by Jamie Magee
Scarf girl. I’d bet my house that she was in the middle of what was going on with those two. I’d bet money she was Phoenix’s.
“Phoenix. Trust me when I tell you that it only feels like hell when you are alone. When you are with the one made of your soul, it’s still scary, but you know it’s worth it. If you don’t need to be here, then don’t be.”
“Sunshine. I need to be everywhere right now. That’s what I’m doing.” He shook off whatever thoughts he was arguing with and focused on me.
“What else? Why did she leave like that?”
“The Charlie part made her leave like that, before that I told her how Landen got into The Realm, how a mirror took him.”
“Xavier’s girl.”
“Are you serious? Xavier sent someone after Landen?”
“Right. That’s the word on the street. I also heard he’s pretty focused on your group of seers, bet he thought all of you would fall that night. Lazy fools, him and Donalt. Trying to take you all out at once.”
“Paths crossed,” I said with a tilt of my head. Pointing out that we should be at home working this out as a team. Not in a graveyard, or veil for that matter.
“We’ll see.” He glanced to where Landen was. “Deal is a deal. We’re going to burn Drake right now.”
“What? No!”
“Don’t ‘what’ me. He would want this. So should you.”
“That is not the point. You hurt Landen when you did that,” I argued.
“I did not,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Listen, Sunshine, according to your mate over there, Drake and your doppelganger are going to put on a show for his court. If he has Guardian’s energy in him, she will never see him the way you want her to.”
“It’s not Landen’s energy standing in their way. They are both stubborn. Trust me I had a nice chat with Madison not long after we met.”
“Rightly so,” he said with wink. “Lets not give them any more barriers.” He put his arm around me. “Guardian,” he said to get Landen’s attention, “I’m going to go burn this bloke, taking her. Meet us there.”
Before Landen could say anything or I could move, heated wind surrounded me and the next thing I saw was Drake’s chambers.
Chapter Twelve
After a second of hesitation, realizing that being separated from Landen no longer brought my body agony, I turned and beat my fist into Phoenix’s rock hard chest.
“He’s going to kill you!”
Phoenix caught my hands. “I’m already dead,” he said, fairly unconcerned with Landen’s reaction.
I ripped my wrist from him. “You can’t just zap people around whenever you feel like it!”
“Oh, cool it, Sunshine,” he said, shaking his head. “Call me crazy, but Landen and Drake are not the best of friends. How well do you think Drake would take Landen standing here and wanting to burn him?”
“Who would take that news well?”
“Right then. Let’s find lover boy before Guardian figures out how to ‘zap’ himself around.”
Something caught my eye. It was a servant adjusting the flowers on the nightstand. At first glance it was easy for me to see she was not alive either.
“You there: where is your master?” Phoenix asked.
The ghost looked at him and must have offered an answer because Phoenix gripped the back of my arm and led me out of the room. My insight stretched out immediately, looking for my family.
August was here, as well as Marc and Stella. I was almost sure Draven was, but his energy was faint, so it was hard to tell. Phoenix led me out of the room, down the hall, and into another room. There was a bookcase on the sidewall, and he moved it aside with a wave of his hand, revealing a narrow stoned staircase. It was too small for us to walk side by side, so he went first, ensuring he kept his hold on me.
What I felt of Draven was getting stronger as we descended the stairway. I could hear grunts and feel the vibration in the air. When we reached the bottom stair, I saw an open room completely made of stone. Only massive torches lit the room, and there was a table that looked like an altar off to the side with a few open books on it, but nothing else.
Draven was pinned to one wall by energy, and Drake was standing in the center of the room. A second later, the positions reversed. I was sure that somehow Drake had felt me and his distraction had let Draven get a hold on him.
Draven noticed me and sighed, shaking his head as he let Drake go. “I thought that was a legit win.”
“It was,” Drake said, slowly walking toward us with a vicious expression on his face. “Every enemy has a weakness. Sometimes it’s just a thought you can see in their eyes. Strike then.”
Draven nodded and grinned slightly at me.
“Phoenix” Drake seethed.
I knew Phoenix well enough to know that he would strike first, then ask questions, so I held up my arm in a lame attempt to hold him back. The grin of Draven’s expression vanished as he appraised who Phoenix was.
“We have to talk.” I said.
“Don’t tell me there is another contender for your heart, where’s Landen.” Drake fumed as his magnetic eyes moved over Phoenix.
“There is only one and if you see otherwise, we have more to talk about than I thought,” Phoenix answered coolly.
“He’s not talking about him,” Draven said to Drake, clearly using his insight of seeing souls to tell him that.
Drake didn’t seem to care, though. In that instant, I was pulled across the room and was in Drake’s arms.
Phoenix laughed in response. “Move, Sunshine, so I can get this over with.”
Drake looked down at me with betrayal in his eyes. I swallowed nervously.
“It’s not bad,” I whispered. I glanced at Draven, noticing he was prepared to fight for Drake. “In The Realm...in The Realm your energy was twisted with Landen’s. Part of him is in you.”
Drake furrowed his brow like he was trying to see if I was under some kind of mind spell or something.
“That is true,” Draven said. “Madison is sure of it.”
“Do you see what Donalt was doing?” I pressed. “He wanted me to feel that in you, to love that, and then move into you.”
Drake pulled me against his humming body, leaned into my ear, and whispered, “You, Love, crossed our energy far more than that Realm.”
I blushed, both from embarrassment and the heat his warm breath was bringing to my body. I pushed away from him before Phoenix found a reason to ‘throw me in a fire,’ as he put it.
“We have to undo it. It’s going to mess up things with you and Madison, put you in more danger, as far as Donalt is concerned.”
“It’s already messed up.”
I glanced at Draven who looked away, openly stating his intent: he was not going to play matchmaker with Drake and one of his best friends.
“This will help. You need me out of your system, too. I’m darkness, like you. We destroy each other. We need to take you back to who you are, a fresh start. She will feel that, and you will know you are you—no one else.”
His jaw clenched, and his arm around me tightened. “We need a moment.”
I begged Phoenix with a glance.
“Not a chance, Sunshine.”
“Just go to the stairs. You don’t have to leave.”
He vanished at that second and appeared at the other end of the room, leaning against the wall. Draven backed away, too.
I met Drake’s eyes as I stepped away from him, knowing that everyone was watching our body language.
“You are my power. This guy? He shows up, tells you to clean out my energy—the part of you that lingers in me that makes me powerful—right when I’m at war within my kingdom? I don’t buy it.”
“I’m not selling it. He did it to Landen, too. Listen. I may have empowered you in the past, but I think it was temporary. We are both darkness. That is why I can’t feel you.”
“Did he fill your head with that nonsense?” he asked, nodding to where Phoenix was.
“He is not the only one. I saw it, Drake. I saw myself run into your arms. I know that I loved you, that we lived in passion, died by passion.”
“You saw what?”
“Landen was a phoenix, too. It was a plot. We had to alter fate and beat this dimension, and the only fault was that I loved you. I grieved for you, I screamed your name as he burned me, but it never worked, and somehow, finally, he was able to break out of that lifestyle and become alive again.”
Elation filled his eyes as he cupped the side of my face. “You remember.”
“No, but I saw it at least one night. It was a battlefield, on that same battlefield where Xavier convinced Dane to give part of his soul away to save Clarissa. Madison was there, too. Xavier brought her to Landen, trying to fool him. They were doing a spell to break into The Realm, but all it did was usher souls into The Realm. They are feeding this dimension. Landen has to undo the spell to kill power to this world, to Donalt.”
“Madison was there?” he questioned as pain filled his eyes and he let his hand fall. It was almost like he didn’t remember what I saw quite the same way.
“That bothers you?” My voice cracked, not from jealously, but from the hope I was trying to stifle from my tone.
“I don’t want anyone else in the middle of this, and everyone here is pushing her into it, wanting her to mock you. That is not helping anything.”
“Mock me how?”
“Xavier announced the death of Donalt. He is pushing me forward so I will fail. It’s all politics right now. We have a plan, but I don’t want them hurt,” he said, nodding to where Draven was standing.
“All I know is that apparently there were a lot of spells cast, intents set, and it’s caused a huge mess. They are saying we cannot cross paths unless we have no choice. If you have already asked them to help and they said yes, then the path is set.”
“I wasn’t the one to ask them. Only Draven has openly agreed.”
We locked stares, both trying to understand how to move through this curse and not hurt anyone in the process. We were both terrified that one way or the other, someone could get really hurt.
“Let him burn your energy clean. You know if you need me, I’m always here. I’ll help again, but right now I think it’s doing nothing but hurting you.”
“You’re talking about Madison.”
“Maybe,” I said with hesitation, not knowing if that would make him want to do it more or less.
I decided to make him focus on the big picture: not only was his kingdom under attack, but his soul was, too.
“More so that I don’t want Donalt to take you over. You don’t want Landen’s energy any more than he wanted yours.”
“Madison cannot only feel me. She can see me. I told you before, I cannot help how I feel. That is hurting us, and no, I don’t want Landen’s energy in me.” His humming thumb raised to trace the bottom of my eye. “I believe almost everything, except for the fact that you’re dark.”
“I didn’t at first either, but if you change the definition and believe that label means nothing, only the intent behind it, it is easier to understand.”
He let his hand fall from me. “If you are trying to undo a spell I was a part of, would I not have to be there?”
“I’m not doing anything. I watch them try. Maybe so...we’ll see after we do this.”
He nodded once.
“Is Marc dressed like you right now?”
“Why?”
“This may hurt. If you need to be somewhere, he might have to do it.”
“Oh, that will make his day,” Drake said with heavy sarcasm.
At that second, Phoenix appeared at our side. “If you are a man about it, it won’t hurt.”
“Is that a challenge?” Drake asked as Draven approached us, too.
“At least check his energy first,” I told Phoenix.
Phoenix beaconed his fingertips toward Drake, pulling his essence out. It was obvious that the light veining through the darkness and the gray lines that must have belonged to me were infecting him deeply.
“Wow, mate. They definitely focused on you in The Realm.”
“I’m sure that was the goal,” Drake said in an obvious tone.
“Does that have memories in it?” Draven asked. I knew why he did. The way he and others saw into souls was based on memories.
“Afraid so,” Phoenix answered. “Step back, Sunshine,” he said to me.
I held Drake’s gaze as I obeyed Phoenix’s request. In that instant, Drake was consumed with flames. He roared as soon as they touched his skin. Draven lunged forward, but Phoenix held him back with a glance.
Landen raced down the stone stairs at that moment. He was furious with Phoenix, but he had no intent to stop him from what he was doing.
Drake’s screams stopped, and the flames absorbed into his skin. Phoenix called the energy once more, finding that Landen’s energy was still in him.
Drake nodded once, holding a stern stare with Phoenix. Fire flamed across him again. I couldn’t bear the sight of it. The taste of blood was coursing through my mouth. Landen pulled me to his chest and squeezed me as tightly as possible.
I heard Phoenix say, “Again” at least two more times. After the last time, Landen vanished from my arms. When I turned, I saw him catch Drake just before his knees buckled.
“It’s over, right? It has to be! That is enough!” I yelled at Phoenix.
Draven was helping Landen balance Drake.
“All Drake now,” Phoenix stated, clearly unconcerned with his well-being.
I pushed by him to go to Drake’s side. “I think it was too much,” I said as my cool hands gripped the sides of his perfect image. His eyes were closed, and he couldn’t hold his head up.
“Give it a second,” Phoenix ordered.
“Go away!” I yelled at him.
“He’s right,” Landen said to me. “He’s going to be fine.”
“You have one second, or I’m giving him my energy.”
It was my fear and protective instinct talking, but no one else in the room noticed that. All I felt was Landen’s jealousy intensify and Draven’s shock. I ignored their emotions. They were foolish. I wanted to help Drake, not have some kind of moment.
Landen stepped away from Drake. I thought it was because of his fury, but then I saw Drake balance himself on his knees, then slowly stand tall. The only evidence that anything had happened was a slight glistening of sweat across his brow.
With glassy eyes, he locked gazes with me. “God help me, Woman...no fire can take you completely out of me.”
A relieved grin spread across my face. “Better?” I asked.
He nodded once as he swallowed and gave Draven a nod to let him go.
“Get yourself together. I’ll meet you in the study to hear about why the mourning was lifted,” Landen snapped at him.
Drake shook his head to stop us. “Low profile. The palace is taken over. I don’t know how either of you got down here without being seen. You are going to have to find a way to get there without using the main way.”
Landen pulled me against him. “I’ll meet you there,” he said, then nodded for Phoenix to follow him in some way.
A rush of warm air surrounded Landen and me and the next thing I saw was Perodine’s study, with her and August at the table.
Phoenix was with us, too. He locked eyes with Landen. “I’m going to find out where Charlie Myers is, what spells he may have in this web.”
“We won’t be here long. Find me in Chara. Don’t let Skylynn do anything crazy,” Landen ordered.
Phoenix nodded once, taking in his orders before vanishing.
Landen held up his hand to stop August and Perodine’s questions. “One minute.”
He pulled my hand, guiding us through the study into the observatory to the farthest corner of it, leaning me against the wall.
“What is your problem?” I gasped.
“Less than five minutes, and we are right back where D
onalt wants us.” he bellowed into the echo of the room.
“What are you talking about?”
He glared down at me. “What am I talking about? What was that you said? ‘I’ll give him my energy.’” He swallowed his anger as his eyes rushed across me. “You were right before, that is a line we should not cross. A quick fix. It’s too dangerous for your energy to be with his. I can’t watch you destroy yourself again.” His voice cracked with a mix of emotions. He was not in this life with me. He was back on that battlefield watching me die in Drake’s arms.
“Landen, you need to calm down.”
He clenched his jaw and shook his head once.
“Look, that was a reflex. I don’t get this energy deal, but I would’ve said that if anyone was in pain. That’s who I am. Who you are. Drake is my friend. In someway he’s yours, too.”
“Donalt is trying to cross us.” He said distractedly. “He’s came so close in the past.”
I reached for his face and pulled him so he would look me in the eye. I caressed his cheek. “No, he hasn’t. You’re mine. Right now Donalt is pulling your strings, not mine or Drake’s. I may offer my energy to someone, a way to heal or help them, but you are the only man I share my mind, body and soul with. There are no variations to that rule. Ever.”
A breath filled with adrenaline rippled through his body as he instantly pinned me against the wall, his lips on mine, his hungry hands rushing over me, sending the hum of his energy into my body.
“I’m so sorry,” he thought over and over.
I was so into the way his body felt, the way his hands felt as they moved over my body, the way his lips felt as they parted mine, that I had no idea what he was sorry for. I just wanted him to be sorry a little bit longer. I wanted more than five minutes alone with him. I wanted to bring him back to the reality we were in, the one where we were fearless lovers made of one soul.
He ended the dance of our kiss, the push of our bodies against one another, with a subtle grace, then leaned his forehead to mine as we both struggled for breath.
“Forgiven.”
A smile slowly eased across his lips, which I wanted so badly to kiss once more, then I felt a wave of his energy ripple though me, causing my toes to curl. He caught me before I lost my balance.
