by Jamie Magee
“You didn’t know about Drake?” Chrispin snapped, raging with anger.
“No. Livingston did everything in his power to protect Landen and Willow. Landen, if you’d followed Drake into that dimension, you wouldn’t have survived,” Ashten said. Trying to clear Livingston’s name even further than the letter had. I shuttered at the thought of Landen being hurt. Landen pulled me close to him.
“He loved all of you. I’m sure if Drake was his son, he loved him, too. He only wanted peace,” Ashten finished.
Landen settled onto the couch, making room for me next to him. We were both tired and weak, but we weren’t leaving there until we understood everything.
Landen looked at his father. “Why did you keep me from her?” he asked in a solemn voice.
“I didn’t think you were strong enough to protect her,” Ashten said as regret coursed through him.
“And exactly when were you planning on deeming me strong enough?” Landen said in a harsh, hushed tone.
“When your fate would not seem forced upon you,” Ashten said quietly.
“What does the time that I was born have to do with this?” Landen asked.
“Everything in the universe moves minute by minute, even twins don’t have the same alignment…a moment would have changed everything,” Ashten answered.
“Is Drake dead? Is this over?” Chrispin asked, standing ready to find him at any cost.
“Perodine told us they’d bring him back,” I answered.
“You saw her?” August asked, smiling.
“She only wants to help us. We can do today what we couldn’t do then,” I answered.
August smiled widely and knelt before us. “Do you know now why you chose to stay and not return?” he asked.
I looked up at Landen and felt his bliss. “We do, a child, our child,” Landen said, looking intently at me. The emotion between us was moving everyone in the room.
“We couldn’t leave her behind, and she couldn’t come with us,” Landen continued.
“Her?” Ashten asked.
“Libby,” I whispered, still staring at Landen.
The room was still, and all at once they understood Libby’s bond with us.
“Is it over now?” Clarissa asked.
“No. She said that there are eight beyond the sun and moon, and that there are more trials ahead,” Landen answered.
I closed my eyes and lay on Landen’s chest, too tired to worry about the next time that I or we would be tempted. I felt the others find their way to their feet, wanting to move past this revealing morning.
“Ashten and I are going to take the girls home. You all need your rest,” my father said.
“I’ll go, too. Olivia wants to say goodbye to her family,” Chrispin said.
“We’re going, too. I want to see my family,” Dane said.
They all left silently one by one. I felt Landen carry me up the stairs, and thunder clapped as he laid me on our bed. I opened my eyes as he settled next to me. Quietly, we lay side by side, staring at each other. Lost for words, we drifted to our place, hiding from the grief that awaited us when we woke. Landen never asked what happened when I was alone with Drake. It would have been too painful for the both of us.
In our waking hours, the next few days went by in a haze as mourners flocked to say goodbye to Livingston. My parents, along with Landen, and me went to Infante to mourn Monica’s loss with my friends. Everyone was given the space they needed to digest all that we’d been through.
Today, Chrispin and Olivia are to return home to be celebrated. My mother hosted this celebration, letting Aubrey ease into her life with a new little boy. Landen spent the day with Marc and Brady, and I helped Felicity and my mother set up the party. As I critiqued the bouquet I’d just made, my thoughts took me away to the dark images that Drake had shown me, and a shiver ran down my back as I wondered where he might be. My mother must have been watching me; I felt her concern as she put her hands on my shoulder to comfort me.
“Willow, I want you to understand that love is the most powerful thing in this universe, and it will be what you’re going to have to call on again and again, but you’re going to see your way through this.”
I hugged my mother tightly and buried the dark images deep in my memory, only to be used as a weapon against Drake’s touch. I stared at her for a moment, taking in everything I’d learned since I found Landen.
“I just don’t understand it all. Doesn’t it bother you about Libby? I mean, I just can’t comprehend it,” I said, almost to myself, wanting to remember something about another life just to make this all make sense.
“Willow, take comfort in knowing that no matter what life you live, you’ll always have the ones you love the most near you. That’s how I see it,” my mother said, smiling.
I breathed in and wondered what other roles she’d played in my life.
I dressed for the party at my mother’s, remembering how nervous I was going to my own celebration, not knowing my family.
The minutes passed by too slowly. When I walked down the stairs at the end of the banister; I saw Landen was waiting for me. His smile went through me, bringing a unique light to my eyes, and I fell in his arms, welcoming him after a day of absence.
We took our place in the crowd and cheered as Olivia and Chrispin were introduced as one. We raised our glasses, soaking in the harmony that this dimension had bore. Landen took my hand and escorted me to the dance floor, where we danced, lost in each other, thankful that for the first time, the spotlight on our love had dimmed and given way to a new one.
Across the floor, I smiled as I watched Chrispin and Olivia. Brady took Felicity’s hand, and Dane and Clarissa swirled past us all. Watching and smiling were my parents, alongside Rose and Karsten.
Above everyone in the room, we could feel an overpowering peace. Looking to the source, we saw August standing with Ashten and Marc. We approached them, grinning. Seeing our attention being taken, others surrounded August. He looked across at each of us, then down to Libby and Preston.
“Libby and Preston asked me to bring them something. At first, like a fool, I doubted their words, but I listened to my heart and brought you this little one,” August said, staring down at Libby.
She smiled proudly up at him, jumping in place. August then opened his bag and uncovered a long branch with light green and pink blossoms and handed it to Libby.
“This branch comes from a beautiful Willow tree that’s now in Donalt’s center court,” August announced.
The crowd gasped, then everyone leaned in to look closer at all the color the branch had on it.
“It seems it grew overnight, and each time they cut it down, it grows just as tall and faster than before,” August proclaimed.
Landen’s arms were around me. As I closed my eyes, he kissed my hair, and I imagined color in the gray world; the first mark I’d left on this universe, a victory that could be looked to for inspiration long after my days on Earth.
The attention of the crowd quickly returned to Chrispin and Olivia, but Landen and I stayed locked in a stare with August, waiting for him to tell us something. He searched our eyes wildly with a profound amount of bliss and said, “The moon on the wall burned that night, did it not?” We nodded. “Then that was indeed the end of the first trial.”
“What’s the significance of the moon?” Landen asked.
August wrapped his arm around Landen and me and guided us away from the crowd. In the darkness under the stars, he gazed at the heavens for a moment. “The moon is in the fourth house, the house of home and family. It represents your conscious mind, the emotional energy. We all find our own contentment with the moon.” He stepped forward and turned to face us. He then looked at Landen and me and smiled in absolute wonderment.
He continued, “It is true that we choose our life, but it’s also true that we can choose at any moment to change our path. Within the passing of this moon, you found each other, as well as your home and family. You were given a
choice. You were tested.” August looked in Landen’s eyes. “You could have surrendered to the turmoil, given away what you desire the most for a chance to change Esterious.” August looked at me. “You could have believed that the only way to protect the ones that you loved was to surrender your soul.” His eyes drifted back to the heavens above us. “You both chose love. Love is prevailing. I can only wonder where every dimension would be if they followed your lead.”
“Did we make the right choice? Are those people going to suffer on because of us?” Landen asked, tightening his jaw, unsure if he wanted to know the answer.
August chuckled a little under his breath, then put his hand on Landen’s shoulder and looked deep inside him. “The people in Esterious are no different from any others. They have a choice, and for now they’ve chosen the fate they live,” he answered.
“I don’t understand,” Landen said in a low tone.
“It is true that there are times we all need to be inspired to change, but it’s foolish to assume that you have the power to think the thoughts of another. Live in your bliss, and you give others permission to find theirs,” August said, smiling widely.
“What are we supposed to do now? How do we inspire?” Landen asked, glancing at me, then back at August.
“Love one another. The stronger your love grows, the more powerful you become. In fact, Jason has a theory,” August said in a delighted tone.
I looked quickly back to the party to see my father and Ashten looking in our direction, full of peace and harmony. My father raised his glass and nodded in our direction. I turned back to August.
“Each time you part, your bodies are damaged. Each time you help another soul as one, your bodies rejuvenate. In theory, if you continue to ‘help,’ then you’ll never age or grow ill. Having immortality in one form will grow undesirable to you one day, but for now enjoy your youth,” August said, laughing under his breath.
I stared at Landen, wide-eyed. He tilted his head and grinned impishly at me. The feeling we received when we joined as one was extraordinary; knowing that it suspended us in our youth was breathtaking.
Laughing, August patted Landen on the back, then turned and walked into the darkness, gazing at the sky. The peace we always felt from him seemed to grow stronger.
The music from the party shifted to a soft lullaby. Landen reached his arm slowly around my waist and pulled me to him. In the darkness, under a diamond blanket of stars, we swayed. Our eyes fell into one another. We both felt overwhelmed with gratitude. He was real…I was real. We had loved each other across time. He reached down and kissed my lips softly and thought, “I love you, Willow…I always have.” I pulled him closer, thinking, “I love you…I always will.”
Special note to the reader: This Novel is part of the “Web of Hearts and Souls,” a massive story where more than one series connect. The varying series can be read separately or together.
COMBINED WEB OF HEARTS AND SOULS READING ORDER: Insight, Embody, Image, Whispers of the Damned, Witness, Vital, Vindicate, Synergy, Enflame, Redefined, Rivulet, Imperial, Blakeshire, Derive, Emanate, Exaltation, Disavow, The Witches, Revolt, Scorched Souls.
*If you are a fan of Adult Paranormal Edge (Season 1&2) can be read with the Web of Hearts, before of after Exaltation--the stories share the same characters. Season 3 can be read after Scorched Souls.
INSIGHT READING ORDER: Insight, Embody, Image, Vital, Vindicate, Enflame, Rivulet, Imperial, Blakeshire (Drake's Story), Emanate, Exaltation, Disavow.
SEE READING ORDER: Whispers of the Damned, Witness of a Broken Heart, Synergy of Souls, Redefined Love Affair, Derive (Aden's Beginning), A Lovers Revolt, Scorched Souls.
EDGE SERIES READING ORDER Alphas Rise, Dark Lure, Sacred Betrayal, Risen Lovers, Fall of Kings, Queens Rise, Stolen Son, Disloyal Souls, Aftermath.
Please enjoy this preview of EMBODY
Chapter One
A sickening sensation slowly crept through my body.
The room spun.
Impossible— isn’t it? How can this be possible?
Drake and me in a black and white photo...from centuries ago... no, that was not me.
I ran my fingertips across the singed, tattered edges and trembled as the memory of the first time Drake was alone with me crashed into my mind. He said he’d seen me love him. I thought he meant in his mind, not in real life.
Not a day went by that I hadn’t thought of the supernatural power he had. What kind of magic could cause Drake’s touch to have such a pull? How could any magic break into my dreams?
A chill trickled down my spine. It happened every time I thought of the scenes Drake put before me when he gave me my ‘choice.’ He’d threatened my entire family if I didn’t submit to him. He’d promised they’d be safe, that my friend Monica would be raised from the dead, if I did.
Choosing who I felt my soul burn for wasn’t hard. Choosing to take the easy or hard way was. I was positive even though I was treading through a steady flow of days without earth shattering revelations, I’d chosen the hard way. I’d given the Blakeshire empire reason to hunt me. I’d think this, then my thoughts would turn. I’d tell myself it would’ve been stupid to trust that Drake’s promises would’ve been upheld.
“Willow, calm down. Landen will come in here,” Olivia warned.
I glanced to the window. Landen and Chrispin were playing football with little Preston in the side field. Libby was cheering them on from our porch.
Revelations do not have to be earth shattering to make an impact on my emotional state. The steady days had strengthened Landen’s insights, and mine. I was sure even if he wasn’t sporting my ‘empath on steroids’ insight one hundred percent he would’ve sensed my intent to run the second I laid eyes on this photo.
I’d have to give the boy credit—he didn’t hover. He didn’t run to my side the first instant he felt my emotions quake, or saw the fear of what was to come in my eyes. He gave me the time I needed to work through it.
I was in a new world. The stable reality my life in Franklin had given me was a fantasy. Even without the trauma and ache of losing a friend, I had every right to be overwhelmed.
Landen was peering toward our home as he retrieved the ball from Preston’s valiant attempt to throw it to him, but I knew his intent: let me be. It was something he chose to do often when I was with Olivia.
Time with Olivia and Dane helped me find balance. They were who they’d always been, and treated me as they always had. I couldn’t say the same for my parents. On my bad days I could blame them for Monica. I could blame them for letting me endure nightmares, for all of it. Olivia and Dane never let me go too far down that path.
I wasn’t over how I ended up here, but I was on my way. Blessings and curses, life was a series of both. I had to focus on the wins. I knew this. I could preach it to anyone, but I’m human, my dark moments are going to surface no matter what I think. I just gotta keep working on how to defeat them when they do show their ugly head.
Five minutes ago I was fine. Now I’ve let one picture thrust me back into a hell I’d been crawling out of. It was that easy to flip my day. Wishing to go back to five minutes ago would only waste my time—it also promised this dark revelation was inches away, waiting for me to face it. No, I wasn’t going to wish for five minutes ago. I was going to focus on getting to a moment when I’d convinced myself this was nothing more than a coincidence. Even if it wasn’t, I’m not whoever this chick is in this photo is. I’m Willow Haywood. Eighteen years of life and only one love. I dig sketching and I have kick ass friends who get my crazy.
Olivia studied my shaking hand as my mental battle went on. “Willow, breathe a little—it’ll help.”
Was I holding my breath? Most likely.
She didn’t crowd me with words; she let the silence take over and the minutes tick by.
“Right here with me, in Chara. Happy,” she said just as I went to set the photo down.
I sensed Clarissa, I glanced to the front door, a second l
ater her dead set intent on seeing me rang in my thoughts. I was working on getting closer to her, but right now she was still a stranger who happened to be my guys sister and best friends girl. Above all—she was a Chara native.
Not ready to let this photo leave my inner circle, I grabbed it and ran to the stairs. I wanted to destroy the picture at the same time I wasn’t ready to; I needed more time to disprove it. Hiding it was my only choice.
Stunned by my sudden outburst, Olivia chased after me.
“Where are you going?” she yelled.
“Clarissa is coming,” I whispered harshly halfway up the stairs. I regretted it as soon as I said it. Clarissa wasn’t known to have an ‘insight’ but I was pretty positive if she could hear the tone of voices through the string then, at the very least, her hearing was extraordinary.
“Wait,” Olivia said with a hint of dread as she chased me. “Clarissa was with me when I found the photo. She already knows.”
I was already at the top of the stairs.
“Just us,” Olivia swore.
‘Just us’ was something we’d always said when we needed things to stay between us. We’d said it more over the last weeks than we had in our entire life. I didn’t doubt Olivia would keep it to herself. I did doubt that Clarissa would. She didn’t deserve my doubt, I knew that, but like I said, she’s from Chara. She knows lore I don’t. If she thought something was a threat she’d be obligated to say something.
I wasn’t trying to be a thrill seeker. I wasn’t looking to hide from apparent danger—I just needed more than five minutes before everyone was alerted to a crisis mode.
If this photo had any degree of truth, it would be a crisis. Chara believes in past lives. They strongly believe in their first couple. In their minds Landen and I have been drifting through lives together, learning needed lessons that would empower us as we brought the salvation of Chara to the darkest dimension in the universe.
