I smiled at Landen and waved at Brady, leaving them to work out whatever they needed to.
It was late here, almost ten at night. I wasn’t even sure Libby would be awake for me to see her, but I thought I could at least let my parents know that I was okay.
All the lights were on at their house. It looked so warm and inviting from the outside. As I walked up the sidewalk to their porch, memories of my home in Franklin began to flash through my mind.
I smiled, noticing the familiar fall decor marking the entrance. My mother always decorated our home with the mark of the season. It was hard to believe those memories fluttering in my mind were only a few months ago, that my life had changed this much. One day I was their little girl, the next I was gone. My childhood was over.
Through the glass panes around my door I could see my parents sitting on the couch with Libby between them, lost in a book with her. I had to bite back my emotions and find my balance. The emotion of home, simplicity, and peace was nearly overwhelming.
When I opened the door, Libby unraveled herself from her little blanket and ran to me, yelling my name. I knelt down to catch her.
“It’s past your bedtime,” I said, leaning away from her and straightening her nightgown.
“Mom lets me stay up because I rest in the day.”
I swallowed nervously and glanced at my parents, who were now standing a few feet behind her. “I heard.”
Libby’s eyes grew wide, like she had just remembered something. “I made you something. Come on,” she said, pulling my hand. My parents gave me a relieved smile as I was pulled out of the room and up the stairs to Libby’s room.
I sat on her small bed and watched her open her window seat box and meddle around, tossing aside dolls and toys. She was six in that moment, my baby sister who was eager to try and do anything.
Finally, she walked over to me with a small box in her hand, opening the top to reveal some kind of hard candy. “Felicity helped me make it. They’re lemon drops.” She giggled once. “That will help you, right?” she questioned. I didn’t want to bring her out of the innocence she was beaming with by asking her how she knew that was the flavor I counted on when I was losing balance.
“Very much,” I said quietly, stealing one from the box and letting the flavor linger on my tongue. “I’ll tell you what, why don’t we get you tucked in, and I’ll read you a story?”
I read her three books, then listened to her tell me all about her day, her little adventures, savoring every moment of it.
I caressed her hair as her dark eyes stared into mine. “Are you getting tired now?” I whispered.
She nodded against her pillow.
“What do you want to dream about tonight?” I asked, tracing her brow, encouraging her heavy lids to close.
“Dreams aren’t coming now. It’s all blank.”
“Blank?”
Her eyes closed softly. “I think I can almost see past it, though,” she whispered.
I kissed her temple and pulled her closer, hearing what I wanted to, that this was turning, that I was moving forward now, that my focus was back. I could only hope that would mean my images would come back, that everything Donalt had distracted me from would be undone now that I was moving forward.
When I finally left Libby, I found my parents drinking steaming cups of coffee on the front porch.
“I hope that is decaffeinated,” I joked.
My mother smiled a sleepy smile. “It is...can I get you something to eat? Anything?”
“I’m good,” I said as I walked closer to hug them. “I just wanted to stop by and tell you we were fine, that I think I’m already fixing what is wrong with Libby.”
“No doubt,” my father, said hugging me. He then pulled my mom closer so he could hold us both. Before I lost my balance, I pulled away, then waved my box of lemon drops behind me to tell them goodbye.
I drove around Chara forever, passing by the homes of each member of our family, feeling their peaceful emotions of rest. I don’t know what I was looking for as I drove. I guess I just needed time to let my mind wander, to let everything sink in. I halfway thought that I might see an image. They always appeared before when I was lost in thought, rambling around the streets of Franklin.
Eventually I gave in and drove back to my house. All the lights were out, meaning Landen was still out with his dad and brother. I put the Jeep in park and leaned back on the seat, dreading walking into an empty, dark house. I gently pulled my medallion out of my shirt and gazed down at the sun, the moon, the black glass; the mystery behind the gem that had followed me through time.
“What is it with you and cars?” I heard Phoenix say.
It scared the living daylights out of me. A rush of wind responded, knocking into the side of the Jeep.
“Lemon drop?” he said, handing me the box that was on the seat he was now in.
I stared at him like he was an idiot before snatching the box from him and walking in the house. When I opened the door, he was standing in the entranceway.
“Not too shabby...a little too modern for my taste,” he mused as he stepped in the living room and nodded at the fireplace. At that moment, a raging fire came to life.
“Landen is not here,” I muttered, putting my lemon drops down on the stairs before walking toward the kitchen.
“I know that. Where are you going, Sunshine?”
“To get something to eat, food. Do you remember what that is?” I threw over my shoulder in the most sarcastic tone I could manage. It was fun to tease him. To throw what he dished out right back at him. I liked that formalities were not needed with him.
When I turned on the lights in the kitchen, I saw him pulling out trays of food from my fridge. “Eating is done more so for pleasure or to be social. Of course I know what food is,” he rumbled as his energy flashed across the kitchen, opening cabinets, gathering dishes, and getting food. Within seconds, the table was set with warm leftovers.
He pulled out my chair. “Now, don’t make me eat alone, Sunshine.”
“Do you have nicknames for everyone?” I asked as I took my seat.
“Only the people I like,” he said under his breath, trying to hold in a smirk.
That made me smile.
“You’re going to eat for real?” I asked him.
“Exactly what do you think I am?” he asked as he cut up his food.
“I have no idea. You’re the one who said you were dead.”
“I did, didn’t I? Titles are overrated. Did you have fun driving around for no reason for hours on end?”
“Stalk much?”
He shrugged his shoulders as he took another bite of his food, seeming to enjoy it way more than he should.
“Really didn’t want to crash in on Guardian and those blokes.”
“He’s ‘Landen’ to them, and they are not blokes. They’re his family.”
He smirked. “What has it been, nineteen years or so here? That’s like meeting for a drink in comparison to the time we’ve been together.”
“You missed him, didn’t you?” I mused aloud.
He didn’t answer me for what seemed like forever as his eyes flamed and he stared forward. A ghostly smile echoed on his lips.
“You have no idea. He and I...we were unstoppable. Both charismatic one minute, deadly the next. There was no circle we could not break into, no one crossed us, and we let no one in.”
“You let Skylynn in.”
He tilted his head down and let his eyes rise to meet mine. “Jealous much?”
“All the time.”
“Typical.”
“Whatever.”
“We never let anyone in, and neither did Skylynn. Don’t let her get to you.”
“She’s not.” I pushed my empty plate away from me. “While I was driving around for no reason, I did manage to think of a few questions for you.”
“Listening,” he said, wiping his mouth.
A second later I was sitting on my couch in front of the
fire. I gasped, looking over my shoulder, hating that he could move so fast—move me.
“I did the dishes,” he said as he sat down on the other end of the couch from me.
“Right,” I mumbled, adjusting myself to a more comfortable position. “All right, explain how I fit into this. How vital am I? I mean, I get the impression that all that time you were with Landen, it was spent trying to find me...did you have a back up plan if you found me and I was broken?”
“Deep thinker when you drive your little box around, huh?” he mumbled as his gaze fell to my medallion. Unconsciously, I reached for it, letting my fingertips trace the perfect details of it.
“Never mind. I’ll ask Landen,” I said as I rolled my eyes.
“Oh, stop your whining,” he said, throwing a mischievous glance at me. “You’re not broken.” He stretched his legs out as he gazed at the fire. “And your images are only a fragment of your purpose. And don’t ask me what that is. If you haven’t figured it out, then...well, it’s not time to. Better off that way, considering the emotion you are fighting.”
“Love?”
“You’re not fighting love,” he said with a glance that made me feel like a fool. “Fear. You fight fear.”
He had a point there.
“But, okay, say we open this gate and you guys ride the souls out, or Draven and the others throw them out. What’s next? And what happens if it goes wrong? What is the risk?”
“The next porthole is next. This web is bigger than one spell. We’ll deal with what goes wrong when it goes wrong.” His eyes danced across my clueless expression. “Don’t look at me like that. Trying to fix what could go wrong before it went wrong is half the reason we are in this predicament. Souls are power, and right now a lot of souls are enslaved. Focus on that, not the images. Not the fear.”
“So the point is to get them out? Straighten out the past by looking forward? Confusing, that is what that is.”
He glanced at my wrist to my tattoo, the star. “Has your other been meddling in your mind?”
“Like he had time. Why?”
“I told you: I know how a Scorpio’s mind works. All this time, you’ve been told your heart is the power, needed to break a curse, to run a dimension—making your other look like the bad guy, only wanting your power. Then I show up, Skylynn does. You hear us bickering about the past, that Guardian had told us you were the key. Now who looks like the bad guy?”
“I don’t doubt why Landen loves me.”
“Good. Because I would throw you into the fire if you did,” he said, nodding to the flames that were heating the room.
“I dare you to try,” I mumbled. Before he could respond, I said, “How did you know all that about me? What we’ve been through?”
“People talk. The dead talk. All of people are waiting for your victory.”
“It doesn’t seem that hard now. I mean, we just have to cut off the power, find a way to end Donalt for good.”
He smirked. “Woman, I don’t want to see your version of hard, then.”
“Next question,” I said, adjusting myself to face him more comfortably. “Paths were crossed. Charlie Myers’ daughter and her friends are going to play and open a gate for us. They said they found their way into The Realm when they played a song, that when they stand in a perfect circle balanced by light and darkness that they can pull more out.”
“Very modern. Too bad electric guitars were not invented when the spell was cast the first time around.”
“Let me finish. You said if I could not feel someone, it was because they were dark. I can’t feel Madison, my twin. If she’s dark, then she and Drake are the same, too. That also means their circle was not balanced at all.”
In dismay, he gently moved his head from side to side. “Should have popped in that car long before I did. You are going to think yourself to death.”
“It’s a valid question.”
“Right, then. She is bright as the sun. Hell, it would be nice to have sunglasses right now,” he said, nodding his head in the direction where August’s house sat. “Xavier is no fool. He broke the link between the two of you.”
“Why, though?”
“I’m sure we are going to figure out the ‘why’ right when it’s too late.” He raised his chin. “Then again the good guys could have done that so she would not have to feel any wayward past emotions you have for her man.”
I narrowed my eyes at him playfully. “So I might feel her if we undo this?”
“We cannot undo what was done to you. Only what we did. That deal should be good, nice little wall between you.”
I relaxed into the couch.
“Is that relief, Sunshine?”
“Maybe. I don’t think she cares for me.”
Sympathy filled his stoic image. That edgy, playful Phoenix stepped aside for a moment. “Then you shouldn’t feel relief. If she felt you, she would see what I saw, over and over again. She would know you and your other would only destroy each other.”
“She’s a Scorpio, too.”
He nodded once like he knew that. “Looks like bonding time is over,” he said, almost to himself.
A second later, I sensed Landen and Brady getting closer, slowly. I’d taken the Jeep, so they must be walking. I thought I felt Marc and Chrispin, too.
“His brother is a good guy. Calmed me down a time or two. Loves his family,” I offered.
“Seems all right. Little possessive,” Phoenix muttered.
“You’re a bit intimidating.”
“Who, me?” he said as he looked at me and widened his eyes so I could see the flames.
That made me laugh. “Landen has been around for nineteen years. Why did you just show up now?”
His playful expression left immediately. “If I don’t have all my ashes, it’s hard to be in reality, and everything I would have recognized about Guardian was masked deep inside. The Realm ripped him right open. It would not have taken me long to sense him. You calling me by my ashes gave me a constant link to you, way to ‘pop in,’ as you say. Each minute I was around you when we met, images of him flashed into my mind, what you looked like then did...one thing Skylynn did right.”
“You recognized Dane immediately.”
“I recognized his energy, not what he looked like. Both of you are far healthier looking in this life.”
“Because we are with the ones who complete us.”
He tilted his head as his gaze filled with wonder. “You remember that if Dane’s mate ends up chasing him to the dark side and we have to fight them. Tell yourself they are together and happy.”
“He’s not going to that side, if I have to turn back time myself.”
“If I were you, I’d save that card,” he said, glancing to my medallion.
“Why?”
“As soon as you show it, they will plot to take it away, and Sunshine, we have barely begun this war.”
Landen opened the front door at that moment. He’d changed clothes. He was now wearing dark denim and a white T-shirt. Brady, Marc, and Chrispin filed in after him.
The tension was immediate. Phoenix never bothered to stand to greet them.
“Phoenix,” Landen said, nodding to him, “you’ve met Brady. This is Marc and Chrispin. This is Phoenix. I’d tell all of you he’s my brother, but the truth is, he’s more than that.”
Obviously pleased with his introduction, Phoenix stood and shook their hands, hearing ‘Welcome to the family’ more than a few times.
Marc squeezed my shoulder to tell me hello as the others pushed the oversized chairs toward the couch. I noticed the ink on his arm, the fake tattoo I usually drew on him to match Drake’s: a willow tree laced with a dragon.
“This is real?” I said as I moved my fingers across it.
He grinned. “Yeah. We went and did that after lining the ship up. It will just make it easier if I have to keep standing in for Drake. Landen healed it for me. Look good?”
“Yeah,” I mumbled, tracing the lines with my na
il. “You sure about this? Standing in and stuff?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “Stella is always with the looking glass. Gives me an excuse to stay close.”
“The boat is lined up?” I asked them all, which caused a rumble of laughter.
Chrispin was stretched out in one of the big chairs. “Lucky for us your man is a good swimmer.”
Landen tossed a pillow at him.
“Olivia?” I questioned, feeling a little outnumbered by all of them.
“Teaching Madison how to use her energy.”
Landen sat down between Phoenix and me. “You trying to get away from me?” he teased, reading my intent.
“Just trying not to get in the way.”
“Never,” he said with a sultry glance.
I blushed in response.
“What’s the plan?” Brady asked, sitting on the arm of the chair in which Marc was lounging.
“I wanted to show them what we’re up against, the big picture. Did you find anything out?” Landen asked Phoenix.
Phoenix cautiously glanced around the room, clearly not wanting to divulge anything in front of people he’d just met.
“Family,” Landen said to him, so quietly I barely heard him.
Phoenix pursed his lips, trying to take in that word. It seemed bitter to him. “There is quite a rumble in the veil.”
Landen relaxed into the couch. “Always is,” he said as the fire caught his gaze.
I noticed the glances Brady and the others were giving each other. They knew Landen was forever more changed. What they didn’t know was if they would like the new Landen as much as the old one.
“Did you find Charlie Myers?” Landen asked.
“She’s at August’s house,” Chrispin said in a bewildered tone.
“Her dad. Same name,” I said. Chrispin nodded like he knew that and had just forgotten.
“Rumor has it he’s on the other side,” Phoenix said, raising one brow, anticipating Landen’s response.
“Oh, good then. That must mean this is all over and I can find a beach to stretch out on,” Landen said in a mocking tone, which made Phoenix laugh under his breath.
I guess rumors were not all that reliable in the veil.
“You know rumors. They have less truth than lies. But apparently, he’d only been in the veil for less than twenty years. Even dying as an Escort would have only afforded him a few hundred more years in experience and skill. They say you would have thought he created it. He was smooth, charismatic, formed an alliance and such.”