. I must have moved suddenly because now both Landen and August were staring at me.

Cashton dropped the corner of the paper he was reading as his eyes moved between Landen and me. Landen slowly rose from his leaning position and walked past August to where I was standing. With each step he took, the pain increased. It wasn’t the seething anger I’d felt when I stood beside Madison before. There was something else laced in it that was making it unbearable...grief, maybe?

I leaned against Draven as I felt his arm go around my waist. If I focused on him, his energy, it would numb what Landen was putting off, but it was like standing between two magnets. I felt both a repelling sensation and a pulling one.

Landen stopped just feet from me. His blue eyes looked all around me, then into my eyes.

“Am I bothering you?” he asked solemnly.

“Are you still a fast learner, little one?” Cashton asked.

I warily glanced at him to ask why.

“You are about to get a harsh lesson,” he said with a chuckle.

I swallowed nervously. “Not at all,” I muttered to Landen, trying to be the peacemaker that I always was.

“Charlie,” Landen said, raising one eyebrow, “remember what my insights are.”

I thought I heard a threat in his voice, but I couldn't be sure. Did he want me to say yes? Was he looking for a fight?

I didn’t answer.

“Push it away,” Landen said firmly.

I moved my head once to the side, trying to say no but not finding the will. I could feel Draven’s energy changing - it was becoming defensive. I never realized how much we said without words until now.

“I didn’t ask you to,” Landen said firmly, clearly telling me that that was a command. When I made no effort to move or think his energy - that painful burning - intensified to the point where it felt like knives were cutting into me.

“Push. It. A. Way,” he said again through a locked jaw.

“I like his teaching style. He must know the only way to get through to you is to throw you in the deep end and watch you learn to swim,” Cashton taunted.

I felt Draven begin to pull me behind him, and I knew a fight or argument was about to break out. I had half a second to do something - so I pushed. I don’t know if it was with my mind, energy, or soul, but I pushed that painful energy away as hard and as fast as I could - and when I did Landen’s body slammed against the wall that was five feet behind him, causing books to crash to the floor beneath him.

Before I could comprehend what I’d done, he was on his feet, pushing that burning energy right back at me. I put up a defense - call it a glass wall if you want; all I knew was that I didn’t want to feel that again. My energy pushed his away and somehow placed a barrier between Landen and Draven. I wanted that barrier in place because I could sense Draven’s rage, his protectiveness.

All the while, Cashton was laughing so hard he was holding his sides.

I heard the crash and squinted my eyes closed with my hands slightly extended in each of their directions. A second later I heard laughter from everyone and felt no pain. Cautiously, I opened my eyes to see Landen on one wall and Draven on the other. Hundreds of books were across the floor. Landen and Draven were laughing so hard that tears were glassing over their eyes. August was doing his best to look serious. I glanced behind me, feeling a new source of energy, one that was not all that amused. In the doorway, I saw Nyla with her arms crossed.

“Boys,” she said in a forced calm tome, “take your lessons outside, please.” She glanced at me. “Charlie, let them down so they can do as I said.”

Numbly, I let my hands fall - and when I did Draven and Landen were released from their positions. They didn’t crash, though; they seemed to float down effortlessly.

Landen nodded to the room, and all at once every single book across the floor rose and swiftly found its place on the shelf.

“Yeah,” Cashton said through his laugh. “You two can stick with him for a bit. He knows how to use his power.” He gave Landen a dominant thumbs up that he could not see.

“You, Charlie, are a fast learner,” Landen said with a proud grin threatening to invade his lips and bring out those dimples.

He put his arm around me, nodding once in Draven’s direction for him to follow us. Nyla stepped out of the doorway, letting us pass. Landen reached over and kissed her cheek, and she smiled at him against her will.

Landen didn’t lead me through the front door where Monroe was meditating. Instead, he led me through the kitchen, then out the back door, all the while with his long arm around me.

Outside, I nervously looked around for where Willow may be. I knew she had a jealous streak and I didn't want her to see his arm around me and get the wrong idea. It was bad enough that I could sense jealousy coming from Draven in the slightest way.

We walked down the steps and into the field, then turned. Draven was a few feet behind us. He had stopped to take off his black dress shirt and now he was wearing nothing but black slacks and a white tank top. His image left me breathless, craving home and privacy now more than ever.

“Show me what a good teacher Drake is. Take her from me,” Landen said to Draven as his arm tightened around me.

Cashton appeared beside Draven. “You know how to do this, right?” he asked Draven.

All at once, I felt a pull and a push - that feeling of being between two magnets was back, and I didn’t like it at all. I pushed away from both of them with a thought. Landen fell to the ground. So did Draven. Both of them began to laugh again, but I didn’t find it very funny. What was this? How was I doing this?

“Never mind. She does,” Cashton taunted through his bellowing laugh. I could swear the blue in his dark eyes was beaming for a second.

“Get serious, man,” Landen said, trying to stifle a laugh. “Try again.”

I didn’t want anyone to try anything again. I didn’t like it. I wanted to get away - like now.

I felt my body jolt up, then to the side, away from their path. It happened so fast, I barely had time to blink. And because I wasn’t where I was a second ago, both Draven and Landen’s energy collided and knocked them down.

“I could watch this all day,” Cashton said as he grinned profusely.

I began to breathe deeply, thinking this must be a dream. I’m really at home, and my ghost of a father is playing his music around me. My best friend and Monroe are asleep one floor below, Kara is writing in the kitchen and my mom is off making a huge business deal in her office. I was not in an alternate dimension, learning how to push grown men down with a thought or fly - is that what I did? How did I get over here?

Before my second deep breath left me, I felt myself being pulled again. Before I could stop it I was in Draven’s arms. Realizing I was there, I let my defenses down and grasped him for dear life.

“I want to wake up now,” I said into his chest.

I heard a playful laugh as his hands clasped either side of my face and pulled me up so I would have no choice but to look in his eyes. There, I saw the green I loved laced with desire and excitement - and without a doubt, pride. He leaned in and let his lips press against mine. At first his kiss was like the old Draven, greedy. But when my knees grew weak he slowed his touch and the hum of his energy encased me. When he pulled away, he smiled gently.

“You’re awake - really awake, Charlie.”

“How?”

“I think it’s scaring her because she can’t see it,” I heard Landen say.

“Ya think?” Cashton added in.

I turned to see him and Landen just behind me, holding that same proud gaze that Draven had.

“The first time I moved energy, it was a reflex,” Landen began. “A protective one. Even after doing it I had to tell myself to focus to do it again. It wasn’t until I had the next instinct, one that was protective over Willow, that I got it. But you’re different. At that point, I’d seen auras, energy. You haven't, and you did not act out of instinct to protect. You acted out of self-preservation.”

“So what does that make me - selfish?” I asked, somewhat appalled.

“Peacemaker,” Cashton said with a wink.

“No,” Landen said, smiling down at me. “It makes you a realist. You know that if you die or get hurt, you can’t protect anyone. If there is one lesson my family needs to learn, it’s self-preservation.” His eyes rose to meet Draven’s. “Sacrifice is pointless, a one-time deal, and the ones we love need us beyond that point.”

I felt like I wasn’t the only one getting a lesson here, and I wasn’t that fond of what Landen was saying. It was almost like he was telling Draven not to sacrifice himself. What did he mean by that?

The energy around me felt almost disdainful. But before I could push it away Landen’s hand was on my arm and peace eased through me. He grinned slightly as I let out a breath.

“Let’s work on you seeing what you’re doing, and your tolerance. You can’t go around flinging people against walls when they have negative energy.”

“What was that you said about self-preservation?” I asked, smirking slightly.

I was always the smallest in my group of friends, or even in my class at school. Even though I had an ‘I don't care’ attitude, it always did make me feel weak. Knowing I could do this now was a bit reassuring. Frightening, but reassuring.

Landen reached down and picked a flower, then stared at me as he glided his finger through it as if it were an illusion, not solid.

My heart began to race and that smirk on my face vanished.

Chapter Nine

I watched as Landen bent the law of reason over and over again in front of me. When my emotions would tip to the point of anxiety, he would reach for my arm and calm me down with little effort.

“You can do this, too,” he promised. “Show her, Draven.”

Landen gave the flower to Draven, then stepped back, giving us space.

“When you play, do you see the music?” Draven whispered. My eyes told him no. “But you feel it, all around you. You feel like you are the center of it. When you let go, you become this energy. The boundaries of life are gone because you are in the music.”

“Right,” I exhaled as I moved my fingers against each other. I wanted to play right now and escape all that I was dealing with.

He handed me the flower. “Un-focus your eyes, baby.”

I did as he said because along with his addictive voice I heard others in my mind. I heard my mom teaching me this in another world when I was just a baby, my dad showing me how easy it was.

Cashton was the only one that got through to me. He was only a few years older than me, but Dad was already teaching him to play the guitar. He pulled me over to one of Dad’s favorites and pulled the string. When the strings vibrated and appeared to be smoke he moved his finger through it. He taught me to do the same. Before long, I was pushing my energy through the actual strings. He said the music was just like us, that it could vibrate its instrument and move through solid space. That it, like us, controlled our vessel - not the other way around.

“Memories are firing, aren’t they, little one?” Cashton said in a deep whisper.

I nodded weakly.

“You already know how to do this,” Cashton said to me. “You just have to trust that you do. Everything is energy. You can move through whatever you want. I’ll grant you that it’s easier to just move your soul, but you have to learn this way, too, so you can protect your vessel, so you can use the humming energy in your soul to defend yourself from assaulting emotions as well as protect yourself from physical breaches.”

The flower in my hand was mostly red. All around it I saw the haze of that color. It eventually lost its red shade and turned to white. That white was around everything: the grass, the trees, the windmills in the distance. Slowly, I eased my finger through this haze, feeling a sensual tingle of energy. Before I even realized it my finger had crossed through what should have been a solid flower.

I let the flower fall as I gazed widely at Cashton, then to Draven. I could see energy around both of them.

“You see it, Charlie?” Landen asked.

I nodded once as Draven stepped aside so I could see Landen, too.

“All right,” Landen said quietly. “Now, I’m going to feel those bad emotions again and you’re going to see them.”

Instantly, a crimson hue absorbed his aura and began to reach for the energy I could see around me. Without a thought I pushed it back - and when I did the light around me, which was almost entirely white, pushed the crimson away knocking him to the ground.

“Oh my God! I’m so sorry,” I said as I reached to help him up.

He grinned, shaking his head as Draven and Cashton both belted out another laugh.

“One more time,” Landen said, rising to his feet. “This time, try not to push it, but change it. See your light, your peace - change the color. Don’t push me away. Help me.”

My eyes grew curious as I gazed at him. If that were possible, why did he and Willow have to touch me to change my emotions? Why was he teaching me something he clearly could not do?

His aura shifted to crimson again. I had no idea how to change it or help him, for that matter, so I just imagined that the color was white instead. Not knowing why, I started to mentally hum the song of my father’s that I’d always hidden behind. The white haze around me eased into his energy. The crimson around him slowly backed away until it was barely visible next to his body.

“See,” Landen said, “now you have pushed this energy, laced with a negative emotion, back to me. You didn’t change it, but you flooded me with a calm I should feel. Now the choice is mine. I’ll either walk away from you because I’d rather be miserable or I’ll walk closer, exploring that energy, finally deciding to create it on my own.”

“How...why...how did you know I could do that if you can’t? If Willow can’t...you have to touch.”

Landen smiled faintly. “We are all different within our insights. We have to be. If we all carried the same it would be too much for one vessel. You are the Libra, the balance. You can pull almost any power into focus when needed. But you can also turn it off and let others take the lead. Wise girl. Balance.”

“You have no idea,” Cashton said under his breath.

“But how did you know I could? Can you see something I can’t? Did the scroll or that black book say something?”

As Landen’s eyes locked with Draven’s, I felt a common disdain in the energy around me. Whatever they were thinking about or seeing, they agreed not to like it. Landen’s eyes fell to mine just before I dared to see it myself.

“I have found that in the battle of life, every soul shows its deep intent. I don’t need to see the way you’re gifted in order to perceive it. My gift of seeing intent paints a vivid picture.”

At that moment, I saw images of Silas in Landen’s thoughts. They were face-to-face in a gothic graveyard fighting with energy and wit.

“I...I...I don’t understand. You found us in a past life. Silas had a message for you, one that you had given him.”

“We came to you,” Landen quickly countered. “We came to you because your fate was woven into our - as you say it - ‘family of souls.’”

Cashton gave me a curious glance, seeming to doubt that I knew as little as I had told him I did.

“But he was with me. Do you remember now?” I asked, feeling the sting in the air that I assumed was fueled by jealousy. I couldn't focus to change it, and I didn’t want to knock Draven down so I endured it.

“No,” Landen said sorrowfully. “But there was someone that helped me see, at least told me a story. At first I felt bad for your friend Silas - but then I saw his intent and I had to let him know that I would not stand for it. That none of us would.”

His sister...his sister had told him something. She was with them when this face-to-face with Silas happened.

“When did this happen? I just saw him,” I demanded.

Landen’s eyes rushed over my confused expression. “A few days ago.”

I tried to see it, but I couldn't. My emotions and confusion were blocking my path.

“I’m going to be very blunt with you, Charlie, because I don’t have time to break this to you gently,” Landen said in a tone that sent chills down my spine. “This is our eleventh hour. And if we survive it there will be another eleventh hour, then another. None of us have the time to be gentle.”

“Just say it,” I breathed, expecting almost anything.

Landen looked out at the field, then back to me as Draven reached his arm around my waist.

“I don’t understand my past lives any more than I understand this one. I cannot tell you how Willow and I knew to find you - or anyone else for that matter - lifetimes ago. But I can tell you that you were with the wrong man.”

“Yeah, okay. I’m with Draven now. I get that. But Silas had a message for you. Did he give it to you?”

Landen reached for my arm, letting a numb calm ease through me, one so strong that I was near sleep. Whatever he was going to say must be bad if he needed me this placid.

“Your father in that life was evil, dark as Donalt - if not more so. He knew your destiny. He knew you had fallen to change the world, but he didn’t want that change. He did his best to wed you away so that your morals would keep you from running away with your soul mate when he came for you. And when your soul mate did come for you, he was prepared. He’d found a martyr to fulfill a role that he could not.”

My eyes questioned him as I remembered flashes of the time I lived in Pompeii, the story Silas had told me. It was a tragic story, but without doubt it was fortified in love, not evil.

Cashton was listening so intently that I knew he was learning this for the first time with me. He may have known me on the other side, but he was blind to what I endured on this side.

Landen’s eyes shifted to steel blue, a shade that was encased with stone cold seriousness.

“The man Silas killed in that arena at your father’s request...was Aden.”

“WHAT?!” I gasped as he pushed an even more calm feeling through me. I wanted to be outraged. This was the last thing any of us needed racing through our thoughts – especially Draven.

Landen nodded once. “Legend had said that if you ever looked into the eyes of your soul mate you would remember who you were. Why you fell. You would begin your fight. But you were never given that option. You never laid eyes on him, even though he resided in the same city for nearly a month.” Landen’s eyes filled with sorrow. “Legend also stated that the only way your soul mate could have been killed was by a noble man that loved you, a man that had no knowledge of who you were, that would love you in spite of it. All Silas was told was that if he killed him with one blow, he could be wed to you, that the murder would justify that he was worthy to win your hand, more worthy than the widowed man that was chosen for you.”

“That’s not...that’s not how I remember it...not what Silas said. He told me then that I had to marry that widower, that he didn’t deserve me.”

“What do you remember, Charlie? Beyond the aftereffects and a few days before that - what do you remember?” Landen asked, clearly wanting to know my side of the story. He didn’t want us rely on Silas’ version.

I shook my head once, telling him I didn’t want to remember even if I could. He seemed disappointed. After a brief hesitation, he went on.

“With Aden’s death, the Earth protested, the city was doomed. Your father threatened Silas. He told him that he must not have killed him because if he did, that destruction would not have come. He blamed the city’s death on Silas. Even with that, Silas tried to bring you safely to your father, just to prove that he was a brave enough man to marry you. But everything that could stop him from bringing you to your father, including you, stood in his way. You perished in that temple and because you never met the eyes of your soul mate you were with the wrong man, a man that was worthy to be a protector, but not your counterpart. Your fate was unfinished, so death could not claim you and your soul rose to be a Witness, keeping you aware so that when time aligned once again, you would fall. You would begin your fate as it was planned.”

“How do you know that was Aden? How reliable is your source?”

“My source? Silas. And looking into Aden’s eyes, feeling his emotions, seeing his intent - it all backed up what Silas told me,” Landen said confidently, commanding me to focus, taking away the visions I wanted to grasp so I could understand this. “You have the gift that allows you to see into the lives of the damned and the living. What is the first rule on seeing? What must you always remember?” Landen asked in a gentler tone as his blue eyes poured over me once again, encouraging me to use my memories, not those of Silas.

“That...” I swallowed, “that what you see is their perception...that it’s not always the way it happened.”

Landen nodded once. “Silas showed his perspective of what happened, not yours. Time and circumstance have changed his perspective. Seeing Aden in The Realm, his soul present at your birth, made him face what really happened. For the first time, Silas saw himself as a martyr, but he’s decided not to care. He plans to continue his fight. The universe is his arena.”

“What did Aden say about this? What is his perspective? How sure are all of you that he is not just picking up on Draven’s memories? They sense each other on a level that cannot be described.” I argued.

My words seemed to make both Draven and Landen reconsider what they thought about that day in a long lost past; what roles Aden and Draven may have played.

Draven clenched his jaw and stared out into the field.

Landen let out a sorrowful sigh. “To be honest, I didn’t ask him. He looked strong when I saw him, which tells me that the wall was not completely knocked down. He was only given a glimpse. That is a good thing because if that wall is ever completely knocked down his mind will shut down. The massive amount of information would be too much.”

“What do you mean, ‘too much’? What would happen to him?” I asked in a timid voice.

I received a sorrowful gaze from Landen for an answer.

“Would he die?” I croaked.

Landen’s grip on my arm tightened as the calm increased again. I felt Draven pull me closer to him.

“I won’t let that happen,” Draven whispered against my neck.

Landen sighed. “I have no doubt Pelhan has taught him how to protect his mind, his soul. You have to realize that what we are fighting now is a battle that has stretched across time. The darkness we are fighting would not have targeted him unless they knew it would weaken all of you. The only advice I feel comfortable giving you is this: follow that feeling deep inside. There are no absolutes. The messages given to you from the past - or even the visions you see - are layered with intent, emotion, and circumstance.”

“My gut is telling me this is B.S. It wasn’t Aden in Pompeii – it couldn’t have been. And if he was there, if he was killed by Silas, then it wouldn’t have mattered. I still would not have awakened because Aden is not Draven.”

Landen held my stare, clearly neither agreeing nor disagreeing with me.

“Silas has the notion that he didn’t kill a man that day. He thinks he divided a man. He has already tried to kill Draven when he was a king in a past life. He failed. He now feels that if he kills Aden it will automatically kill Draven. He believes they are two halves of a whole.”

“What?! What kind of reasoning is that?! You cannot be serious!”

Draven turned me in his arms and pulled me against him, whispering, “Shh...I’m not going to let that happen,” as his hands moved across my back, sending the power of his hypnotic energy through me.

Landen waited for the tension to leave my body before he answered. “He thinks he could not kill Draven then because he is the darker part of the divided soul, that he’s feeding off Aden, then and now. If Draven doesn’t have Aden he will die instantly.”

“B.S.,” I seethed again as I pondered my argument with Silas and glanced back at Landen.

“Right,” Landen said calmly. “Silas’ intent is clear: to protect you.”

Cashton was oddly silent as he evaluated this revelation.

“So let me get this straight: Silas is basically throwing a temper tantrum because he figured that his almighty plea that I loved him first was in some way wrong. And because of that, he is not telling you what he was supposed to tell you? That in a way he is holding all of our lives in limbo - even the children?”

I felt that cutting sensation in the energy all around me and knew that I was probably right.

“He’s still playing his role as a Witness,” Landen offered, “but he is not offering any insights that we really need. He still claims that if Draven pulls light from you that he will kill him. His excuse is that his life is yours. Only he will not appear at your side like he did last time. He will appear at Aden’s and strike him.”

“Because he is bonded or something?”

“Kind of,” Landen said as he crossed his arms. “Apparently, you are the one person he has ever really loved on this plane. He had to feel love in order to be a Witness. I think he would protect you no matter what, but because he has that emotion, because you were risen together, he knows when your soul is weakening - instantly.”

“Should I talk to him? Get it through his head that he is being petty?”

“No,” Draven said firmly as his arm clasped around me. “We are going to end this a different way.”

“What? How?”

Neither of them answered. The air around us grew tense.

“Answer me!”

Draven’s skin blushed with anger as he nodded to Landen, asking him to tell me.

“The thing is that Silas’ point of view, along with some of the notes in that book, have led us to assume,” Landen hesitated, to point out that last word to Draven, “that if Silas believes that Aden and Draven were divided in that life, then we must consider that they can join. And that if they do, they could take out a very big threat to you instantly.”

“Silas?”

“No, your father in that life,” Landen corrected. “We think he has been taunting all of you for a while, taunting Draven. And now he has a grip on Aden’s life. He only let some of that wall fall. If he lets it all fall it will be too much for Aden: death. If he is stopped, then you should all find peace.”

“Who is this person? I thought Bianca did this to Aden?”

“Bianca is empowered by a very dark master Escort. He used her to get close to you in this life.” Landen cleared his throat. “We even think they brought Silas back into your life to amp him up, cause more trouble.”

“How did you come up with that connection?”

Landen grimaced slightly. “Silas had eighteen years to sense you in this life. He didn’t until an Escort came for you. Draven just fell in his line of sight, brought up a lot of old bad blood,” Landen answered solemnly. “Silas was content to stay in love with your memory, do his job and move on. The darkness you’re fighting put you in danger, put Silas in danger, and pointed him right at Draven and, well, now Aden.”

I knew that Silas had told me that he had waited and searched for me, that it wasn’t until I was near death that he sensed me, but I wasn’t going to argue that point.

“Well, what is the real plan? Because you are not mucking with Draven or Aden’s soul for the sake of having some Escort fall. We’ll find another way. Besides, this guy who is stirring up trouble - you don’t even know who he is.”

“Is that what your gut says?” Landen said so quietly that I barely heard him.

I didn’t feel like talking about my gut. I turned to face Draven, finding his jaw locked, anger engulfing his eyes.

“Don’t you dare tell me you agree with this - that you are planning on this?!”

Draven grasped my arms and pinned them behind my back. I could have gotten away, I was sure of it, but I stayed still just so he could get the full effect of my glare.

“We do know where this master Escort is. Obviously he either plans to kill Aden, you, or me. I have no choice but to stop him. If I don’t - we lose, all of us. You will not lose me in this, you will not lose Aden, and we will continue to save billions of lost souls. Tell me how this is wrong?!”

“It’s impossible,” Cashton said under his breath, which gave me hope. Draven’s decidedly stone cold expression, however, didn’t waver.

I jerked away from him. “It’s wrong on every level. You are two different people. You do not toy with something as precious as a soul. If something goes wrong, then all the souls you’re throwing in my face will have no hope.”

“Why would it matter?!” he belted. “The worst that could happen is that we kill this evil bastard and are stuck as one. That is the worst possible outcome. And you know what - at least that way we are both still alive in some way.”

I knew that look in his eyes. He was terrified for not only me, but also Aden. He was willing to do anything to protect us.

God help me, right now I was choosing to be selfish and fight this.

“It matters because I don’t love Aden that way! It matters because what goes on between you and me is sacred and private - not something I would share with half of Aden. He’s like a brother to me. That’s...that’s just sick! This is final. You’re not doing this! The risk is too high. We’ve survived everything they have thrown at us. We stay on this path - the safe path.”

Draven didn’t say anything. Somehow, I’d left him speechless. Maybe it was because all I could think about were those very private moments with him. They weren’t all physical. We only let each other see the real us. Everyone else saw what we wanted them to. I was only real when I was alone with him. If he were even trying to see me, he would have seen the reflection of those moments in my thoughts, the promise that those moments would end if he went through with this. I couldn’t keep watching him throw us away every chance he got. It hurt too badly.

Draven leaned down and harshly kissed my forehead before turning to walk back toward the house.

“Where are you going?!”

“To play,” he responded in a tone that was brimming with a chilling anger.

I reached up and ran my fingers through my hair as I squinted my eyes closed. I felt Landen stepping closer to me and defensively stepped back.

“I’m not going to touch you,” he said humbly. “Sometimes it’s good to feel anger.”

I opened my eyes and stared at him pleadingly.

“Listen. We are going to make it through this,” Landen promised.

“Tell him that. He’s self-loathing. He will find any excuse to prove that we should not be together because of it.”

“That’s not true.”

“Is it not?”

“I can’t see like you can, but truth, intent, emotions - that all allows me to see in my own way. You just made his life.”

“What?!”

A boyish smile came cross Landen’s angelic image. “Pure elation swarmed through him when you said you would not love him and his brother as one, when you said that you would put Silas in his place. He loves you more than music, and you and I both know how he feels about that. When he suggested this should be done, we disagreed with him because in Chara we know that the love of soul mates trumps all, that like you said, everything happens for a reason. We refuse every risk that puts our souls in mortal danger. And for us, that is the loss of a soul mate. Draven argued that he had to do this to save the souls, both living and dead – that this is what you would want him to do. I guess he just didn’t imagine that you loved him as much as you do.”

“What is it going to take?” I said, almost to myself.

“Lifetimes,” Landen responded faintly.

I stared up. “How would that even be possible? For them to become one?” I asked, clearly planning to block that possibility.

“A wicked spell, perhaps. August told him if this was the right course a very simple way to accomplish it would surface.”

“Let’s make a pact to squash any simple way that pops up.”

Landen smirked. “I told him that if he dared to do this, then he better know a safe way out. That if he found a way to join the power of his soul with his brothers, then he better have someone lined up to break them apart. We need them both. Trust me, their paths are in opposite directions.”

Landen was blocking me on purpose. He knew something for sure. He had a clue as to where Aden’s fate would lead him. Something told me it would be tragic if Aden weren’t there to claim it.

He cleared his throat. “Here is the warning I don’t want to give you. Tomorrow, the alignment of key planets will be the same as the moment Draven and Aden supposedly divided. As luck would have it, our families have arranged for us to be in the same place that night: a concert his dad has set up. I’m not telling you not to play live, to go into The Realm. That is your choice. I just want you to know the risk.”

“Well, it’s The Realm. I’ll just throw the planets out of the universe. No big deal,” I said with heavy sarcasm.

Landen looked at me like I was insane, then smiled, revealing his dimples.

“What?”

He shook his head. “Nothing. I just like a woman with a temper. Apparently, we all do. Um...but don’t throw the planets around. One fight at a time. Tonight comes first.”

“Are you going to be there?”

“In spirit,” he said, raising his brow. “I may not want to cross paths, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t. You’ll be safe.”

At that moment a warm breeze whispered across the field and mystically surrounded him as if it were embracing him.

“If you will excuse me, my soul mate is calling.” he said with a wink before following the path from which the wind had come.

An unexpected chill ran down my spine. They were a bit too supernatural for my taste. Controlling weather? Really?

I glanced at Cashton who was still oddly silent at my side.

“Draven is a twin?” he said to me as he crossed his arms.

“What? Is that another secret I withheld from you?”

“Not as big as a flaming bird, but pretty high up there.”

“Tell me this is all B.S.,” I said through gritted teeth.

He just stared back at me, clearly looking for a way to tell me either the truth or a lie that would buy us some time.

Chapter Ten

Cashton’s eyes continued to evaluate me carefully. My heart ached as I waited for his reply.

“If his brother has the same level of energy as he does, then that makes them rarer than our bloodline,” he finally said.

“I don’t know how to compare that. All I know is that Aden is suffering somewhere in another dimension because Bianca tried to knock down a wall in his head. Bianca was either trying to kill him or pit Draven and Aden against each other. She wants me to end her - and I will. I don’t know what master Escort they are focusing on now, but as far as I’m concerned that girl is going down.”

“What triggered this?” he asked as those eyes rushed across my determined expression.

“I’m sure it was The Realm. The demon I’m chasing, Bianca, manifested my birth in Pompeii. Aden’s image was beside the bed. It put ideas in all of our heads because he was grieving for me, told me that was his place that he would find me. Then Bianca tried to tell me she was a distraction, which is probably why they were looking for some phantom master Escort to conquer. Not buying it. She’s the problem.”

“Then they knocked a wall down in Aden’s head?” he clarified.

“I guess.” Why was he not asking me about Bianca – helping me find a way to end her?

“I know one thing: they were not divided in that arena,” Cashton said with a certainty that confirmed I was right. Draven and Landen were way off track.

“You are a hundred percent sure?” I clarified.

“If they were, the reaction in the universe would have been catastrophic.”

“An entire city perished after an eruption,” I said with a tremble, telling him that he had just assured me that it was very possible.

“The dimension would have perished, little one,” he said as the blue in his dark eyes dimmed. “You have no idea how powerful you are, what our blood carries. And from the looks of things, your enemies do. They know you were sent to bring them down, for they have forsaken their divine roles. They are going to continue to pit you against each other.”

“So now you are saying that Aden can’t be near me either?”

“Eventually you are all going to be side by side, but right now you are unnaturally twisted, too close to each other. Basically, your enemy is willing you to point the barrel of the gun right at your heart.”

“That is why I need to kill her.”

“Whoever this girl is, she is not your issue. Her master is.”

Really? Not him, too.

“Fine. I’ll end whoever he is, too. Right now, I have to figure out how to get these crazy ideas out of Draven’s head and get Silas to back off. That has to be an underlying issue with Draven’s push to keep me safe. He wants to stop this hell because we were happy before Silas came around, before Bianca and Britain came around.”

“Silas,” he said with a smirk. “I meant it before: he has an identity crisis. Listen, he loves you, but he is not - nor has he ever been - in love with you. Remember, he said loving you is a necessary evil.”

“How is any evil necessary?”

“It’s not, really, but he can’t play the part of a Witness unless he feels love. He is full of wrath, a born warrior. I bet you were the only thing that even came close to making him back off that emotion. You are a lifeline for him. Makes sense he showed up when those others started to threaten you. Draven was just looped into it somehow.”

“I feel for Silas. I know we lived through a lot together, but this is ridiculous. I can handle Draven. If Silas wants to help me, then he needs to help me end Bianca, not threaten Draven every chance he gets.”

“Why do they keep saying that Draven is pulling from you? Why is that a threat that Silas has to stop?”

I glanced away, not wanting to reveal the one secret that I had been unconsciously hiding from him.

“Draven...he’s an Escort.”

Nothing.

Finally, he raised his arms and said, “Waiting...?”

“For? That’s why.”

He furrowed his brow at me. “Why would he pull energy from you if you give it to him?”

What the hell did that mean?

“I don’t know how to give it to him. If he gets angry or whatever, he leaves me, shuts me out because he says he feels a desire to pull - that he will drain me.”

“Drain you?” he said, trying to hold in a grin as he looked at me like I was a fool.

“He almost killed me a day or so ago. Landen had to stop him, push light energy into him.”

That revelation made his eyes grow wide for an instant. “Seriously?”

“Yeah,” I said with a sigh. “He didn’t know he was a dark Escort. This is recent. The Realm tested him, showed him past lives where he was bad. Now he sees energy and craves it.”

“He’s unclaimed,” Cashton said with a sigh.

“Excuse me?”

“This is strategic. It has to be.”

“A play by my enemies, I know.”

“Obviously you don’t. Have you ever caught the scent of mint on Draven?”

“Mint?”

“Or something close to that. Does any part of him give you a warm but kind of cool sensation? Sweet, maybe?”

I was turning crimson. Draven’s touch was always so warm that it gave me chills when it left. And his kiss was the sweetest taste in the universe.

“Okay, don’t answer. Doesn’t matter. I can smell it on him.” He grimaced. “How can I say this without putting thoughts in your head...”

His eyes angled down as he began an obvious internal argument. Every other second he would shake off whatever idea he had and start another one.

Finally, he spoke. “I know the line Draven comes from. The only way the master of that line would have left him to fight his transition would be if it were strategic, meaning that you are the strategy.”

“How am I a strategy? And how do you know a master Escort?” I asked with an accusing glare.

“What exactly do you think they are?”

“They pull energy. They are dark and they need light.”

“So misguided,” he said as he moved his head from side to side. “This is why you should not hang out with low-lying petals. Escorts are supposed to relieve emotions the soul cannot handle. They relieve them so evil cannot manifest.”

“What book are you reading from?”

“The first,” he said with a sustained seriousness. “Some of the original Escorts have gone rogue. They are addicted to the emotions they were meant to take – so they invoke them. Your boy, his line is legit.”

“How sure are you?”

He glanced to the house and grinned slightly. “After today? Very.”

“So he does not pull light energy?”

“I’m sure it feels like he should. He has a craving to take it in, but it’s misguided because he has not been claimed.”

“He was tested, though.”

“Sure he was. But...umm...you would know if he was claimed. Trust me.”

Trust him? He was confusing the crap out of me. My biggest issue has been this transition that Draven is going through, and now he is telling me it’s no big deal.

“Even Mom talked about how she and Dad fought with this – how it hurt Dad.”

“On a stage, little one,” he muttered as his concerned gaze seemed to understand volumes more than I did.

“They shouldn’t have been on a stage for their own daughter,” I bit out. “Some part of what you are saying has to be wrong. You have no idea how he struggles around me, around anyone with light.”

His lips became a straight line as his eyes playfully narrowed in my direction.

“Seriously, Mum could have found a second to tell you this before she made her way home,” he said as he moved his head from side to side, as if he were arguing with his thoughts.

“You are giving me a headache.”

“Me? You have no idea what is going on in my head right now. Downright criminal,” he grunted. “Who gave you the birds and the bees talk?”

I only smiled because he turned crimson and it was the first time he didn’t look cocky.

“Nana, Draven’s grandmother. I was visiting them when...well, when nature reared its ugly head.”

“Stop!” he said, raising his hands. “Geez. I guess a brother is better than your boyfriend’s grandmother. When we see Mum again, I am going to give her hell about this. Wait. No. I’m not. Because we are never going to discuss this again.”

“Will you just spit it out already?”

He sucked in a deep breath, moved his fingers wildly, then brought them to his eyes as he squinted them closed.

“Okay, I’m sure you know all about how to...well, you know how to express love with your vessel.”

I started to laugh just because he looked ridiculous.

“You have no idea how hard this is,” he said as he dropped his arms and tried to hide a smile behind a scowl. “You’re supposed to do that with your soul,” he said so fast that I didn’t quite catch it at first.

“All soul with us.”

“I doubt it.” Before I could take offense, he rambled on. “Before this hour, you didn’t see energy. Tell me your soul has been out of that vessel,” he said as those eyes gave me a once over.

“Umm...kinda attached to it, so no.”

“You need to get out of your vessel. He does, too. Then...” he brought his fists together, “then one.”

“You’ve been in the veil too long.”

“Apparently, you have been in the real world too long. He would not pull if he already had it. Your soul is his, half anyways. You are starving the man. No wonder he is always mad.”

I don’t know why, but I just kept laughing.

“I’m totally serious. Soul-to-soul. It is not like anything you two knuckleheads have dared to try before.”

“He will never agree to this,” I said as I stifled my laugh. “He’s scared of me. He thinks we are wrong for each other.”

“Are you telling me that I need to kick his ass?”

I shrugged. “I don’t believe it. Opposites attract. I even told him that Dad was an Escort and that he and Mom found a way.”

“Okay, so lying to the man is not a good idea.”

“It’s not a lie.”

“Is Dad’s energy darker than Mum’s? Yup, but he has never been a part of the lines that you are fighting.”

“That’s not what I heard.”

“And I told you they were on stage, fooling whoever was watching. But there was a lesson there. Use them as an example if you want. Honestly, opposites do attract. You need some of his dark energy in you, too, so you will be a more aggressive peacemaker.”

“That is an oxymoron, right?”

“You need to balance each other. I’ll talk to him.”

“I’m sure he would enjoy the show,” I teased, knowing how hard it was for him to try and tell me this.

“Tonight, you are going to meditate so deep that your soul detaches. And once it does you are going to stop starving each other.”

“So now I’m starved, too?”

“Fraid so.”

Just the idea of this was giving me butterflies, causing a warm sensation to ease through me.

“I don’t know how to meditate that deep,” I stated blankly.

“Yeah, you do. I taught you that, too. Look at me.”

I did as he asked. “Can you see?”

“Not in the way that you do.”

I didn’t have to try hard to see him. Even though his own mind was somewhat vague to him, he had held on to the memories that mattered. I was even sure that I could dig deep enough and figure out what his forgotten charge was, what he needed to do once he was free from the veil. I remembered Mom telling me that helping people see their past was part of what I was meant to do. I just didn’t know she was talking about my own brother.

In his mind I could see us meditating on the den floor. We chased that meditation by listening to music, music that was within us. At first it took me by surprise to see my soul rise, but as I gazed into my own image I was able to hold that experience in my mind.

“Unreal,” I breathed.

“Natural. Every time you dream, you send your soul somewhere else. You just do this awake.”

“I swear to you, he almost killed me. I have seen dark energy pour into him in The Realm. The idea of this terrifies me.”

“That stuff is evil. No soul. And if or when it seeps into him in that place it will off-center his senses, make him very thirsty for your energy, for he knows it will cleanse him. At least his soul knows that.”

“So if this is natural, needed, then why did Bianca - the demon I’m hunting - force my light into him? Why did Britain act as if I was food?” I asked as I crossed my arms and raised my brow.

“I’m not sure who this girl is you’re hunting, but that Britain boy comes from a bad line. In that line they are born starved and pull the way you say Draven thinks he will. Something is off about that Britain guy, but I can assure you that the rest of the line he comes from has not been claimed either. Their master has left them on their own. They are like a pack of wild dogs. They have no idea what their heritage is, and at this point they wouldn’t care. They have been groomed to be as lethal as you say they are.”

“I watched them force my light into Draven and he screamed in agony.”

Cashton tapped his temple. “It’s in his head. He thought he would be like them if he did. I’m sure. If his scent carried the aroma of almost any other line I would still tell you to do this - but with caution, like just touching souls, so you could wean him off his addiction. But his line is regal. The master of it must believe that he is strong, that you will protect him.”

If this were even the slightest bit true, then Cashton just took the weight of the world off my shoulders.

“We need to wait until Silas is over his temper tantrum before we do this. I can’t put Aden at an even greater risk.”

“I can get to Silas, make sure he’s legit while you do what you need to do. That boy is putting a wall up between you. Knock it down. You need him just as much as he needs you,” he said as he glanced to my necklace, then into my eyes.

At that moment, the back door opened and a redhead stepped out. I was confused because the images in my mind were telling me that it was Olivia, but it didn’t look like her. The color of red was deep, almost plum, and her eyes were dark as night, not green.

“There you are. Come on. You have to leave in, like, an hour and a half,” the girl said.

“Olivia?” I asked, squinting my eyes as I walked closer to her.

She blushed slightly, raising her hands to her hair. “Like it? I figured there were enough green-eyed brunettes around here,” she said, winking at me, surely thinking of Madison and Willow. “Besides, I want to make sure I’m at your side tonight. Me and Chrispin had to alter our appearances for that fact alone.”

“I like it,” I said, daring to smile. “Original.”

“Come on. It’s time to bring out your royal side.”

“Where is Madison?”

“Felicity is already working on her.”

“I’m going to have a chat with Draven,” Cashton said as he vanished from my side.

I sucked in a deep breath and made my way to the porch. When Olivia opened the back door I heard a screaming guitar.

“I...um...sorry about that,” I said over it, apologizing for the sound Draven was obviously making. At home it would be fitting, but here I wasn’t sure how much they cared for it.

Olivia smirked. “Are you kidding? Please. Make him mad more often. It’s very entertaining.”

“Don’t worry. I’m good at that.”

“Not tonight, you’re not. Tonight you are his counterpart, and you are madly in love.”

“Every night,” I said under my breath as I followed her through the house.

Just before we went up the stairs, I spotted Draven and Brady, along with Chrispin, in the den that was in the front of the house. Draven’s back was to me. I decided to just let him play for now. Hopefully, Cashton could figure out how to get through to him. If Draven figured out that half of my soul was his maybe he would stop thinking of doing foolish things.

The upstairs room I had been in for three days had been invaded. The gowns were across the bed. The bathroom’s long vanity was covered with curling irons and cosmetics. I cringed at the sight of it.

Felicity was in there working on Madison’s hair. Madison looked less than thrilled about the experience. Olivia sat me down in the vanity chair and went to work on me. I just closed my eyes and thought deeply about all that had happened to me today.

I kept reflecting on a past with Cashton. I felt so guilty to notice this, but I knew in a few hours’ time he had become closer to me than Kara. I could see that he was my first best friend. A protective older brother no doubt, but still my first best friend. I just liked how clear he was, how he was able to sum up everything and take away my worries. I really hoped he was right about the energy thing. I loved Draven to my core, but I didn’t know how many more times I could take his silent rejections, the guard he always had up. It wasn’t supposed to be like that.

A tight pull on my hair caused my eyes to fly open.

“Sorry,” Olivia said.

“You’re fine. I’m thick-headed,” I assured her.

“Oh, I meant the meditation. I pulled you out of it. I thought you were going to step out of your body for a second.”

I smirked. I guess that was a common thing.

“What are we supposed to do tonight? How many people are going to be there? Do I have to talk to anyone?” I asked, realizing that my hair was now done and my makeup was almost done. This night was coming faster than I wanted it to.

With the mention of tonight, Madison went rigid. I’d never seen her so nervous. I unfocused my eyes, then thought of a peaceful energy and eased it toward her. She sighed when it reached her and nodded once at me.

“Details,” Olivia said, stepping out of her jeans and into an extremely elegant black gown that highlighted her small, lean figure. “At least six hundred people. But half of them will be from Chara. In Esterious, the women always walk before the men, so when we leave the boat you and Madison will be side by side, Draven just behind you.”

“So the women are human shields?” Madison asked sarcastically.

“No,” Olivia said with a smile. “That dimension may not have much respect for women, but they do realize that women are life and that without us they would not have a heartbeat to begin with. We are the symbol of power and beauty.”

I pushed more of the calm energy toward Madison, but she was choosing to be miserable instead. Typical.

“We’ll be greeted by Drake, Alamos, and Perodine at the palace entrance. The greeting you will give anyone is a slight bow, followed by ‘Your Grace.’ Perodine will guide you through the open hall and the members of the court will line up to meet you. Then you will be taken to a formal dinner table. Dancing will come during and around dinner.”

Olivia walked over to where Madison was and began to undo her hair.

“After dinner, Drake, out of custom, will ask Draven if he can have dessert and a private conference with his sister. Draven will say yes, then Madison will be escorted to a balcony table. Once their dessert is over, we will be led to our rooms.”

“We’re staying there?!” I asked.

“A private dessert?!” Madison said at the same time.

They laughed at us.

“No, Charlie, and yes, Madison,” Olivia answered. “Don’t worry, Madison. If you have no emotions for him it won’t be a big deal. And you get cake. What could be wrong with that?” There was an obvious sarcasm in her tone. She must have figured out that was the one language Madison spoke well.

“I’ll look like an idiot because I’ll be so mad I’ll be nervous,” Madison complained.

“I think we are counting on that. Nervousness looks a lot like new love,” assured Olivia.

“Let me set you straight,” Madison said, standing up. “I am not a puppet, and I’ve had a pretty bad day. If this is some kind of twisted ploy on his part to get me alone - or on your part to set me up - I’m not going through with this.”

“Are you done?” Olivia asked. Then with a nod her energy pushed Madison back into her chair. “You’re the one that volunteered. They announced Donalt’s death. We have no choice but to move forward now.”

“I kinda like you as a redhead,” I teased Olivia, trying to change the subject and point out that Madison had to stick to her word.

If anyone knew Madison, it was me – she could act like she was mad about this all she wanted – but she wasn’t mad. She was nervous, like the kind of nervousness you would have around your crush. I dare say she was looking forward to it.

“Me and my big mouth,” Madison said through gritted teeth.

A few minutes later the elaborate makeovers were done and I was now in my plum dress. It fit every curve of my body with the exception of a silk train that met my heels. Within the fabric there were what looked like diamonds. It fell into a V-neck that enhanced my new necklace. The back was lace with plum flower prints here and there. My hair was up in a French twist, and my long bangs were pinned behind my ear. Long curls were lingering here and there. Though Olivia had put a gallon of makeup on my face, it didn’t look like I had any on. The overall look of my image was older, mature, refined. I didn’t like it.

Madison was enchanting. Her hair was left down, enhanced with luscious curls that made her look younger, more innocent than me. Her dress was ivory with lace covering the silk near her body. A black belt was just beneath her chest. It encircled her and fell into a train that reached to her heels. The neckline was squared off with only thin straps over her shoulders.

We both stared at each other’s reflections. For first time I was nervous about tonight. I didn’t want anyone to see me like this. I was starting to think the universe had a twisted sense of humor. I’d avoided all my proms and dances like the plague, having purposely planned trips or concerts on the same weekends. And now here I am having to play a part in this masquerade.

Madison and I slid on our short black gloves - which conveniently covered our tattoos - as Felicity explained to Olivia how to use the lace and pins she gave her to carry in her purse. Apparently, she’d made these dresses. If the lace became snagged she wanted Olivia to be able to fix it.

As we followed them to the door of the room, Madison whispered into my ear, “Can you put a lid on that anxiety? I may puke if you don’t turn it down.”

I took in a deep breath, pushing my fears down. I didn’t want her to puke, and I was embarrassed at the thought that the others could see that emotion in my energy. It made me feel vulnerable.

Felicity had gone down before us. Madison went next. Just before I went down, Olivia squeezed my arm and said, “When you see red in your aura, it’s not always bad. There’s a good red, too.”

I furrowed my brow at her, then carefully descended the stairs in the heels I was forced to wear.

Draven was talking to Brady about something, not looking in my direction. He was now wearing a black jacket and tie over the outfit he had on before. The sight of him took my breath away. He reeked of raw power, of the role he was meant to play tonight.

Brady’s eyes grew wide when I reached the halfway point on the stairs and he saw me. Slowly, Draven followed his gaze. When our stares collided I couldn’t make myself move anymore. His gaze made me feel beautiful and loved. It was as if he were seeing me with new eyes. He swallowed nervously and smiled shyly as he stepped forward and held out a black cover up.

Olivia must have walked to the point of the stairs on which I stood. I heard her say, “That’s the good kind of red,” as the others laughed.

Cashton appeared in the doorway and gave me a quick nod and a wink, a sign that told me that he felt confident that he had gotten through to Draven and that I looked the part I was meant to play tonight.

I let my eyes shift out of focus and saw that the color of red was all around Draven and me. Not crimson, but the color of a rose. I could almost swear I could smell the aroma of roses coming off him. I put my emotions under wraps, not wanting to be so revealing, but Draven had never been a shy one.

I walked the few steps to him and turned so he could put my coat on. Against my ear, he whispered, “How lucky can one guy get?”

I smiled shyly, then turned to him. “I’m still mad at you.”

He leaned in and let his lips gently touch mine, sending a humming sensation through me before asking, “Still?”

“Still,” I whispered back.

He moved his head from side to side as he held his arm out. “We’ll have to work on that later.”

I really turned red then, which made him grin widely and Cashton chuckle under his breath. I was sure that I was overanalyzing Draven’s words; had to have been. He was too thick-headed for Cashton to have convinced him of anything in that short amount of time.

Draven guided us out to where the Jeeps were waiting. Once in the string, near where the gray passages began, I saw at least fifty people lined up to walk into a passage that was laced in an ominous haze of gray. Willow and Landen were at the front of it, helping them through.

“Where does that lead?” I asked, squeezing Draven’s arm.

“The boat, I think.”

“Is that Willow with Landen?” Cashton asked. He was on my other side. I felt invincible between him and Draven.

I nodded to confirm.

Chrispin, who was on the other side of Draven, confirmed my question. “Nature makes the best passages. It took Landen forever to line the boat up with this one. Don’t worry, you guys won’t get wet. A few others did,” he said with his familiar innocent charm.

He’d changed his image, too. His blue eyes were masked with dark contacts, like Olivia’s. His blond curls were cut short and dyed a dark brown. I doubt I would have recognized him or Olivia without my ability to see.

I felt a tense sensation in the air and noticed it was coming from Madison. She had some kind of shield of energy around her. One that I was sure was in place because we had reached the point of no return. She was going to see Drake very soon.

Landen and Willow both grinned and bowed slightly when we approached them.

“Why, Charlie, is that you?” Landen asked as Willow elbowed him.

“You guys look awesome,” Willow said, stepping forward to let her hands rest on me. I felt a calm ease through me. “Thank you for this. I owe you one.”

I just smiled politely back, knowing this was easy for me, but not so much for my best friend.

Olivia and Chrispin stepped through the gray passage. As Madison went to step through, Willow reached for her arm. Madison smiled vaguely then pushed through the gray haze.

I held my breath as I gripped Draven’s arm and followed Madison’s lead.

Chapter Eleven

The smell of salt was in the air immediately. I found myself on the bow of a massive ship. Draven gripped me tight and slowly walked me to the center.

The sky was gray and ominous. I tried not to take that as a sign as Madison paced beside me. Chrispin, along with others, continued to coach Draven on his role. Apparently, he had more speaking parts than we did. Olivia instructed Madison and me on how to walk, where to stand, and such. It all seemed insignificant to me, but the way she was stressing it made me focus on her. I got the idea that their hand was forced when it came to tonight. They had planned to wait months before announcing the fall of the horrible ruler that Donalt was, but someone had let the cat out of the bag. I kept hearing the name ‘Xavier,’ but my seeing ability had yet to show me his image. Cashton seemed to tense a little each time his name was said, but I couldn’t ask him why - and he clearly wasn’t offering answers freely.

A few minutes later, the sun broke free from the clouds and shined directly on the ship. It was a setting sun, but somehow it seemed to shine a spotlight on us.

I could see the shores of Delen on the horizon. A force of energy compelled the boat in that direction. When the shore looked like it was only a few feet away, a smaller, yet elegant boat was lowered and we were guided onto it. It led us to the dock where men in black cloaks were waiting, at least twenty of them.

Gothic horse-drawn carriages were lined up, anticipating all those within our entourage. We climbed in the front carriage with Olivia and Chrispin and an older man. It was my understanding that the older man was playing the part of Draven’s master priest and advisor. Chrispin and Olivia were some kind of guards or servants. I didn’t really care for the ‘servant’ title. It made me even more uncomfortable.

Cashton took a seat next to the driver of the coach, surveying the crowd.

Every step of our journey, the sun followed us, making us look like saints. We were almost to the palace before it dawned on me that it was probably Willow doing that. I raised one eyebrow, thinking that was a clever way to use her power.

People had lined the streets to watch us arrive. I’m sure sixty carriages were a sight to see in any dimension, especially one that was forced to live a virtually non-existent life. There was literally no creativity or color in anything or anyone. These people looked so sad, out of place, like my shadows - only they were still alive.

Madison had found a way to calm her nerves: she was whispering to the pleas of the dead all around us, paving a path. It was easy to help them. All you really had to say was, “You are worthy.” It seemed every one of them had died thinking that they weren’t.

I found it odd that there were not more of them around us. I thought about asking Draven if they had come before to help them, if that was why it was not as overwhelming as it was the last time we were here. But before I had a chance the carriage stopped and a large older man dressed in a black suit opened the carriage door.

Olivia nodded her head for me to go. I held my breath and took the man’s hand as he helped me down. I faced forward, staring at the two doors that were at least a hundred feet high, wide open, less than three hundred feet from me. Once I felt Madison next to me I stepped forward, slowly, elegantly, the way Olivia had coached me to.

Halfway to the door that led to the three images that were waiting on us, Madison quietly said, “I’m going to do this for you, Charlie. I’m going to let my guard down tonight, let them see whatever energy they want to.”

“You’re not doing anything for me. Tonight - of all nights - keep your guard up,” I whispered harshly.

“Charlie, all of us would be in a mental institution if it weren't for you. If I do this and this place does hold the vortex of the darkness - we’ll kill The Realm, Bianca, and save Draven from whatever is trying to claim him.”

“You cannot fall for a guy just to do your best friend a favor. We are in a mental institution. Have you taken inventory of your situation lately?”

I heard her smile, which told me it had to be a bigger grin than what was more than likely appropriate right now.

“Well, I’ve always said only insane people fall in love. I guess we’ll find out how crazy I am.” Her voice was dry, trembling - and I knew why: Drake was just a few feet away now. Flanking him were Alamos and Perodine.

I glanced around, looking for Cashton, but he’d vanished from my sight.

Drake looked like the king I knew he was. His dark eyes sparkled with a dangerous anticipation. His firm jaw was locked in place, making him look even more powerful. His broad shoulders were pulled back in a commanding manner. I could feel his energy from here, the dominance of it, and I could feel Draven’s just behind me. If I weren’t standing in the center of this hypnotizing bliss, I’m sure my heart would be racing, my anxiety wreaking havoc on every part of my body. But the energy in both of them had the power to still every anxious emotion in existence.

Side by side, Madison and I climbed the steps to where he was. Once there, I stepped forward first, as I was told to do before by Olivia. Drake bowed as I did.

Quietly, I said, “Your Grace,” which made me feel ridiculous because I knew this guy.

He noticed the sarcasm in my tone - he had to hold in a grin. I stood to his right as Madison stepped forward. Drake definitely took advantage of the custom, kissing her hand more softly and intimately than he had mine. I wasn’t sure, but I thought I saw the ‘good’ red aura around them.

Madison stood to his left, opening the way for Draven to greet him, playing the part of strangers - even though in the last few days they had only been apart for a few hours at a time.

Now that I was just inside the entryway, the whispers became more defined, urgent. I heard “Run!” cried out in agony over and over. I tensed hearing it and locked eyes with Madison. She’d heard it, too. We broke eye contact and both started whispering, “You are worthy,” just under our breath. If Draven heard it, he was keeping his cool, greeting Drake with all the mannerisms of royalty.

I felt Perodine’s stare and my eyes angled to where she was standing. She was not in slacks with her hair tossed into a ponytail. No, she looked like a refined queen. Her stance suggested harsh judgment, but I saw approval in her eyes, maybe even a ‘thank you.’ Her gown was massive, black, decorated with priceless jewels. Her silver hair was pulled back in what manner I could not tell. A black satin train was there (I assumed it was to represent her suggested grief over the loss of her husband). The judgment in her stance was to represent that she would not easily give up her place as the ruler of this world.

She bowed slightly in my direction and turned. It took me a second to remember that I was supposed to follow her. The whispers and shadows lingering here and there with their pleas for me to run had distracted me.

I followed Perodine into the entry hall, which was beyond impressive. I don’t care what shows you watched on the History Channel or what movies you could have watched about kings and palaces - they had it all wrong. Not nearly elegant enough. Even when I played the part of a tourist in the UK, seeing museums and such, I’d never seen anything like this.

The ceilings were at least three stories high, and elegant paintings and sculptures were displayed. The air felt aged, regal, and powerful. The atmosphere brought new meaning to the term ‘old money.’

Beyond the shadows, the only sound was the echo of Madison’s and my heels. I felt my skin blush, thinking I was walking wrong because Perodine seemed to glide across the marble floors...then again, I’d only had a quick rundown on how to be graceful. She’d had millions of years to perfect it.

Another double doorway that was at least a hundred feet high and made of pure gold was before us now. It opened, and behind it I saw elegance for the first time. Tables that were lined in white and deep purple circled the room, which I swear was as big as my high school. Massive chandeliers hung from the high ceilings. Candlelight from the tables was flickering against the glass wall of windows to the left. Red velvet stairs led to a balcony that would hold the private dessert Madison and Drake would have later.

In the room, there were at least a hundred servants dressed in black with gray aprons. They were lined up like soldiers.

I stood next to Perodine. Madison came to my left. After that point, people - mainly men dressed in cloaks or suits like the ones Drake and Draven wore - came through the line. Alamos introduced each of them, first to Perodine, then to us. I was warned of this custom, too. I was only to allow the men in suits to kiss my hand, but I was to bow to each.

I didn’t even try to remember their names. The line of black seemed endless. I tried to get out “You are worthy,” when I could. The cries of the shadows were becoming more intense, their warnings more pleading.

Symphony music began to play. I sighed in relief that I had a sound to hide behind.

“All right little one, we have a slight issue,” I heard Cashton say against my neck.

Draven glanced at him, wanting details - like now.

“Xavier, Master Escort, is coming through this line. He knows exactly who you are.”

That didn’t really help me. Did that mean he knew I was Charlie or Julia or some girl from a ‘selected’ bloodline? It’s a wonder I didn’t have an identity crisis at that point.

“You might remember him from that Pompeii place. But seriously, don’t tremble. You are his death, and he knows it,” Cashton said, displaying rage for the first time ever in his tone.

The line was near its end now, and a man that was no less than six-three stood before me. His hair was not gray, but a yellowish blond. His eyes were not dark like the others. They had more of a hazel look to them. Even though I was sure he was years older than me, his skin was young, pristine.

He did not smile when he reached for my hand. Rather, I saw a scold there. The tingling sensation in my head went haywire, showing me images of Pompeii. How did Cashton know that guy was there, too?

When his hands clasped mine I felt ice. They were so cold that I had to stop myself from visibly showing a chill.

His eyes rose to meet mine. “Charlie, is it? You seem more like a Julia to me,” he said in a polite but stern tone.

I bowed. “Your Grace. What a beautiful compliment. But my name comes from a strong family line.”

His smile was as icy as his skin. “Xavier, please.”

If my expression did not show my shock, it was a miracle. They were right before: this guy was my father in that life, and he was cruel.

“I’m sure your family line, your father, is proud that you are with a man he chose for you,” Xavier stated in an icy tone.

Every nerve in my body was telling me to strike him, that he was not another enemy - he was my only one - but this fool thought that I only knew of that past. Cashton could not have shown up in my life at a more perfect time. I would have been totally freaking out if I were not prepared for this.

“Elated, sir.”

Xavier was the last in this line of greetings. Drake and Draven had broken the line and were now at his side. I felt the blade-sharp energy slicing into my skin.

Cashton whispered something to Draven, which seemed to help him cool his obvious anger.

“Xavier,” Drake said curtly, “I’m sure our guests are famished from their journey. If you are curious about her bloodline, please see the registries the highest priest has brought for our convenience. It would be quite rude to ask them to speak of a bloodline that is clearly more honorable than yours.”

Xavier’s icy stare raked over Draven. “The heavens must be in your favor, Drake, for this entourage to appear just days after you finally decided to tell this kingdom their ruler had left this world. Do they find favor in your hesitation?”

“They do,” Drake responded coldly. “The stars themselves told me of their coming. I only delayed so their arrival would be closer - so my people would not live in fear for any length of time.”

“Odd...I didn’t see their arrival in the heavens I study,” Xavier said as he finally met Drake’s dominant stare.

“That is because you are of one world. Sovereigns observe many skies,” Drake responded with the grace of a king.

“True sovereigns seek the rule of those in their studies, not to endorse unruliness.”

“Xavier,” Perodine said curtly, “I will ask you to leave this hall if choose to banter about old causes in the presence of our guests.”

Xavier bowed once to me then casually walked to a group of people that were lingering near us.

Olivia, along with Chrispin, had come to Draven’s side. Olivia’s stare told me not to say another word, to just go with the flow. Draven held his arm out for me and I took it, wanting to run away with him, to listen to my shadows and run.

A girl in a gown that was way more revealing than any other in this hall sauntered right up to me, but she passed me by and hung her body on Cashton like he was a coat rack. He blushed and tried to remove her hands, which were swimming across him.

“Good to see you out. Come dance with me,” she pleaded in a seductive tone.

“Not in the mood,” Cashton said, finally getting a grip on her hands.

“Never heard you say such things before,” she said with a giggle.

I furrowed my brow at him, trying to figure out how that girl could see him in the first place.

“Later,” he said to her as he moved to walk with Draven and me. He shrugged his shoulders at me when my stare demanded an answer. “Some people would rather stay dead. They like it more. I’ve seen her in the veil before.”

“Disapprove,” I said under my breath, which brought a slight grin to Draven’s stone cold image.

As we walked, a few more girls approached Cashton, leaving me to wonder if anyone in this room was alive in the first place. I knew my brother was easy on the eyes, but I wasn’t fond of the girls his essence was attracting. He just gave me a glance that said ‘I’ll explain later,’ then nodded for me to focus.

We were guided to an elegant table. After listening to speeches of warm greetings, a lavish meal was presented to us, but Madison and I paid little attention to what was going on. If I wasn’t looking in Xavier’s direction, trying to see him, I was helping the shadows, the ones I could still hear over the music that seemed to consume the air.

Cashton had left us before the meal was presented. Every once in a while I would catch a glimpse of him. He was trying to survey the crowd, but his female fan base was making it hard for him. He was so going to explain this to me later.

When dinner was taken away, many people rose to dance. Draven and Drake carried out a casual conversation. Not wanting to sit any longer Madison and I rose and acted like we were looking at the art that was displayed in the massive room. We had mingled near the back of it. Large doorways, three of them, were back there. They seemed to lead to an area you could resort to for a quieter conversation if you wanted, but we were avoiding conversation like it was the plague.

When there was a brief pause in the music, I heard something I’d grown to hate: silence. I swallowed nervously as I glanced at Madison, but she wasn’t looking at me. Her eyes were wide as she gazed across the floor.

On the other side of the room were men dressed in black. Not the black of Esterious, but the black of the men we had fought in the graveyard in Salem, in The Realm. Their white shirts and thin ties made them stick out, but not as much as the fact that they were walking through people like ghosts to get to us.

I was too far away from Draven to run to him or Drake, and Cashton was nowhere in sight. The open doorways behind us were our only resort.

So we ran.

Chapter Twelve

Hastily, we walked to the open doorway that was just behind us and braced the wall as if it were some kind of magical barricade. Both of our eyes were racing in every direction, trying to figure out where to run to, how to get to Draven - or anyone else.

“Go that way,” she whispered to me. “I’ll go this way. We’ll corner them - then gut them.”

“I don’t think I can,” I harshly responded. “This is real life, not The Realm.”

“You can,” she firmly stated as she reflected what she saw me do in The Realm a few days ago: end those men by just aiming my hands at them, the sound that was coming out of me. I couldn’t do that here, no way. If it weren't for Clarissa, I never would have even figured out how to do it then.

“You have to believe you can. Put a lid on that fear - you’re pointing an arrow at us,” Madison said shortly, clearly seeing my denial.

Before I could argue, she moved in the opposite direction of me, ducking into doorways, then out again.

There was only one servant in this hall. She looked at me curiously before taking her tray into the ballroom. I chanted, I can do this in my mind and began to follow Madison’s lead, only going in the opposite direction.

The doorways along the hallway were dim, clearly not inviting any guests in. They looked like libraries or conference rooms. Seeing all the dangerous artwork and sculptures along the walls, I decided this wouldn’t be the best place to have a showdown, so I moved to another room. It didn’t take me long to figure out that it didn’t matter if I was in one of the rooms or in the hall; wrought iron seemed to protrude from everything. I guess asking for a padded room to kill these men in black was too much to expect.

I leaned in the doorway, finding anger. I didn’t want to run from these disgusting souls. I clenched my fist, thinking ‘Rock’ over and over again so I would know to remember that when I did reach into them. I would try that, but the music thing was out.

I decided to lay out some bait: I let fear rise in me, then unfocused my eyes so I could see it in the energy around me before pushing it down the hall, painting a trail to me. I didn’t see anyone, and for a second I thought maybe Drake and Draven had seen them, that they had stopped them already.

But that thought ended when I felt a cold energy behind me and turned to see one of the men smiling devilishly at me. I didn’t hesitate - I charged forward, pushing my hand through him, finding that rock, and pulling out the cloud of black smoke. He burned into ash instantly. I wanted to freak out, but there wasn’t time. Five more appeared. I did my best to fight them off, killing three before one had pinned my arms and the other began to pull from me. I saw white lights break out from my chest, only slightly resembling the butterflies I would have seen if I were in The Realm.

I had just about conceded defeat when I felt the man behind me fall and saw terror in the eyes of the one in front of me. I turned, expecting to see Draven - but it was Silas. I wasn't thrilled to see him.

As he killed and burned the last man, I ran. But he caught me at the door, turned my body, and pinned me against the wall with my hands above my head.

His eyes were blazing with fire. “Don’t move,” he said so quietly that it took a second to register.

My heart was hammering out of control. I didn’t trust him, not after Landen told me his intent.

He furrowed his brow as an intense calm came through his hostile embrace of my wrist. “This fear is not for them,” he stated in a stunned tone.

Anger took the place of the calm he was giving me. “You’re planning to kill Aden,” I scorned.

“How is that news?” he asked, glancing to the walls as if he could see through them.

“It’s news because you know it will kill Draven, because you’re not helping Landen, because of your obsession with me - it’s going to kill us all.”

I bowed my back, trying to break free, but all it did was push my body closer to his, to that calm he was emanating.

“Old news, Charlie,” he said, glancing down to my chest. “I told you if Draven or anyone else ever hurt you, I would kill them. I just figured Aden is the only way for me to kill Draven. I haven’t told Landen anything because it’s not time. The intent Landen saw was pure. I will defend you. I owe you that much. Whether we are meant to be or not, I owe you that.”

“Debt paid. You’re stressing me out. I want to be your friend, but I’m not friends with murderers.”

“Telling me not to kill them is like telling a burning man not to seek water or a drowning one not to seek air. If they hurt you, it will be instinct, and one day you will forgive me.”

His grip loosened, not because I’d suggested so much with my struggle, but because he saw something. A second later, Clarissa manifested near the wall.

“I can see her,” she said before disappearing into the wall again.

Silas vanished from my sight. I ran to the hall, not knowing if there were still men in black, if the ‘her’ was Bianca, or if Madison wasn’t as lucky as I was.

At the end of the hall, twenty doorways away I saw a ghostly image. It was a woman who looked a lot like an older version of Monroe. She was in modern clothes. A few doorways from her, Grayson ran out. He glanced quickly in my direction, then ran toward the ghost, yelling, “Mom!” They then vanished into thin air.

I all but ran down the hall, wishing my heels were not making so much noise. I didn’t get far, though; strong arms held me back. I turned to fight, but I lost that notion as soon as I saw Aden. I threw my arms around him, holding onto him for dear life.

“How are you here?” I asked, seeing that he was dressed like home, like the real us, in jeans and a T-shirt. He felt solid. Real.

“Austin. He was helping me find Grayson. We were in The Realm, the string, then here. They’re all gone now. The Witness killed them all.”

I could hear the symphony music shifting to a new song and the rumble of conversation behind me.

“You have to go. It’s dangerous here. Go to Chara. I’m so mad at you for running away,” I scolded him.

“Had to,” he said, looking at me as if I were the sun. “I wanted to figure out who the enemy was. I was looking for one, but there are more.”

I felt an icy chill in the air, one that reminded me of Xavier.

“You have to go now,” I said in a rushed panic. I heard footsteps approaching the doorway that we were just feet from, but there was nowhere for Aden to run - and if I knew him, he wasn’t planning on it.

Some kind of instinct kicked in - call it self-preservation, call it defensiveness - but I saw the energy around Aden and pushed it up, flinging him to the arched hundred-foot ceiling. A chip of paint silently fell to the marble floor just as Xavier stepped into the hallway.

His eyes locked with mine as he approached. The chill of his energy intensified. I wondered if it was because Drake and Draven were not close enough to drown it out. I knew one thing for sure: every fiber in my body was telling me to destroy this man.

When he reached me I could not help stepping back toward the wall behind me. I felt something cold poke my back just below my ribs. It was sharp, the size of a quarter. Moving forward would bring me closer to this evil man, so I let it slice through the lace in the back of my gown, let it threaten to stab me where I stood. So much for self-preservation.

I focused on the hold I had on Aden, pushing it as hard as I could against him - one, so he wouldn’t fall; and two, so he would stay quiet.

“I was beginning to think you retired for the evening,” Xavier stated in an accusatory tone.

“I was enjoying the artwork.”

“I see,” he said, glancing to my side like he knew a knife was at my back.

Hearing the direct play on his words, I wanted to ask what he was seeing, but instead I held my head high with all the grace I was told to show.

“Tell me, Charlie, how long shall we play this game?”

“Game?”

Like a saving grace, Cashton appeared at that moment.

“Don’t let him see you freak out. He is trying to figure out what you know.”

Xavier smiled tightly. “Aren’t you too old for games? Apparently, your late parental influences were a bit too lax in your upbringing, allowing you to be with a mere half-man.”

Cashton smirked. “He has drastically underestimated you. He thinks you only know of Pompeii. Make him think you don’t even know about that.”

“You might want to tell them to take the wine from your table. Your language and demeanor are making no sense to me. I find it threatening. I may ask the dear Queen if such treatment is customary.”

With a glance his energy pushed me back, driving whatever was against my back through my body. Shock allowed me not to make a sound or even an expression. Maybe it was because my energy was too focused on Aden’s safety. I had no idea how I was maintaining any composure at all.

“Are you making an advance at me?” I asked with a glare, hiding the pain in my voice.

Cashton vanished. I knew he was getting help - and God knows I needed it. This hurt.

“So now we admit that you are aware of the power of energy. Is the game of dress up over?” Xavier asked, raking his eyes over me.

“Was that a secret? Do you not feel the power of my counterpart? Of your King? Do you not recognize when you are humbled by that power, when it forces you into submission? Because that is your role: a servant to the power you will never hold - or destroy.”

Before he had a response, Draven reached the doorway with Cashton at his side. Draven’s eyes glanced at the ceiling, then to where I was. I was flush against the wall, so there was no way for him to know that something like a blade was lodged inside of me. The thought of it there made the pain register to the point where I knew I was close to fainting.

One glance of Draven’s green eyes shifted Aden at least six doorways down, then into a dark room. Not having to hold Aden in place any longer, my focus was back to my body and I wondered absently why blood wasn’t pooling at my feet.

“I was unaware that you asked for a conference,” Draven seethed.

“My apologies. It seems I’ve left half my manners in my quarters.”

“Maybe you should retrieve them - or I may be forced to leave all of mine behind. It takes a bold man to speak to another’s counterpart without permission.”

“Tell me, what did it feel like when her father gave you her hand?” Xavier asked.

Though that day had not come - and even if it did, to most it would look as if I were walking down an aisle by myself - my father had given his blessing to Draven on more than one occasion. The thought of that took some of the pain away from me. I was starting to feel numb, cold. I told myself not to let my knees buckle because if they did, this metal would slice me in two.

Cashton put his hand under my arm, holding me in place. Before Draven could answer, Drake and Alamos rounded the corner. A few feet behind them were Olivia and Chrispin. Drake curtly looked over Xavier, taking in the situation before bowing slightly to Draven.

“I was seeking a conference with your sister. Is that permitted?”

“Ah,” Draven said with a sarcastic grin. “It is still custom to ask and not force a woman into one – in a private hall, at that.”

The glares that landed on Xavier were as sharp as blades.

“Come,” Alamos said, nodding to Xavier, who hesitated before he complied.

Draven tried to reach his arm around me, but both Cashton and I blocked him. I wanted to tell him why, but I was afraid Xavier would hear.

Chrispin closed the doors next to me as Olivia rushed to my side. At that moment Landen appeared out of nowhere.

“Shh...” Landen said gently as he reached for my hand. The calm he gave me allowed me to breathe for the first time in what felt like an eternity.

I could only see Olivia, Landen, and Cashton, but I felt Draven’s panicked energy all around me.

“What’s going on?” Draven asked as he saw the care Landen was taking with me and moved Cashton so he could be near me.

“I’m going to lift you, Charlie. It may hurt, but only for a second,” Landen promised.

I nodded, feeling sweat come across my body. Draven’s eyes moved to where Landen’s hand was going. What he saw must have terrified him because I felt it in the stabbing energy around me.

Landen lifted me and I held in a scream as I felt warm blood ease across my skin. His hand was over the wound immediately, his other on my stomach. All through my body, a warm, seeping energy absorbed me. I felt my flesh growing together, the wound closing, the blood restored. I felt like I was coming off a massive adrenaline rush. I was numb, near sleepy.

Landen pulled me closer to him so he could see the wound and make sure it was healed. Looking over my shoulder, I saw the wrought iron sword that was on the bottom of the frame of a massive painting, covered in blood. It was three inches long and close to two inches thick. The sight of it made me feel faint. If I’d known it was that big, I doubt I would have willingly stepped back.

Landen reached for my chin, forcing me to gaze into the blue of his eyes, which I saw expand as if he were taking in a new world. I didn’t get why he was looking at me like that.

“All better,” he finally said, nodding to Draven.

“I’m following Xavier,” Cashton bit out as he vanished.

I felt Draven’s arm go around me, and I turned in his embrace, clenching his body, his energy, for dear life. Over his shoulder, I saw Madison approaching with the elderly man that was posing as Draven’s advisor.

I heard a loud crash and looked back to see that Drake had flung the massive painting to the other end of the hall with a glance. It was now stabbing another priceless painting.

I felt a whoosh of warm wind, and when I turned I saw that Landen was gone. Olivia was staring at where I was pinned with wide eyes, apparently in shock.

“We have to get Aden out of here,” I whispered to Draven.

He nodded, releasing me to Olivia as he walked to where he’d shoved Aden before. Chrispin followed him as Madison and Olivia ushered me into the closest doorway. Once inside, Olivia turned me and began to mend my dress. I was sure the blood was gone, but there had to be a hole there.

Madison and I locked stares, showing each other what we had survived. I saw her take down seven men in black before she came across Winston - or at least the image of him. She chased him through the halls and she was almost out of breath before she realized Winston wasn’t running from her - he was running toward the ghostly image of his mother. Something told her it was a trap and she tried to stop him - but he vanished with his mother’s image.

Austin caught up to her a few minutes later and told her Grayson was here, too, that he and Aden were tying to tell him it was trap, but he couldn't seem to hear them.

Clarissa appeared near them and told them I was cornered and that Landen was helping me and that they needed to get Aden out of here. They took back hallways to reach us. Austin broke free from Madison’s side when he saw that Draven had me in his arms, ducking into a door to find Aden, to get him to the safety of another dimension.

Madison’s eyes were furious when she saw what I went through.

“He killed them all,” she said with a gasp.

I squinted as Olivia pulled my dress tighter. “Silas? The men in black? I helped,” I argued, not wanting to look like a damsel in distress.

“No, Charlie, the band, your dad. Xavier killed him. He was the one that haunted him - who caused him to throw that chair. He killed your father. Could you not see that?!”

I felt like I was going to vomit. Madison was backing up Draven’s battle cry. I knew then why the details of this man were kept from me. Draven knew there would be no holding me back if I knew that man was single-handedly the cause of my parents’ heartache.

“No, I saw Pompeii. Tonight.”

“He was taunting you with that. Even if you could not see him in that role, his words should have told you.”

I hit my hands against the wall.

“Paybacks are in order,” I seethed.

Draven wasn’t going to fight this man for me. Xavier was not taking another soul from me.

I charged toward the door, but a force pulled me back and pinned me against the wall.

Olivia let out a sigh. “Don’t be an idiot. If it were that easy to kill that man, he would have been dead ages ago. He didn’t let you see it, but he left a loophole for Madison to see it - and now he is waiting with a trap, no doubt. Your parents and friends are your weakness. Anybody can see that. That man will die, I promise you. But if you do not cool your jets, you might as well serve this dimension and every other one up on a platter. Our only hope of ending this reign of darkness is Drake taking control of this dimension. And God help us, let this place be the vortex, the center point The Realm is feeding on.” She pointed her petite finger at the both of us. “I expect you to act like the balanced old souls that you are. Revenge is a dish best served cold. Anger will kill you.”

“More like hot,” Madison argued, completely agreeing that we should go hunt that man down.

Olivia’s tiny finger pushed a force of energy at Madison, knocking her into the wall next to me.

“You would rather invoke hell on earth than have a piece of cake with Drake? Are you that scared to feel something for him - for anyone that is not platonic?”

All of a sudden, Olivia’s eyes became darker. I knew that look. She was seeing, but it was obvious she wasn’t trying to. It just happened. A second later, the tension left her and her eyes seemed less dark.

“He’s a jerk. He deserves that Anna girl and every girl like her. It’s not fair to blame Drake for that - to sacrifice your heart and the lives of billions because of that boy’s nourishment issues.”

Olivia wasn’t saying anything I hadn’t said, but the fact that she saw it made both Madison’s and my eyes expand.

“Did you just see?” I asked, knowing that she did, wanting her to understand that she did.

Her eyes grew wide, then moved from side to side. “Did I?” she asked. After a second or two she said, “You were really hurt, seconds from death - internal bleeding.” She said it so quietly I thought she was talking to herself. It was clear she was recounting what had happened just a few moments ago.

I shrugged.

“Energy was pouring off you,” she said as her eyes met mine.

“And...?” Madison sarcastically asked.

“And I don’t know.” She raised her hands to the side of her head. “How do you turn it off?”

“Stop asking questions, for starters,” Madison answered with a pleased grin. “Sucks, don’t it? Seeing how people lie so easily that they don’t even know they’re doing it. Seeing how blind we are to all the opportunities around us. Seeing how self-centered one can be. If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll hear the call of the damned and then get a history lesson on how cruel humanity really was.”

Olivia’s hands fell from her head. A stern expression consumed her face. “Are you forgetting that I can now see you? I know this sarcasm is an act you use when you’re afraid.”

“I guess I did. Dessert anyone? I’m ready to go home,” Madison said, opening the door.

Draven, Chrispin, and the older man that was the advisor were standing there, waiting on us.

“Brother,” Madison said, bowing mockingly at Draven.

He didn’t find that very funny. He was looking over every inch of me for any kind of damage.

“I’m fine,” I mouthed, walking to his outstretched hand. “Aden?”

“In Chara by now,” he assured me.

I sighed, glad this night was almost over.

Madison and I walked side by side in front of Draven to the ballroom. At the entryway we stopped and allowed Draven to stand between us, and the others to flank off to the side.

Most of the people were on the dance floor. For the first time ever I was glad Nana had forced us to take ballroom dancing just before Kara’s wedding. Granted, it had been years, but I thought I could pull it off if I had to.

The crowd parted as Drake crossed the floor. He stopped just before us and bowed slightly.

“May I?”

Draven responded by extending Madison’s hand to his. I was almost excited for her to walk away with him. Even though she was obviously terrified, to anyone watching it was a genuine display of a deep attraction.

Chrispin followed a few steps behind them, along with another member from Chara. I understood this was custom. Chrispin would not go out on the balcony, but he would be close enough to guard her if needed. Two men in black cloaks mirrored Drake. I suppose they were the guards for him.

Once they’d ascended the stairs and stepped out onto the balcony, I heard an eruption of applause. It wasn’t coming from the ballroom. It was coming from outside. I guess that dessert was not as private as we thought it was going to be. It sounded like thousands were in the courtyard, watching the elegant candlelit table.

Draven took my hand and led me to the floor as others parted and clapped softly at our approach. I may have messed up on the first few steps, but then I fell into the music and moved with him across the floor. When we would catch each other’s eye, we would show each other what had happened when we were apart.

He pulled me tightly against him. “I couldn’t handle it if something happened to you,” he whispered to me. His warm breath slid down my neck, causing my core to clench as heat flushed through my cheeks.

“I swear I’m fine.”

His hand gently massaged the spot on my back that had been hurt, sending his warm humming energy into my body. I sighed and closed my eyes for a moment as I breathed in his touch.

“I’m worried about Cashton. He was going after him,” I whispered.

“Have I told you how much I like your brother?” His tone was almost sinful.

I turned crimson. “Did you guys get a chance to talk?”

His hands moved up my back as his lips teased my neck. “I want to be as close to you as possible…I’m sorry I put a wall up.”

Nervously I said, “My soul has told me from day one that you are half of me, that you are designed this way for a reason.”

His eyes fell into mine. “I don’t care how I’m designed as long as being half your soul is a part of the deal,” he said as a ghostly smile echoed on the corners of his alluring lips.

“Are we clear on the fact that you are half of me and not half of Aden - so you shouldn’t join or whatever to kill that man?”

I had managed to kill the moment. The playful seductiveness in his eyes vanished as his trademark anger surfaced.

“I knew that,” he said under his breath. “I just want you safe. I think that if Aden was there so long ago, he was there to help me get you that way. I just want you to have peace.”

“I think we need some jeans and guitars. We have to step outside of this if we are going to understand it.”

He grinned boyishly. “I kinda have a surprise for you.”

“Do you?”

He glanced away, hiding his eyes from me. “I do. Brady is going to guide us to it when this is over. We need to be alone.”

“Can it be over now?” I blurted out before I could stop myself.

Those words made him laugh as his eyes returned to mine.

“Cashton said he was going to be there for a hot second. He wants to show me how to let my soul rise.”

I took in a sharp breath and turned crimson all at once.

“That scare you?” he whispered with the music.

I moved my head slowly from side to side.

“Good,” he said under his breath as he pulled me to him then spun me around.

Just as our dance ended I heard quiet applause and looked up to see Drake and Madison, her arm in his, a hue of red around them - the good or bad, I couldn’t tell. I was new to this energy thing. Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, they crossed the floor to us.

“Until tomorrow,” Drake said humbly as he kissed Madison’s hand intimately, then turned and left the room.

I wasn’t sure what we should do now - at least not until I saw Perodine in all of her royalty, standing at the entrance to the ballroom. She turned as if she were waiting on our approach. We followed her direction out of the ballroom, up the wide stairs, down a hall, up another set of stairs, down another hall, then up even more stairs. Finally, I realized where I was: the hall we had been in when Landen and Draven were trapped in The Realm. They were leading us to the passageway.

“What do we know about Grayson and Winston?” Madison asked us once she knew we were on a protected hall.

“They are chasing their mom. Grayson was adamant with Aden, telling him to leave them be and keep Monroe safe. I think he is trying to lead whoever is after him as far away from her as he can,” Draven offered solemnly.

“Aden all right?” she pressed.

“Little scattered. He said it’s all flashes. He can’t pin the images down long enough to get a clear vision of all that was unlocked,” Draven said, glancing between Madison and me.

“But you guys are cool?” Madison was not going to let this rest.

“Cool,” Draven said under his breath.

Madison squeezed my arm. “I’m going to stay here for a second. You guys go ahead.”

“Are you crazy? No way,” I argued.

She looked over her shoulder to Chrispin and Olivia. “You guys will stay with me, right? Make sure I get back to Chara.”

They both smiled slightly to say yes.

Once we reached the doorway to where the passage was, Perodine halted and turned, then gazed down at me, breaking out of her role as the Queen.

“Revenge will be yours - all of ours. Rest now... and thank you.”

I didn’t know what to say, so I just did the bow I was getting really good at.

Inside the room, I saw Drake waiting, his deep, dark eyes inviting Madison closer. Now I knew why she wanted to stay behind. Go Drake - one point for you, five thousand for Madison.

“How are we going to get back?” I asked, noticing that if Madison had Olivia stay behind, we didn’t have anyone to show us how to navigate the strings - and I wasn’t going to chance it on my own. There was no telling where we’d end up.

“Your guide is waiting,” Drake said as he nodded to the passage.

I raised my brow, doubting him, but Draven pulled me closer, then through the haze. When the gray passed, I saw Brady.

He smiled vaguely and nodded for us to follow him.

Chapter Thirteen

It felt like we weren’t alone in the string. I glanced back and saw two figures in the glow. I thought for sure it was Landen and Willow, but when they made no effort to approach us, I assumed I was wrong. I wanted to thank Landen for saving me and halfway wondered what role they played tonight, but I let those thoughts drift to the back of my mind as the anticipation of wherever we were going built inside my soul.

Brady led us past the passages that I knew led to Landen and Willow’s home, a few feet past that point anyway. He stopped just outside a haze that was a breathtaking yellow.

“The door is unlocked. Your stuff is in there, along with some food. I’ll be back around noon tomorrow so you can get to your concert. You’re still doing that, right?” Brady asked.

Draven nodded once to confirm.

“All right, then. You guys did good tonight. Relax so you will be ready for tomorrow.” He nodded his head for us to move through the passage.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when we stepped through. The sound of waves and the sight of sand caught me off guard.

“Where are we?” I asked apprehensively.

“Still Chara, just a different part,” Draven said as he slowly leaned down.

I took in a sharp breath when I felt his hand on the back of my leg, slowly sliding down. It took me a second to realize that he was only taking my heels off so I could move through the sand more easily. This boy was wreaking havoc on my heart. After all this time as his girlfriend, he still made my head spin with the simplest of gestures.

In the distance stood a small beach house with a wrap-around porch. Like Brady said, the door wasn’t locked. Doubt it needed to be. There wasn’t another sign of human life in any direction.

Inside we found a living room fully furnished, with a small kitchen and bedroom just behind it. From the door I could see our bags on the bed.

“Why don’t we change and take a walk?” Draven said to me as he shed his jacket and smiled when he saw two guitars on their racks in the living room. “Paradise,” he said to himself.

Before we managed to get out of our formal attire and into beach worthy clothes, there was a knock on the door. Then it opened.

“Whatever you’re doing, stop. I built a fire on the beach,” Cashton called into the modest home.

Nervously, I glanced at Draven, who was pulling on one of his T-shirts.

“Class is in session,” he said with a smirk before leaving the room so I could change.

Not trusting Cashton alone with him, at mach speed I shed my dress, then pulled on some cotton shorts, a tank, and a white hoodie.

They were outside on the porch, waiting on me.

“Where did you run off to?” I asked Cashton as I closed the door behind me.

“Trying to see if Xavier would lead me to his first. No luck.”

I wasn’t sure what a ‘first’ was, but I was curious about how he was selectively seen tonight.

“So all this time, you have been with your lady friends...?” I asked, raising my brow, telling him I had not forgotten about that.

He sighed. “That dimension has, like, no line between it and the veil, so when they have an event like that a few corporeal ghosts come out and play.”

“Ones that you know,” I pointed out.

“It plays into my emotion, what I have to conquer during my time here.”

“Which is what - lust? Being a player?”

“Not a player,” he said with a degree of disdain. “Memory is still hazy, but you know what it is, all right? Right now I just need to help you, wait for the queen of the veil to rise and get me out for good so I can move on.”

“What is the emotion?”

“It wouldn’t make sense to you right now. It’s all right. I’ve made mistakes I’ll have to answer for - sure of it - but I just want the chance to answer for them, ya know?”

“Did you cheat on somebody?” I asked, instantly glaring at him.

“Can’t remember.”

“So...um...meditating?” Draven said to help change the subject. I guess that was like a guy code or something, to stop the thrashing I was going to give my newfound brother.

By then, we had climbed a sand dune, and now we could see the fire that Cashton had built. It was modest, but what was so inviting about it was the blanket around it and the guitar lying there.

That was smart: to teach Draven through music.

“Yeah, you need to learn that, but we have to figure out where we are on this time table,” Cashton said just before throwing a few more sticks on the fire.

He sat down, then nodded for us to do so. Draven leaned against one of the large logs framing the fire, straightened the blanket, and reached for me to sit in his lap. I nestled up against him, feeling nothing but warmth between him and the fire.

“What is a ‘first’?” I asked Cashton as I watched him start to draw in the sand with a stick.

I could see his mind struggling to hold on to images of suppressed memories. The only issue was that most of them were in that den where I found him - or at least the one it resembled - and in that room, talks of wars, dimensions, and twin realties were rarely discussed.

Those memories I could see in him were doing nothing but bonding me to him, making me realize that I loved him the same way I loved Kara.

“Kinda like a first child to the master Escorts,” Cashton said.

“Why were you looking for that person?” Draven asked.

“Because we are on a time table. I just don’t know where on that table we are.” He glanced at me. “You have no kill marks on you, so that makes me think we are in the beginning. But it doesn’t make sense that Xavier was trying to get you to remember Pompeii.”

“‘Kill marks’?”

“Yeah. Maybe it’s because Draven is still in transition.”

“What is a ‘kill mark’? You are losing me,” I said.

His lips turned into a straight line as he gazed at the sideways figure eight he was drawing. “I really didn’t want you in the middle of this. I know that much. You are too good at making peace. You are the calm in the chaos of any storm. But the mark on your back grew after I left. That circle in the center of your back will grow lines with every kill you make.”

“I’m not a murderer,” I said as a sick feeling rose in my throat.

I may have said I was going to kill Bianca a million times over, but I’m not sure how literally I took myself. And if I did, it was only because I saw her to be unreal.

“I know,” Cashton said as Draven positioned his legs around me and pulled me to lean against his chest. “These lines you are fighting are hard to end. The fastest way is to take out the first because that will be a direct blow to the master, but even the first will be hard to take down unless you are strong.” He glanced up at us. “Considering you are not sharing energy and have been convinced that the act is bad, I can only assume that you’re not.”

Draven started to move his hand slowly across my back. I could tell by his curious stare that he wanted to know exactly how to make me stronger, and he was prepared to make sure that I never single-handedly killed anyone.

“When the first mark appears, you only have three more to kill before you have to strike the first. The fifth blow has to be for the master. The fifth is supposed to bring a final change. You have to be strategic, though. If you waste your five blows on petals, then you will remain unarmed and a very easy target.”

“Everyone has five blows - or just me?”

“You are from the other reality from the heritage of The Selected. Obviously, so is Madison. Landen looked familiar to me, but if he did become a phoenix at any part of his life plan his mark is going to be gone because he has the power to recreate himself over and over again. Good to know that is an option down the road.”

“So Madison and me so far?”

Cashton glanced at Draven. “Maybe Aden. Your image looks familiar to me, but the energy is way off.”

“Is that like a world of doubles over there? Is that why Madison and Willow look the same? Why Draven is a twin?”

“Not a world of doubles, but there are some that have vessels that look the same. They always have opposite energy and are said to be warriors – quite deadly when they are together.”

I didn’t want to hear that. I didn’t want Draven to adopt an absolute plan where he and Aden teamed up to end this.

“The thing is, I only have a fraction of the memories I need to help you, and even after the queen of the veil rises - and if I convince her to let me out - it will take some time for them to surface, time that I am sure we do not have.”

“Why do you need her again? And how are you stuck in the veil if you are not dead?” I asked, knowing Draven was more than likely just as lost at this point.

Cashton drew a huge circle beside the eight he had been tracing, then divided it with a line. “This is The Fall.” He moved the sand to make it darker on one side of The Fall, and on the far side of the other half he darkened the sand. “On this side the veil backs up to The Fall and the worlds are further away. They move faster, too, which is why life is so short and seems to move quicker.” He pointed the stick to the other side. “We lived against The Fall, so life is way longer. In the past, a large number of souls would pass through this Fall. They would learn something from one side and be the innovators on the other side in the next life. The thing is that since life is so long in our home reality, we could come through The Fall, live a whole life, and then go home - and only a month’s time would have passed. It worked beautifully until this side started to crumble.”

Sadness filled the blue in his eyes as the outer layer turned even darker. “I came through that Fall some time ago, but I fell inside the veil. The veil had grown more than we had thought - well, everyone but you, little one.” He sighed. “So, the veil thinks I’m dead when I’m not. If I were dead and all was right in the universe, then I could request to see The Reaper, and he would let me out. But these master Escorts have control over the veil. Very few make it to The Reaper or even know that he is a way out. The queen of the veil, when she has taken her reign, will be able to release any and all supernatural souls to fight again. And she will also be able to usher souls that have no reason to be in the veil to The Reaper’s doorstep so he can divinely convince them to move on.”

“We’ve released the dead,” Draven offered, clearly wondering if we could help Cashton.

“You release what is left of the dead. That energy is like leftover food to these master Escorts, and they need to be released. You need to do what you do. You guys are fighting the emotion of shock. The biggest shock is our own death. The ones in the veil are all on different levels.”

“What level are your girlfriends on?”

That didn’t create the smile I thought it would. Instead, Cashton looked furious at himself.

“The queen of the veil will move them on, too. Cowards...they are afraid of life, so they dance with death.”

“So I’m supposed to kill Xavier?” I asked, moving away from that touchy subject.

“Apparently. But I can’t understand his strategy. Why he is so focused on what you remember about Pompeii? I wonder if his first was there, if you know what they look like, what their energy feels like - and he wants to make sure you forget.”

“That or remembering anything past that point would be a strain on anyone. That was forever ago,” I countered.

“No,” Cashton said as he moved his stick back to the figure eight. “Time moves on a loop. We often planned exactly where we would land in that cycle. Life before that could have been in the future, for all you know. The thing is, you are all here. So either we planned it or they backed us into this corner.”

“I doubt they would have planned for me to save Draven in a past life and fall into this one.”

Cashton grimaced, showing that he halfway agreed with that. “It doesn’t make sense that Britain came for you either, unless that was just dumb luck on his part.”

“He seemed like he had a plan, wanted my light so he could take over The Realm.”

Cashton pointed the stick at me. “That right there makes me think he is unclaimed - a pack of wild dogs. Yet his energy states that he is more powerful than that. Besides, you can’t rule or control The Realm because it is all. That is like an ant saying he is going to grow up to be an elephant. Great to have dreams, but seriously.”

“Bianca, then. She is pulling all the strings. Took Drake and Landen a few days ago, toyed with Draven before.”

“I’d have to see her to know. But it almost sounds like Xavier is trying to get you to waste one of your kills on her.”

“Tried. Can’t kill her.”

“Yeah, but what if he puts the real one in front of you and you do? Then he’ll know for sure you are who he thinks you are, and your clock will start ticking at a rapid speed.” He scratched out the sand drawing. “It’s going to hurt really bad.”

“Killing? It’s not going to be easy,” I said with a sigh.

“No, the mark. It will hurt when it is created. If you are not strong, it could be enough to take you out. You guys have been played, which isn’t a surprise considering that you are up against shock. Never really know what to expect with him.” He reached for the guitar beside him. “We need to figure out who Xavier’s first is.”

“Do I need to ask Silas? He was in Pompeii.” All that got me was glares from each of them.

“He was there in the end. For Xavier to go and get someone to kill Aden or whoever, he had to have known who or what you saw - that if you and Draven saw each other, it would all click into place.”

“Aden.”

“Which doesn’t make sense either. Why would they open him up just for you to see the plot of the war?” Cashton said as he began to adjust the strings. “Maybe they were trying to throw him off his target, crash his mind so he couldn’t move forward.”

“Which is...?” Draven asked sternly, knowing that any enemy of his brother was an enemy of his.

“Not a clue. Thinking maybe the emotion of worry, the master of that emotion. But I get the impression you guys are the closest people to him.”

We both nodded to confirm. “Yeah, well, that means he has to find the people he needs to fight his master. It’s not Madison or the two of you. I know that much.”

“Mom and Dad did not say one word. That whole time you said you saw Dad in the veil and thought he was someone else – he didn’t say anything.”

Cashton smiled disdainfully. “Charlie, that boy that was my age in the veil helped me break a lot of bad habits and got me back on track. I don’t know that I would be this prepared to help you with what little I have if it wasn’t for him.”

“Why are they like that? Why can they not just lay it out?” I asked him, knowing he had to feel the same way I did: completely abandoned.

“Forced fate is the worst sin where we come from. They would never tell us what to do or think. Your soul is supposed to tell you all you need to know and when you need to know it.” He nodded to me. “She gave you those seven sheets, though. That messes with my timeline, too. They are blank, which means none of us have started.”

“Landen and Willow killed Donalt, though,” I argued.

“No,” he said with a bit of smirk. “They killed the vessel he was in. When the kills are done, the masters are brought down, and those pages will fill so the story can be told forevermore. A new original book, if you will.”

“So we are looking for first, or something like that,” Draven clarified.

“See, I just put that idea in your head. Not exactly. You go at any first as weak as you are, and it will be over. You have to climb the ranks, figure out who is in charge so you know where and how to strike. I’d keep releasing the damned because soon enough the more corporeal dead will start talking - telling you everything you need to know. I’m sure you have already built up a reputation. The dead can sense almost anything in a soul. They know you did that because you wanted to, not because you had to. So don’t change your reasons for what you do now. That is like the one thing you have been on track with.”

“Plan to do that tomorrow night. It’s supposed to help Landen weaken Esterious,” Draven said a bit apprehensively, wondering if that was a good idea.

“It’s all good. Landen is smart. He is not going to let you cross a line you shouldn’t. Do your thing. Let him do his,” Cashton stated absentmindedly. He was focused on his guitar at that moment.

I really wished Cashton would just come out and tell Draven to drop any idea of joining up with Aden to take down Xavier. In his own roundabout way, he had. But I knew Draven: blunt worked best when it came to my stubborn boy.

“I’m about to bail,” Cashton said as he toyed with the strings on the guitar. “You guys just chill or whatever. No worries about Silas. I can get to him since he is linked to Charlie. It’s not going to matter anyway because nothing unnatural or un-normal or dangerous is going to happen tonight - because my sista and the boy she loves do not engage with ignorant souls who think they know the game when they have not even stepped on the field yet.”

I held in a grin as Draven said, “Right,” before nodding to Cashton.

“Okay, so I’m going to play. Close your eyes, listen to the music, then turn your senses to the inside. Hear, see, smell, and touch on the inside. You’ll feel like you are falling asleep, but stay awake in your mind. When you float, float. Don’t fight it. It will most likely be wicked when you open your eyes – you will see energy a little differently and such. It’s all good...part of it.”

He started to play a song of my father’s that I knew. One, thankfully, that Draven knew, too. It was slow and sweet but strong enough to make you focus on it.

I leaned against Draven and closed my eyes. The memories of the time that I had done this in a not-so-distant past came to me. I started to let myself drift, chasing the chords of music. Cashton played the song over and over, better than any track that I had heard my father play on. He was gifted, no doubt.

“Open your eyes, little one,” Cashton said as he neared the end of the song once again.

My soul seized when I realized I was standing next to where he and Draven were siting. A gleaming white light was around the fire, the sand, everything, and I could see the lingering essence of music fading from the guitar in Cashton’s hand.

He nodded to my side, and when I glanced there I saw Draven.

“Wicked,” Draven mouthed as his eyes filled with excitement.

“Cool...cool...you’re out,” Cashton said. “You guys need to practice this. You should not need anyone to put you to sleep like a child, especially me. Just calm your mind, breathe deep, and rise.” He sat the guitar down. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” he said with a wink as he vanished, leaving me alone with Draven.

Chapter Fourteen

The sky took my breath away. It was like the sea was above us; you could see the stars wave past you. I fell to my knees as I gazed up at them, finding it odd that I could feel the sand with my soul, that I had the illusion of breathing, of a slow heartbeat. Every sensation was nothing less than remarkable.

A moment later, I felt the hum of Draven’s energy and lowered my head to see him next to me with a guitar in his hand, which made me grin. I knew he wanted to ‘see’ the music - to see if the energy we always talked about when we played actually existed. I’d only caught a glimpse of it when Cashton was playing. I definitely wanted to see it again.

Every part of me became focused on him as he arched his fingers around the strings. He tested the sound with one chord - just one - and as it was created what looked like tiny diamonds raced away from the guitar. Those diamonds swirled with the fire then broke free from their huddle. Some reached for the stars, others for the ocean. Some even fell to the sand.

I nodded for him to play more, and he did. When they invented words like ‘beauty’ I doubt they imagined what we were seeing now. And even if they did, they had to have realized there could not be a word to describe this.

Every movement of Draven’s fingers created life, a sound, an energy that was unfathomable. He would finish one song and begin another. It didn’t matter if the song was a lullaby or an aggressive sound, the beauty and energy were the same: astounding.

I’d always known that music was power. That it could either change a mood or amplify the one you were in, but I never realized the life behind it, the core energy that it was capable of.

As if Draven could feel the yearning in my energy, he finished the song he was playing and gently handed me the guitar. Our fingers grazed each other in the exchange. I felt a part of me, a part him, grasp for each other, begging to be closer - but at that moment we were shy, terrified to give in to that need. Reluctantly, he pulled his hand away first. I ignored the painful, singeing coldness that echoed where his energy was and began to play.

I played my father’s song, the one that I heard in that boom from the sky. I couldn’t really remember playing it before. I’m sure somewhere along the line I’d toyed with the chords, but I ultimately let it be, knowing I could never quite play it the way he did, with such ease.

The sound of it a few days ago had rocked my world and sent me into a deep sleep. As I watched the life of the music dance with the energy of the shore, I grew thankful that even though I’d lost two people that meant the world to me, the universe gave me Cashton back. I knew we’d find a way back to the best parents in the universe some way, somehow, in some time.

Draven pointed to the sky, and I watched as every diamond that was coming from the sound I was making began to lead to the heavens. Above us, among the millions of stars, I thought I saw distant planets…universes. It was hard to understand if it was real or not because the sky was starting to be filled with sporadic clouds.

A thumping sound caught my attention as the song I was playing ended. It was of large raindrops hitting the sand. A second later, a crack of thunder scared me to the point where I was instantly jolted into my body. I gasped, angry that I had lost my hold on that meditation. I glanced to my side to see the guitar in the sand, then felt Draven move next to me. He was back in his body, too.

I dove toward the guitar, not wanting it to get wet in the downpour that was building by the second. By the time I’d reached it and turned, Draven was kicking sand over the dying fire. A blanket was in his hand. He ran to my side and put it over me before we both ran to the beach house. By the time we got there the blanket was useless. It was soaking wet.

At first we couldn’t get the door to open because our hands were too slippery. A crash of thunder, though, made us jump and finally push our way into the cottage. We both were laughing at how easily we were spooked. I leaned the guitar against the wall as he secured the door.

The laughter stopped as he caught my stare in the dark room. He stepped closer to me. Even though the essence of him was so warm, so numbing, I shivered. Thinking it was my wet hoodie I slid it off just before Draven reached to pull the large pin that was holding up my hair. Wet strands fell across my shoulders, sending another chill through me. He carefully ran his fingers through the long, dark locks of my hair. I heard the smaller pins fall to the floor.

He smiled shyly. “There’s my Charlie,” he whispered, leaning forward. He hesitated before his lips reached mine, as if he were asking for permission.

A hunger charged through my core and before I knew it, my lips were against his as my hands pulled his wet T-shirt off him. Chills raced across his skin, but as my hands rushed across his back, they vanished. The heat of passion gripped us both.

He picked me up and wrapped my legs around him before we fell to the floor.

I couldn't get over how different he felt, his touch. It was careful, yet urgent. When his lips rushed down my neck, I heard myself gasp, knowing that it had never felt like this before.

Thunder erupted, causing us to pull each other closer. We moved with the fierceness of Mother Nature. Wild one moment and innocently the next. Each finding a new way to take the other to a high we had never felt before. It was as if we were both old and new lovers, comfortable with each other, but enticed by the simplest caress of skin.

So much had happened between us, to us, but none of that mattered right now. He was mine, and I was his. This was our home. As lightning highlighted the room and thunder provided a dense beat, he held me tighter. My every response had but one purpose: to tell him that this belonged to him, that it could never be shared or sacrificed. I was begging for understanding, but he was guarded in giving it to me. All his touch told me was that he would die for me, that he would die for us all, and none of that mattered. It didn’t matter because right now he was alive. In my arms, he was alive.

The storm ended hours ago. I’d changed into my Capri tights and a dry tank top. Draven had opted for a different pair of jeans, which hung just so around his hips. He hadn’t bothered to put on another shirt, and I wasn’t complaining. Though we’d been together for year’s nights like this, one that was full of solitude and privacy had never come. It was long overdue.

We’d just finished half a gallon of lemonade and a piece of cake, all of which we found in the baskets and the refrigerator that was fully stocked. We were toe-to-toe on the couch in the living room. He was adjusting the strings on his guitar and checking the sound. I always admired the care he gave his instruments. You would think they were living, breathing beings the way he doted over them. I guess after what we saw tonight, he was right: his guitar was a creator of life, energy. I glanced at my father’s guitar, which was still on its stand, deciding that I didn’t trust it, not after what happened the last time I’d played it. I let it be and turned my stare to Draven and his guitar once again.

“What did you and Cashton talk about?” I asked him as I set my glass on the table behind him. When I eased back into the tangle of his legs, I found an alluring gaze awaiting me.

“A lot,” he said so quietly, I barely heard him in the quiet room. “What makes us stronger as one.”

I’m sure he noticed the sharp intake of breath that I took. A ghost of a smile lingered in his eyes just before they fell to the guitar across him.

“He’s confident, like you. Doesn’t say anything unless he believes it.”

“I kinda like that about him. I like that he backs up the point that opposites attract.”

His grin was nothing less than sinful. “He mentioned that a few times, and when he was done he wanted to know if he kicked my ass if it would sink in faster.”

I belted into laughter.

“I don’t think Kara would have ever had a conversation with me like that,” he said, blushing as he toyed with the strings on the guitar.

“I miss her…”

“She’s safe,” he promised, catching my gaze. “I think we’ll see Nana and Dad tomorrow.”

“What are the details about that? Isn’t this like a movie set or something?”

I only vaguely remembered his dad asking him if he would play for his friend. It was like he was supposed to be a part of an ending party to the movie they were making. Draven had thought it would be a good idea because the city it was in was New Orleans. He was sure there would be energy there that needed to be released.

Draven grinned. “Apparently, Dad knows a producer who is wrapping up a film in that city. They used the song in one of the scenes. The cast and staff know it and love it. They will be our audience near one of the oldest plantations in the area. Dad’s even added to it: a violin, keyboard, and another drum. It expands the part where I always leave, gives us more time on the song to bring those souls back.”

“Wow,” I mouthed, seeing what he was saying - hearing it as it was rehearsed, the track of Draven’s voice playing with the new instruments. “I don’t know what’s cooler: that sound, or the fact that it’s going to be in a movie.”

His grin grew, realizing that part of it for the first time. “That is pretty unbelievable.”

“Are you sad?” I asked.

“Why would you ask that?” he said as he gently set the guitar on the ground before reaching for me.

I let my fingers entangle in his, feeling the hum of his skin. “’Cause...that is something that could kick-start your career, but we’re not even there to enjoy it.”

His warm hands tightened around my fingers as he pulled me closer. I crawled to his side of the couch and lay on his chest. His fingers drifted through my hair as his chest gently rose and fell.

“I think after what we saw on the beach tonight, we both understand that fame is not the gift. It’s the life the music gives. We’re forever our music. We are eternal life.”

“I just hope that no matter what we have to face, you always get to play for an audience. You’re mesmerizing on stage. It’s like you were born to do it.”

He sighed as his fingertips danced across my back. “Music is alive, we know that. My music may only reach a thousand or so, maybe more. But what if one of those thousands created a painting or graphic image and that image not only inspired people, but also caused one of their fans to write a different song or create something else completely? That song we made will circle the world, no doubt, but before long there will be no way to trace its existence back to us writing it in Salem. The only thing familiar will be the energy. I don’t think we can save the damned with one song - or even several - but I think we can cause a chain reaction. For all we know, we already have. That movie is a broad outlet, no doubt. We’ll live on through that sound long after we finish this life.”

I heard a goodbye in his voice. I heard him tell me that he was not going to let anything hurt me or allow me to face anything evil in this world, that he was almost certain that at some point we might have to say goodbye, find each other in another life. I felt my heart seize with dread.

He had to see that we were one, that if something happened to him, I would feel it. Beyond words, I would feel it.

“What did you and Cashton talk about again?” I asked, hoping he would see my quiet argument.

“Taking care of each other,” he said just under his breath as his fingertips traced the strap on my tank top.

“Are you afraid?” I whispered as my fingertips outlined his collarbone.

“Hurting you would kill me,” he said in a husky whisper as his lips found my forehead.

I laid my head on his chest. “The last time I tested you it was the wrong place and the wrong time. I’m not going to make that mistake again. You tell me when. Obviously, it won’t be tonight. We lost our grip on that meditation.”

It was silent for a second as he took in my invitation to try.

“What makes you think we can’t meditate again?” he finally asked in his trademark hypnotic voice.

I felt my skin blush, then tense against him. “I...I don't know.”

His fingertips danced across the visible skin on my shoulders as he let out a deep breath. “Well, if we can’t mediate on our own...we’ll take that as a sign.”

He may be taking that as a sign, but I was taking it as a challenge - and I loved to be challenged.

“I’m calming my mind now, Mr. Michaels,” I said against his chest as I let out a deep breath.

I heard him laugh quietly. One thing was for sure: we both knew how to tempt one another. I had to let it be his idea, and he had to challenge me.

The anticipation was not helping me calm down at all, so I just pretended I was falling asleep. As my eyes closed, I remembered all that I’d seen on the beach tonight, how the world would never look the same to me again, how music would never look the same. I focused on that calm feeling. When Draven’s arms wrapped around my waist and I felt the hum of his essence I was nearly there. A few long moments later, I heard the whisper of my name and opened my eyes to see Draven’s essence, his soul standing before me. I rose from where I was leaving my body behind to rest blissfully in the arms of Draven’s body.

I wished I could talk so I could say something smart, witty, something like ‘I’m sorry - were you trying to challenge me?’ Instead, I tilted my head slightly as I gazed at him, all of the energy he was made of. There were other colors branching off him, but in the core of his soul I saw light. I focused on that light, the beauty of his soul.

His soul stepped closer to mine. I could feel my emotions swarming in every direction. I didn’t want this to go wrong. If it went perfectly, there would be no way he could ever argue that we were on borrowed time. This moment would be my weapon for eternity.

Draven cautiously raised his hand and I moved my head slowly from side to side. I saw the resolve in his image. He was glad I was stopping us before we went too far, but he was wrong: I wasn’t stopping anything.

As he lowered his hand, I focused on that small light I saw within him, then stepped forward and reached for that glow. When my hands passed through where his chest would be if he were solid, our bodies - which were on the couch beside us - let out a breath, and Draven’s arms tightened around my body. I ignored the pain my body was telling me his grip was bringing. If I let it, my body would have called my soul back as a form of defense. Instead, my thoughts were on this tantalizing energy that was swimming through my soul. My hands touched the light I saw in him and I heard sighs from our bodies. The sign was a weak reconnection of this bliss.

I felt like I was holding his soul, the part of him that I know I never forgot. I wanted to dive into this ecstasy and did just that as I stepped forward, pulling my soul into his. At that moment, we were truly one. Ecstasy was felt for the first time.

A bolt of light exploded from us. It was so bright you would have thought the sun was shining on us, through us. I couldn’t see anything, hear anything. But I could feel him, every part of him, the good and the bad. I felt it. It mirrored my emotions. Where he was dense I was light. Where I was dark he was light. It was a balance of elation that suspended time. Right now, there was no tomorrow, no today - or even a yesterday. Our existence was this: being one. Completely and utterly connected to the universe itself.

The stress of being out of place or even lost was gone. I didn’t need to worry about my parents, my friends, Monroe, or even the damned souls because I knew at that point that this was what every soul was striving for. I knew we would bring this to the world. This peace, this resolution.

The aroma of roses filled the room. The lingering scent of mint was there, too. It was coming from him - from the core of his soul. It was strong, refreshing, and most essentially, everlasting.

Ecstasy consumed us, the light around our souls dimmed, and the night took on the shade of a rose, one that lasted for hours. We didn’t bother to move, to wake until the sun had been up for hours. It was our bodies that protested: the grumble of our stomachs began to pull us to a wakeful state.

My energy eased out of his, only to notice a sense of awe in his essence. He could not fathom the night we had. Neither could I.

A clenching pain in my body pulled me out of that surreal moment and into the wakeful state in which my body wanted me to be in. When I focused my eyes, I realized it was a hunger pang. I was furious at my body for being so selfish. I knew I’d gone longer than this without food. It didn’t make sense that I felt this way.

Draven moved beneath me and realized that he was awake, too. I smiled shyly at him, still feeling the hum of his soul within me. Oddly, the scent of mint was now coming from his skin, but it was so light that I had to focus to make sure I was really sensing it.

“If you ever even dare to doubt that we belong together, I’m going to...I don’t know what I’m going to do, but it will be bad - possibly painful,” I threatened in the most unimpressive tone.

A breathtaking grin came across his face as his hand cupped my face and he pulled me into a deep kiss - a kiss that was hungry, a kiss that didn’t care what today held. We had just beaten the demon that had haunted us for months. It didn’t matter that he was an Escort, that my energy was brighter. It didn’t matter because our souls had proven that we fit together perfectly as one.

My stomach growled again, ending the moment. Draven pulled away from his kiss when his laughter forced him to.

“Why am I so hungry?” I asked in an annoyed tone.

“I’m starving, too. Maybe our bodies felt what we were going through. Had to be exhausting for them.”

“You’re exhausted?” I asked, thinking that from the way Cashton talked about this, he should feel powerful, not weak.

“Are you kidding? I feel like I could run a marathon, climb a mountain, play endlessly – the harder the song, the better.” His eyes grew wide, emphasizing the part about playing.

“Me, too.” I arose from his chest. “I’m going to take a quick shower, then figure out what’s for breakfast.”

He chased my lips as I stood stealing one more kiss. Playfully, I raced away from his embrace as he fell from the couch.

“That was cruel!” he yelled after me, trying to stifle a laugh.

“The faster we get through this day, the faster we can convince them to let us come back here,” I yelled back as I grabbed my bag from the bed before going into the bathroom connected to the bedroom.

In the shower I could not stop grinning. Even as I thought of what I was fighting I still smiled because I knew I could face it now. I felt like I could face anything or anyone.

By the time I was dressed I could smell pancakes. The aroma made me hurry to put on my short combat boots just before shoving my jeans into them.

Draven had finished making the pancakes and was starting on the eggs when I took over and nudged him to take his turn in the shower. When he kissed my temple before he walked away, I could still feel the hum of his essence – still smell that mint. The memory of our night together sent a warm shiver through me.

We ate in silence, catching each other’s stare once in a while and blushing shyly when we saw the images of last night in each other’s mind.

“Are you ready for tonight?” I asked him once the kitchen was clean.

He was leaning against the bar in the kitchen and reached for me to come to his side. “Playing is going to feel good, but all I’m going to be focused on is convincing Brady to bring us back here.”

I felt some invisible force around me reach for him in eager compliance, but my skin blushed beneath my serious composure.

“There’s more to it than playing and getting back here. We have a lot to work out. First thing I want to do is make sure Monroe is okay. Maybe she can confirm if Grayson is really okay, what side Winston is on. We just have to figure out what to do next.”

His hands slowly moved across my back. “I know this is a lot. We are losing people faster than we can save them. We just need to take this moment-to-moment. We’ll find our way.” He moved his hand in small circles against my back. “We’re going to keep you nice and innocent, like the peacemaker you are.”

I cringed. “You can’t fight all my battles for me. We are in this together. There is no leaving one of us behind. You remember that when you get any crazy ideas in that head of yours.”

He had to have felt me begging him to promise me one more time that he wouldn’t do something stupid, something that would take him away from me - take us away - but he didn’t say a word. He just pulled me to his chest. I wanted to hear him promise me, though, and just as I was about to demand it, there was a knock on the door.

Draven cleared his throat before sliding away from me to answer it. I assumed it was Cashton, but that’s not who he let in: it was Brady, and he was all alone.

“Hey, guys. I know I’m a little early – hey, something smells good. Do you have any -” Brady stopped short as his eyes met me, and a smile resonated on his face as he looked at Draven, then back at me. “Wow,” he said, almost to himself. “You guys...you guys look strong.”

“Are you serious?” I said just before I turned crimson.

Brady’s grin grew. “Why are you blushing? I just meant that you guys haven’t been this...I don’t know, ‘bright’ since I met you. Looks like a quiet night on the beach gave you your second wind - which you need, by the way. The list of problems is growing. I think the latest issue, though, is almost solved – well, found.”

It was clear he was having a hard time focusing. He just kept looking between us with the most absurd wonder in his eyes.

I tried to unfocused my eyes so I could see if there were some awkward color to my energy, but when I did I really didn’t see anything more than I saw yesterday. At that point, I just assumed Brady was acting that way because he had never seen us happy or this relaxed. I told myself I was being paranoid.

“What do you mean, ‘new problem’”? Draven asked, clearly not caring what Brady was looking at.

“Madison didn’t come home last night. None of them did. We didn’t figure it out until this morning when Drake was supposed to show up for breakfast - some kind of meeting with the court.”

“What do you mean, she didn’t come home?!” I yelled as I rushed to the door, as if I could run to the last place I’d seen her and find her standing there.

“Calm down,” Brady said, blocking my way to the door. “Aden did the ‘seeing’ thing and found her at her mom’s – with everybody else. Willow and Landen went to get them. Marc is posing as Drake right now. He cancelled the meeting with the court, stating he was having breakfast with Draven instead.”

Draven looked down at his jeans and black T-shirt, then back at Brady. “Do I need to change?”

“Nah. Aden is playing you.” Brady held in a laugh. “I swear it’s like all of you have doubles. Good thing, too. It’s saved us more than once. There are going to be fireworks at the palace when Drake gets back. I’ve never seen Alamos so mad – and Drake could care less who he makes mad.”

“She’s fine, though? You’re sure?” I asked for clarification.

“Promise. Aden just decided to look in the one place he thought Madison would go if she could go anywhere, and he found her at home. Aden never even left the room and found them before hundreds of others could even figure out where to look.”

“Take us to Monroe,” Draven ordered, “then I want to see my brother. I need to talk to him, understand what’s going on in his head. Has he been acting weird? Do you think he’s processing everything okay?”

“He’s fine. That place he went really helped him center himself - to not grab too much information. I mean, I can tell he’s trying to unravel all this - the big picture, as he calls it. Honestly, he’s just more talkative now.” He looked at me. “Monroe is in New Orleans with your family. She was the one who set everything in motion last night. Dad already had her in New Orleans before Winston disappeared.”

“I don't understand. She knew this was going to happen? Why did she want to go to Nana and not us?”

Brady shrugged his shoulders. “She rose from her meditation and asked to go there. They told her to wait a few hours until your dinner was done so you would know. But she insisted, and Preston and Libby backed her up.”

“What was her excuse? Did she even give one?”

“She said she had to protect Libby and Preston - and Allie - that her father would soon know where she was and she needed to hide in the darkness, something about how she was too easy to see in Chara.”

“Was she scared?” I asked in a crackling voice. I was doing a really bad job of making sure she was safe.

“She never looks scared. Rose assured my dad that she wasn’t. She said she was really calm and sure that she needed to go where your family is. We can go by the palace, meet up with everyone, then head to Infante - New Orleans - so you can get ready for tonight.”

We were eager to go. I had to know that Monroe was okay, that Madison was. I was actually pretty surprised that Madison had pulled something like that. She wasn’t one to rock the scales when there was a lot going on - but then again, knowing her, she more than likely wanted to get her mother’s take on Drake, on everything.

Just as I stepped forward, something blocked me. It was dense, paralyzing, and invisible. I wasn’t the only one that felt it. Draven and Brady were frozen in place, too. Wide-eyed, I went to speak - but before I could I saw an image appear in the living room.

Chapter Fifteen

A ball of fire that turned purple had escorted the image into the quaint living room. It was a girl, a beautiful girl. Her hair was long, blonde, yet held a tint of lavender. Her eyes were crystal blue and looked as if the ocean itself were swimming in the raging emotions I saw in her. I couldn’t explain her style. It was modern, yet aged. Her black pants were tight and had several pockets and loops here and there. Her top looked like a corset, and the deep purple enhanced the lavender tone in her blonde hair. A necklace that reached to her stomach carried the large symbol of a pentagram. It shone as a purple flame evaporated across it.

A violin was in her left hand and a bow in her right. Her eyes locked with Draven’s and as they did I could swear I saw an ache there. Swiftly, her stare met mine as she aimed her bow at my father’s guitar. A purple flame encased it, causing it to explode in slow motion. Within the slow-moving debris, a cream colored sheet of paper floated to the ceiling. She pulled her bow back to her, and when she did, the guitar was whole again and the fire was out. After one more gaze at Draven, she vanished, taking with her the weight that was paralyzing us in place.

“What. Just. Happened?” I uttered as I replayed it over and over in my mind. The entire episode lasted only five seconds at best.

Draven stepped forward and caught the paper that was floating to the floor. The unexpected aroma of sage in the room was telling me that I was not crazy - that it did just happen.

“What does it say?” Brady asked Draven in a faint tone.

“Wait - don’t read it...is it safe? Was she good or bad?” I argued, not trusting anyone or anything, especially something as wicked as that. Where the hell was Cashton when I needed him?

“This house is sealed with herbs,” Brady clarified. “They were put here to protect you before I brought you here. A mile in each direction was also sealed off. That girl was far from evil.”

“You’re trusting herbs to tell you that?” I argued.

“I’m trusting the fact that she was wearing a pentagram. That alone stands for protection against evil. And the sage – do you smell it? That wards off evil,” Brady said to me as he walked to Draven’s side.

I nodded, agreeing with him. Now that my heart was beating at a calmer level, I was almost sure I’d read something like that when Madison and I were trying to seal off the school so we could help the shadows before they vanished into the town, just in case something really evil followed us out of The Realm. We were nothing if not cautious.

“Then what was she?”

“Best guess: a shadowed soul,” Brady replied dryly.

“What?” Draven and I both said at once.

“They’re not ghosts, and they’re not dark. They just died before their time. They know who they are and at what moment they can step back into life. Where Felicity was raised, they are basically worshipped, seen as guardians. They feel that they move you forward to open a door for them so they can protect you from falling into the same fate that they had. Others have different beliefs, ones that say they are lurking to take over your life. I’ve never seen truth to the negative side of it. I have for the positive, though.”

“You’ve seen dead people come back to life?” I questioned as I searched his thoughts, not finding that to be true.

“No, but I have seen babies that have been born exactly 40 weeks, 8 days, 16 hours, 32 minutes, and eight seconds after sighting one. That was when Allie was born. The time was exact from when Felicity awoke from a dream of seeing one.”

“Your daughter,” I said breathlessly.

He swallowed nervously. “Every number leads back to eight, except for the minutes. Thirty-two – three plus two – adds to five, which means change.”

“What does eight mean?” Draven asked.

“Perfection, infinity, the total universe, new life, resurrection, prosperity, love, the sun – the list is endless. Felicity and I have studied everything we know, trying to understand our baby, why us, why her - and we are no closer today than we were that night of her dream. It took Allie’s birth for me to believe that the dream was more than it was. I still don’t know what to think about it.”

Draven and I both glanced nervously at each other, wondering what had caused this visit from that shadowed soul.

“What’s on the paper?” Brady asked again. I could feel the fear coming off him. It was stabbing what energy I did have left like knives.

“Wait. No. Felicity had a dream - then had a baby? We just saw her wide awake. What does that mean?!” I asked in a rushed panic.

“Whatever is on that paper, I’m assuming,” Brady answered emphatically. “When you see them, they basically tell you exactly what must happen for their door to open. Felicity was handed a baby girl, you were handed a note. Hence why I am very eager to see what is on it.”

“So I do what’s on that paper, and that girl comes to life?” Draven asked.

“I don’t know. Listen, everyone is trying to figure out how to move forward because if we move forward, the children are safe, Monroe is safe. Shadowed souls move you forward; they knock you into the door you must open. They represent life, new beginnings, and fate. That girl could just be one of the millions of answered pleas this family and dimension have sent to the universe. All we want is peace for everyone.”

Draven glanced to the paper, then to me. “It’s one of her father’s songs – well, part of it. It looks like the scrap paper he was using to write it out.”

“Which one?”

“Rex Mortis.”

“The king of death?” Brady asked in a hollow tone.

“I guess it does mean that, but the song is more instrumental than lyrical. Most people thought it was about a guy named Rex,” I explained, reaching for the paper. I read my father’s handwriting aloud. “Bereavement for Rex Mortis will come when the divided are one; fire will burn, angels will fall.” The song went on to repeat those words at different times and places among a heavy drum and rhythm guitar.

“Xavier has been called the king of death for as long as I can remember,” Brady stated, as he turned white.

“What?!”

“Old stories say that when you were sent to execution, he was the one that did so, and you had a choice to die in agony or with a touch. Most chose the touch because it looked painless, but the real pain came after death - eternally damned, or so the story goes. It is an old wives’ tale that has been spoken in whispers since before my grandfather’s time in Esterious.”

“The divided are one,” Draven repeated.

I snatched the paper from him. “Yep, that’s what it says. We are all one and cannot divide,” I said sharply. “Let’s go.”

Brady’s eyes shifted between us before he turned to lead us to the passage. I kept pace with him, avoiding Draven’s eyes, the look that would tell me that he was going to do something stupid just because of a song my father had written decades ago. My silence alone told him that I wasn’t even going to consider it.

Inside the string, people were passing to and from the passage of Chara and the gray ones in the distance that led in the direction of Esterious. Briskly I walked ahead of both Draven and Brady. My heart was hammering with a pulsating anger. I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t think I had ever been this mad - this hopelessly furious in my entire life.

I grunted when I thought of Cashton, how he said I needed to join energy with Draven so I could have some of his anger. Anger sucked. I hated feeling this way. I hated feeling this way toward Draven.

As the passing people thinned out, disappeared into the glow, I felt Draven grip my arm, stopping me in my place.

“What?!” I asked, turning to glare at him.

“What?” he asked as a pain masked his eyes. “You’re furious, and I have no idea why. How can you go from one emotion to another so fast?”

“How can I? Are you serious?!” I glanced at Brady, who was lingering a few steps in front of us, and decided I didn’t care if he heard us fight this out. “What was last night? A goodbye? What were you doing – just wanting one final moment alone with me before you made the stupidest mistake of your life?!”

“What mistake?!” he yelled back. “I haven’t done anything!”

“Yet!” I said as my eyes blazed with anger. “This is beyond ridiculous. We’re just kids - kids that for some Godforsaken reason can hear whispers, see shadows. The weight of the world does not rest on our shoulders.”

“Right now it does, Charlie - you know that.”

“Guys, we need to move,” Brady said, trying to step between us.

I pushed him back. “Back off,” I snapped, then returned my glare to Draven, feeling the energy in the string turning viciously cold with our anger. “He’s your brother. I don’t care what a song says, what a scroll, book, wood block says, he is your brother, and there is no way - no way in hell - that we can claim a victory if anyone is lost in this. Period.”

“Exactly! We’re losing, Charlie!” he bellowed. “Forget the damned – what about Grayson and Winston? Monroe? Silas?” He gripped my shoulders. “I will not let you lose your innocence. If Aden and I can team up and take out this master, then this all stops – all of it.” His jaw flexed before he went on. “We have to read the signs before us. Some shadowed soul appeared and is telling us we have to do this with your own father’s words. I know you. If this were your choice you would take it. You would take it to save a stranger. I’m taking it to save people we care about. I’m taking it to save you - and apparently that was the plan in Pompeii, and it went wrong. Next time, it will go right.”

All I could do was glare.

“We need to move!” Brady said again.

“Not now!” Draven yelled in his direction.

An ache that no soul should feel engulfed me as angry tears encased my eyes. “Every part of me is telling me this is wrong, Draven. You’re an individual. So is Aden. Why would fate have you join to bring down one evil man?! This can’t happen. Tell me that you love and trust me enough to believe that I’m not arguing about this for the sole fear of losing you. I’m arguing because it’s wrong. It would not be that easy to take out what Cashton outlined for us. This is not strategy - this is suicide.”

Draven gasped as his eyes rushed over me, over the thin air around me.

“Okay,” he said as he pulled me to him. It wasn’t the promise I wanted, but it calmed me down.

Before I could reach my arms around him or take a breath, Brady yelled, “Get down!”

We didn’t have a chance to listen to him. What felt like a wave of energy charged through the string and knocked us into the walls. I cringed, knowing that if there was not a passage there, we would burn in place.

The white wall fell past us without a single hint of pain. We were knocked to the rocky ground. Draven was on his feet before I could blink, pulling me up. Taking in our surroundings, I couldn’t fathom where we were. It looked like the peak of a volcano. Steaming fog was lingering in the air that seemed too thin to breathe - but that wasn’t what was terrifying. It was the fact that we were alone. Brady didn’t fall through the wall like we did.

“How stupid can you be?” I heard Bianca say and turned to see her walking slowly through the fog toward us.

Draven stepped in front of me, but I dodged out of his way. I needed a target at which to throw all my frustrations - and she was the perfect one.

“Oh yeah, I forgot - I was supposed to kill you. No, wait - you’re just going to vanish like a coward, or better yet take over an image of someone else. You cold-hearted wench,” I seethed.

Bianca crossed her arms and raised one eyebrow. “Take your best shot.”

With a nod, I knocked her to the ground, but she was on her feet before I could even find pleasure in that act.

“Feel better?” she asked without any emotion or expression in her voice.

“You’re still breathing, aren’t you?”

“Don’t worry, Charlie - you’re going to get your wish soon enough. But I doubt it will be very joyful for you, considering you and all your little friends are going to go down with me.”

“Did you do this? Are we here because of you?!” Draven yelled.

“Maybe. What are you going to do about it?” she said, winking at him.

“You think I’m worried about this? That I can’t see my way to someone who could find us here?” he threw back at her.

“Yeah, maybe. Go ahead. Leave. Me and Charlie have a few things to clear up.”

“I told you to stay away from her,” he said with a clenched jaw.

“Yeah, well, maybe I was distracted by all the things you were saying with your eyes, daring to say with your hands.”

This time, I didn’t knock her down Draven did. I wanted to smile so badly, but I was just too focused on every word, every move she was making.

Instantly, she was on her feet. “Fine, Draven. Please stay. The Cavalry is on their way anyway.”

“Are you here to bargain? Want to exchange something for Grayson or Winston? Sorry, negotiations are closed. In fact, they were never open,” was my flat response.

“Bargain? I have laid out a brick road for you. I did everything but put out a freaking sign that says ‘Charlie, go here - do this.’”

“What have you done besides raise hell?”

“I didn’t raise hell. I escaped to give you some kind of direction. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get around Xavier? How impossible that is?”

“Apparently, not too impossible. You’re here – or is he waiting in the fog?”

“No. Thankfully, Drake has his attention right now. Listen, why do you think I used Winston to get to you? So you would see what was in that guitar - but instead you fell asleep. Then you woke and had brunch with Britain. I bet that was fun to witness. Anyway, I waited. Waited for you to go back to the guitar, figure this out. Hard to do when you’re dancing at a ball and hiding out on a beach, but whatever. I seriously hoped the shadowed soul would knock some sense into you – show you your own father’s direction. I was the one that gave your mom the blades in that box – all me. I have done everything to help you stay alive, and you just don’t get it!”

“Oh, so you’re a saint? What knives?”

“Let them join, end this - before it’s too late,” she said with a harsh clipped tone as her blue eyes blazed and the wind jerked her long, dark hair off her shoulders.

“You think I believe you? That I could honestly believe that you have been helping us? No. No way in hell.”

“Fine. Read the blades.”

“What blades?” Draven asked.

“They are in the box – only those that must join can open it.” Her eyes blazed through me. “Charlie, you’re right: they are two now, and they can’t stay as one for long, but they can stay as one long enough to kill Xavier, to open the door to a new reality. You could end this all tonight – not only for you and yours, but for Willow and hers, those kids. Xavier is the head of the snake, and you can only kill him during an eclipse – when your rising moves from your sign, the eleventh hour. If you don’t want to kill him, fine. I’ve been in hell for a while…not sure how your little friend Monroe will like it when they finally get their hands on her, drain her for all she is worth.”

I charged forward, but Draven held me back.

“You flooded Aden’s mind – why?! Where’s the explanation there?! You blinded me, tried to come between Draven and me - took Landen and Drake and just want to show up here and tell me I’m an idiot, that I’ve misread your intent? Give – me – a – break!”

“I did blind you so you could fight that way. I did come between you and Draven so you would learn to fight for him. I did take Landen and Drake so you and Willow would come together in this battle. I did it all, and I’m proud of it. I managed to look like the universe’s best soldier while simultaneously leading to my commander’s death. For the life of me, I cannot figure out why you are any of our last hopes. I guess we are just that unlucky.”

“You want Xavier dead? Kill him in his sleep for all I care.”

“The only reason you are against this is because you think if they join, you will lose one of them. You’re wrong.”

“How?” Draven asked before I could throw a comeback at her.

“Easy. Who divided you in the first place? A Witness. Witnesses are not risen, created. They are born that way. How many Witnesses do you know? I can think of three, and any one of them could divide you the second Xavier falls. You think combining would be an end? It’s just a means to an end. The amount of power it would take to kill Xavier could not be in one soul. You have to become one to end him. That’s the only way. Why would I lie? When the door opens to hell, I’m walking out. Like I said, I’m used to it. Others, not so much - and here lately, Xavier has a craving for young beings, ones that are full of ambition, ones just like Monroe and her new friends.”

“You’re telling me that any Witness could break us apart?” Draven demanded.

“I am. Do what you want.” The ground rumbled all around us. “This conversation has already cost me more than you can fathom. Sorry you couldn’t throw the final blow, Charlie. Nice knowing you.”

At that moment, screeching dark shadows raced through the fog, wrapping around her. She tried to fight them, but they whisked her away. As they did, her screams of agony tore through me. Some of the lingering shadows charged in our direction, but before the first one could reach me a bright light exploded behind us and I felt myself jerked backward.

Chapter Sixteen

Breathless, I found myself on the floor of the string, lying between Landen and Draven. As we rose to our feet, I saw Brady leaned forward, bracing himself on his knees, clearly out of breath. He rose to a standing position as we did.

“The next time I say, ‘We need to move’ or ‘Get down’ - DO SO.”

Even though his tone was harsh, I could see why. He’d anticipated that something was off in the string and was trying to protect us. When we fell through the wall, he couldn’t follow us. The only ones that can walk through the walls of the string unharmed are Landen and Willow, for some strange reason. Brady had to run to where he thought Landen was, and luckily he found him near the passages of Esterious on his way back with Madison and the others. Apparently, in a glimpse Landen could ‘see’ what was wrong without Brady saying a word, which saved time. A second later...I wouldn’t be here to be scolded by Brady.

Landen looked over Draven and me carefully. “I don’t believe her,” he commented flatly.

“You don’t believe her, or you know she’s not telling the truth?” Draven said as he rolled back his shoulder, which had been slammed into the string floor, obviously trying to work out the pain.

“She is not telling the truth!” I bellowed. “Cashton said there was no way that you and Aden could have been divided or whatever in that arena. Call me crazy, but I would believe my own brother before her. If you were never joined, then how would she or anyone know that a Witness could divide you?!”

Draven glanced at Landen, wanting his take on it.

“She’s blank to me. That’s why she fooled me in The Realm. There is no read there. Clarissa said it’s because she’s a mirror of a soul, not real enough for me to grasp emotions that a soul would have. Seems to me like you guys have found old family. No secret how highly I hold family, especially brothers,” Landen said, glancing to Brady.

“We can prove it, though. She made it seem like the blades would back up her point that a Witness could divide us after we joined,” Draven hastily replied. “Maybe we were not divided then and we were just both there, but what if that is the answer? What if they knew we could do that and assumed that is what happened?”

“Draven!” I exclaimed. “For all you know, they planted those visions in The Realm and toyed with Silas. Shock, Draven – that is an intense emotion to deal with. Nothing is ever what it seems – how do you not get that?!”

He reached his hand for my shoulders. “Charlie, if I can end this bullshit right now, then I’m going to. The point was to get you to some kind of peace - and instead I have walked you straight into hell. Your own brother said he didn’t want you in the middle of this. This has to stop before you become someone you’re not, before one mark is etched into your soul.”

“The last person I’m taking direction from is Bianca!” I roared.

“From the looks of it, those were her last words. Let’s find the knives. Your mom would not have given you something that would hurt us. You trust her, don’t you?”

Oh, I hated how he knew exactly what buttons of mine to push.

“Well, yeah...but still...”

Landen was circling us slowly.

“What is it?” Brady asked him.

“Not a single burn. Not even their clothes,” Landen muttered in response.

“I thought it was because their energy levels were so elevated,” Brady said, looking at the thin air around us.

Landen nodded once, trying to hold in a grin. “You guys got some rest last night?”

“Seriously? What we did last night? That’s where this conversation is turning?” My tone was encased with humiliation.

Landen tilted his head. “How long would it take you to get ready to perform on stage tonight?” he asked.

“From the looks of things, not long,” Draven replied with a slight smirk. “Why?”

“I’m wondering how elevated your power is...if I stopped time, if you would still be aware. The problem is if I do that we will lose time when I resume it.”

“You did that when we saved you. We’re not immune,” Draven countered.

“That was before - before that guitar shocked all of you, before the kids put you to sleep, before last night. Stopping time would allow us to have an edge if we needed one tonight or any other time. We should test this,” Landen said, looking at Brady, who had his arms crossed as his steel blue eyes followed the conversation.

“What?” he asked. “You want me to dance around or something so you can see if I freeze in place?”

“Yeah,” Landen answered with a smirk.

Just as Brady unfolded his arms in protest, he froze - but we didn’t.

Landen’s eyes found us. “Guess it works now.”

Before I could ask why, I heard Brady say, “You are out of your mind - I’m not dancing around. You know this messes with the looking glass…” Noticing our smirk, he stopped. “You did it already, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, but I would do it again if you promised to dance this time,” Landen teased.

Brady rolled his eyes. “I’m not sure if I like this old-slash-new Landen. Get serious. We saw a shadowed soul.”

“Right, one that Bianca claims she sent,” Landen sighed. “That wooden box is in New Orleans...” He looked at me, then to Draven. “You have to follow what you feel, not what you see or are told.”

“Then let’s see what’s in that box,” Draven said, reaching for my hand.

Brady led and Landen lingered behind us, which made me feel like we were some kind of prisoners - either that or guarded precious cargo. Neither title would make me feel comfortable. I would glance back at Landen from time to time, just long enough to grasp that tingling sensation in my mind. I wasn’t seeing much. Apparently that knife wound of mine, the one he had healed, had spurred a chain reaction. Now he and Olivia could ‘see’ in some way. But Landen was as Cashton said he was: smart. He was holding back where he had been and what he had done. He did not want our paths to cross unless they had to. I trusted him enough to know that he wouldn’t let me walk into something deadly, though. I just hoped that trust was not misplaced.

As the gray passage came into view, Aden, Willow, Olivia, and Chrispin stepped into the string. A second later they were followed by Madison.

“Willow’s freaked out because she said time stopped - what happened?” Chrispin asked as we reached them.

“Just testing the waters,” Brady grumbled as he passed the passages and continued toward the ones that led to my home dimension.

Willow was staring at Landen; talking with their minds, I assumed. I ignored it and locked eyes with Madison. She was dressed like home, and so were Olivia and Chrispin. I was almost sure Chrispin was wearing some of Draven’s clothes.

Landen nodded to Chrispin, then passed us and took Willow’s hand. They led with Brady, and we lingered in the back with Aden and Madison. Chrispin and Olivia stayed behind us, taking the guard position in which Landen was walking.

Draven let go of my hand as he walked closer to Aden. I watched as they exchanged gazes, sharing what they could about what had happened while they were apart, along with what could happen.

“Fun night,” I said under my breath as I glanced at Madison. I couldn’t see anything. She was keeping her thoughts on lockdown for sure.

“A normal one…that was nice.”

“Was it?” I asked, somewhat surprised.

She shrugged.

“I can’t see it, Madison...you know I want to know, but I get it.”

“What do you want to know?” she asked, blushing slightly.

I felt Olivia and Chrispin slow their walk as if they knew we wanted a private conversation.

“I don’t know. How did ‘I’m going to stay a few minutes’ turn into a search and rescue?”

“We just fell asleep. Apparently, that was a bad idea.”

“Did you go home so your mom could meet him?”

“Kind of. When we were eating that dessert, I told him that this would never work, even for pretend, that it wasn’t real. He asked me what was real, so I showed him. We walked through Salem, listened to music, and I showed him some of my artwork. We then watched a movie…and fell asleep.”

“I see.”

“Do you?” she asked in a nervous voice.

“Um...no. Figure of speech. Why?”

She didn’t answer me, so I elbowed her, knowing it wasn’t all that peaceful or innocent.

“Fine. I did something really immature, but it was halfway Drake’s idea.”

“What?”

“I don’t know. When he asked me why I agreed to do that dance thing, I told him it was for revenge, even though I agreed to it before I figured out Britain was a player. Then I told him why.”

“Madison,” I said with a sigh, almost feeling sorry for Drake.

“I know, I know. I just...” She glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one was close enough to clearly hear us. “It was just a defense. It sucks to look just like her, Charlie, to not know who he’s really seeing. Being mad at Britain was my defense, and Drake...Drake is just really good at getting me to talk. It didn’t take him long to figure out I was mad at Britain and why. So, when we were in Salem we made it a point to be seen by Anna, all her friends, and eventually Britain showed up.”

“Was there a fight or something?”

“Nope. We acted like we didn’t see him, then put on a show. He kissed me, and I kissed him back, then we left the coffee shop and went to my house.”

“Feeling pretty crappy about that, aren’t you?” I asked as I looked over her.

“Yes and no. I mean, that’s low, I get it - but so was what Britain did...and I don’t even know what Britain and I are, you know? I mean, I always knew he wasn’t ‘the one’ or whatever, but I thought I meant more to him than that - that I could leave for a day without him having a girl at his house.”

“So, curious...how did you know he wasn’t ‘the one’?” I asked, simply because the last time I checked she wasn't looking for anyone.

The sharp intake of breath she took told me that she regretted letting that part out - that she was, in a way, lonely, looking for someone, that this ‘I don’t need anyone’ speech was just her defense.

“He didn’t make me nervous. Curious, but never nervous. I never had butterflies...I never heard my voice quiver...I never felt my head spin or my skin blush,” she said quietly as a ghost of a smile echoed on her lips, one that told me that the memory of Britain was not causing that grin.

“And who does that?” I pushed, wanting to see that relaxed smile that was just beneath her balanced composure.

“The boy in my dreams…too bad we’re both broken people now,” she said as she clenched her stomach.

I knew then that her insight of emotion on steroids had not gotten any better. It almost looked like it had gotten worse. She looked exhausted, and I doubted all of that exhaustion was from staying out late last night.

“Madison, he makes you nervous...” That was my promise, my way of pointing out that she was strong enough to overcome this and not use it as an excuse to push Drake away.

She blushed as she hid her grin. I’d never once seen her this happy over a guy before.

“Yeah...I guess he does.”

“Is he acting like himself now?” I asked as I glanced at Landen, wondering if it was still an issue for her - that some of Landen’s energy was in him.

“I’m not sure…seems like it. I think he got help with that problem.”

Silence took over for a few minutes.

“So, I guess we can’t ask Britain if Bianca is really dead,” I stated flatly.

“What?!” she said, looking at me with her pupils already expanded. After a second, she turned red with anger. “See, this is what I mean: I’m sitting here thinking about last night, and all of this crap went down - that’s why I don’t want to do this.”

“Yeah, well, at least you had last night because according to Bianca, we won’t have any more unless I do something stupid, let Draven and Aden do something stupid.”

Her eyes flew to Draven and Aden. “Oh no, I’ve already had enough issues with boys not being who they are.”

“Right.”

“It really did look like she died just now, didn’t it?” Madison said to herself.

“How many times have we thought that?” I bit out.

“Right.”

“I just have to figure out my priorities. I know Bianca is not the problem, at least not the big one. I just don’t know how to solve what is in front of me.”

She wasn’t listening to my little self-loathing moment. Rather, she was focused on everything she had missed. She had yet to mention Cashton to me, so I was sure he was still hiding himself from everyone but Draven and me.

“Shadowed soul...interesting,” Madison said to herself as her eyes landed on Aden.

“Wicked’ is more like it. The only thing I liked about her was the fact that she was obviously a musician. I guess the lavender hair color was cool, too - but seriously, that girl was powerful.”

“Not a big talker. I can’t see much in her through your memories. Did you see anything?”

“It happened too fast - like seconds.”

“We’ll figure it out,” she promised as we noticed that everyone was halting their walk.

Landen turned around. “Just walk in here like you own the place, up the stairs, through the kitchen. Outside, there are two Jeeps. We’ll make some calls and see where we need to be.”

I think we all looked at him like he was crazy, but he just stepped into the passage with Willow at his side.

Draven reached back for my hand. I took his, and we followed the others in. I smelled the stench of seafood immediately, but I didn’t understand why. We were in a room with a large generator and wall-to-wall freezers. Landen led us up an old staircase that opened into a kitchen, a restaurant kitchen, and I knew why I smelled crawfish and gumbo immediately: large pots of it were all along the commercial kitchen stoves. A few of the cooks looked up at us, but not many.

I had no idea what time it was here, but if I had to guess I would say it was late afternoon. The cooks looked like they were preparing for a huge dinner rush, but the front doors were still locked. Someone who I thought was the owner or manager unlocked it for us to get out.

People were crowded all along the streets. Most of them carried that tourist mark, taking pictures of everything with their phones and entirely too happy for an average day in New Orleans.

The Jeeps we were supposed to get in were parked in a side parking lot a block from the restaurant, but the walk seemed to take forever. The whispers almost seemed to cheer when they saw us, saying our names. The shadows were more corporeal, almost holding a solid image. This town had far more dead than living in it. Even if you didn’t have any extra senses, I’m sure anyone could feel it when they walked these eccentric streets.

While Landen unlocked the Jeeps and grabbed a cell phone to call whoever, I let go of Draven’s hand and tried to help a few shadows. What was odd was that it didn’t matter what I said; most of them would not leave. Finally, I asked a shadow that was a younger woman what her issue was, why she was holding on; she looked at me as if I were insane.

“We’re not leaving until we find whom we lost, until you open the door.” The dark hollow of her eyes grew even sadder. “You are going to open the door, right?” All at once, other seemingly corporeal shadows gathered around her, all telling me who they’d lost and when – begging that I take them to whoever it was.

“Enough!” I yelled when the desperate pleas began to take my breath away. I was sure that they would not only listen to me, but that it would also get the others’ attention, at least Draven’s.

I had managed to wander at least twenty feet from all of them, but the images didn’t back away. My voice was hollow, silent, as if they were masking it.

Then all at once they parted and a woman, that I was sure was still alive, walked closer to me. The long black coat she had around her made her gray hair seem white, and her gray eyes glistened with promise and hope. I noticed the pentagram around her neck and the pungent odor of sage as she stepped closer. The shadows turned to her, waiting for her to speak.

“Charlie has seen a shadowed soul. She has seen my daughter, and she knows what she has to do. All of you will not only find who you lost, but you will find a way to the pristine light of peace.”

As this woman spoke I felt that insane tingling sensation in my mind. There was no way she’d only lived seventy years or so. I could see centuries around her. I was almost sure I’d seen her die a time or two. I saw her as a shadow, then something that became like the images around me, then finally to this present living stage. I did see that lavender-haired girl with her, as an infant, as a child. I saw her die tragically, meaning the death I saw happen to Bianca an hour or so ago was hers, too. I cringed, thinking that this woman who was standing with the only truly honest souls I knew - my shadows - was backing up Bianca’s words.

Her gray eyes moved over me once more before she turned into the crowd of darkness and vanished. The damned souls she left behind silently stared at me - waiting for a promise, I suppose.

I felt someone grip my arm and looked up to see Draven, with Aden just beside him.

“I don’t think we can help them the same way,” he said under his breath to me as he looked at each of them.

“No. They need a sacrifice,” I bit out, pushing past them to walk back to the Jeeps.

Madison was climbing into the back of one as Chrispin added the address to the GPS.

“You guys take this one. We have a bit of a drive with the traffic,” he said as he moved out of the driver’s seat and threw the keys at Draven.

“Thanks, man,” Draven said, opening the passenger door for me to get in.

“What’s wrong, Charlie?” Madison asked, clasping her stomach as Draven closed my door.

As Aden climbed in next to her and Draven claimed the driver’s seat, I glanced back, showing her what that lady had said to me.

“How are you feeling, Aden?” I asked him as Draven got his bearings in the driver’s seat. This ride was a bit different from his Hummer.

“Trying not to think about that,” he answered, catching Draven’s glance in the rearview mirror.

“Why did you run? What have you been doing?” I pressured him.

“You can’t see it?” he asked.

“I’m sure I could, but I’m asking you.”

He glanced out the window. “I don’t know, guys. It was like watching a forgotten movie and reading an unwritten novel at the same time. Everything was crashing down inside of me, people were out of place, enemies I thought I had were nothing but a nuisance. I kept seeing this one place and I knew it was balanced enough for me to think. That Preston kid was there when I woke up. He told me the name of the place. I just went there to breathe.”

“Did they help you?” Madison asked, flinching, obviously having issues with the sixth sense of emotion. We were stuck in traffic. I guess the people around us were unhappy about that.

“Kind of. Austin stayed with me. He said those people just connect on a higher level. They didn’t have answers, but they taught me to breathe on the inside, how to just stay calm. But I’m not really calm because I feel like I’m losing that first rush. I know there are answers there. It’s a horrible feeling.”

“No joke,” Madison said almost incoherently.

“Sorry,” he said, taking in a deep breath and reaching to hold her hand. “What sucks is I’ve got more of the past than the present, and what I have is out of order. Only fragments here and there.”

“What do you know for sure?” Draven asked, locking stares with him in the mirror.

“I know that Xavier dude is no joke. I saw him everywhere around you.” Aden’s eyes met mine. “He’s the clearest in Pompeii. He knew I - we - were coming. The thing is, though, from those memories I don’t think we knew you were there, Charlie. I think we were hunting someone or something. We hadn’t even made it to the town before we were arrested and accused of everything from murder to robbery. Then the ash fell.”

“Do you think Silas knew?” I asked, blocking out every image that was surfacing of that time. I wanted to know, but I could not stand to witness the horror again.

“I think if he did, it wouldn’t have worked. I’m pretty sure he didn’t figure it out until we were in The Realm. That part still doesn’t make sense to me. I do remember it, but it wasn’t like a love thing. It was the fact that I knew you were fighting something I had to and that you were doing it because you didn’t want me or Draven hurt.”

“Can we say ‘role reversal’?” I mocked. “Okay, so you’re saying you were both there, that you knew Draven then – so were you teaming up to kill something wicked? What that was is the question. We should focus on that. Build up to Xavier.”

Draven threw a wicked glance at me, knowing what I was doing: placing reasonable doubt in everyone’s mind. I wanted proof and I wasn’t going to rest until I got it.

“I don’t know,” Aden said with a sigh. “I know that we had no doubt that we would take out Xavier. There was someone else, too, but I can’t remember. I almost think we found Xavier by accident. We were focused others, others that were just as evil. I remember the blade, I remember the ash, and I remember lives after that. I never saw or met Draven again until this life, though, so as far as knowing how or what happened, I couldn’t tell you. I do know that I saw you again, Charlie. We were friends, but nothing more. I’m almost sure I led you to where Draven was just before you fell.”

That last part was more for Draven’s sake than mine, but I nodded anyway.

“I don’t think you should try and remember it, Aden. Just let what needs to come up, come. Let the rest be.”

“I know. That’s what the Pelhan guy said, the old man in that dimension I went to, and Austin said the same. Now, honestly, I just feel like I have a mix of déjà vu and precognition. I knew that Grayson was at risk, that he was wrong to try and chase his mom before he even tried. We just couldn’t find him in time…”

“I don’t think it would have made a difference,” I said.

“Me either,” Madison agreed.

“That’s what sucks. I have this and I can’t use it. What’s the purpose?” Aden complained.

“What’s the point in anything those kids did to us?” Madison said with a moan. “I’m literally miserable - in agony from others’ emotions. Charlie, you’d be nuts if it wasn’t for that necklace you have on. I guess Draven is the winner here.”

“I don’t know about that,” Draven said, glancing back at them as he reached for my hand. “All they did was show me what was already in me - just in time to lose it.”

“If you think we are losing anything, then we’re not doing this,” I argued.

“Let’s just think this through. What do we have to do anyway?” Madison said over me.

“I feel like it has to do with a knife – like, I saw that. I saw seven stairways leading to, like, a platform - the blades piercing our guts,” Aden said with a wince.

I stared out the window, avoiding Draven’s purposeful glances. Knives or no knives, he was going to find a way to do this - and honestly, it was just easier to be mad at him about it.

I wanted Cashton. I wanted him to tell us this was nuts. I unfocused my eyes and pulled myself into my dream, to his place in the veil. I found it empty, looking no different than the way we left it. Where was he?

“Did you see what happened to your body, though?” Madison questioned, bringing me back to reality.

“Yeah, it fell to its knees, blood poured, and that blood flowed down the platform and met the water below – maybe fire. One of the two,” Aden said as he squinted his eyes.

Perfect. That was Monroe’s vision. All signs pointing toward ‘Go’— straight to hell on a one-way ticket.

I could just barely see what he was talking about. The images in his mind were more like flashes. You could not see the entire scene, just sections, like the energy, the crimson blood trickling down aged stone steps. The water he was referring to was more like lava, red flamed through it. In my opinion, he didn’t see enough to say for sure that this was safe. For all I knew, those ideas were planted in his head.

“You feel, or you know?” Draven asked, obviously not seeing any more than I did.

If we counted on this it would be because of what you can never see in another soul, that undeniable ‘gut feeling’ that everyone follows when push comes to shove, that push you feel. To others you look insane for trying, but deep down you know you are supposed to do whatever it is.

“I know, but I don’t know how I know. I remember being told that. I remember planning on doing that, but then all I see is Charlie and you -- like we were going to do that, then just before that life ended we were stopped.”

“By whom?”

“Guess. I’m telling you, every time I saw us die, he was there.”

“Xavier,” we all said at once.

“Yep.”

“You think he stopped us before?” Draven asked, doing his best to mask his rage for this man.

“I think he killed the both of you before the eclipse, taking our chance away,” Madison said just before she winced and clenched her gut.

“What do we solve by killing him?” I asked, letting the peacemaker side of me surface.

“We stop him from all that he does. We release what he has taken,” Aden answered.

“Good point,” Madison agreed.

“And who’s to say that Xavier is really the quote-un-quote head of the snake? What if we are being played by a bigger source of evil who wants us out of the picture? Are we still worried about Monroe’s dad?”

“I don’t know,” Draven said. “Willow and Landen are just about halfway through their trials, halfway through his gateway. He could be pulling the strings. I really think they are not fighting over light and darkness. They are fighting over souls, the power in them.”

“I would agree with that,” I said. “Light and dark are in all souls.”

“We have to decide this together, guys,” Draven said. “I think...I think that if we know there is a way to divide again for sure, we should do this. Take this man down once and for all.”

I gripped his hand. “We would have to be one hundred percent sure.”

He nodded to agree with me.

“Did they say where we are going? Are we sure that box my mom left me is there?”

“The movie set,” Draven said as he turned to follow Landen’s Jeep down another street.

I took in a deep breath, trying to subdue my anxiety - but I was doing a horrible job at it. Madison was in agony.

“Is this going to be safe for these people? I mean, we are basically having an exorcism or something and using their energy to do so. There has to be some kind of wicked karma in store for us if they don’t know.”

“I thought about that,” Draven answered. “Dad knows this producer guy really well. He and his crew are way into the paranormal and such. The stage and all around where the people are going to be is going to be marked off with salt. Everyone is given bags of herbs to wear and told to enter at their own risk.”

“Yeah, but that’s not fair; they will just think it’s part of the show,” I argued.

“They wholeheartedly believe in darkness, witches, ghosts - you name it. They respect their producer, too. If he said to enter at your own risk, they would not take it as a joke. Apparently, they had a few unexplained things happen on the set as they filmed over the last year and a half.”

“All right, then,” Aden said as he relaxed in his seat. “If we know we can undo whatever, then we’ll try to kill that man tonight. If we can’t, at least we can figure out whether or not we can make a difference in that realm, cut off power to it.”

“I don’t know how these shadows are so corporeal. They’re looking for people,” I said glancing at the road we were turning onto.

We’d left the city and were now moving out toward more secluded areas. Large plantation homes were all that we were passing, and most of them were well hidden by massive trees and the moss that was hanging from them.

“A lot of bad stuff has happened here,” Aden said, “and these shadows are hanging on until they find their loved ones. Apparently, Witnesses hang out in towns like this, too, simply because the shadows can tell them where an Escort is and when it’s in action on a mass level.”

“As if one person was not a mass level,” Madison grumbled.

“Yeah, that’s what I said. But I guess those are harder to stop because that one person really thinks they are in love,” Aden said, catching Madison’s gaze.

“I don’t love him. I felt sorry for him. There is a big difference,” she bit out, referring to Britain.

“Can I say ‘Told you so’ just once?” Aden teased, managing to get a grin out of all of us.

“Go ahead. You can’t say or do anything that I haven’t already done to myself.”

“Just don’t rebound,” Aden said as his eyes carefully looked over her.

“If anything, Britain was a rebound.” Her tone was quiet, near ghostly.

Draven quickly looked at me, trying to see what he missed, but I didn’t have anything more than what she’d told me.

As we slowed down to turn into an old plantation, Aden reached out his arm for Madison to come closer, just trying to make her feel better. Suddenly, out of nowhere the Jeep was jolted up for no reason. The back tires were the only thing on the ground then it slammed back to the street.

Our hearts were beating out of control as we fearfully looked around at the other passing cars, the people along the streets. We couldn’t figure out who had attacked us or why.

Chapter Seventeen

Draven turned into the gate that was feet from us just before we all jumped out.

“What the hell?!” Madison bellowed, bending forward in obvious pain.

I ran to her side, trying to make sure she hadn’t hit her head or something.

“Madison, where does it hurt?!” I yelled.

“Inside!” she squealed through her teeth.

Landen, Chrispin, and Willow were there instantly. Willow’s hand calmed her down. Landen looked for anything to heal.

“It’s just her emotions,” he said to us as Willow walked out toward the street, I guess looking for a reason that it happened or following the emotions.

“What emotions? Fear?” I asked.

“They weren’t mine,” she said, taking in a deep, slow breath. “They were of rage, jealousy, betrayal. They came out of nowhere just as the Jeep went in the air.”

“What were you guys talking about? Doing?” Chrispin asked.

“Nothing. They were really calm,” Landen said as his eyes moved between Aden and Madison.

He was right. For a second, it was like old times, Aden teasing Madison just to make it up to her. They may be cousins, but they were more like siblings, best friends.

“If it’s dark, it’s not going to get in this gate. Go ahead and drive up. Austin said your dad and Nana were at the house with Monroe,” Landen directed.

“What if it’s not evil?” I asked as a chill went down my spine. I could swear I could feel those emotions Madison was talking about in the air around me. A harsh stare, to say the least.

Landen raised his eyebrows. “Then I guess I will have to figure out why it’s so jealous.”

Just as he said that, his sister appeared at his side. Clarissa glanced at us, then nodded for Landen to follow her away. I urged Madison in the backseat and sat next to her, determined to block her if I needed to. I didn’t know what was going on, but I already didn’t like this place.

The driveway was lined with massive trees. Even though they were hundreds of feet in the air, the gray moss dangling from their branches touched the ground. Random buses and trailers were lining the way, with people lingering around them.

The house we were told to go to could not be less than two hundred years old. It was massive, two stories tall, with aged white wood siding covering it. The porch itself was at least thirty feet wide, with pillars that were no less than five feet around.

Draven parked at the edge of the circled driveway, behind a semi that was being loaded with equipment. We all climbed out, getting nods and grins from the people who were lining up to add to the trailer’s load.

“You must be Evan’s boys,” an older man said as he stepped off the front porch. He had a thin gray beard and deep crow’s feet stretching out from his eyes. To say the least, he looked like he’d enjoyed both smiling and squinting throughout his entire life. “He’s in the great room off to the side. Looking forward to hearing you boys play the song that we have all heard a million times over the last few weeks.”

Draven reached to shake his hand. “Thanks for using it.”

“No, thank you for writing it. When I heard it, I knew it was perfect for this film,” he said, shaking Draven’s hand back. “I’m going to make sure everyone has their hex bags on. We’ll be ready to go at sundown. We plan on filming you - are you okay with that? Not camera shy, are you?” the man teased.

Draven blushed slightly. “The cameras are the last things I’m scared of tonight.”

“Agreed,” the man said with a wide grin. “I’ll tell you what: I’ve been on a lot of sets, but this one, this one didn’t need any help when it came to picking up on the aged darkness.” His eyes briefly scanned the house behind him as obvious memories of his time here echoed in his inquisitive expression. “We even had sightings. Soldiers would just show up on scene. We thought they were in costume, a joke. You should have seen the assistant producer’s face when he went to move him, but the vision vanished.”

“Are you serious? Were you filming?” Aden asked.

“Trying to. These ghosts, or whatever they are, like to drain batteries - spent more on that than any other expense for this site. We’d catch a wave of light or something, then everything would die. Finally, we just figured out when to film and the power of salt. Much cheaper than buying new equipment or batteries.”

Madison and I looked at each other, then at this guy, like he was insane. You would have thought we were talking about rodents or something.

We politely nodded to the man, then left Aden and Draven to talk to him. If Nana was here I wanted to talk to her.

This house carried every element of an old southern plantation home. It even smelled old; a deep musk was in the air. Parts of the floor squeaked in protest as we crossed it. One second it would be freezing. Walk a few more feet and it would be suffocating.

What looked like old servants - now corporeal shadowed images - crowded around downstairs. They were silent, but their stares were screaming at me. In my mind I could hear gunfire, smell blood, and feel the undeniable emotion of dread.

An image of a little girl gestured what direction we should walk in. I had to hold back tears as my mind played her voice in a forgotten time, yelling for her mother. It was clear she was still silently pleading for a response, still trying to find her mom.

The great room was just past the entry hall, and it looked more like a library than some big living room. Maybe the palace in Esterious had just raised my expectations or something.

Monroe was in the center of the room, sitting Indian style with her eyes closed. Evan was leaned back on the sofa with a really old book in his hand. Austin was next to him with a book that looked just as old, if not older. Nana was in the chair just behind Monroe. She saw us first, and the way she slowly rose from her seat with wide eyes would have led you to believe that it’d been years since we last saw her, not a few days.

I let my shoulders fall in relief as I walked to her outstretched arms.

“Oh my,” she said as she swayed me, then reached for Madison. “You guys have survived a lifetime in just days.”

“Use ‘survive’ loosely,” Madison said, squeezing her before walking over to Austin and nudging him to move over. “Listen, buddy, I’ll give you anything if you promise to stay within feet of me until we get back to Chara.”

“Are you alright?” Austin asked, reaching his arm around her as Evan made it to his feet.

“You’re just calm, balanced.”

“Still painful?” Austin asked her.

“More so.”

Evan reached to squeeze her shoulder before he walked over and hugged me.

“They’re outside,” I said to him, but at that moment Draven and Aden walked in the room - Evan had them both in his arms in that same breath.

The tears I was trying to hold back began to burn at the sight of their embrace. Evan was such a good dad, the only alive one I knew. This had to be killing him. Without even trying, I could see that he and Nana had been doing everything in their power to figure out what that wooden box had to do with us, why my mom left it. They had even researched every family line they could to try and understand if we’d lived before this life - with no luck.

“How is she?” I asked Nana as I glanced down at Monroe.

“Quiet. She let me see her, though, just long enough to assure me that all of you were okay. I’ve been watching this meditation. She goes really deep.”

“What is she seeing?” I asked, knowing the last time I looked into her that I’d just seen darkness.

“Flashes, blood, stairs, raging water,” Nana answered.

“Common theme,” I breathed. “Mom didn’t say anything to you?” I questioned knowing that the new memories in my mind had led me to believe that Nana and Evan had known all the while that something like this would happen.

Nana was blocking most of her thoughts from me. At first that didn’t strike me as odd, simply because I had never really dared to look into her past, or her thoughts. She was my mentor – not someone I needed to help.

Nana’s knowing glance eased over me silently telling me that she was not going to engage my newfound memories in any shape or form. “You know your mom: she keeps her deepest fears to herself. I knew she was planning to send Kara away, planning for you to leave. I knew that she’d been training someone to take over while she went on a hiatus, but I think she thought she had more time. That’s why her office was looking for her.”

“I just don’t get this message in a bottle stuff. Why not just tell me?” I complained.

Nana nodded toward where Monroe was. “You don’t know this, but your mom was a lot like Monroe as a girl. She only saw flashes, heard things here and there. She spent the greater part of her youth trying to fight it, block it out. Autumn helped her balance it. Your grandparents did not believe such things. Your great grandparents did, but they died when your mom was just a girl. I don’t think she had a clear answer to give you.”

That, or she was indeed on a stage, as Cashton had said more than once. As I thought of him once again I tried to figure out why he hadn’t popped in yet, Nana’s eyes focused on me, then a ghost of a smile came to the corners of her lips.

“You found him,” she whispered.

“He found me. Did Mom say something to you?” I questioned back just as quietly as I tried to see my answer.

“First time we taught her to see, help the dead, she said his name. She’s been looking for him since she was a girl.”

Tears welled in my eyes as I watched my mother through Nana’s memories. I knew that my mom was looking for him, but by all outward appearances she had no idea why.

“I wish she would have opened up to me, at the very least explained what she was feeling, what this message from her means.”

“She could have,” Nana said as her eyes wandered to the hall where the shadow images were still lingering. “But maybe she was telling you what she could, as safely as she could. If she laid too much out for you, someone or something could have seen that and used that information to confuse you, send you in the wrong direction.”

“I should call Kara.”

“No, let it be. I’ve talked to her every day. She thinks you’re happy and safe. If she knew otherwise, it could bring her more harm than good.”

I glanced down as I wiped away a tear that’d escaped.

“Where’s the wooden box?” I heard Draven ask.

“Right here,” Austin said, removing books from the massive coffee table in the center of the room. The wooden block was under them, along with notes in a different language.

“Did August figure anything out about it?” I asked.

“He says it’s like the scroll,” Austin answered. “You cannot read forward with the interpretation until the first step is done. Apparently, there are no less than ten possible languages on this thing. You have to figure out the first one in order to know what is next - and even then, the next step might be in a new language. In the end, it’s possible that they would make a pattern that will lead you to another source.”

“Could it be any more impossible?” Madison said with a grunt. She looked so bad, like she was being eaten alive from the inside. I could even swear she was paler now.

“It could. This is not meant to fool you, but those who are trying to destroy you. It’s easy to think that the enemy has all the answers, but truth be told some of them may be just as blind as you,” Nana assured her.

Draven was kneeling down next to the table that centered the sofa, looking at the wood as if it were a poisonous snake. Aden mirrored him on the opposite side. They often moved in sync when they were around each other, and right now was no different. They both reached for the box, letting their fingertips run across the carvings on the outside of it. Nothing happened.

Over this entire jacked up situation, I briskly walked over and picked up the box like it was an ordinary object, rattling it to see if I could hear anything inside. In protest, Draven and Aden both reached for me. I turned just so I could shake it once, prove it was nothing but a piece of wood and move on with a new plan for tonight - redeem some souls and go home, forget the ‘combining’ business.

Because I was smaller than them, it was easy for me to dodge them - but somewhere in the mix of the three of us scrambling, a rush of air burst into my hands. Wide-eyed, the three of us stepped back. I was left holding the box, and I didn’t want to. I dropped it, but someone caught it with their energy before it hit the floor.

Nana leaned down to grasp it from the thin air, and as she did I realized who had stopped it from hitting the floor: Monroe.

“You’re awake,” I gasped.

“Hours earlier than she should be,” Austin said, standing to see what we did to the wood.

Nana gently set it down on the table, then removed the top. Inside, lying on purple velvet were two knives - but they were not your everyday daggers. The handles looked like frozen flowing water or glass. The blades were jagged, so sharp that even the dim room highlighted each point.

I fell to my knees as the air in my lungs left me. Everything was telling me that Bianca was a liar, that she was playing us just to destroy us - but the proof was right there. Monroe waking before the end of her seemingly forced meditation was a sign we were moving in the right direction.

Nana picked up the blades at the same time that I felt a surge of energy spill into the room. She pulled them closer, examining them, then joined the two blades side by side. The odd-shaped handles fit together like a puzzle piece.

“In Latin, it reads ‘power as one - power as many’,” she said in a tone that was laced with sorrow.

As the rest of us - with the exception of Monroe - hung our heads, Evan left the room immediately, unable to handle the wicked truth that was in front of us. The silence was heartbreaking, building the rage I felt in my soul.

“Monroe,” I said flatly, “right or wrong, tell me now.” My eyes slowly moved across the red Oriental rug until they rose to hers. There, all I saw were the same images Aden had in his mind. She let us all see that.

“We agreed,” Draven said finally. “We agreed that if we had a way out, we would do this. The blades apart will join us. The blades together at the hand of a Witness will divide us.”

“You agreed,” I said, rising to my feet, barely noticing that it took every ounce of my strength to do so.

I left the room without another word, pushing through the images in the open hall and finally running to the door, down the porch, and toward the tree outline of the driveway. With each step, it became harder to breathe.

I knew Draven wouldn’t follow me. He knew me. He knew he needed to let me get over this shock. I had no doubt that Madison wanted to come to my side, but the pain of emotions would be near deadly for her.

Before I knew it, I was standing just before a family plot of headstones. The only sound beyond the distant testing of sound equipment was the wind and a few breaths of nature.

I cried. I let it all out, every tear that I’d held back over the last few months, every emotion. I let every angry, fearful tear fall. I don’t know how long it took until the last one had fallen, but I knew the sun was setting behind me, that the moss dangling from the trees was shadowing its rays, making it look as if I were standing in a glass prism of nature.

I tried to take myself out of this moment, to rise above it all and see the big picture, but I couldn’t find the will. I tried to understand what I could have done that was so horrible that the universe found it righteous to punish me. I mean how odd is it to have both of your parents, your friends, and the boy you love at the same time? Why us? Why did I have to choose, sacrifice? Why were the people I loved so willing to lay down everything without so much as a promise in return?

Somehow, I found my way to a numb feeling, one that gave me distance from every negative emotion. I could hear words of wisdom that Nana had spoken over us when we were just kids, words that taught us how to understand the darkness that haunted us. She would always say, ‘I know it’s terrifying to hear them, see them, but just imagine how afraid they are - and once you help them, walk away with the simple lesson that sometimes you have to lose it all in order to find your way to peace. Your abilities are a gift, not a curse. You see the span of humanity, and you will never have to wonder if it’s all worth it because you already know. You know each time you bring peace to the damned. You know in the end there is peace for everyone.’

With that thought in mind, I tried to find my own assurance. If that blade could divide Draven and Aden again, I wanted a Witness that I trusted to do it. I had no reason not to trust Clarissa or her soul mate Dane. Everything I saw about them through their family was honorable, peaceful – even in their darkest moments – but I didn’t know them. Not like I knew Silas.

I covered my mouth, trying to subdue the nauseous feeling I felt creeping up my throat. What kind of girl would look him in the eye and ask him to save the boy that took her away from him? What kind of person could use another soul, their heart, for nothing more than their own personal gain? I didn’t want to be that girl, but I had no choice. If he agreed to help me with this, then I would have no reason to argue about it anymore, no reason to be afraid.

Even though he thought I was taken from him or that I broke his heart, I knew Silas was wise, strong, balanced, that he was not cold enough to watch someone die just because he could. The memories of me convincing him not to kill Britain all those years ago gave me that impression. Under the fearless guardian, Silas was a peaceful soul who only fought when he had a reason.

I knew that a few days ago in The Realm – or any other time – he could have found a way to permanently separate Draven and me once and for all, but he didn’t. He was waiting on a reason, a point where his hand would be forced.

I told myself that his hand would not be forced tonight, that saving them, dividing them would bring me and him to a more balanced friendship. If he refused to, then I would do everything in my power to forget he existed until the end of my time.

“Silas,” I whispered.

Nothing happened.

“Silas, please,” I said again, refusing to let another tear fall.

The wind picked up, and I turned, expecting to see him. But it wasn’t him that heard my call.

Chapter Eighteen

I’d never seen Clarissa in a peaceful moment, so until this point I hadn’t realized how beautiful she was. I could clearly see the resemblance of her brothers, Landen and Brady, in her. Her eyes were green, whereas theirs were blue - but her features were sculpted perfectly in place, just as theirs were. A calm, worldly energy encased her essence. It wasn’t the life of a Witness that brought out that beauty. She’s always had it - only now, wisdom embraced all that she was.

“He can’t hear you,” she said gently to me.

“He promised me that all I had to do was call him. Monroe told me he could hear my thoughts if I was speaking to him. He can hear me; he’s just ignoring me.” I made no effort to hide the sting of anger in my tone.

“He’s really deep, Charlie. The only way he would be able to sense you would be if your life, his, were in danger.”

“What do you mean, ‘deep’?”

“Every enemy knows that Silas is your shield, your guardian. Silas is a brilliant warrior, leader. He’s led the enemy to the farthest point away from you that he could. We have masked your path to this place, your energy. I have no doubt that not long after you enter The Realm, every warrior of darkness will be sent to where you are. The plan now is to at least give you a chance to enter - to at least try.”

“Try to what? To lose my boyfriend, open a door, or bring these corporeal souls their lost loved ones? Or am I to try and do that all at once?!” I hated being harsh with her, but she was the one standing in front of me.

“In the beginning, our intent was to drain the power this city is creating - not even this city; just this plot of land. Everything else was brought to the table by you, and we will not stand in your way.”

“Whose ‘we’? Silas?”

“My family.”

“So Silas doesn’t know about any of this? The blades?”

“Silas doesn’t use many words. I have no idea. I would guess that he did, but I’m the last person whose opinion you should take on that matter.”

“And who’s the first?”

“Yours.”

“Mine?” I mocked.

She nodded once. “My family will not tell you what to do or when simply because we have no way of knowing what is going on inside of you, any of you. We know your souls are older, that you are balance.”

“Let me know when you find my soul’s birth certificate so I can believe all that crap. I don’t know anything beyond the fact that every day things get worse, not better.”

“Really?” she said as her eyes glided over me. “So you’ve never wanted to run away with Draven and save the damned souls?”

“I’ve always wanted to do that.”

A smile flashed in her eyes. “And you never thought that nights like tonight would come across your path? Did you think that the course of your life would be peaceful? That you would walk hand-in-hand down the street and whisper sweet nothings to the shadows, then go home and cuddle, maybe play a little music?”

“Throw in a deserted beach and you got it,” I answered sarcastically, even though she was right. We always knew that tampering with the dead was dangerous; that at one point we would save too many, that someone would come for us. But I liked it better when the thought of that day was years away, not today.

“What is your biggest fear about the choice Draven and Aden have made? Is it me?”

“Listen, no offense, but I was told that a Witness could divide them. Not which one. For all I know, this is simple and I’m making it out to be more than it is, but I’m not deciding what outfit I’m wearing tonight, this is life and death - and it’s not just me that will suffer. This will kill their father if it goes bad. Those boys are his life. They are Nana’s, life, too. Their family lost enough when their mom died. I want a percentage. I want someone to lay out the chances for me - and they better be more than fifty-fifty.”

“I can’t promise you that me or Dane holding a blade will bring the boys you love back.”

“My point exactly.”

“But I do know someone who has the power to turn back time, to move back to a point before recent tragedy occurred.”

“Who would that be?”

“Willow.”

I really hated that it was so hard to see a Witness because I wanted to know how much truth there was to this.

“If she had that power, why did she come for me? Why did she not turn back time to before Bianca took Drake and Landen? Why has she not turned back time on any of this?!”

“When that happened, the power was new to her, uncharted. Your family has helped her find balance with her insights, and that power is growing.”

“She’s used it?’

“Only for simple moments. The risk of bending time could be horrific, or nothing at all, but she will take them for you.”

“Why me? Us?”

“It is strongly believed that if one of us falls, we all do.”

“So if you fail, she will undo this? We start this night over?”

“It’s a possibility.”

I knew then that this was not a plan they had considered. She was just comforting me.

“How is Willow even going to get into The Realm? She’s here. Is Perodine?”

“I taught her.”

I let out a heavy sigh as my eyes fell to the ground.

“Charlie, every outcome has been reasoned, along with the risk, but the path is never as clear as we think it is.”

“Can you get into the veil?” I asked as I clenched my fist.

“I can. Why?”

“I want my brother. I want him to tell me this is legit.”

“Your brother?”

“You heard me. I found him after the kids knocked me out. He’s helped me understand a lot of this madness, even helped me and Draven overcome barriers that were put up between us.” I glanced away. “I know I’m from the other reality, that I was sent here to heal this dimension, but I cannot trust that my perception is not altered right now, not when days ago my boyfriend was afraid of me and last night he shared his soul with me.”

A sweet smile came to her face when she heard that last part. It was like they already knew that Draven and I could do that, that there was never a risk of him ending me - which made no sense if she were now standing and fighting with Silas, the one soul who swore that Draven would hurt me.

“When was the last time you saw him?” she asked.

“Last night. He said he was going to watch Silas so Draven and I could be alone, that he could get to him because Silas was connected to me.”

She seemed perplexed. “I was with Silas last night, and I did not see or sense anyone beyond Witnesses with us.”

Fear took over my emotions, but somehow she managed to calm me down with a glance.

“I will search for him. Charlie, if you feel this is wrong, then it is. If you don’t, then it’s not. Do what your soul is telling you to do, and let others do what theirs is telling them to do.”

“I don’t have an argument for that,” I grumbled as I walked past her toward the house.

Masses of people were mingling near the back of the plantation home. I tripped over the large salt ring that was on the edge of the grass. Not wanting to take any chances, I turned to ensure that the line was still solid before continuing on my path to the front porch.

As I walked up the steps, the ghostly images started to speak, describing people they were looking for in a haunting tone that reflected absolute loss. I kept my head low, not wanting to promise them anything. In my mind, all I could see were those images in my head: seven stairways leading to a point above an ocean of fire, blood slowly flowing. I guess my soul was saying this had to happen. I had to let Draven and Aden do this, and while they did, I was going to help these lost souls before me now.

In the great room I found Draven and Aden, along with two other men who were fitting them for sound packs, ear phones. When they saw me everyone left except Draven.

I couldn’t look at him. I pushed my hands in my back pockets as I stared off to the side of the room. I wanted to look at him. I wanted to beg him to think about this, to just wait for another day. But I had no words to argue with. I knew if I did convince him not to do anything rash I would forever be haunted by the chance we never took.

Every part of my skin blushed. My heart thundered as he stepped closer to me; the intensity of his energy took my breath away. Even when his hands were on my waist I couldn't force myself to raise my gaze to meet his. It was just easier to be mad about this, not to let my fear show. Anger was a shield I was hiding behind, one that would not let me look him in the eye, that would not let my mind tell me it would be the last time I saw my Draven.

I felt his lips against my forehead and my mind was instantly flooded with images of the night we’d just shared. I felt the power between us, the unconditional, imperfect love we shared. I told myself that no matter what, this could never die or be separated – at least not for long.

“I will always love you. Never forget that,” he whispered as he let me go.

Before I could find the will to say something, anything - at least a ‘Be careful’ or ‘I love you’ – he left the room, leaving me frozen in place. Everything inside of me fell. I was so dizzy I couldn’t move. It hurt to breathe.

A second later, I felt a hand on my shoulder and glanced to see Madison at my side. The pain of my emotions was in her eyes, in her tense expression.

“I’m sorry,” I uttered as I tried to push them down.

She swallowed the pain she was obviously fighting. “Charlie, one way or the other we will end with peace,” she said, echoing the lesson Nana had instilled in us all.

I pulled her to me and hugged her as tightly as I could. As she swayed me from side to side, for a second we were ten again, little girls that were terrified but knew that we were strong enough to take what was coming at us. We were strong because we were together.

A warm hum of energy flowed over me. At first I thought she was gaining strength and learning to control the agony of emotions that were terrorizing her. When I opened my eyes slightly, though, I saw Drake leaning in the doorway. I breathed in deeply, taking in his energy, which reminded me so much of Draven.

I felt Madison’s grip loosen as she turned to see him.

“You came.”

“I promised I would,” he said as his gaze melted into her.

“I don’t suppose you have some kind of inside information that will stop all of this, like telling us that that Xavier man is already dead?” I said weakly.

His mesmerizing stare drifted to me. “No,” he answered quietly. “I’m here to balance the circle of light and dark.” He stood up slowly from his casual lean. “I’m here because I told someone that ‘real’ was all I wanted.”

I felt every part of Madison’s body freeze in place next to mine. What I could only assume was nervousness was tingling the energy in the room. I felt like I was invading a private moment between them.

“Are you going to play?” I asked, understanding that because we didn’t have Winston and Grayson we were missing a part of that balanced circle we used the last time this song was played live.

His grin could stop anyone’s heartbeat. I was sure of it.

“No, music is not in my soul. I always drifted more toward art, admiring it at least,” he stated warmly. “I understand this circle needs high energy and a certain place in the circle, between two lights.”

“That means we’re still short one dark person, which means we can’t do this,” I said as breath came to me. Drake had just delivered me the perfect argument.

The sorrow in his stare told me I was wrong. “Willow will stand where Grayson stood. She seems positive that she is as dark as he is...”

“Always trying to find proof,” Madison said as she pushed that nervousness down and the familiar sting of jealousy invaded the energy around me.

“Well,” Drake said as his eyes intimately washed over Madison, “there’s this girl who’s trying to show me that there is life outside of the palace walls. She’s always looking for proof, too. You see, she has these tests she puts people through in order to find that proof. What can I say? She has a way of influencing me with a glance.”

An eruption of music bellowed through the halls of the home. It wasn’t Draven. It must have been an opening song or something.

I sighed as I looked down. “If we survive this, teach me that glance thing,” I said to Madison as I walked forward.

When I got to Drake’s side in the doorway, I looked down the hall, standing on my tiptoes to see past the ghostly images. Aden was looking back at me. He pointed his drumsticks toward the right and mouthed ‘Walk around’ to me. I responded by whispering, “Good Luck.” Even though he couldn’t hear me, I figured he could read my lips. He nodded once before he turned to the crowd of people that were around him and Draven.

As I walked down the hall I looked into each phantom, asking who they were looking for in my mind. They replied instantly as images of masses of people who’d died hundreds of years ago flooded my mind. I tried to hold on to them all, store them away somewhere so I could call upon them when I was in The Realm.

The little girl was the last image I saw before I left the house. I told myself that if I could only find one, save one damned soul, it would be her mom. No child should be alone - ever.

When I reached the bottom of the stairs, Madison ran up to my side; not to stop me, just to walk with me. We didn’t say anything. We were too focused on what was about to go down.

Behind the house, there were close to a thousand people moving to the music that was playing. A woman tried to hand us a velvet bag to wear around our necks, but we politely ignored her.

There were large sound amps at the back of the crowd. I climbed on the one that was to the left of the stage, and Madison stood on the one to the right. The stage was the back porch. Lights had been added to it, along with temporary stands. There were cameras aimed at the porch, and one in a lift that was attached to a truck. I assumed it was supposed to capture the audience during the show.

On stage, there were other musicians that I didn’t recognize: a younger man on the keyboards, two guitarists, and a violinist – no, make that two violinists. One was a man who was in the lights, like the rest of the people on stage, and the other was a girl. I couldn’t see her face because she was hidden in the shadows, but her long hair reminded me of that shadowed soul I’d seen at the beach house.

I tried to get Madison’s attention to see if she could see her any clearer from her angle, but she was too busy analyzing the crowd, where everyone else was, finding a reason to let her eyes meet Drake’s stare across the crowd over and over again.

Nana and Monroe were standing to the left of the stage, and Landen and Brady were just feet from them. Evan, Austin, Chrispin, and Olivia were sporadically placed in the crowd in front of the stage.

The older man who greeted us before came to the stage as the band that was playing finished their song and set their instruments down. He told the audience how proud he was of the work they’d done, made a few jokes about what they’d been through, and forecasted a welcoming release to the movie they had created.

“I have a special treat for all of you!” he said when his opening was complete. “It took a lot of phone calls and long flights, but I found the band that created the song we all love so much.”

The crowd went insane with cheers.

“Now, I was only able to get a few of them here, and I had to promise them two things before they came.”

He paused, allowing them to cheer.

“I promised them that my crew and all their plus-ones LOVED the wicked!”

The crowd roared in response.

“And I promised them that all of you would be the most energetic audience they have ever played for.” The crowed cheered over him as he glanced back at the dark doorway that Draven must have been behind. “Told you so,” the man said, getting a bigger response out of the audience. He turned back to everyone. “So do me a favor - make me an honest man and show this band how much we favor this song!”

He hooked the mic back in place as the stage went dark and the crowd roared. I recognized the silhouettes coming to the stage. Drake stood off to the side of the stage with his arms crossed. Willow mirrored him on the other side. Aden slid behind his drums as Draven adjusted the wires around his back. It didn’t matter how many times I watched Draven take the stage, my breath still caught in my throat. My heart still thundered. It was always hard to believe he was mine when I watched him mesmerize an audience.

My eyes moved across the stage, not really sure how these new instruments would sound or how well these musicians would play it live. That’s when I noticed that the second violinist was now missing. Before I could look for her, the guitar began and my heart started to race...this was it.

Chapter Nineteen

Now that I knew how to see energy around me, this experience was all new to me. As the people moved, as they screamed and rocked their heads with the sound, white energy shot up from the crowd. It was so bright, at first I thought it was the spotlights creating it.

The lights of the house were rigged to come on and off with the rest of the spotlights on the stage, which made the house itself become a stage. I’m sure if the crowd could see what I could see, their cheers would turn to horror: behind every window, there were ghostly images staring blankly out at all of us. They were not alone. I would guess the crowd before me had as many dead within it as it did living.

The sound of the violin caught my attention. It was so uniquely played that it fell into the song perfectly, as if it were always there. The keyboard was a nice addition, too, but it could not compare to that sound. At first I was sure there had to be two of them, but for the life of me I could not see that girl anywhere. I figured if that was the girl we saw before, Brady would have noticed. He was a lot closer to the stage than I was.

I felt my body tense as the bridge that Draven always left at approached. I locked my eyes on him, waiting, waiting for that moment that he would become still. Anticipation jolted me forward, and within that breath I was in The Realm.

The basic field was there: long blades of orange grass and a stormy sky. The music was so loud that it felt like I was still in reality. One glance over my shoulder told me why: the stage and the house had manifested here; only the living were left behind. Everyone in the crowd was still. They were not the same dead that I’d seen moments ago. These souls were lost, confused, and absently moving closer to the stage - like moths to a flame. I knew who I was watching play was not my Draven or Aden...there was no real energy around them; just the sound.

As the images those ghosts had shown me before started to spin through my thoughts, I hopped down off the amp. My first plan was just to look for the ones I was asked to bring back, but the mass was too dark. Finally, I just gripped the one closest to me and asked, Why are you here? in my mind.

I’d made a decision: if they didn’t look demonic, I was going to set them free. The only problem was I didn’t know how to do it. They would not look at me. They just kept staring at the stage.

“Charlie!” Madison yelled to get my attention. “The stage! Everyone is here, the circle is complete - that is their way out!”

I nodded to tell her I understood just as she jumped into the crowd of the damned.

I grabbed a hold of the two people by me that I knew were good and pulled them through the crowd, then pushed them on stage. The instant their feet hit it, they vanished - which didn’t make the others trust me. I felt the sting of fear in the energy around me. They wanted to run, to fade back into The Realm, but the music was holding them in place. I dragged a few more before it dawned on me that this was taking entirely too long, that it would take me a year to make an impact on The Realm this way.

I climbed back on the amp I was on before and crouched down. I let that sensation hum in my mind, focusing on the crowd of people. When I knew whether they were damned or innocent, I waved my hand and a force propelled them onto the stage. Before long, I saw others being moved the same way and assumed that Madison or even Landen were doing the same thing.

What was so frustrating was that I knew I had thrown no fewer than three thousand at that stage - and more were appearing. It was making me doubt that I was really moving them at all.

A moment later I was reassured that all of us were doing something: everything - including the stage - began to flicker like a hologram that was losing its feed.

A satisfied grin came to my face as I grabbed more, as I saw them faster, lifted them faster, and pushed them into reality. Thousands more flooded the stage, but it was a short-lived victory. Howling screams covered in darkness soared through the air just before they crashed to the ground with a stagnant force, leaving the men in black in their wake. The ghostly damned images scrambled away from the stage as if they had been caught doing something wrong by the devil himself, but I refused to let them run. I pushed as many as I could to the stage. As the men approached me I held out my hand, sending a force of energy at them that caused them to burn instantly.

I had no idea where I was getting my sharp reflexes from or how I knew who was safe to push to the stage and who wasn’t. All I knew was that I was in rhythm with the music, and I wasn’t going to back away from this fight.

All at once I caught a glimpse of the one person I hated more than anything: Bianca.

We locked eyes. She was at least fifty yards from me. I jumped down from the amp, then took off in a sprint – but since I was in The Realm it looked more like a flash as I moved forward. Every time I got close to her, she backed up. Before long, a wall of gleaming water could be seen behind the dense, dark sky. It wasn’t The Fall, but it was clear that she wanted me to think it was.

“Thought you were dead?!” I bellowed now that we were far enough away from the stage that she could hear me.

“I was. Well...am,” she said with a smirk, then glanced at the heavens. “And now, thanks to you, I will be more than alive.”

“What did you do?!” I raged.

“Nothing. A little play on words. I told you, Charlie: I’m your distraction.”

At that second, Cashton appeared in front of her – but not to help me or block her. He was trapped. She had a hold on him. She stepped to the side of him, clearly letting me see that her hand was going right through him.

I felt my insides clench, not with anxiety, but with pain. It was like I could feel that hold, too. It was like she was gripping my soul and preparing to yank it from my vessel.

Cashton’s eyes were calm. He expanded them, a silent notion for me to ‘see’ him. Instantly, I did - and was promptly pulled into his mind, into a forgotten past.

He was rushing around his room, gathering things to put into a small travel bag. He had just woken from a wicked dream and was determined to leave before he forgot each detail of it.

“I’m coming with you,” I argued.

“No.”

“Don’t ‘no’ me. You have no say.”

“Lore has the say. We can’t be together over there.”

“I don’t believe lore. I make my own.”

“Sure, sure - tell that to the mark on your soul. You know we can’t be together. Blooming bull’s-eye is what that would be, little one.”

“Why? Because if one falls, the other does? Because we make ourselves an easy target? I’m calling you on that. I say the evil made that lore, and they made it because they knew if two or more of any of us were side by side, there would be no way to take us down.”

“You’re not leaving with me – or walking through that Fall – without a purpose or reason.”

“And what is yours? Mr. ‘Let-me-find-the-biggest-risk-I-can-take-just-so-I-can-feel-the-joy-after-adrenaline-has-subsided.’ You are not going because you have been called. You are going because you need a new rush.”

“You have no idea why I’m going,” he bit out.

“You’re either going to tell me or you’re going to get over me being side-by-side with you.”

“No.”

“You’re my best friend, the only one that gets me completely. You’re not leaving me here to negotiate with closed-minded souls. I’ll go mad!”

“Mum and Dad are here.”

“Yeah, and they are more protective of me than you. They won’t even give me the chance to speak to those fools that want to close The Fall.”

“Impossible,” he said, zipping up his bag. “No one is more protective of you than me - and the day that someone does surface to protect you, I will bow and smile, tell him, ‘Welcome to the family,’ and take the first deep breath since your mark started to show.”

“That is my point. I’m marked, too.”

“Not for my course. It doesn’t say that yet.”

“It will.”

“And by the time it does, this will be over.”

And that was the last time I saw Cashton before my dream a few days ago. In that dream, he told me that Mom and Dad had tethered me to him, that basically that wasn’t even needed.

I understood now. If she killed him - she killed me.

Cashton kept staring, playing out his words last night on the beach, the ones that said I was too weak; that my first kill - my first mark of death - might be enough to take me out. I knew I had joined with Draven and that I was stronger, but this pain in my soul told me that I was weak right now because Cashton was. He was still part of the veil, his energy was depleted, and right now Bianca had a firm grip on what was left of that energy.

“You’re too late, Charlie. Always the slow one,” Bianca mocked me. “Now, let’s talk about a deal.”

A thought from me threw a dagger at her leg, and the act caused me just as much pain as I’m sure it did her. In turn, the reflex in her hand squeezed Cashton’s soul, almost bringing me to my knees.

Blood was pouring from her, telling me that she was too real right now, that she would not vanish when I struck her.

“Give me that rock around your neck, and I will set your brother free.”

Cashton mouthed ‘No’ with a glare as he saw me weigh the decision for a brief second. Seeing my decision to kill her and deal with the risk later, he took matters into his own hands. He lunged forward, yanking her arm out of his gut, then turned and took her down. But before he could get one blow in, she reached for his soul again.

She belted into laughter. “Looks like we are all moving on tonight. Charlie, Charlie...just hand it over. You don’t need it.”

She knew. That evil wench knew we were connected - that if either Cashton or I made one move against her, she could end us both and walk away from this. She wanted this rock on my neck, which meant she was either just saying that so I would protect it or planned to kill us both and take it. Either way, I wasn’t giving up.

Whatever sense of self-preservation I once had was gone now. She had fooled me one too many times, having backed me into a corner and made me think I had no way out. That wasn’t going to happen tonight. No, I was going to end this nightmare.

I lunged a bolt of energy at her - but before it could hit her Silas manifested between us and blocked my blow. I thought he was an illusion, that some other Escort was mimicking him - but I was wrong. He jerked Cashton off Bianca then stabbed her through the heart right where she lay.

Within a flash, Cashton had manifested what looked like a glass tube, and he caught her soul right as it began to swim from her vessel. Once it was sealed, he fell to the ground, gripping it to his chest, having a hard time catching his breath.

“Why did you do that?!” Silas demanded, standing over Cashton, holding his arms back so I could not go to him. He clearly didn’t trust him.

“Because,” Cashton breathed as he winced, “the second Xavier knows she’s gone, everything he’s got is going to descend on us. He has to know Charlie hasn’t killed before, that the first mark would make both of us vulnerable.”

Silas’ eyes grew wide for an instant. He knew in past lives that I had killed many, but he seemed to be grasping something.

“Five,” he said under his breath.

Cashton nodded his head as he continued to grasp for breath, in obvious pain.

“Why are you still weak?” Silas asked him.

I rushed to Cashton’s side, but he was too busy trying to protect that glass tube. It was like he was doing everything in his power to keep me alive.

His eyes caught mine, and he grew less tense. “I’ll be damned...you listened to me.”

I assumed he was talking about sharing energy and nodded once.

His eyes grew wide. “Where’s Draven?”

“He and Aden are joining so they can take down Xavier.”

“Have you lost your mind?!” Cashton said as he bolted up.

“What did you just say?!” Silas said at the same time.

“The box had knives in it. They think that was the way to kill Xavier.”

“That is why you’re weak,” Silas bit out as he punched the air.

“What? Clue me in here.”

“You are connected to your brother, and his energy is lower because he is still in the veil. He is feeling your pain before you.”

“Pain is coming?”

“Yeah, the second you let Draven do something stupid - and guess what? I’m connected to you, too. So, in one shot they are going to take out both you and your brother. Draven and his – and me.”

“Where? Where are they?” Cashton breathed.

“Um...stairs. Seven stairs. Water. Fire. That was what Monroe kept showing us, why they thought it was right.”

The battle from the stage had stretched to where we were now. Shadows were running as Escorts devoured them. Escorts were charging toward us, but Silas was deflecting them with nothing more than a glance.

“We have to go!” Silas said, reaching his arms around me.

As he did, I recognized one of the women that ran past me. She was that little girl’s mother. I began to chase after her.

“Charlie, no! We have no time!”

“Make it!” I yelled, gripping that woman. She did everything in her power to escape my grasp, but I finally grasped her chin, forcing her to look into my eyes. “GO HOME TO YOUR DAUGHTER!” I yelled as I flung her to the stage. I watched her vanish as Silas’ energy pulled me to him, then a jolt of energy charged us up into the air.

When I thought I could not handle the pressure any longer, my feet found the ground. Taking in my surroundings, I saw Witnesses lined around a shoreline, staring hopelessly at a massive stairway that was divided into seven different paths. The sky above us was spinning out of control. I could see the wall of water just behind the sky, which was starting to break apart.

Silas’ grip turned me to face the stairs. “Run!”

I hesitated, not sure what I was supposed to do when I reached the top, how I was supposed to stop something that fate had set in motion. Draven would not have manifested this. He was pulled here, which meant that he had every reason to believe he was supposed to join with Aden and end this ageless war.

“RUN!” Silas bellowed. It was a command that I had heard from him a thousand times in the past, one that I always knew meant for me to trust my path, one that said I didn’t have to see the other side to know I would survive - that I would if I believed I could.

There was two feet of flaming water between the first step and me. I tried to just see myself there, but something blocked me. The illusion of a dream, able to do anything, did not work on this level of The Realm.

I had to jump, then I had to climb. The steps were short, and there were thousands of them. The fierce wind not only created flaming waves, it also made me lose my balance. At one point, I crawled up the steep stairway.

I screamed for Draven and Aden, but the wind carried my voice away with it. When I reached the top I saw them locked in a stare, daggers in hand, moving toward each other. I had no time.

I launched myself between them, grasping the dagger in Aden’s hand seconds before it lodged into Draven, seconds before I felt a blade pierce my skin - before I unknowingly drove the blade into Draven.

Draven’s eyes were wide with agony and pain - and betrayal. He thought I’d stopped this because I was too scared of losing him.

“We were fooled,” I said as our legs buckled and we fell to our knees.

I let him see everything that had happened to me. We both knew that Bianca had played us, played into what information we had, that he was seconds away from death - that Silas and Cashton had saved us.

Blue rose petals rained from the sky just before an explosion of light erupted between us, reaching for the heavens. It seemed to strengthen that wall of water, causing the darkness that was pushing against it to sway backward.

The stone on my neck turned white, vibrating my very soul. The light from it wrapped around Draven and me and pulled essence from each of us, then its beaming light shot across the air into the wall of water. That water turned into a blinding light. An overwhelming sense of bliss gripped the air. It was as if souls that I could neither see nor perceive were rejoicing. I could swear I felt my parents. Felt their relief, their absolute bliss.

That wall grew dim again as if the two of us were only a small part of the victory that was needed to open the bridge between the two realities.

Aden was yelling our names as dark energy snaked around the stairs, stabbing him, reaching for us. We all knew we had to stop this, that we had to wake up, but we were in too much pain to move.

Draven and I were bleeding out, and Aden was assaulted with every move he made. It seemed that victory was short-lived.

Electricity webbed through both of our bodies and pulled us against each other, driving those daggers deeper into our core. Something was either trying to capitalize on the fact that we were one or kill us, one of the two.

A second later, Landen appeared at the top of the platform.

“Pull them out slowly,” he said in a forced calm tone.

As if his voice were powerful enough to subdue Mother Nature, the light swarming in and around us subsided, allowing us to slowly pull apart. Our blood pooled, then rushed down the stairs I’d climbed. The skies erupted just as the ocean stilled. One drop. That was all it took. One drop of our combined blood had ceased the raging water below us and brought an eerie calm to the air.

As soon as the blades were out, Landen’s hands were on us, healing the wounds instantly. Most of the pain went away, but I still felt the burn.

Landen took the blades from us. “Wake - end the song,” he said as he vanished.

Draven pulled me up, then gripped Aden, who was behind us. “Now,” he said breathlessly.

A stagnant force pulled us back into reality, and I found myself breathlessly standing on the amp.

Draven stumbled through a few chords as he gripped his side, but then he gained his rhythm back and a second later the song was over.

I grasped my waist, still feeling the burn. In the crowd, I saw the same woman I’d seen on the streets earlier. She was moving her lips, and as she did the ghostly images were risen, now joined with whomever they’d lost - and from the looks of it we’d brought back more than were hoped for.

The only ones I focused on were that little girl and that last woman I’d flung on stage. When they turned into light, I allowed myself to smile.

I glanced to my side to see if Madison was back. She nodded once at me, telling me she was. She looked just as bad as I felt. I wondered where The Realm had taken her, but she wasn’t showing me anything at all right now.

I jumped down and made my way through to the center of the crowd where that woman was.

“Well,” I said when I reached her, “did your daughter make it back?”

The woman glanced at the stage, then to me. “No, not yet - but you have assured me that she has a reason.”

In this woman's image all I could see was a flaming bow and lavender hair.

“If she is on the side of Bianca, do not ask me to help her.”

A ironic smile came to the woman's face. “Always go with your natural intuition. You know my daughter is not evil. Impatient and jealous, yes, but she would never walk with mirrored souls. That girl played you. Give Landen my best,” she said as she turned to leave, disappearing into the crowd.

The producer man was trying to get the crowd’s attention and thank Draven and Aden, but Draven barely bowed before tearing his sound wires and guitar off, then jumping the lights into the crowd. They made a path for him to come to me.

Once in his arms, he lifted me above his head, then lowered me to his lips, kissing me fiercely, not caring if anyone was watching. I returned his eagerness, letting the reality surface that we were seconds away from death. The adrenaline was the only thing balancing me from drifting into his electrifying essence, which was embracing me even tighter than his arms.

The lead singer from the other band took the mic and made a joke about how he would attempt to follow that performance. Draven’s lips left mine then he urged us out of the mass of people.

It was quieter on the side of the house, quiet enough to hear our breaths, which were in rhythm with our hearts.

“It still burns? Is it burning you? Charlie, tell me it’s not!” he said as he stopped to look me over.

“She’s alright,” I heard Cashton say, but his voice was weak. He was leaning against the side of the house with that jar in his hand, tilting it from side to side as he watched the essence within it flow.

Draven wasted no time. He was seeing Cashton and knew exactly what was in that jar.

“Why are you still weak?” I asked, kneeling next to him.

The blue in his eyes was so dim it was easily bleeding into the dark canvas behind them.

“She drained me, pulled from me for hours. That is another reason I didn’t want to lose her soul. I’m sure they would love to get their hands on a piece of me,” he said with a wink.

I glanced at the bottle, then to him. “How do we get it back?”

“I don’t want this back. I just don’t want them to have it.”

“But it’s your soul,” I argued.

“No. It’s just essence. Still dangerous in the wrong hands.”

“We have to make you stronger,” I said, wondering just how I would do that.

“What do I need to do?” Draven asked. “You need Landen?”

Cashton smirked. “I’m sure he’s a little busy.” Cashton said with knowing chuckle.

Right about then, Silas appeared. Draven stood in obvious defense as they both stood face-to-face, looking furious as ever.

“Oh, for Creator’s sake - call it off, mates,” Cashton said with a grunt. “They’re bound now - and guess what, buddy? You’re still alive, so she has compassion for you. All winners today.”

They both looked at Cashton like he was insane.

“I didn’t say you had to like it. Just let it be,” Cashton said, raising one brow. “You’re a smart man, Silas. Tell me you figured out that Xavier does not live life on the same timetable we do. He knew that you did not divide a man in Pompeii, but he planted that idea in your head and pushed that button right when he needed to.”

“I don’t give a damn about Xavier. You know why I’m here.”

“Drowning man,” Cashton said. “I’m going to figure you out, buddy. There has to be a reason you have an identity crisis.”

“I have souls I have to protect, and I have to be alive to do it. That is my identity.” He turned his attention to Draven. “You hurt her – in any way – and this Witness right here,” he said, patting his chest. “Will unbind you and tear you into shreds.”

“Do that,” Draven said with a smirk. “Because if I hurt her, I’ve got no reason to live.”

“He is not going to hurt her. So, truce for now, Silas. I’m more than sure that once you get over your identity crisis, you will see things differently,” Cashton said with a sarcastic smile.

“I don’t know why you keep saying that, and I don’t care. I have a job to do.”

Silas nodded toward Cashton, and as he did a glowing light consumed him. A second later he was standing next to us, looking like he had all the energy in the world.

“Why, thank you,” Cashton said with a nod.

“Didn’t do it for you,” Silas said as he glanced at me.

“Right, then,” Cashton said. “Here you go, mate. Take this with you and guard it. Wouldn’t want a piece of me and my sista floating around, now would we?”

Silas took the glass tube with Bianca’s soul in it before looking at me. “Monroe released a lot of power in The Realm.”

“Is she okay? Why was she there?”

“Not sure on that part, but she is wiped out right now. Probably scared and feeling ashamed.”

“Why would she feel ashamed?”

“Because she would never want to hurt anyone,” Silas sighed. “And Madison would throw her life down for anyone.”

“What happened, Silas?!”

“Madison just got in the way. Her energy was pulled and rearranged. She probably thinks she is at peace, and that’s fine - but those emotions will come back, and she will have to deal with them when they do. Get them to Chara so they can heal.”

“They are going to heal? You’re sure?”

“As long as no one hurts them before they do.” He glanced at Draven. “Madison needs to stay away from anyone who doesn’t have control.”

Draven stepped forward, taking his challenge to fight, but Cashton was in the middle of them.

“No, mate. I think I might feel that punch if you throw it - and I thought we were mates? Let it be.”

Silas let out a deep breath, looked in my direction, then faded from sight.

Cashton glanced at me. “You still have those seven pages?”

I patted my back pocket to be sure, then pulled them out. Warily, Cashton opened the envelope. I could smell the singed paper from where I stood. The look on Cashton’s face was in no way reassuring. He pulled the pages apart. Two of them were singed on the corners, and one had words in a different language written down half the page.

“Your girl’s hurt,” he said.

“Madison?”

Cashton nodded. “Listen, little one, I know you want to rush around this house and fix it, sit her down and make her face her demons - but that is not your place.”

“The hell it isn’t!” I bellowed.

Cashton gripped my shoulders and dipped his head so we were eye-to-eye.

“Only one person can pull her back around, and that is not you. It’s time for a break. Let her be, or your page will burn next.”

“She is not going through whatever happened to her alone!”

“No, she’s not. Let the person who’s meant to help her fill their fate. This is a singe. The story is not over for her. She has to live out her fate in order to heal - and you’re going to let her do that.”

I glanced away.

“You are going to let her do that,” Cashton stated firmly. “I’ve never lied to you, and I’m not going to start now. I’m saving her life by telling you to let her be for now.”

“She tells me she needs space, I’ll give it to her. But if she asks for help, I’m not telling her no.”

“Fair enough,” Cashton said with a nod.

I had just lost that argument. Madison had never openly asked for help in any matter. I doubted she would start now, but that didn’t mean I could not let her know that I was offering said help.

“Alright, then, shall we?” Cashton said, nodding forward, telling us to go somewhere safe.

I clenched my side, still feeling the burn as Draven took my other hand. When we reached the front of the house I saw Monroe on the stairs, crying softly into her hands. Draven let me go so I could comfort her.

“Monroe,” I said breathlessly, trying to get her to look at me so she could see that she was going to be okay, that I was going to keep her safe.

She tightened her hands into a fist, then looked at me with tears streaming down her face.

“I...I didn’t mean to...I’m so sorry,” she said in a whispered cry.

“I know. It’s okay. You are going to be fine. Madison is going to be fine. I promise.”

“I’m fine now,” I heard Madison say.

I glanced back to see her leaning against the Jeep like she was waiting on us to leave.

“She brought me peace,” Madison answered.

“No. I didn’t. Even if I did, you wouldn’t know what that felt like,” Monroe rebutted in a tone that for once reflected her age. She then stood and said, “She has no emotions – none that she is letting surface.”

“And she is going to heal. I healed. Before I met you, I was weak - and it took the right person to heal me,” I promised Monroe, only to get a glare from Madison.

Monroe held a glare as she stared at Madison. She whispered something under her breath, then all at once a bolt of light flashed from her and landed square on Madison’s chest. I watched as the light spider-webbed through her skin. It all happened so fast that neither Draven, Cashton, nor I had a chance to react.

Madison wasn’t hurt. Her eyes were wide, as she seemed to internally evaluate her mental status.

“Compromise,” Monroe bit out.

“What did we just compromise?!” I asked as my eyes raced between them.

“She doesn’t want to feel emotions that she feels she has no right to deal with? Request granted,” Monroe said as she crossed her arms.

“I’m taking you both home,” I said with wide eyes, not sure what they would do to each other next or what they had already been through. All I could see was fire when I looked into their minds. “Where’s the other Jeep?” I asked, wondering where Drake and the others were.

“I’ll go find out,” Draven said, rushing into the house.

Madison was staring at me. I walked slowly to her, not recognizing anything but her image. Her energy was gone, barely visible around her body, and her eyes were placid.

“Was it an accident?” I asked as calmly as I could, knowing that she’d been miserable since the moment we first saw Willow. “Did you purposely lose your emotions? What did Monroe just give back to you?”

“Leave it be,” Cashton said under his breath as he looked her over once. “Never question Monroe’s reasons. She is wise beyond all of our years.”

I glared at Cashton, wishing I could argue that Monroe was fifteen without looking like a fool in front of Madison and Monroe.

“She said it was,” Madison answered, still unable to see Cashton.

“I meant you. Was it an accident that this happened to you? Did you sacrifice a part of yourself?”

“I tried to save Monroe,” Madison said blankly, clearly not caring about the outcome.

As I reached for her arm I saw Austin walking up behind us. He carefully looked over Madison.

“You okay?”

“Better than ever,” she answered before climbing into the Jeep.

“Where is everyone else?” I asked him.

“They left.”

“No goodbyes?” I asked sarcastically, knowing there was a darker reason.

“They had some battle scars, for sure, but they had to get to the palace before Jupiter moved.”

“Are they trying to kill Xavier or something?”

“No. They are trying to make Donalt destroy himself. They think he would be the weakest after what you did tonight, that he would try and escape them – but he would end up wasting away because he was wounded.”

Draven came out of the house with Nana. Evan followed with Aden.

“We have to say goodbye. It’s dangerous here. Clarissa said for us to go to Chara,” Draven directed.

“Are they still fighting?” I gasped.

“Always fighting,” Draven said quietly as his mind showed me images of Drake. I knew Draven had a deep respect for him, and like me he hoped that once this battle was over, Drake could help us save Madison.

Nana came out of the house and encouraged Monroe to come toward us. Once Monroe was in the Jeep, Nana turned to hug me. Evan was saying his goodbyes to Draven and Aden.

“We fly home tomorrow. Let us know you’re okay. I’ll watch after Kara, and everything else,” Nana said to me.

I held in my failing emotions and squeezed her. “Make sure you tell her I love her.”

Nana placed her hands on either side of my face. “Only the strongest souls could move through that wall. She brought you here; both of your parents did. If there is any truth to the visions and myths around you, then you must understand that once she made it through to this side, she fought blindly, even lost her way a time or two - but she made sure that you knew how to do that, that you knew how to fight without seeing the ending or purpose. You will find her again, child, and you will bring balance. Do it for her. Do it for both of your parents, and know that they are watching you, waiting for your victory.”

She glanced at Cashton, who had become rather tense as she spoke. She reached for his arm, which caught him off guard; I was sure he thought he was blocking her.

“She loves you so much, and I know she is happy that you two found each other again.”

Cashton nodded stiffly, daring not to show one emotion.

I held in my tears and hugged her once more. “Love you. I’ll keep the boys safe.”

She smiled to say thank you.

Austin took over the driver’s seat, and Monroe climbed to the front so she could sit between him and Madison. Draven held the door open for me to climb in the middle, between him and Aden. I hesitated, though, as I locked eyes with Cashton.

“I’m heading to the veil, to a warm fire and a simple guitar. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Cashton said as his eyes reflected how tired he was.

“You said that yesterday, and it didn’t pan out,” I said as I tried to figure out how to get him in the Jeep.

“If you poke a stick in a hornets’ nest, you’re going to get stung. I went after that girl trying to figure out if she was worth the kill. She wasn’t, by the way. I shouldn’t have done it until I was out for good and strong again.”

“You’re strong. Wit takes you further than strength, sometimes.”

“That it does, little one,” he said with a wink as he vanished.

Draven just smirked as he nodded for me to climb in. Once he was in, he held his arm out, inviting me to come closer to him. His hand gently caressed my side.

“Still burning?” he whispered.

I nodded to confirm, not sure how badly we’d hurt ourselves tonight. I glanced up at him to see that his eyes had turned dark. He was analyzing Austin, everything he’d seen on his side of the story - no doubt trying to figure out how we went so wrong.

I closed my eyes as I lay against his chest and imagined my mother in some peaceful sanctuary in another universe. I knew I would never be completely convinced that she was okay until I saw her with my own eyes, but I also knew that finding her would be the end of this curse - a day that I would fight to reach.

No one bothered to utter a word as we made our way back to the restaurant, to the passage of the string.

“Are you sure we don’t need to help them?” Draven asked Austin as he ushered us by the gray passages of Esterious.

He glanced back at Draven and me, at the slow stagger we were forced to walk in simply because our sides were burning.

“They want you guys to rest. I’m supposed to take you to the beach house. It is safe there. I’m afraid if you fought anymore tonight, we’d surely lose you.”

“That is a one-bedroom house. We can go back to Nyla and August’s,” I said, glancing at Madison and Monroe. Even though I was told not to push Madison, I wanted to keep a close eye on her, on Monroe.

“I’ll stay with them,” Aden said, nudging me.

Aden knew me too well. He knew I would not let Madison rest tonight, that I plotted to figure out how to turn back time, to undo this.

The string became crowded when we came closer to Chara. It was like watching the second wave of soldiers falling into battle. As they passed and I saw them, I realized they were not rushing to Esterious to fight; they were rushing there to bring peace.

Before we reached the passage that held Willow and Landen’s home, a tall boy dressed in black charged through the passage, in the direction of the gray passages. I recognized the fury in his energy and tried to see him as he rushed past us, but all I could see was Alamos. That boy was determined to face him, and the Alamos he knew was not the one I knew. No, the one that boy knew was evil.

Panic for Drake and everyone else came to me. We had all halted, and Austin froze in place, doubting that he had really seen that boy. A second later, Ashten, Landen’s father, charged through the passage, followed by Jason, Willow’s father, both obviously chasing that boy.

“Was that -” Austin yelled after them.

“YES! Get them in Chara – NOW!” Ashten yelled at Austin.

August and Rose came through the passage next. August took off in a sprint, but Rose stopped when she saw Madison and Monroe - all of us.

“Oh my,” she said as her eyes raked over Madison. I knew she had the sixth sense of emotion that she would agree that Madison was more wounded than we were acknowledging. “Come,” she said, putting her arm around Monroe and carefully directing Madison with a glance.

“Stay with them,” Draven said to Aden.

“You’re going to rest, right?” Aden asked, clearly not agreeing to babysit while we figured out what Ashten and August were so upset about.

“He has no choice,” Rose said, reaching for Aden to guide him into Chara. Madison and Monroe had already gone in, only offering a glance to us as a goodbye.

“What’s going on?” Draven asked.

Austin raised his brow. “The dead are rising.”

“What?!” the three of us said at the same time.

“Calm down. We thought your mom meant that in the message she left. I guess we didn’t understand it to be so literal.”

“I don’t understand...”

“You don’t understand because you’re tired, weak. Come,” Austin said, urging Aden into the passage.

Draven nodded to the next passage, telling Aden that that was where we were. Once he knew for sure that we were going there, he went after Monroe and Madison.

Austin stepped back a few feet, urging us to go in. “Rest. I’ll be back in the morning.”

“You get me if you need me. You tell them that,” Draven ordered.

“I will - they will,” he promised.

Draven gripped my hand and pulled me through the passage. The sound of the ocean and the smell of salt in the air instantly gave me my breath. I let the tension in my shoulders release.

Once we reached the beach house and turned on a few lights, Draven reached for the rim of my shirt, wanting to know if he could see what was burning me.

“Let me see yours, too,” I said, stopping him.

He seemed frustrated that I was concerned about his wound, but he let go of my shirt anyway and lifted the rim of his as I lifted mine.

I lost the ability to breathe - to think at that moment: now branded on our stomachs were torches. I must have held the knife differently from Draven because his was upside down.

Draven pulled me to the couch. I curled myself up in a ball next to him. He let out a long, deep breath.

“When we started this day, this right here was the end I wanted. We’re doing something right,” Draven said in his trademark hypnotic tone.

“And what was lost for us to be here? I’m not a thousand percent sure my parents are okay. We still don’t have Grayson or Winston back. Monroe and Aden may be okay for now, but Madison isn’t.”

“And you gained Cashton. Count the wins, Charlie.”

“The win is that you are holding me without your guard up,” I said as I reached to caress the side of his face and my stare fell into the green I loved so much.

His arm tightened around me. “We got free matching tattoos, too,” he said in a teasing manner.

He moved his legs to the couch, stretching out beside me, making sure that neither of our burns were pressed against anything that would hurt them.

“I think...I think right now...we don’t need to think...we need our strength back.”

I lifted my eyes to meet his. “Agree.”

“You...agree?” he said as a sinful grin slowly spread across his face.

“I love you,” I said, failing to hold back my grin as I reached to let my lips touch his.

We both knew we had more problems than solutions, and that tomorrow would bring more challenges than we were more than likely ready to handle. But we also knew that in the end, we all find peace.

Peace was in his arms, in this moment.

Acknowledgments

I am still eternally grateful for every soul that encouraged me to write/ publish my debut novel Insight.... thank you once again.

I also want to thank my husband, Lem, for listening to my random thoughts and ideas as each of these stories came to life, he is not only the love of my life but the man who keeps me sane on this insane adventure. I want thank my children who inspire me to become more than I am today with a simple glance, and the echo of laughter and joy that surrounds me constantly.

I want to thank Jan Galloway for being the first Beta, for her valuable input and edits. Sabrina Poe Wells, and Michelle Stepp, and Steffini Walker for being best Beta an author could ask for. Kimi Farley for her outstanding copyedits.

Marek Purzycki has got to be the most patient, talented graphic artist I have every met, thank you for giving my series a face.

Most of all I want to thank every-single reader for sharing this adventure with me! I love you all and I am eternally grateful for your time and support :)!

About the Author

Jamie Magee has always believed that each of us have a defining gift that sets us apart from the rest of the world, she has always envied those who have known from their first breath what their gift was. Not knowing hers, she began a career in the fast paced world of business. Raising a young family, and competing to rise higher in that field would drive some to the point of insanity, but she always found a moment of escape in a passing daydream. Her imagination would take her to places she’d never been, introduce her to people she’s never known. Insight, her debuting novel, is a result of that powerful imagination. Today, she is grateful that not knowing what defined her, led her on a path of discovery that would always be a part of her.

The fun Bio: I’m an obsessive daydreamer. Lover of loud alternative music. Addicted to Red Bull. I love to laugh until it hurts. Fall is my favorite season. Black is my favorite ‘shade.’ Strong believer in the saying: there is a reason for everything, therefore I search for ‘marked moments’ every moment of everyday...and I find them. Life is beautiful!