“We don’t know that. The moon represents family, friends; Mercury is basically communication. For all we know, this time it will only involve me and Willow,” Landen said, pulling me closer.
“If it involves the two of you, it involves all of us,” Marc said protectively.
Landen sighed. “Maybe so, but you still have plenty of time to go and look. Your beacon will be there - I’m sure of it,” Landen said, changing the subject.
Marc looked up at Landen, shook his head, then stood. “I’ll see you guys later. Let me know if someone disappears – or if you see demons running around,” he said over his shoulder.
I could feel a sting of regret and anger coming from Landen. “Let it go, Landen; we can’t live his life for him. He has a lot to work through. I’m sure whoever his soul mate is, she’s patient.”
He smiled at me, then pulled me closer. “That was so amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Landen said, remembering the colors of energy.
“I can still see colors,” I said, looking up at him.
He smiled. “I can, too...I wonder what they mean.” He looked out at the blue sky. “The sky was amazing. Do you think you could paint it?” he asked me.
I sat up quickly and nodded, then ran up the stairs to the studio I’d made for myself. Landen followed me and opened up the doors and windows, letting the light of day flood the room. I pulled out every color and brush I owned, then went to work.
Landen stood at my side, nodding as he watched the scene in the field come to life. I painted the four of us, the colors around us, the heavens pouring into us. I connected me and Landen with the bright light, as well as Preston and Libby. I don’t know how long it took me, but I could see that the sun had fallen.
I felt my mother getting closer to the house. She opened the front door and yelled, “Willow, I brought you guys some dinner.”
I looked at Landen. “I swear, she doesn’t think I can cook,” I whispered.
Landen tilted his head and smiled. “Can you?” he thought playfully. I laughed out loud. He was right to question me; I hadn’t even boiled water since I’d met him.
“We’re in the studio, Mom,” I yelled back. I felt her putting the food away in the kitchen. She was happy I was painting; it was a part of me she felt that she had helped create.
When my mother walked into the studio, she was surrounded by a beautiful color of pink and white. Her eyes widened as she saw the painting, then she walked slowly over to the canvas, looking past Landen and me. “Where is this?” she asked finally.
“The side yard,” I answered, amazed at what I’d seen that day. My mother looked at me.
“Libby and Preston showed us how to meditate, and when we did, this is what we saw,” Landen explained.
“Well, it’s close to what we saw. I don’t think I captured it completely,” I said, critiquing my work.
“I’ve meditated all the time. I’ve never seen anything like this,” my mother said, returning her gaze to the painting.
“Maybe you need to meditate a little bit deeper,” I said in a teasing manner.
“You want to hear something weird?” Landen asked.
My mother looked at Landen. “I don’t know...that depends on what you call ‘weird,’” she said quietly. The only way my mother could deal with mine and Libby’s gifts was by letting my father explain them to her in his own way.
“It’s not bad,” Landen said, laughing, “We can see colors around people now.”
“What do you mean – Auras?” my mother asked. I looked at Landen; my mother had given us a valid name to refer to the colors.
“Yeah, I guess so,” I said, smiling a little.
“So, what’s mine?” my mother asked, excited
“Pink,” Landen and I said at the same time. My mother looked down to her dark green top.
“Do I match?” she asked me, almost serious. I shook my head in disbelief.
“I’m just kidding,” she said, laughing, “I think I have a book somewhere on Auras. I don’t know if it survived the fire, but I’ll bring it over to you if I can find it.”
“It would be nice to know what they mean,” Landen said, looking at the painting again.
“You guys should be able to figure it out. An Aura is the energy we put off, and I would think that our emotion would impact the shade,” my mother said, looking humbly at me. I could feel that she was proud of all my gifts.
“Well, look, I need to get back to Jason and Libby. I want to see some paintings of those other dimensions you two ran off to,” she said, hugging me, then Landen. She looked back at the painting before she left the room and shook her head in amazement.
“Are you hungry?” I asked Landen
He smiled. “Starving,” he said, pulling me out of the room.
I was making plates for the two of us when I felt Olivia and Chrispin getting closer. Olivia opened the back door for Chrispin, who was carrying three large dishes. When Olivia saw the plates I had fixed, her shoulders fell.
“You cooked?” she said in a disbelieving tone.
Landen laughed out loud at my expression.
“What are you laughing at? Olivia has seen me cook,” I said defensively, smiling.
Landen raised his hands, letting me know he was only joking.
“Not lately,” Olivia added. “We can still eat together,” she said, pulling out two more plates from the cabinet. Olivia’s Aura was violet and purple, and a glow of white connected her to Chrispin, whose Aura was a golden color. Landen looked at me, then to them; love had never looked so beautiful.
“Did you see Marc today?” Chrispin asked Landen as he sat at the kitchen table. Landen nodded and took a seat next to him. “What’s his deal, man? He’s so uptight,” Chrispin said, running his hands through his curly dirty blond hair. Landen shrugged his shoulders. We sat all the food on the table, and Landen got up to get everyone a drink.
“You need to make him go look, Landen. He’ll listen to you,” Chrispin said, getting up to pull out a chair for Olivia. She looked up at Chrispin, almost annoyed, like she had heard this over and over.
“No, you guys need to leave him alone. When he’s ready, he’ll go,” Olivia said to all of us.
Landen sat down at the table and elbowed Chrispin. “You should listen to the better half of your soul - she’s right,” he teased.
Chrispin sighed and picked up his fork and knife. “I just don’t see why anyone wouldn’t want to be in love,” he said, holding his argument.
“There’s a time for everything, and a reason. You know that,” Landen said, looking at Chrispin, then smiling at Olivia.
I believed in my heart that Chrispin would have found Olivia on his own, but it was still eerie that he had found her through the adversity that we’d just endured. Olivia was taken by Drake and rescued by all of us, and the love between Chrispin and Olivia brought Olivia’s sight back without the power of magic - proving that love is the most powerful thing in the universe.
“Yeah, I do,” Chrispin said, reaching to kiss Olivia. “We wanted to talk to you two alone,” he said, looking at Landen.
Olivia looked at me and smiled a shy smile. I froze in mid-bite; I could feel that they were planning to tell us something that they thought would shock us, and quite frankly it took a lot to shock us these days.
“Olivia has been having strange dreams. We thought maybe you guys could help us understand them,” Chrispin said, reaching for Olivia’s hand.
“What kind of dreams?” I asked, concerned. I looked at Landen, then back to Olivia.
“They’re just weird,” Olivia answered, blushing a little. “They always start off black and white – well, almost gray.”
Chrispin looked back and forth between me and Landen; the color gray brought only one place to our minds: Esterious.
“Everything is still, then I feel a rush of energy, and a wave of color comes out of nowhere and washes over everything,” Olivia finished
“Are there peopl
e, buildings?” I asked.
“Sometimes they’re all different. At times, I’m in a field; other times, I’m on a city street - but I’m never alone. All of us are there.”
“What are we doing?” Landen asked, completely taken in by Olivia’s dream.
“I don’t know. I don’t always see you, but I know that you’re there,” Olivia answered, confused by her own words.
“Do you think it has anything to do with this Mercury thing?” Chrispin asked.
Landen looked at me for an answer.
“I don’t know, but if it does, at least Esterious will have more color than a simple Willow tree,” I answered, longing to see the mark that I’d left in Donalt’s center court.
“I don’t want Olivia to have anything to do with this; she’s already played her part,” Chrispin said sternly.
“It’s just a dream,” Landen said, trying to calm Chrispin down.
“Maybe so, but we all saw where Willow’s dreams took her,” Chrispin said, looking at me, referring to the nightmares that I fought to forget. I knew that not all dreams were bad, though; I’d seen Landen every night of my life.
“We do… Landen,” I said, understanding that sometimes we have to live through the darkness to see the light.
Chrispin saw that he had offended me and nodded. “Sorry,” he said quietly.
“You’re fine,” I said, trying to reassure him that his words couldn’t hurt me - not with Landen as my reward.
“Anyways,” Olivia said, “tomorrow we’re going to Paris; my aunt thinks I’m living there with you. I need to check the voice mail and take some pictures to send to her. Will you guys come?”
I wanted to go so bad. I looked at Landen, who was pushing his food around on his plate. We all knew he was worried that Drake would find me, using my star in my Ankh. There was no doubt now that he was alive and well.
“Landen, he’s not stupid enough to try something with me and you there. Even if he was, he wouldn’t get anywhere. Dane and Clarissa are coming, too, and we’ll all make sure that you two are safe,” Chrispin said, trying to reassure Landen.
Landen looked at me. “Do you want to go?”
“Can we just go for the day?” I asked.
Landen nodded and smiled at me, then leaned over and kissed me. “You are almost impossible to say no to,” he thought.
“Almost,” I mocked. His grin widened.
Olivia and Chrispin were looking back and forth between us, watching our wordless communication.
“Do you think it’s possible for us to learn how to do that?” Chrispin asked, full of envy.
Landen laughed. “I’m sure the two of you communicate without words more than you know,” he answered.
“Are you guys going to come?” Olivia asked, seeing that we hadn’t answered her.
“Yeah, we’ll go - but only for the day. We need to spend some more time with Preston and Libby,” Landen said.
“I would stay close to them, too, especially if they can still see your future,” Chrispin said, realizing Landen’s concern about us being away from them.
“It’s just a day. I’ll call Clarissa,” Olivia said, getting up from the table to clear away the dishes. I stood and helped her. I didn’t want to be accused of being unable to clean; cooking was bad enough. When everything was cleared away, Chrispin and Olivia gathered their dishes.
“You think we should leave around seven?” Chrispin asked Landen.
“Yeah, that’ll be good. It won’t take us long to get there,” Landen answered. I hugged Olivia goodbye and watched them leave.
“Have you ever been to Paris?” Landen asked me.
“No. I’ve always wanted to go, though,” I said with a longing in my voice.
“Well, when this Mercury thing is over, we should go there for a month or so. I can see you happy there,” Landen said, wrapping his arm around me.
“So what should we do now?” I asked, seeing that the night had come.
“Give it a minute. I’m sure we’ll have more company,” Landen said, looking out the door. A second later, the phone rang. “Told you so,” he said, winking at me.
“And you thought I was crazy when I grabbed our travel bags and ran a few weeks ago,” I said, tilting my head.
“Not crazy...a little hormonal, maybe,” he said, teasing me.
I pushed him back playfully. He reached for the phone, catching it on its fourth ring. I walked through the front of the house to the front porch and waited for whoever was calling to come over.
Chapter Five
Landen came out the front door with four glasses and a picture of tea. “So who’s coming?” I asked, getting up to help him.
“Your mother called Rose, asking her if she knew anything about Auras, then Rose called August. They want to come over and teach us what they mean.”
“Everybody’s coming?” I asked, looking down at the four glasses and wondering how many more I would need.
“Just August and Rose. Karsten and Nyla are staying home,” Landen said, sitting down and reaching for me to come to his side.
“I feel like I don’t even know Karsten or Nyla; it would be nice to visit with them,” I said, sitting down next to him.
Karsten was my grandfather, Rose’s soul mate, and Nyla was Landen’s grandmother, August’s soul mate.
“You know them,” Landen said, playing with my long dark hair. “They’re kinda like our moms. They were raised in another dimension. They respect what we do and try not to interfere. Even though Nyla and Karsten have seen almost every dimension, they’d prefer to just live here in their own personal world and leave the adventure to the rest of us,” he said, grinning mischievously.
I sighed, seeing their point of view. They weren’t doing anything different from the rest of the universe; most people preferred to live in their own space. I smiled, realizing how shocked the universe would be if they realized we were all connected. August and Rose pulled up in front of our house. We stood to greet them.
Rose had three dishes in her hand. “Did you guys eat? I brought you some food,” she said to me.
Landen couldn’t hold back his laughter as he saw my mouth drop open.
“What did I say?” Rose asked, confused. Landen took the dishes from her hand and walked in the house.
“Nothing. You’re just the third person to bring us food. Landen thinks it’s funny that you guys think I can’t cook,” I said, pouring her a glass of tea.
“We know you can cook. You have enough on your plate without having to keep up with an appetite of a man. Besides that, there’s no need for all of us to cook every night, not when we live so close,” Rose said, taking a seat next to me and hugging me.
“Well, I’m glad I forgot to bring the cake Nyla made,” August said, leaning in to kiss my cheek before he took a seat in one of the wicker chairs.
Landen came back out on the porch and sat across from me on the long couch, still smiling profusely.
“So, did you guys learn a lot today?” August asked
Landen nodded. “It was the most amazing thing we’ve ever seen.”
I looked over my shoulder; I could feel Brady coming.
“I wonder what he’s doing?” Landen said, noticing it, too.
“Getting air, I’m sure,” August said, grinning.
Brady stepped up on the porch, walked over, and took a seat next to Landen. It still amazed me how much Brady and Landen looked alike; the only real difference was their eyes. Brady’s are light blue and usually stay that way; Landen’s are a deep blue and changed shades with his mood. People had a hard time believing that they weren’t twins; if I didn’t know that there were years between them, I’d have thought they were twins as well.
“Am I interrupting anything?” Brady asked, letting out a deep breath.
“Not really. What are you up to?” Landen asked, looking over Brady’s orange Aura.
“Mom and Clarissa are over at the house. I decided to let them have some ‘girl’ time
.”
“Where are Dad and Dane?” Landen asked.
“Dad’s trying to teach Dane to see the passages; he’s getting better at it,” Brady said, raising his eyebrows. He was proud and confused all at once. If Dane mastered the string, he’d be the first person that Chara has successfully taught; it would be a huge breakthrough for all of us. I had no doubt Dane would find his way; I could just feel that he was meant for this destiny.
“I heard about Mercury. Is that what this meeting is about?” Brady asked, looking at August and Rose.
“Not entirely. Landen and Willow learned to meditate today,” Rose said proudly.
Brady looked at Landen with an awkward grin spread across his face. “Mediate, huh? That’s a little odd for someone like you.”
Landen shook his head, then leaned back and looked across to me.
“Your mom said the colors stayed with you,” Rose said, looking at me.
I nodded.
“Faintly. I wish the rest had stayed, too,” Landen said, looking out at the night sky.
“The more you do it, the more you’ll hold onto it,” August said, assuring Landen. “What color do you see around me?” he asked.
“Blue, white,” I answered. Landen nodded in agreement.
Brady looked back and forth between Landen and me like we were crazy.
“OK. Rose, do you see the same?” August asked.
Rose shook her head slowly no.
“I see more of green,” Rose said, not surprised that she didn’t see the same as Landen and I did.
“You see?” August said. “When you see an Aura, you’re looking through your own, so you can’t always judge a person by what color you see.”
“You still need to rely on your natural gifts,” Rose added.
“So the colors don’t mean anything?” Landen asked.
“No, they have meaning,” Rose said, holding her hand up. “Alright, white is in every color; it usually means purity, calm when it is dominant. Red can be both passion and anger. Yellow is optimism. Green is growing compassion. Blue is quiet, calm. Purple is unique; it usually means strong, important dream activity.”
I looked at Landen. Purple was the color we’d seen around Olivia; maybe there was more to her dream. An odd mix of excitement and dread rose inside of me. Her dream reflected color in Esterious, but I knew that it wouldn’t come without a sacrifice from me.