With little enthusiasm, I cleaned up the living room, took a shower, and got dressed. I called around to Rose, Olivia, and Felicity just to tell them I was here. They were all preoccupied with whatever tasks they had that day. Even Felicity seemed at ease with what was going on with little Allie. She told me that she sleeps peacefully and even smiles once in a while. That gave me hope.
She and Olivia were getting everything ready to make Madison and Charlie look like the royalty they were supposed to be. They invited me to help, but I thought distance was best. I was still ashamed of how insanely I acted when I first met those girls.
Instead, I pulled on a light jacket, stuffing lemon drops into the pocket, grabbed a sketchpad, and headed off to the field. My intent was to sketch our home so I would always have it with me, a solemn reminder of where I wanted to spend my ever after, but as I leaned against the rolling hills that separated all of our homes, beauty was the last thing I sketched. Instead, it was the battlefield, my necklace, what I saw come out of it last night.
I was lost in the daydream of it all when I heard the grass violently rustling behind me. As I turned, I saw legs. They tripped over me, and a rush of wind caused by my panic moved the long blades of grass and divided them, revealing Madison.
“Oh my God—are you okay?” I asked, crawling to her.
She pulled herself up and sat in the grass. Tears were streaming down her face and she looked furious. I wasn’t sure who that emotion was aimed at. As I reached for a lemon drop in my pocket, I stretched out my senses. I felt an unrest, among others, but nothing that would have caused this reaction in her.
Madison glanced over her shoulder at me, then scooted back next to me so that her body was literally touching mine. I casually slid the lemon drop in my mouth and breathed in and out, finding my balance.
“Cold?” I asked, feeling her shiver next to me, completely dumbstruck by her behavior.
“It’s numb next to you. I can’t feel anything,” she said finally.
I reached in my pocket and pulled out my bag of candy. “Lemon drop?”
She looked at me like I was insane, but then reached to take one.
“Emotions getting the best of you?” I asked.
“Always.” Her green eyes glanced over me. “You look calm.”
“Trying. It’s a constant battle.”
The wind—which I did not cause—made the pages of my sketchbook turn. I reached to catch it, thinking it would fly away. When I smoothed out the page I was working on, Madison leaned closer to me. Personal space was obviously not on her radar at the moment.
Before I could suggest that she go and spend some time with Nana, she asked, “Why did you sketch this?”
“I’ve been watching it in The Realm. This is my Jupiter.”
“This is not Jupiter. It’s one of my nightmares.”
“Excuse me?”
“I’m a winner either way,” she mumbled under her breath.
“You were there?” I said, pointing to the pentagram I’d sketched.
She shook her head. “Not there.”
We locked glances. “You’re sure?” I asked.
She narrowed her eyes like she was trying to focus. “God, you really are a brick wall.”
“Me? You’re blank to me, too,” I accused.
“Stay next to me. I’m going to The Realm to figure this out.”
“I’m going, too, then,” I protested, fine with giving her a numb feeling but refusing to stay behind.
“You don’t know how.”
“I do, too. I can go to the orange field.”
“You first,” she said with heavy sarcasm, clearly doubting me.
I admit I had my doubts. I’d only gone in through the veil before, but I knew what it looked like, so I closed my eyes and focused on it, letting my soul move there.
When I focused my eyes, I saw her in front of me. “How dangerous is this?”
“What isn’t dangerous?” she said with a smirk.
“Good point. How are you going to figure this out?”
“The Realm is created by memories.”
“But it was a dream. How are you sure that they are really memories?”
“Agony is never forgotten,” she said as her voice cracked and the field disappeared.
Everything was dark. I could hear dripping water and the air reeked of a swamp. I felt Madison grip my arm and pull me forward. I felt my way along the wall, almost sure I was in some kind of cellar or something.
I heard a girl scream in rage and a man chuckle. With that sound, Madison’s grip on me grew tighter. I had no idea if I could calm her down or not, but I focused on a calm emotion and let that push through her. In my mind, this was a dream, and I had no reason to fear anything or anyone here.
A light appeared in the distance. When we reached it, we could see torches lining a wall. On a makeshift bed was our image. Whether it was her or me, I had no idea. One arm was cut open and blood was dripping into a bowl. The other arm had an enormous needle feeding a bag of blood into her. A man whose face was covered by a black hood was standing over the girl.
The girl on the bed seethed. “He will kill you—cut you into shreds—you have crossed the wrong man!”
“Fiery, just like the other,” the man teased as the girl bowed her back, trying to get away.
“You have fooled no one, Devil. You will not hurt me! My soul is mine!” the girl spit out at him as she struggled. All that did was make her cut arm bleed faster.
“I’m a winner either way,” the man said, attaching another bag of blood to the needle. The girl’s eyes fluttered closed as he squeezed the blood into her. Moments after she passed out, he sealed the wound on the arm that was bleeding with nothing more than a touch. She moaned in protest.
The hooded man placed my medallion around her neck. “The stage is set,” he mumbled against her closed eyes.
“Devil!”
The bellowing sound of Drake’s voice made both Madison and me jump. He’d charged down the passageway in which we were standing. The hooded man stood up straight, holding his hands up, feeling the muzzle of the gun on his back. When Drake cocked the gun, he vanished.
Drake holstered his gun and rushed to the girl, unbuckling her restraints and pulling the needle out of her arm. Once the girl was cradled in his arms, he carried her out of the darkness. We followed, still unsure of which one of us was in his arms.
The next scene The Realm showed was the girl aware, sitting up in Drake’s arms as the horse they were on reared back at the sound of gunfire. Drake gently let her down, following swiftly. He was pulling her into the cellar of the house I’d watched over and over again. She was fighting with him.
“He’s the devil! Leave him be!” she yelled.
He turned her in his arms. “No one ever takes you from me!”
“He’s not after you! There is another girl that looks like me! It’s a trap!” she yelled.
He pushed her into the cellar and charged across the field. We waited for her to follow him and ran alongside her image. She screamed for him, and he turned – just like I’d seen a thousand times before.
Her necklace caught his attention; he reached for it. “Is this his!” he screamed, pulling it from her, but he had no time: the bullets soared through him, and the girl died in his arms.
Madison raised her hands slightly, causing everything to move in slow motion. The second the girl began to bleed, on the other side of the field Landen’s gaze moved from the girl approaching him across the field to where Drake was. The girl being led to him was tossed into the fire of the pentagram. Phoenix tried to push Landen in, too, but he was paying no attention to the spell they were focusing on. He fell to his knees in obvious grief.
“That was you,” I said to Madison as I glanced at the body Drake was holding just before they fell to their deaths.
“He filled me with your essence, put your necklace on me. For what?” she asked, glancing all around us.
Before I could
answer, thundering sounds slammed into the ground around us. Men in black suits had appeared and were sauntering near us.
“Wake up!” she screamed at me.
My focus was on the field in which my body was sitting and instantly I was there. Wind blew violently all around us as I tried to control my breathing. As I felt Madison clench my leg, I glanced at her. I swear, she could not get any closer to me if she tried.
“What the hell!” I said, finally catching my breath.
“Freaking Escorts,” she answered.
At that second, Phoenix appeared in front of us. He crouched down, glaring at me. Madison dove backward. I held her tight.
“He’s good...well, that’s in debate, but he won’t hurt you.”
Phoenix tilted his head, letting his predatory glare reveal the fire in his eyes.
“What have you been up to, Sunshine?” he said coolly to me.
“Figuring out that we were in the right place.”
As Phoenix’s eyes moved between us, Madison edged away from him.
“Explain,” Phoenix stated.
“She’s had this nightmare before,” I said, shaking my sketchpad at him. “We went to The Realm to figure it out.”
“Yes, unguarded. I’m well aware of where you have been.”
“Whatever. A hooded man drained her blood and put mine in her, then put my necklace on her. She chased after Drake when he went after the man.”
A spark of recognition exploded in Phoenix’s eyes.
I went on to explain. “When she bled—”
Phoenix interrupted, “Guardian lost his focus—DAMMIT!”
“What does that mean? What does ‘I’m a winner either way’ mean?” Madison asked.
Phoenix stood, glaring out in the distance. I made my way to my feet, and so did Madison.
“It means he merged your essence, that no matter what girl we burned, she would not be whole.”
“So, how do we undo it?”
“What is going on?” Madison asked.
“We’re trying to replay that. Do it the right way, to get souls out of The Realm.”
“I’m not reliving that,” Madison barked.
“No worries. You can’t,” Phoenix said, keeping his eyes away from her.
“So what does that mean?” I asked.
“I don’t know. We can only recreate the spell. Not what happened before.”
“So, we would both have to burn,” I clarified.
“Pardon?” Madison yelled.
“No one is burning.” He glanced at me. “As long as they behave, that is.”
I rolled my eyes at him.
“We’re recreating energy. All you did was tell us why it really didn’t work in the first place. Guardian keeps his focus. This time, we’ll be fine.”
“I have nothing to do with this?” Madison clarified.
“If you do you will end up there,” Phoenix said, looking over her and squinting his eyes slightly, as if she were too bright for him to handle.
“I have enough to worry about without you adding any more to it,” she said, glancing between us.
“It will all work out for the best,” I swore.
She stepped closer to me. “I’m miserable, in agony. It can’t get any worse.”
“What do you need me to do?” I asked her, still unsure as to why she was upset before.
She moved her head from side to side, fighting back tears. “None of my problems are your fault.”
“That doesn’t mean I can’t help you with them.”
“Sunshine,” Phoenix cautioned.
Madison threw a glare at him before glancing back at me. “I’m not shy. If I need your help, I’ll ask. Swear.”
She glanced in the direction of August’s house. “I need to get back, get ready, I guess.”
Before I could tell her thank you or ask if she was really okay with what she had to do tonight, she walked away.
“Don’t give me that look,” I said to Phoenix.
“Quit trying to meddle with their business, then.”
“She is in my path.”
“Not in every aspect.”
“Whatever. She just helped you figure out why that spell really didn’t work. Didn’t you blame Skylynn for it before?”
“Still Skylynn’s fault. She knew you were both there.”
“Where is she anyway?” I asked, glancing over my shoulder to where I knew I felt Landen.
“Lurking. She’ll be there tonight.”
“Fantastic,” I mumbled.
“What?” he teased. “Is it that your going to be watching your other court another girl or standing side by side with Skylynn that has you ruffled?”
“It’s not having control that has me bothered,” I said, fighting for control. I even focused my eyes so I could see my energy, assuring myself that my gold seal of energy was in place.
“Speaking of,” he said, holding his hand out, “fire, please.”
“Are you mad? Is that it? Does this roll you are in make you flipping insane? Why would you ask me for fire?”
“Fire. Right here, right now.”
“I can’t make fire,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“You can make a hurricane appear with a mood swing, but fire is hard for you?”
“I don’t have time for your games. Fire is your deal.”
“It is, but in order to hinder Xavier tonight, we need your essence. You have to start a fire with a glance.”
“Well, I can’t, so what is Plan B?”
“You will. Now.”
I glared at him.
“There you go. Now focus on my hand, see the fire—little baby lightning, if you will.”
“Focus on my dislike of you,” I teased.
“If that is what makes you tick,” he said with a wink.
I was so frustrated that I could have manifested a hurricane to whisk him away at that instant, but I held it in and focused on his hand. I saw the lightning in my mind, the strike of it hitting the ground. With little effort, fire appeared in his hand.
“Fantastic. Now blow it out.”
I leaned forward, but he held out his hand to stop me. “The right way,” he said in an annoyed tone.
Holding his stare, I thought of a wind and blew the fire out.
“That’s my girl.”
“Not yours.”
“Your loss,” he threw back at me in a playful tone. “Call Guardian over.”
“Landen,” I said through gritted teeth.
I glanced over my shoulder and sent a gentle wind toward where I knew he was standing in the far distance.
“You’re getting a bit dark, I like the shade, but you two need to find a moment to chill out before tomorrow,” Phoenix ordered.
“Busy day, fake ball, wicked spells and all.”
He pursed his lips as his fiery eyes cascaded over me. “You have to find the moments, even seconds. You were doing that in the other dimension. Maybe you need to think about changing your address.”
“Are you the one putting those ideas in Landen’s head? Not liking it here?”
“Oh, trust me, he likes it here, too much, I’m afraid. We were focused before you came back. These two dimensions are distracting you.”
“In some way, I agree. But this home, these people need us.”
“They need you to be strong and focused. Learn to do that here, or move.”
“Are you trying to make me lose my control?”
“Not at all. You’re dim. He’s distracted. Fix that.”
“Fix what?” I heard Landen say. A second later, he appeared over the hilltop.
“Phoenix has disdain for Chara,” I said, leaning into Landen as he hooked his arm around my waist.
“I’m sure it’s a bit bright,” Landen said to defend him. “Did you get everything in order?”
“Yep. She’ll be there. So will your sis.”
“You need Clarissa?” I asked.
“The blood of a Witness.”
“Sh
e is not changed all the way. Did you think to ask Silas?”
“He knows what’s going down. He’ll show up if he wants to,” Landen said, glancing over his shoulder toward where I knew Charlie and the others were.
“Are they okay? Was there a fight or something?” I asked.
“They are just trying to figure out their own way.”
He was holding something back. There was more to what happened over there, no doubt, but his intent was to keep us out of it. Every part of me wanted to argue with him. The only thing holding me back was the fierce protection I felt coming from him, too. He wasn’t going to let them fall into any of our past mistakes, but he didn’t plan to step in until he had to. He knew I would not be so cautious.
“Did the message left for them make any sense?” Phoenix asked.
Landen hesitated, then said, “I think the dead are going to fall – multa ceciderunt ut altius surgerent.”
“‘Many things have fallen, only to rise higher,’” Phoenix murmured to explain the non-English words.
“It’s just the way the message was worded—coded,” Landen mused. “We didn’t really win anything with those last planets. The meditation of the kids says that. I think if we undo this spell, the dead may fall. Lives were lost along this path.”
“Dane? Clarissa?” I said as a shiver ran down my spine.
“Not sure yet. I get the impression that it would be souls not at rest. August thinks that as we move forward, there are some spells we will not be able to do because the souls needed to recreate them have perished. He thinks Charlie and the others are the key to reaching those spirits. He also stressed that the energy they would create would be so bold that every soul could see it—use it. That the darkest of souls would rise, too.”
“You think it’s Donalt, don’t you?” Phoenix said as his eyes appraised Landen.
Landen glanced at me, questioning my response to that idea. “It crossed my mind. If that is true, it may have nothing to do with us. Then again, it may have everything to do with us. Xavier and Donalt were enemies, but they shared a common hatred for us, our cause. They could unite.”
“I’m not quite sure that they were our enemies,” Phoenix stated flatly.
Landen pulled me a little closer. “If we thought about this from Xavier’s point of view, bringing Donalt back would be a win for him. We need to figure out how to counteract that – anyone who falls should be able to be sent back if they are blocked before they fully manifest, which means the second that spell is complete, we have one hour to find who’s fallen and send them back.”