by Magee, Jamie
“I’m going to figure out how to do that to you,” I managed to say as I tried to straighten out my hoodie, my hair.
I felt his gaze and rose my eyes to meet his. “Please do,” he said with a sinful smirk.
“We are not going to let this place get to us. We are not going to let our family get to us. We are good, stronger than ever,” I stated as if it were some kind of pledge.
He nodded once. “They’re mad we left, didn’t come back. They’ve been looking for us while everything here has been falling apart.”
“I’m going to go with my gut here, Landen. I think the kids are okay, that they have been blocked because of what we just fought about. I think that if you do this spell, if we’ve moved forward, it will help them.”
“Agreed,” he said, pulling me to him, stealing one more kiss, and whispering, “I’m sorry,” against my lips once more.
Perodine and August were lingering near the study door. People I knew were from Chara were blocking anyone from coming that far down the hall, not allowing anyone to see us.
Once in the study, Perodine closed the doors behind us.
“All right,” Landen said. “His death was announced. What does that mean for this dimension right now?”
“It means they’re pushing for Drake to fall. They know he does not have Willow’s heart,” August answered. “But we have been preparing for this,” he said, nodding to Draven, who appeared next to him. I knew then why his energy hadn’t felt as strong before: his body was not really here. He was seeing his way here, which made me envy the way they moved their souls around. Before Pelhan’s touch a few hours ago, Landen and I could never communicate outside of our thoughts. It would have made things easier if we had known we could do that all along.
“We have staged support from Donalt’s bloodline,” August stated. “A blessing that will be taken very seriously by the citizens, something that the court will have to concur with,” August explained, reaching to pat Draven on the shoulder. But Draven wasn’t paying attention to him. His eyes were dark. He was taking in where we’d been over the last few days, and I held nothing back. I wanted him to see his family. I was almost positive Landen needed him for the spell he was trying to do.
“His bloodline is dead. The entire island is,” Landen countered.
“It is, but with the help of Alamos and the eager citizens of Chara, we’ve been rebuilding the island for a while now. Draven’s energy is so similar to that of Drake’s, of Donalt’s when he was alive, that no one can doubt he is from that sacred island. Draven will arrive on the shores of Delen with his court, his counterpart, and his sister, who looks just like the images portrayed of Willow in a lost time.”
“Madison,” I said with disbelief, seeing how this was lining up. She was taking my role. I wanted to jump up and down in place, but I held that emotion deep inside, not wanting anyone to think that I was only worried about who Drake loved. I was worried about all of us.
“Correct,” Perodine answered. “Draven will be portrayed as the leader of that island, his blood as royal. His family, his sister, will be set to court our king. We’ve made this so obvious that it will spoil any undesirable plans of the court. If anything, it will cause the traders to surface so we can see who we are really fighting.”
“Has every person agreed to this, or did you push them into it?” Landen asked. It was obvious to me that he was concerned with this crossing paths deal, but they had no way of knowing that. They assumed we just didn’t want Draven and the others to be hurt.
“Actually, we were going to have Olivia play the role of his sister. Madison suggested otherwise,” Perodine said, nodding to Drake as he opened the door next to her and came in.
His dark gaze moved between Landen and me. He had to have known we’d fought about him, my reaction to what he went through. He was trying to see where we were with that.
“She volunteered because of Charlie,” Drake stated evenly into the room.
“What about Charlie?” Landen asked, glancing at Draven, whose eyes had returned to green.
“Charlie will go with me. Madison is never far behind.” With obvious concern, Draven glanced at Drake.
“She’ll wake up, a few hours time,” Drake assured us.
“What is going on?” I asked.
“Nothing,” Draven said as doubt and disdain filled him.
“You’re sure she’s all right?” I asked softly.
“Just dreaming,” Draven mumbled, looking over me once more.
“So, if this all plays out right, everything will be in balance again?” I asked, avoiding Draven’s eyes. I wasn’t going to invite him into what we’d been up to in New Orleans. I knew he’d seen it, and if he were meant to be a part of it, he needed to make that move.
“We’ll have control of the palace once again,” Perodine answered. “Draven will bring no less than two hundred members of Chara here. They will stay in the palace; that control is needed right now. This meeting right now is dangerous.”
Landen nodded once. “We’re heading to Chara anyway. I’ll figure out what is needed of us there.”
“Wait,” Draven said, reaching for my arm. “How did you know I was supposed to play there? And why do you need me to do that now?”
Everyone else was confused, but Landen answered anyway. “It’s complicated. Basically, that land has a lot of old energy in it that was displaced after a spell went horribly wrong. I rode souls into The Realm, trying to find Willow and kill Donalt. I need to let them out. I didn’t plan on asking you to help me, but your mother has heard that you will in the echo. I’m still not going to ask you to help. You have to feel that that is what you need to do.”
“That is where you have been. What you have been doing?” August gasped.
“No,” Draven said as he tilted his head, stepping slightly away from me. “That happened a long time ago, and they’ve been trying to undo it. Why did you have to ride them into The Realm? Could you not just go?”
Landen smirked, holding in the envy he felt for how blindly Draven had mastered entering The Realm. “Back then, there was only one way in, through energy, one shared emotion, and war was the only way—apparently the wrong way.”
“How did you get in?” I asked Draven.
His eyes fell into mine. “Music. I was pulled in when I wrote that song. I didn’t pull anyone out until it was played live.”
Landen and I looked at each other, then to Draven. “Playing it live allows you to pull souls out?” Landen confirmed.
“Yeah, a lot. I can only pull out a few thousand when it’s not in front of a live audience, when we play in The Realm.”
“A few thousand?” I gasped. “How many do you need out?” I asked Landen.
“Hard to say. At least that many,” he said as his respect and admiration grew for Draven.
“Well,” Draven said coolly, “a small concert would get you that. One problem: I have no band.”
“Aden is on his way back to Chara, at least I think he is,” Landen said.
Draven nodded as if he had already seen that. His doubt told me his brother would stall before coming back to them. I didn’t know if that was best or not.
“That makes a drummer.”
“Can your dad not find other musicians? Do we need to find Winston and Grayson?” I asked.
“Winston is too deep; no desire to come out. Grayson, I don’t know. I doubt you have the time to, and yeah, my dad could find other musicians, hundreds of them – but Dad can’t see energy. I doubt he knows much about it. In the past, my band protected ourselves and opened a larger gate because we stood in a perfect circle of light and dark.”
Perodine handed her pen to him. “Explain.”
Draven furrowed his eyebrows and sighed, then walked over to the table and turned to a blank sheet in August’s notebook. We all crowded around him to see what he was doing.
“It’s not hard. Charlie, Aden, and Madison are light energy. Charlie stands in front of me, off to t
he side a bit, between me and Grayson.” He placed dots for them on the page. Then you have Madison, who stands off to the side between Winston and me. On the back side, you have Aden. It’s light and darkness, one circle.”
“Charlie and Madison are in the crowd, so the circle doesn’t have to play,” Drake stated.
We all turned to face him, finding him just behind us with crossed arms.
Draven shrugged. “Madison and Charlie have strong energy. They don’t have to play at all. If I didn’t need the best drummer in the universe, Aden wouldn’t have to play either. If I had to bet, I would say that Winston and Grayson would have to play to help open that door. They are not as focused on their energy, at least not without music.”
“So,” Drake said as his stare grazed across me before returning to Draven, “if two people who were aware of their energy—energy that is supposedly dark—stood in the places you have marked to create this circle, that would work?”
Draven’s curious eyes moved between Drake and me. “I don’t see why not.”
Landen clenched his jaw. I knew he wasn’t a fan of bringing Drake into this, but it made sense to me. He was there when it happened in the first place.
“You have to understand that everything has to be perfect: the timing, the spell...we do this wrong, and we won’t pull anything out. Instead, we’ll push the souls that are waiting on their loved ones in, giving more power to this dimension,” Landen said.
“Do you have a time?” Drake asked him.
“Eleventh hour.”
“In what dimension? What time zone?” Drake pressed.
Landen seemed to freeze. “The kids fall into meditation at the eleventh hour in Chara.”
August nodded once to confirm.
Landen locked gazes with me. “We’ve been six hours off—that’s why.”
I knew his intent was to go back and try it on the right time, but it was too late. Too many people knew about this now, and too many paths were crossed. They had to be there, and they couldn't be in two places at once. They had to do this thing with the court here.
“You have time,” Perodine said to Landen.
“I don’t think I do. Brady said the meditation is longer each time. I have to at least try.”
“I believe it is the last eleventh hour that will break the spell you are up against.”
“How? Why?” he asked her.
“The children started to fall into that deep meditation the day you came out of The Realm. There are two eleventh hours each day. If they are stifled, it is because of past trials. There have been five. On the fifth day, the tenth eleventh hour Jupiter will be square, and natal planets in all of your charts will be in a positive force, with very little opposition. You are supposed to be distracted by the little ones, or each other, but I believe they are pointing an arrow at the time you need to undo this.”
“And that lines up with the day after this arrival of Draven and his court,” Landen said under his breath, hating and loving this revelation.
“Perfectly,” Perodine confirmed.
“And with the day that Evan said they would play,” I added.
Landen didn’t say anything for what seemed like forever. “It’s the slight oppositions that leave me questioning this...we’ll keep this plan for now, but I will change it if I have no other choice.”
Perodine walked slowly to him, letting her eyes move across him. She pulled his chin gently down so she could see into his eyes.
“That fire will never burn out. You regret it now, but one day you will not. It has given you a rebirth once again. With open eyes, you will move this universe.”
I didn’t have to feel Drake’s emotion to know he was seething with jealousy at that moment. It made me feel bad for him.
Perodine let go of Landen and walked to Drake. “You have been vindicated. He knows you were there. He’s heard her scream your name. You will move the universe with your willpower alone...take this blessing of Jupiter and move forward.”
Drake bowed to her as if he’d been knighted or something, then he reached to shake Landen’s hand.
“Let’s make a deal to keep them all safe,” he said, nodding in the direction of Draven and me.
“Done,” Landen said, holding his stare.
There was a knock at the door, but Landen didn’t wait to see who it was. He let go of Drake, and an instant later I felt a warm rush...the string was the next thing I saw.
Chapter Thirteen
It felt good to be in the string, walking toward home, a place where I never had to worry about being unwanted or unloved. It didn’t feel good to know that Landen was dreading it, that in some way he didn’t want to call Chara his home anymore. I had to really focus on his intent to understand that, to get a grip on his emotions.
He did love Chara, and he loved our family. But when we are at home he feels like he should be fighting, he feels guilty for our bliss – and as far as our family...when you are not around the ones you love, you become fearless, living on the edge because you have nothing to lose. Being around them made him realize how painful it would be to lose them, how painful any goodbye would be. His dread was justified. He wanted to undo the past that his eyes were opened to, and he didn’t want to lose anyone else in this mix.
“You’ll feel better when we get home,” I said, squeezing his hand.
“Maybe,” he said, trying to smile.
“What is wrong?” I asked, wanting to know if my judgment of his intent was on point.
“I don’t know if I can look my parents in the eye. They have a hard enough time with what I can do. I don’t know what they are going to think about what Clarissa is going through, if in some way they might think it’s my fault, and it is. It’s my fault Brady’s daughter is falling into that deep sleep, too. I’m hurting them and not even meaning to. Sometimes I think it would be better for us to just take off, fix this, then come home.”
“No way,” I said, stopping and facing him.
He locked his jaw and looked away from me.
“Your family would never blame you for what is going on. Hell, they told us a million times that they were ‘called to help us.’ They need you and you need them. Going away like we did is good for us, but walking through this passage to our home is going to keep us in line—not because our family is there, but because we will be reminded of what we are fighting for. You can’t charge across the universe knocking down walls, only to put one up at home.”
As his eyes found mine, he gave me a faint smile. “Would you leave here with me if I asked you? Would you go to Hell’s gate and knock on the door without hesitation?”
I reached to trace his jawline with my fingertips as I searched deep into the eyes that had always been my hope, my peace. “I would...but I would never let you forget Chara, your family...our beginning.”
He pulled me to him and leaned his forehead against mine, then raised one hand to my chest and painfully said, “This is my home.”
His other hand caressed my sides. “They’re going to want me to throw all this to the side. Focus on Chara this war in Esterious. They won’t see that it connects. That I’m pulled to more than one fate, and that right now I don’t know which one is more important.”
I was a little lost on that statement. Our family was opened minded, they were not ones to say let it be, they were fixers, too. I assumed this was stemming from Landen’s father. The man that wanted us to reside in Chara and Chara alone.
“What is import is what you feel called to. It may all be the same fate.”
“You’re what is important. Us. None of the expectations before us will hold any water if there is no us.”
“There is an us.”
“Willow you’re in pain. I can see that. You cringe with each new emotion.”
“Maybe so, but I’m not the only one in pain. You are, too. We’ll figure it out. Together.”
His warm breath gliding across my face and the hum of energy moving through my chest made me want to ru
n away with him, leave it all behind and never come back.
“Just don’t let this new insight imprison you…take you away from the good energy in the world.”
I moved my head side to side to tell him that was not going to happen. I saw doubt in his eyes.
My fingertips reached to trace the lines of the dimples that refused to show themselves. “Don’t dread seeing them. You’ll feel better once you do,” I said in response to his disbelief and dread. His energy intensified as I continued. “And if you don’t, I’m sure Saige would love to have me over for dinner.”
My fake pleasant tone made him smile. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and led me the last few steps to our home passage.
As we went to step into our passageway, Ashten emerged, followed by Brady. Both Ashten and Landen shared an unmistakable silence and disbelieving stare. Ashten’s eyes then narrowed as he tilted his head and looked over his son.
“Every time,” he said in a near absent voice. “Every time I watch you walk out that door, I tell myself, ‘He’ll never come back, this is it’...and every time, you prove me wrong.” He took a step toward Landen, bringing them both eye-to-eye. “Promise to prove me wrong every time, and I’ll never stand in your way. I’ll never judge you for what you do, or do not do, what you were, are, or will become.”
Landen offered a slight nod. It was all he could force himself to do. Inside, his emotions were raging in every imaginable direction.
Ashten cleared his throat and glanced back at Brady as he took a step past Landen. “Your brother and I are going to try and line up a ship with a passage. It’s the only way Draven can arrive at the appointed time. We could use your help.”
As Ashten started to walk away, Brady nodded for Landen to follow him.
“Help them. I want to see my sister,” I said to help urge him to go on.
“Our Libby,” he thought.
“Take my Jeep. It’s right there,” Brady said to me, grateful that I was giving Landen an excuse to spend time with them.
