When we stepped into the cabin hand and hand Ashten was pacing the living room floor. My parents were leaning against the bar that separated the kitchen and the living room. My mother gasped when her eyes met mine, then they moved to Landen’s.
She rushed to us and embraced us both. Landen shyly hugged her back, refusing to lose his hold on me. Standing behind my mother, my father reached his hand out to shake Landen’s hand. His relief to see Landen at my side was more than obvious in his eyes; it was as if his watch over me had ended.
“I’m proud to meet you, son. Your father is an honorable man, and I’m sure that you are as well.”
Ashten had stopped pacing and was staring at Landen with a deep sense of pride and sorrow emanating from him. He looked in his son’s eyes and mouthed the words, “I’m sorry.”
Landen had no response. His respect for his father outweigh his anger, but under it all, Landen was hurt.
“I found her. That’s all that matters,” Landen said. “We need to leave now.”
Ashten cautiously, stepped forward. “Son, we have to take them all. Libby may have been the only one in the dream, but you know just as well as I do that he’ll stop at nothing to get what he wants.”
“What is he talking about? What dream?” I heard Landen say.
“I had a nightmare. Drake was there…Libby disappeared.”
As he pulled me closer, I felt Landen’s sense of urgency grow; he realized why I wanted Libby to go with me. “I’ll lead them both.”
Ashten glanced at my father; both of their expressions matched the confusion coming from them.
“Landen,” Dad said softly, “were you just speaking to Willow?”
Landen’s jaw ticked up just so to answer.
“Did she answer you?”
“Dad, of course I did…what’s wrong with you guys?”
“Are they always like this?” I heard Landen say.
My mother seemed to have figured out what was going on. Meanwhile, I was lost, embarrassed, and confused.
“Landen, Willow, you’re not using words,” Dad said almost like he was expecting this revelation.
My heart pounded in my ears. I couldn’t comprehend what they were saying. Landen’s emotions swarming out of control, too.
There was no way this was possible. I couldn’t read minds! I didn’t want anyone to be able to read mine. I turned crimson as I tried to remember if I had thought anything embarrassing around Landen tonight or even before.
I listened closely to see if I could hear Landen’s thoughts, but I heard nothing. I closed my eyes. “Landen, can you hear me?”
“I can.”
I looked up at him.
“Do you hear everything, or can you only hear me when I’m talking to you?”
“I guess when you’re talking to me,” he thought. His eyes raced over my face, the connection between us took the edge off the rightful shock I needed to have then.
“Do you think this is bad? I mean, is this common in Chara?”
His profound stare screamed no loud and clear.
“What is this, Dad? How are we doing it?” I asked, stumbling over my words.
“We all need to just have a seat and talk this through,” Dad said.
We followed Dad to the kitchen table. Landen and I sat side by side. He held my hand under the table, his piercing blue eyes judging his father’s every move.
Dad glanced at my mother, trying to size up her take on what she was seeing, then he nodded in Ashten’s direction for him to begin. Ashten sighed as he gathered his words, first looking at Landen, then settling his eyes on me.
“The creators of our world, the woman Aliyanna and the man Guardian could speak without words, and they shared each other’s dreams,” Ashten said.
Landen swayed his head in denial. He knew this story. His disbelief told me so.
Ashten went on. “They were both born in Esterious. The priests in Esterious tried to gain control of the power between them. They needed to divide them. The priest pushed a force of energy at Aliyanna and Guardian. The force of vim used against them pushed them into the string, and once there they found their way to a different dimension: Chara. When their children grew up, Aliyanna and Guardian taught them the paths in the string so they could find the ones that they were meant to be with. Couple by couple, our world was born. Now everyone has to leave to find the one that they’re meant to be with.”
“What does that have to do with us?”
The tension in the room was so thick that I could barely breathe.
“There has never been another couple with the same insights, and you both are children of our dimension,” Ashten answered quietly trying to get me to see the obvious.
“So…is this bad or good?” My voice cracked.
Ashten and my father exchanged weary glances. The strain between Landen and his father intensified within seconds.
Suddenly, Landen stood up. “Your silence gives me reason to leave now,” he said, gently pulling me to his side.
Ashten stood and said, “Landen, it took you two days to get here, do you want to put that little girl upstairs through that? We need to wait for the storms to grow calm, or at least for Livingston and Marc to arrive.”
“You know Livingston? Who is Marc?” I asked, using our new gift.
“Livingston is my uncle, and Marc is his son,” Landen answered in the same manner.
Landen looked into my eyes, then to the stairs that led to where Libby was playing. Through his emotions, I felt him weigh each consequence. Calmly he sat back down. The room filled with relief.
Slowly I sat down next to Landen, trying to place all the names and faces with the story my father had told me.
The tightness in the room was broken when Libby appeared at the top of the stairs. “Is it time for dinner? I’m hungry,” she asked as she walked down the stairs, smiling innocently at Landen. It was like she knew him and loved him already.
“Yeah, baby. We were just deciding what we’re going to have,” mom said “Let’s have some dinner and get some rest. I’m sure everything will be clearer in the morning.”
Dad and Ashten excused themselves to the back porch—I’m sure to discuss Landen and me in private. Libby walked over to Landen’s side and slid her small body under his arm. They stared at each other, and the emotion between them seemed familiar to me, like I’d felt love between them, the love only a family could have. Libby reached her tiny hand to Landen’s face, and when he smiled at her, she giggled. “I like the name Landen. Do you like the name ‘Libby’?”
“I feel like I know her. How does she know my name?”
“It’s her insight. She started using it today. She doesn’t know that she has it yet.”
His eyes filled with disbelief. “It has to be more than insight,” he thought quietly.
“I do. It’s one of my favorites,” he said, humoring her.
“Is Willow your princess?” Libby asked, looking back and forth between us.
“Yes, she is,” Landen agreed with a boyish grin.
“I told you princesses have green eyes,” Libby said, crossing her arms, proud of her prediction. She then looked at Landen and said, “Daddy wants to talk to you.” Landen looked down at his watch, and we waited as the seconds ticked by. Fifteen seconds later, my father opened the door.
“Landen, can you come out here please?”
Landen reluctantly stood, kissed the top of my head, and walked to the door, peering at me through the glass as he closed it. As their conversation began outside, I knew they weren’t saying anything upsetting because calm came over the cabin.
When dinner was ready, Landen and our dads came back in; the calm emotions were still with them. For Libby’s sake, the conversation had no stories of other dimensions. Instead, we listened to stories of my father and Ashten’s childhood. I felt closer to my father. I’d never realized how little I knew of him before my mother came into his life.
Everyone was trying to act like this was ordina
ry, just two families hanging out. It worked until just after dinner when we ran out things to clean and small talk.
“It’s been a long day, and a longer one awaits us,” Ashten said. “I’m going to sleep in the living room in case anyone makes it through tonight. I don’t want any false alarms.”
Dad walked over to his medicine bag, pulled out a white tube, and handed it to me. “This is for the burn on his shoulder. It’ll get infected if he doesn’t treat it,” he said, glancing to Landen.
“You’re hurt?
“It’s nothing,” he thought.
I raised my brow, doubting his words, but he just gave me a playful grin.
“Good night,” mom said over her shoulder as she carried Libby up the stairs.
I left Landen in the living room. I could tell that he wanted to talk to his father.
I changed into my pajamas—some simple cotton shorts and a white T-shirt. My sketchbook was lying across my bed with Landen’s portrait facing up. Mom must have brought it up. I pulled out the photo album the girls had given to me, wanting so badly to tell them all about Landen, about the boy that had stolen my heart without uttering a single word.
I scooted to the center of the bed, turned to the sketch of flowers, and placed it next to a picture of the five of us. I realized that our lives were now like the flower: all original, beautiful, and living side by side, yet unaware of one another.
Sensing Landen coming up the stairs, I glanced to the hallway and saw him stop at Libby’s room. As he gazed in and watched her sleep, I could feel his confusion and turmoil; I wondered what he was thinking. He looked down, wrestling with his thoughts before walking to my room.
“Are you okay?” I thought when he got closer.
He smiled at me, walked over to the bed, and slid by my side. “What happened? Why is Drake looking for you?” he thought.
I looked down at my wrist to the star that rested in the loop of the ankh. Landen followed my gaze, then looked back up at me.
“I didn’t see his face when I dreamed, but I’m sure that Drake did this.”
I felt relieved that I could finally talk to Landen about all of the odd things I’d endured.
His anger rose so high that I could see the heat behind his dimples. I knew then not to tell him that Drake had been in all my nightmares. He was the reason I was upset so many times in our dreams.
“How did he do it?”
“He just touched me.”
“You told your dad, and he decided to run home,” he guessed.
“He saw the star, then left. I never told him what happened.”
“That was four nights ago, right?” Landen thought, sitting forward a little.
I nodded. “Why?” I asked, seeing that was important.
“Four days ago, Livingston came crashing into my father’s house and pulled him away. They left, and only my father came back. He told us he’d found Jason and needed help bringing his daughters home.”
“They found my dad a long time ago, when I was six. Dad said they knew Drake was searching for me and had decided to stay there until I was older.”
“This doesn’t make any sense,” Landen thought, running his hands through his dark hair.
“Did you know about Drake? His parents, Adonia and Justus?” I asked.
Landen stiffened his jaw. “Marc and his brother, Chrispin, lost their mother that day. That’s all we talk about…when we’re alone.”
His thoughts grew silent. I folded the album closed, set it on the side table, and reached for the sketchpad. When I picked it up, Landen slowly touched my arm and reached for the pad, pulling it closer and looking at the details of the flowers.
“How do you remember them so clearly?”
“It’s easy to recall them,” I tried to hide my blush.
I reached my finger to the pad and traced the outline of the blue and green flowers, each with different petals.
“I think they represent you and me,” I thought, as the emerald of my eyes met the blue of his.
A slow sweet smile emerged as he eased his fingers through mine, gently squeezing my hand as if to tell me he agreed, that subtle move managed to rock my body, my pulse quickened, heat flushed in my chest.
“Where were we? Whose house was that?” I thought.
“Ours,” he said softly.
A breathless smile escaped my lips. He leaned closer to kiss me, his lips feathered across mine ever so briefly, before his arm reached around me to pull me against him, when he drew me forward I felt him tense at the pain coming from his shoulder.
“Can I see?” I asked.
“Really, it’s nothing,” he thought, trying to smile.
I knew it was something. I could see the pain in his eyes. “I need to put the medicine on it anyway.”
Landen gave me a wary look then began to unbutton his black shirt. I swallowed nervously. His body was flawless—his skin was tan and lush, his muscles were defined, he was built like a warrior, or an archangel. Pristine, too perfect to touch, yet it took all I had to hold myself back.
Underneath the black shirt was a white tank top. He pulled it over his head. At first I didn’t see the damage, my eyes raked over every chiseled lean muscle in his chest. I had no idea how I was managing to look so calm.
I gasped at the sight of his shoulder.
“I told you it’s nothing,” he thought, trying to downplay it.
He was wrong. The burn started at the top of his shoulder and curved around his shoulder blade. “How did you do this?” I reached for the medicine my father had given me and gently rubbed the cool cream across his blazing skin.
“It’s just the storm. I wasn’t paying attention. I was being careless.” His breath whooshed out in relief as I gently rubbed the cool cream over the wound, then he lay on his side, allowing the medicine to dry. His eyes drifted up to mine seeming to carry the same hungry desire that my soul was filling with.
The air around us was so warm, so numbingly calm, that I felt like I was locked in my own world with him.
“What did they want with you outside?” I asked.
Landen smiled up at me through his thick eyelashes. “Your father told me that he’d never shown you how to travel, that you didn’t travel the way the rest of us do,” he thought with a mischievous grin on his face.
He reached for my hand and let his fingertips glide across my skin. That simple sensation was mind-boggling.
“How do I do it differently?” I asked, shaking my head and bringing myself back to reality.
“The rest of us travel through the strings, like the one you saw me come from. Your dad said that you use people, that you see them through emotions.” He tilted his head, finding it somewhat amusing.
I made a face. “How weird am I?” I asked, holding my eyes low.
I felt a fluttering kiss on my hand, then he leaned up and traced the side of my face, ever so sensually.
“It’s not weird.” He pulled my chin up, still smiling, so I’d have to look him in the eye. “It has to do with your insight. The insight of emotion is not a common one. It’s unique that you, your father, and sister all have an insight.”
“But, they’re all different.”
“You still all have one,” he pointed out raising his brow to stress his point.
“Do you have one?” I asked.
“I do,” he thought as he leaned down to the quilt at the end of the bed, pulling it over him, and settling in to sleep.
“Aren’t you going to tell me?” I protested.
He let out a quiet, mischievous laugh. Clearly he was enjoying keeping me in suspense. He reached for me. I crawled into his arms as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
We had held each other like this for years, he knew how to make me feel safe. This time though, he reached for my chin and guided my lips to his. “I should’ve kissed you forever ago,” he murmured.
“What is it?” I thought as loud as I could, knowing he was distracting
me on purpose.
He reluctantly stopped kissing me, doing his best to suppress a sensual laugh, and stared into my eyes as his fingertip traced my bottom lip, then gently eased down my neck and settled just beside my collarbone.
“It’s not as interesting as all of yours.” His tone was deep, and entrancing. When he spoke aloud I felt the words caress my skin, when he spoke in his thoughts I felt them hum within my soul.
“I can determine truth or intent, but it’s flawed. People can change their intent in an instant.” The sinful smirk on the corner of his lips stopped my breath.
What was he saying? He could feel my intent? This internal war I had going on right now.
“How does it work?” I asked as I told myself to stop blushing.
Landen lay back down, still staring at me. “I feel it. I can feel if they believe what they’re saying. The intent is harder to explain. I don’t see it or hear it, but I know what they intend to do.”
“Does Ashten have insight?”
“No. That’s why your family is rare. There is usually one insight every other generation.”
I realized that I didn’t know anything about his mother or whether or not he had any brothers or sisters. We were backward. Every one I knew built a relationship with words, the emotions drifted in with time. A bond was formed. I knew his soul inside and out, but not his life.
“Where is the rest of your family? Are they in Chara?” I asked, watching him grin as he tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear so he could see my face more clearly.
“Mom, Aubrey, and my sister, Clarissa, took a cab from an airport in New York to a hotel and have been shopping, using your mother’s credit cards. My brother, Brady, is in Washington, using your father’s credit cards.”
“Why?”
“They’re just trying to leave a paper trail for your world. Because you lived there so long they needed to fade you away.”
I wasn’t sure how I felt about fading away from all the people I loved here.
“It was just a precaution,” Landen thought, seeing the effect that his words had on me.
I nodded shyly, forcing myself to focus on the wins of my life, not the losses. “What did you talk to your father about?” I asked needing to change the subject.
“It wasn’t really a talk. I asked if he knew you were the one I dreamed of when he asked me to come here.”
“What did he say?”
“He was silent.” Landen paused then glanced up at me. “He understands my insight. He knows if he doesn’t answer, I won’t be able to tell if he’s telling the truth.”
“What is his intent?”
“All I can see is that he wants us safe at home,” Landen thought.
“None of this makes any sense to me.”
Landen pulled himself up on one arm and gazed over me. “Everything has its reason. It may not be clear to us tonight, but one day it will be. You and I have proved beyond any doubt that our beliefs are not false. We are meant to be with someone, the one. I found you. No one can keep us apart now. Our love will now be the story told to define how sacred love is.”
Nervously I leaned up and framed his lips with mine. “I do love you,” I thought softly, knowing that before he very well could’ve not heard my words. Mindlessly I settled against feeling a new kind of calm.
“What are you thinking...what do you want to know?” he thought.
“Everything. Tell me about your family. Are you sure your family is okay with running around this dimension for us?”
He grinned. “My sister loves Infante. She says her beacon is here, that she can feel it.”
“Infante…is that what this dimension is called?”
Landen nodded “It means ‘young.’”
“How is it young?”
He smirked. “Travelers consider it young because the cultures are still divided and war still occurs here.”
“What does Chara mean?”
“‘Joy,’ ‘happiness.’”
“Chara has no war or different cultures?”
His fingertips traced my eyes tenderly. “There has never been a war in Chara, and because everyone leaves to find someone, our culture is blended. Everyone has characteristics from several dimensions.”
I smiled, thinking of how beautiful the people in Chara must be. “Has your brother, Brady, found his soul mate?”
A proud grin consumed his image. “Her name is Felicity. She’s at home. Their first child will be here soon. Trust me, she’s going to be thrilled to meet you.”
Just the thought of meeting new people put me on edge, but it was hard to worry about that in this moment. “How old are they, Brady, and your sister Clarissa?”
“Clarissa is twenty and Brady is twenty-five. That’s why my father didn’t believe me when I told him about you. He thought I was too young.”
“Thought,” I pointed out.
I was struggling to keep my eyes open. “How come we need so many travelers to get us home?”
“I think my father and I can do it. You and your dad can travel, and Libby is close enough she wouldn’t need a lot of help, so that only leaves your mother. We’re really just waiting on the storms to settle.”
“What causes the storms?”
He grinned as I set the intent to fight sleep just so I could hear his voice in my thoughts. “It’s a disruption in the energy near the strings. They say the storms have only happened in the last two generations. One theory is that all the technology is disrupting the natural energy around us.”
“Are they dangerous?” I asked. I was having second thoughts about taking Libby through something like that.
“They’re more confusing than dangerous. It’s like being out in open water—then all of a sudden a mass of waves turns you, and you lose your direction.”
“How did you get hurt?”
“I thought there was a passage where there wasn’t one, and I pushed through with my shoulder. I was just in a hurry to get here.”
We lay in absolute silence, studying each other, lost in our own thoughts. I felt my eyes close against my will, and without hesitation, Landen was there beside me as we stood at the doorway to our home.
He smiled down at me, then wistfully picked me up and carried me across the threshold, kissing me gently as he sat me down inside. I walked through the house with him at my side.
We walked up the wide staircase into a large room, our room. A gentle breeze flowed through the long white curtains, framing the wide double doors; the sun glided over them, making them seem as if they were satin. We then passed through the open doors and stared into a field of beautiful flowers, the sun dancing across them. I truly did feel like I was home. Home was at his side.