by Magee, Jamie
His hands cupped my face as his eyes searched mine. “Willow, I know your nature. I know you have every reason to walk away from me, and that I deserve it, but we have to work together to break this spell. It’s not for my benefit, it’s for yours—everyone else's.”
A glance from me threw him on the bed and held him there. I climbed across him so he could get a full view of my glare.
“You listen to me. If you ever insinuate that I will leave you or you will leave me, I will kill you where you stand. That is my nature.”
His bewilderment made me smile on the inside, but outwardly I was fierce. “Up until a few days ago, I thought that when I found Drake’s other, she would be yours, too. I’ve been expecting this. Will I be cordial? Invite her over for dinner? Hell no. But I’m not a shallow-minded, lovesick girl. I’m the woman in love with you. I’m your soul. You’re mine and no past is going to change that. This now, Landen. Not then. If it was we’d both be in the wrong spot and you know that just as well as I do.”
In a flash he had overpowered me and I was lying on my back with my arms pinned above my head. I gasped in awe of the speed his body had gained overnight.
“He was always good to you. He never strayed no matter how many chances he had.” I could swear I saw a flame ripple through his dark pupils. “The last time, I let him love you. I watched you from a blind distance, and when his death came I walked you into the fire hearing you scream his name. All the dark, white, twisted magic I had in my power could not make your heart falter from your grief and surrender to me, not even when I promised you that you would see him again. He was right. Drake was right: he’s better for you. At least he was then. He wasn’t intoxicated with power. I was.”
I struggled under his hold, bowing my chest, unable to break free.
“He was wrong.” I swore.
His grip tightened. “I don’t deserve you. I led you to believe I was someone else.”
“And I don’t deserve you, so now we’re even. We are human, Landen, and having faults, making mistakes is part of it. You didn’t lead me to believe anything. If you knew what happened, you would have told me. You’re still you. I still love you.”
I managed to get my legs out from under him and wrapped them around his body that was literally on fire. “I’m yours. Live in the now with me. Lets walk out of hell side by side.”
His eyes turned tender. The Landen that had found me months ago surfaced. The fiery Landen, the one that The Realm awakened, the one Phoenix brought to center stage was going to have to learn to stop being so self-loathing. He was going to have to see that I was too stubborn to stop this war now.
“I love you,” he thought in the most tender tone he’d ever used with me.
“Kiss me. Show me how much.”
His hands on my arms loosened their grip, they slowly eased down my flesh, leaving a warm sensation behind. He slanted his head ever so slightly as his lips found mine. The kiss, the way his lips brushed against mine started out as innocently as our love did, as we began to move our lips together, let our tongues dance with one another, I felt the rhythm of the last few months, fierce one moment, sensual the next, under it all, a deep, undying, unyielding love.”
“Forgiven.” I said against his lips as he pulled away from me. I wasn’t telling him that I forgave him, I was telling him that he forgave himself because whatever he did led him here.
He knew me well enough to know what I meant. His eyes filled with wonder as he stared at me.
“Mr. Chambers? Or shall I call you Guardian? That seems to be the current title. What is our next move?”
His blushing smile made my heart flutter. I felt like I was falling in love with him all over again. I was willingly drowning in all that he was. A mystery that kept unfolding before my eyes.
“What now?” I whispered to break him from his gaze.
He pulled me to him and held me tightly with one arm as his other caressed my back. “We are walking on glass. We were right to try and separate ourselves from the others, to tell them that this was our fight, but we were wrong to lock them away. We can’t do that to Charlie.”
“I’m not going to let them get hurt for our benefit.”
His eyes squinted closed as if he were trying to see something. The rage in his emotion told me he couldn’t.
“We can guide them, share lessons we’ve learned, but we can’t persuade them to do anything or not to do anything.”
“Catch twenty-two there. How can we guide and not influence?”
“I have no doubt that if we suggest something to them and they would rather not, they would tell us. I mean, when this spell unravels, we can’t advise them. We can teach them to make each other strong. We can be strong for them, but that is it. We can’t interfere until our spells cross.”
“Did you know them from before?”
“The only time I saw them was with you. But, I know our fates entwine...”
Silence lingered. I waited until his emotions balanced out once more before I asked, “What about Dane? Clarissa?”
He let out a painful sigh as he sat up again and leaned forward on the edge of the bed. “The Realm is a shared consciousness. It’s a bank of past deeds. They have to face their past, resolve their grief before they can ascend into the life of a Witness.”
“Why are you making it sound like it’s going to be hard?” I asked, coming to his side.
“It took Clarissa less than a few hours. Now she just has to make the choice.”
“Dane?”
“It’s going to take him longer. Half of his energy or soul is lost, locked away. Without it, he cannot rise. If he doesn’t rise, Clarissa refuses to.”
“How do we find it?”
“I don’t know... and I don’t know that it’s a good idea.”
“Why?”
“I’m vague on the spells, but it seems like if we brought that part of him back, what that part did would be undone.”
“How is the undoing of the evil his energy created a bad thing?”
He glanced to his side at me. “We are already twisted unnaturally into place. Undoing the past can only make it worse.”
It was clear that his mind was made up. He wasn’t going to help them. We were going to stay out of it.
“You can walk away from them, but I’m not. I’ll find whatever I need of his.”
Before I could blink, he was kneeling in front of me. “Listen to me.” He said as he cupped my face. “We can’t make this any worse on ourselves.”
“I’m not losing them.” My voice trembled with grief.
His thumb traced my cheekbone. “It’s their fight. We can’t fight it for them. I would if I could. But Dane has to deal with this and Clarissa is going to do what Clarissa wants. This spell, this one that I know we have to face now. Dane was there. For all I know undoing it will help them in a round about way. What I do know is that staying on our path is the only way to ensure that we do not bring further harm.”
He leaned closer into me. “The only safe way is stay on our path. This curse is littered with traps, traps that could hurt people we care about…that could rip us from each others arms.”
A whisk of warm air blew through the room and I felt the accusing stare of Phoenix. He’d appeared by the closed door that led to the rest of the home.
“Don’t mind me. I’ve waited long enough to see the pair of you coming to your senses.” His fiery gaze melted over me. “I see you have mended your leak.”
A glance from me pinned him to the wall, as I stood to face him, but he broke free with little effort and pushed me back. Before I could retaliate, Landen had crossed the room and was holding him against the wall.
“Touch her again and I will find and scatter your ashes across the universe.”
After a tense second, Phoenix belted into laughter. Landen relaxed his body, freeing Phoenix from the hold he had on him.
Phoenix stepped forward and bowed slightly in my direction. “I apologize for testing your s
trength. My intent was to do so in a controlled environment.”
I knew then why Landen had given up so easily on his fight with him. I hated that I couldn't feel him that I couldn’t judge how pure his intent really was.
Phoenix circled Landen slowly. “Has my brother Guardian returned?”
Landen’s heated gaze followed him, turning with him.
“Let’s see if the damage has been undone, shall we?” Phoenix said as he beckoned his fingertips in Landen’s direction, calling the essence of his energy to him. The glow of Landen’s energy quickly formed into a sphere in Phoenix’s hands. From my close proximity, I could still see the dark veins of Drake’s energy within Landen’s. It wasn’t as defined as before. The illusion of fire was still burning through his energy.
“Not quite. And we have no time to wait. Another dose,” Phoenix said with a nod.
In that second, fire snaked across Landen’s skin, instantly consuming him. I screamed out in rage and fear as the taste of blood flooded my mouth. I pushed to move forward, but Phoenix’s energy was holding me firmly in place. I was powerless to call forth an element of weather to stop this torture.
Chapter Eight
The flames burned through every part of Landen. At first, he roared with rage, but soon he stopped and stood tall as he held Phoenix’s intense gaze. The flames seeped slowly into his skin, eventually fading out of sight.
“Once a Phoenix, always a Phoenix, brother,” were the simple words that Phoenix offered when the flames vanished.
In that instant, I was pulled to Landen’s side by his energy. I could tell he was trying to calm me down, but I was fighting my own war on the inside, adjusting my eyes to ensure that my aura had not shifted, that the taste that wanted to surface was at bay and I was under control.
“One more look,” Phoenix offered as he called Landen’s energy to him once more. Now the most dominant part of his essence was flames.
“That’ll do. He should be out of your system within a few breaths.” Phoenix glanced at me obviously to see if I understood how jacked up Landen’s energy had been. I knew it wasn’t my fault. The Realm did this. Donalt did this. “Now tell me, mate. Where are his ashes?”
“Whose?” Landen asked as I pulled away. His skin was on fire, too hot to touch.
“Donalt’s.”
“Not sure.”
“Not sure? How can you not be sure?”
“I didn’t collect them. Others did.”
“Are they secure?” Phoenix raged.
“I was blind. I thought he was a ghost.”
“You saw ashes fall from an Escort and there was no flash of recognition in that thick skull of yours?”
Landen’s energy lashed out at Phoenix, but an equal, expecting force met it.
“I was distracted,” Landen fumed.
Phoenix glanced at me as a heavy sigh breathed through him. “Well, I hope you are wide awake now. That bloke has an identity crisis, and no doubt he will find a way back.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning he is a Master Escort. With dark magic, he suspended his human form. When the magic wore off, he burned his body—Phoenix. It only worked twice. After that point, he could not convince the power of a Phoenix that a rebirth was what he wanted. Now he’s in the veil, waiting for one of God knows how many ways to come back. If I were him, the ashes would be my way.”
“He can come back if he gains all of his ashes?” My voice cracked for no reason.
“He doesn’t need all of them to make himself known. I don’t think that is his preferred way. The dead talk, and they say he’s been grooming a vessel that can hold him.”
Landen glanced at me.
“Oh, don’t do the ‘should-we-tell-him glance,’” Phoenix muttered. “I know. He wanted her other, but he wouldn’t take him unless she loved that vessel so he could have her energy. When that failed, he tried to move your essence into him so she would love him. Where is the other so I can burn him, too?”
“You’re not burning anyone.” I stated as coldly as could.
“Stop me, Sunshine. Apparently, your energy is rare on the market. You want to love him, so be it. But you are not going to love the mark of my brother within him.”
My energy raged against him, making him sway, but nothing else.
“She doesn’t love him. Not that way. The Realm did this. Not us. The energy that was shared to save lives.”
“Either way, what was done in The Realm has to be undone. I need to burn his energy. Call him here,” he said to me.
“I can’t just call him. He has a kingdom to run. He can’t just vanish.”
“You call that a kingdom? The word on the street is that it’s Hell’s core. Where is the twin? Are her guardians with her?”
“It is Hell. And I’m going to starve it out,” Landen stated flatly. “You know about Madison?”
“What guardians? Her friends?” I asked, fearing for my newfound friends.
“I suppose. The dead call their name. They have part of this spell. They are bound by it, bound by this fate.”
I nodded. “They are with her. I don’t think they have a spell. They were lost kids. They have no idea what they are or why they can do what they can do.”
“Yet they saved your ass,” Phoenix with a wink. “I was given a play by play by the dead that follow that crowd you found to bring Guardian out from the clutches of that mirror that stole him.” He raised his chin. “Starve the energy. You are back. Do you remember how?” he asked Landen.
“I unknowingly sent the energy there. Now I have to pull it back.”
“Right, then. All this chatter around us is calling a bloke named Draven to open the gate, but I think we should give it a tug on our own.”
Landen glanced in my direction.
“He can open the gate.” My intent was clear: I wanted to go home. I felt outnumbered here, and I wanted his family, mine. Draven was a perfect excuse to go. “There is a plot of land here that he can play on, and an audience that loves the sound is already there. Nana led me to believe it was already being set up.”
“No musician plays the same song the same way every time. If you have manipulated this in any way, it will not work,” Phoenix warned.
“I didn’t do anything. Before you so rudely showed up last night, I called an old friend for help. She heard the dead calling her grandsons and she saw the path of fate.”
“No one sees the path of fate until it’s complete,” Phoenix offered bleakly.
“Do you want me to call her so she can tell you what she knows?” I asked.
Landen’s hand fell into mine. “No. We’re going to where I know we need to be. If she is there, then I’ll ask for her help.”
“Is that your new battle cry? Charge forward and not ask anyone for help?”
“ I’m not pulling anyone into this unless the path demands it. That’s how we all stay alive.”
He pulled me forward, pushing past Phoenix, dimming the lights in the entire house before he stepped into the open hall. We found Saige holding a set of keys as she casually leaned against the wall in the entry hall. She handed them to Landen and received a thankful nod from him.
“Are you not coming?”
“It’s too hard for me to feel her and not see her. I’m sure others will be looking for you soon. Someone has to tell them where you are.”
God, I hoped she was right. If I had the time-distance right, it had been almost two days since we vanished. I would have hoped by now that someone was coming for us, at the very least to see if we were alive and well.
Beside the house, we found two trademark Jeeps that all travelers seemed to use. The keys we were given unlocked the silver one.
“A car. The slowest way on Earth to travel,” Phoenix complained.
“Faster than walking,” Landen countered, opening the door for me to get in.
“Not faster than appearing. Do you need more fire to see how powerful you are?”
“Trying to keep it a
s human as possible.”
“That has always been the problem, mate.”
“Get in,” was Landen’s firm response.
We didn’t talk much for the first few minutes. I wasn’t sure how Landen knew where to go in the first place. I noticed a few nods from Phoenix when Landen seemed to question his direction, as well as the dimming of the streetlights as we passed.
“How much do you remember?” Phoenix asked him.
“It’s all vague.”
“It can’t be vague if you are going to undo this.”
“I know enough.”
It was clear to me that he didn’t want me to know what had happened then and was sternly telling Phoenix to back off.
“Are you sure that we can use this land? That we don’t need to go to the dimension it happened in originally?”
“I’m not. But I’m sure you have already called someone who is.”
In the mirror on my side, I could see Phoenix behind me, his smirk.
“I’m sure it will be a warm reunion,” he muttered.
A sick feeling climbed in my throat. I squeezed my eyes closed, trying my best to keep the taste of blood at bay.
“Are you going to tell me what the hell you are up to? Or am I supposed to play the damsel in distress and follow you around like a lost puppy?”
I felt the glance he threw me deep in my gut, a warm humming sensation. The sinful grin that followed nearly took my breath away. Oh boy, he’d figured out a new way to use his energy. My body hummed just thinking about how powerful that fire seemed to make him.
“I’ll be damned if you are ever a damsel in distress. And I am the one that will follow you to the end of time. I don’t make mistakes twice.”
I blushed in response, hearing and feeling him apologize for a lost past once again.
“There are places in certain dimensions that mirror each other in some way, meaning that tragedy seems to be attracted to the land there. Where we did this the first time, the land is gone. Life in any form cannot exist any longer. So, I’m hoping that this dimension, this land, will have enough energy to raise us into The Realm. If it does, then The Realm will recreate the night this went wrong and allow us to do it the right way.”
