I heard Willow yell out, “If any of you are real - say the word. Whisper it, yell it, but you better say something; otherwise, I can’t promise that you will not be hurt!”
I felt my stomach tying itself in knots. This was it: live or die, fight or run. I chose to live, to fight. I knew an easy target would be myself; I knew I wouldn't hurt anyone that way. I found the images of me and pushed the light, the music at them. Black smoke didn’t come from them; instead, they flashed a few times, then faded. I was starting to believe that I’d never really fought Bianca, only an illusion.
I was running out of images of me, and even though I could hear Bianca taunting Willow, I couldn’t understand them clearly. The whispers had begun, and they were telling me to run. They were saying my name and Draven’s name over and over.
Water rushed over my feet. There had been eruptions of thunder and flashes of lightning, and now the sun had not only melted the water in this massive pool, it was causing it to boil over. I knew that those bodies were on the floor, and if this water got any deeper, if the others weren’t near them they would drown because there was no one to wake them.
I kept my focus on the images. I had a feeling that this shield thing that Clarissa had taught Aden was second nature to this family, that more than likely Willow was behind one. I started to look for the glow, and if an image didn’t have one, I sent light and music at it, hoping against all hope that it wasn’t Madison or Olivia.
I stopped abruptly. So did everything and everyone else. Someone had altered the illusion. They had to have, because now all the images were faint. Like they were background music or something. Silence. Warm. Inviting. Silence. I was all alone. The others had vanished. Not good.
The stillness broke and something caused me to gaze up. Now, majestically flying through the open ceiling was a bird. Massive. Elegant. It was made of flames. Powerful swaying flames.
I watched its regal decent with absolute awe. I moved through the empty images of us so I could see where it was landing. One step forward and I saw this imperial phoenix land perfectly on the very solid body of Landen. Angelically it fanned its wings over him. No response came from Landen’s lifeless body. None at all. I could almost swear that flaming phoenix was grieving for him.
I kept glancing up wondering if one would come for Drake. If maybe this is what happens when royalty dies. If this is how the heavens bring them home.
The phoenix arched its wings above Landen. I could see every flaming detail of its majestic body. Breathtaking.
All at once a wave of electricity rippled through the room, across both Landen and Drake. Images of them soared past me diving into their bodies. It was their souls. Their souls were rushing back to them. How in the hell were they doing that?!
The phoenix fluttered upwards as if it did not expect that force. Good to know I was not the only one in shock.
Landen moaned, as did Drake.
The phoenix soared through the air squawking in obvious rejoice. After it circled the room once it aimed its body at Landen’s and fiercely flew into him. Literally. Flames rippled across Landen. Instantly absorbing into him.
Before I could rush to him to ensure that he was unharmed. Alive. The images around me became solid. It was like someone had hit the play button and the war had resumed.
A war I was going to win.
I started to look for that glow around Willow. She had to survive this. Something godly had just brought Landen and Drake back from the veil of death. I would be dammed if they came back only to find her dead.
Finally. I found Willow in this mass of illusions.
I put my hand on her shoulder, and she turned defensively. I held my arm up for her to see the world ‘love’ with the ankh, then yelled, “Show yourself!”
If we were going to play this game – we were going to play it my way.
I knew the shadows would protect me, that they’d protect Willow; they would do so because we were their salvation. I started to say the words “You are worthy” in Latin and every language I knew. I repeated moments of bliss that I caught glimpses of.
Madison appeared beside Willow and me, and she began to help me reach the shadows. As soon as I had their attention, under my breath I seethed, “End her...end Bianca.”
The images of us began to flicker, then vanished, revealing Drake and Landen’s bodies on the stone floor. Water was all around them. Olivia was the only one with Drake, and she was trying to give him mouth to mouth; I guess the water had gotten into his airway.
This Realm would not give up – would it? I was not going to die here. No one was. I set my intent to hunt Bianca. She was still alive and I could not leave here knowing that.
At that moment, Bianca appeared behind us. Before I could attempt one more deathblow an epic force of energy came from Willow and knocked Bianca back at least fifty feet. The shadows I’d called found their target and consumed the image of Bianca instantly. Silence came at that moment.
Coward. She wasn’t dead. I knew that much.
Chapter Seventeen
Brady and Draven were at Landen’s side, trying to wake him. They held his head out of the water and were splashing as much water as they could over him to help stir him. Aden had moved to Olivia. They were trying their best to make sure there was no water in Drake’s lungs.
Every sense I had was on high alert. I was waiting for my precious shadows to tell me where Bianca had fled. I wasn’t needed here. My purpose was to collect on the debt of misery Bianca had caused. And she was going to pay in full.
I could hear the others screaming directions at each other, still trying to get a response out Landen and Drake. I felt Draven’s stare and found his emerald green eyes peering at me from Landen’s side. He was worried about me. He knew I was about to flee and take matters into my own hands.
“Stay.” His perfect mouth shaped that one word. I almost said no but then I noticed how nervous Madison was. She was standing in the presence of Drake’s soul. I knew they would revive him, and she would have to look him in the eyes. Her dreams were coming to life in front of her. I couldn’t leave her, not yet.
Drake said something to Willow. He was coming back around. Which was good and bad. He was pulling from Willow. Taking in her essence. If he didn’t stop it would surely kill her.
Madison stepped forward and put her hand on Willow’s shoulder. “A promise is a promise. Move. Wake Landen. Wake the healer.”
Even in the state of chaos, Madison was still calm enough to bring Willow to her senses. I could only hope she could handle the moment when Drake did wake, the moment she looked him in the eyes for the first time.
Willow nodded once, then pushed back and turned her attention to Landen. I followed Madison’s lead and fell to my knees next to Drake. Aden locked eyes with me; we had no idea what we were doing. I put my hands around Drake’s wrist and thought of my light, my music, and let it hum against his skin; he furrowed his eyebrows as he felt it. Madison was watching his every move. Slowly, she placed her hands on his chest as her eyes cascaded over his addictive image.
A second later, a beaming light emerged from beneath her hands. It jolted Drake, and his back bowed up and his eyes flew open. He took in a deep, gasping breath, then locked eyes with Madison. At first I was sure he saw Willow in her image, but as his eyes focused, he sat up and I knew he saw Madison for the first time. I could swear electricity snapped in the air.
I felt something warm drip onto my hands, and I looked down and saw them covered in blood. It was coming from Madison; her wound was back. Life was escaping her body, and she was seconds from death. I screamed, not knowing what to do.
Madison collapsed, and Drake caught her in his powerful arms. I could see terror in her green eyes, and I wanted to take it away. I took the ring off my finger and pushed it onto hers, hoping against all hope that if it numbed her emotions it would take some, if not all of the pain away. As I screamed her name over and over, embracing her as tightly as I could, I felt someone pull
me from her dying body. It was Landen, and he was wide-awake. When he saw Madison’s body in Drake’s arms, he said, “Who is this?” as he looked between her and Drake.
“Madison - Madison!” Willow yelled. “Heal her! When this happened before Dad said she punctured a lung. She’s drowning in her own blood!”
I reached for Madison’s head, feeling every emotion from terror to grief, every emotion I’d been shielded from in The Realm. I couldn't stop the tears, the grief. I’d led her here. I just let my best friend die, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I kept saying, “Don't leave me! Don’t leave me!” But she wouldn't open her eyes for me. I felt Aden’s arms come around me. He was trying to calm me down and do whatever he could to help Madison, but we were both powerless. I kept thinking about the music, the energy, and rushed my hands across her bloodstained skin, wanting to give her whatever light I had, whatever life I had. I couldn't live without her. She was more than a best friend; she was a part of me.
Landen reached for Madison’s waist as Drake urged us out of the way; Drake was fiercely protective of her body. He cradled her gently, whispering something I could not hear into her ear. He gave Landen a demanding look and together they focused their powerful essence on healing her. Drake didn’t have Landen’s powers, but I knew deep, deep, deep down he had her heart. And clearly she had his.
A light beamed from under Landen’s hands, and he held them in place so long that her body began to glow. The blood, every ounce of it, vanished; it was as if it had never happened, as if it were nothing but a cruel illusion.
Madison opened her eyes and took in a gasping breath. Drake gently reached for her face and turned her so she would have no choice but to gaze into his magnetic dark eyes. Carefully he caressed her long dark hair out of her face. A ghostly smile echoed on his lips as his captivating gaze took in every part of her. Absentmindedly I tried to reach for the ring, so she would have her emotions and not be shielded from this moment, but Drake would not let anyone touch her.
Aden was carefully running his hands across my back, whispering, “She’s OK. No more tears. She’s OK.” Sanity was coming back to me, and when it did I realized that Draven was nowhere near me. His brother was playing the role he was supposed to, and that infuriated me. I needed him and he was coldly standing as far away as he could from us.
Madison broke her gaze with Drake and looked at Willow. I knew then that was what Perodine and Jason were telling her, that was why they said to wake Landen first; they knew she wasn’t healed, and they knew that if she even tried to wake Drake, she would die without Landen. I was furious - not at them, at Madison; she knew and still came, still woke him.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for dying for love, but lets be serious. Let’s not basically commit suicide because our pride was too boastful to bow out. She could have waited until Landen was awake.
Internally I kicked myself. I wouldn’t have waited if that was Draven, but then again Draven had always been real to me. Words have been spoken between us. Life was between us.
Anger engulfed Willow’s expression. “Tell me, who should I be mad at? Did they talk you out of this, or into it? Who decided that you would be a sacrifice? What would have happened if I didn’t wake Landen in time? What would have happened if this wasn’t him?!”
Madison leaned away from Drake. “My choice. My promise to keep,” she said as she stood from Drake’s embrace.
We all stood slowly, not sure where this was going to go. I still didn’t trust Willow to be stable. I was starting to believe that she saw Madison as an object, and not a person. I don’t mean a sacrifice; I mean like a gift for Drake. A girl that looked just like her.
“I never asked you to be a sacrifice! I asked you to help. I asked if you could bear to see him!” Willow yelled. “How cruel would it have been if he woke up to find you dead? After all this time. After everything - I deliver him a dead girl?!”
Deliver him? Was she serious? I felt my heart racing - not with panic; with rage. My best friend wasn’t going to be ‘delivered’ to anyone. Aden put his hand around my mouth to stop whatever sarcastic remark that was bound to come out. I elbowed him, and he furrowed his eyebrows as he let his hand fall. “She didn’t mean it that way,” he whispered harshly. He nodded for Draven to come over to us, but didn’t budge.
I looked up at Aden, and he let me see what he’d seen in Willow: a constant plea with Drake, one that said over and over that his soul mate was another girl who needed him as much as he needed her. I knew Madison didn’t need anyone, but those images made me change my perspective on Willow, at least for the moment.
Madison looked over Willow once. “You’re welcome.” She turned to walk away, but Drake reached for her arm and turned her to face him. They locked stares. Madison’s chest rose and fell rapidly as her skin blushed with what could only be desire. “I’m not her,” Madison said firmly just before she vanished.
Denial. Typical. And that ring was not helping matters.
Aden yelled her name and vanished from my side. I’m sure he assumed we’d all wake instantly, but I had a burning wrath inside of me. I couldn’t believe that Draven had abandoned me, all of us; he just watched all of this at a distance. The strongest one of all of us, the one person that could calm me down with a touch, just stood by and watched me cry every tear I had for Madison. He let his brother hold me - how could he do that?!
I caught his stare and saw an angry hunger. I was sick of seeing that in his eyes. I kept hearing Madison’s words in my head: “Next time, make him mad. When he knows he can get mad and still have control, this curse will be broken.” I was about to make him mad. I was about to put everything on the line. If he wasn’t going to be there for me, I needed to know that now - not the next time one of us was fighting for our lives.
I stepped toward him, ignoring the others as they’d figured out where they were and what had happened. Draven began to take steps back as if I were some kind of plague, as if I were the last person he wanted to see right now, which made my skin boil.
“I can’t do this,” I said to him. He knew what I meant. I couldn’t pretend to be someone I wasn’t around him, hide my happiness, and analyze every mood he was in. I was over it, and he knew it.
He clenched his jaw as anger surfaced on his face.
“Our best friend!” I yelled. “She was dying, fading faster than before -- and you did nothing!”
“What do you want me to do, Charlie?!” Draven said in a tone that reflected his misery.
“You could have held me, you could have told me it was going to be alright -- but no. You let Aden do that. You left us. Long before this moment, you left. You are so caught up in this freaking Realm that you’ve forgotten who you are. Who I fell in love with. You’re becoming exactly what you promised me you would never be!”
Draven stepped forward aggressively but halted and balled his fist. “I’m fighting to not become that. Why can’t you see that?! Why do you have to push me?! Why do you tempt me?! If I touch you, if I even think about it, Silas will kill me -- is that what you want? You want to see us fight to the death?!”
Rage ripped through me. Was that what he really thought? “Seriously?!” I said coldly. “Since when does he tell you when to touch me? How to touch me? Since when would you let any man have that kind of control over me?!”
“It’s not control, Charlie -- it’s protection,” Draven said through gritted teeth. “You can’t even conceive the amount of self control I have to have around you in this Realm, in our world. I crave your light, and the temptation is too much!” He looked at Willow and the others, then back to me. “I led you to your Chara. Your Willow. I helped, just like I promised you I would.”
I saw the goodbye in his eyes again, but I refused to let tears surface. “What was your motive behind that?” I asked, calling out what I could see in his eyes.
“To make sure you were with your kind, that you were safe. That you have people with no alternative motives to guide you.
”
“So you plan was to just drop us off in another dimension? Your brother – Madison. You’re just going to leave us? Walk away like nothing mattered?!”
“Everything matters!” he yelled back at me as he stepped forward. He was about turn the emotion of rage into passion like he always did, but before he could take another step, Silas appeared between us.
Draven tilted his head and slyly said, “Show yourself.”
Instantly, the dormant whispers turned into dark images all around us. As Draven dodged around Silas and grabbed me, the room we were in vanished and he and I were all alone in a different part of The Realm, a deep, thick forest.
Draven’s eyes were full of anger and pain. “What do you want from me?!” he raged as his eyes peered into mine.
“Everything!” I yelled. He turned away from me, but I pulled him to turn and face me. “I want the passion, the seductive touch. I want to hear the love in your voice when you sing to me, when you say my name. I want to feel the power of your soul every second of every day. I want the boy I fell in love with, the man I saved thousands of years ago, the man you are today. I want to stand with you in the moments of your deepest despair, and I want to stand with you when you embrace the taste of victory. I want to give you every single part of me -- and I expect the same in return. I’m not your part-time girlfriend. I refuse to hide a part of me from you. No more, Draven - this is me pushing every button you have!” My eyes raced over his face. “Tell me the man I love still exists.”
He pulled his arm away from me and reached his hands for my face. “I should have left you long ago.”
A sick feeling washed all the color from my face. I was beginning to think that pushing this was the wrong way to go; I’d rather turn the anger into passion.