Vital

  I felt the doubt rise in Brady and Ashten, but Landen reached his arms around me, forcing me to focus on his emotion, the love he had for me. Call back a memory, he thought in a commanding tone, setting the intent to make me as strong as he could at that moment.

  I closed my eyes as I felt his arms tighten around me, then thought of last night – the passion and love we shared - soon emerged. I felt my strength began to build again, then I felt Landen’s lips on my forehead as he began to rock us back and forth.

  “Maybe you two should go home for a little bit,” Ashten said tenderly.

  My eyes flew open, ready to protest. “No. I’m not going to Chara knowing that Olivia is out there...where’s Chrispin? I have to at least try and calm him down.”

  “He’s calm,” Landen said, looking down at me. “He’s mad, concerned, but he isn’t letting himself worry because he thinks that the dream, that tattoo, is protecting her.”

  “Who are the five with her? Did they drag her down the street? How did no one see her?”

  As Brady stepped closer to me and Landen, looking all around me, I felt the awe he had for Landen. He didn’t understand how we could deplete and regain our energy so quickly, how Landen was the only one that could calm me down when I was out of control. “There are five flagships that are armed in the fleet that belonged to Donalt. They took a child from each Captain and were told that if they moved their boats, if they attacked, their children would pay the price.”

  “They said that to their face? Why didn’t they scream or fight? We could have stopped this!”

  “They took them from school,” Ashten answered. “I’m sure they told Olivia that if she didn’t go, the children would die. I doubt she even tried to argue or fight...her heart is too big.”

  Perodine stepped back into the study. “Willow, go into the observatory while they board these windows up.”

  Brady walked over to the table and grabbed my coat. I slid my arms through as I followed Landen out of the room.

  “Where is everyone else?” I asked Landen when we stepped in the observatory.

  Brady followed us, but he passed us by and climbed the stairs that led to the roof.

  “Everywhere. Chrispin and Marc were on their way to the roof; they were going to try and see how close they could get to that island. August, Stella, and your dad are watching the looking glass; it’s moved under the water.”

  “What? Under the water?”

  He nodded. “August said he thought it would.”

  “Can you still see it?”

  “The water is clear now, and the rings are spinning, but the water is calm; it’s really weird to look at. He said that when it rose from the water, it would be time to use it.”

  My eyes moved all around the room, looking for any sign of that dark demon; I swear I could feel him watching me.

  “Well...maybe one day August will realize that you aren’t going to look through it.”

  Landen smiled weakly, then nodded. Suddenly, I heard the growl again; it was low, but it was like it was laughing at me, mocking my attempt to fool it.

  Do you hear that? I thought.

  Landen furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to listen, then his eyes told me no as his concern grew.

  My anger escalated. I looked all around me. “Are you having fun making me look insane? I’m not! I feel you, and you don’t scare me. Why don’t you show yourself? What are you - a coward?!” I yelled into the room.

  “Willow,” Landen said as he stood and firmly pulled me against him. Stop, he thought.

  I shook my head as I pushed away from him. “How can you not hear that? Feel that?” I asked him, growing angrier.

  He started to say something, but he halted as Perodine stepped in the room holding her notebook.

  “Am I interrupting?” she asked, looking between us.

  I held Landen’s stare and shook my head no. Perodine stepped closer to us. “I think the demon is toying with Willow,” she said, looking from me to Landen.

  “Did you see him or hear him?” Landen asked in a firm tone, clearly believing that I was losing my mind.

  Perodine let her eyes say no. “I don’t think we’re meant to. I read a text on the scroll that said that Aliyanna would fight the demon in the place where two worlds meet. I thought it meant the string. When Preston told you that the string was safe now, I assumed I was right, but I think it’s symbolizing her mind...two worlds, like dreams or her subconscious.”

  I looked at Landen. “I told you dreaming was a bad idea,” I said quietly.

  “She has to rest,” Landen said, not understanding what Perodine was saying. “She isn’t dreaming, so she’s exhausted, seeing and hearing things that aren’t there.”

  “I agree...with Landen. You need to dream. If you don’t rest your mind, this trial we have no fear of will become more dangerous.”

  “You want me to dream so I can fight him by myself? Fine, let’s do this,” I said shortly.

  “Willow,” Landen said, grasping my waist again and pulling me against his tense body. “I just want you to rest so you can think clearly. I believe you; I know you see and hear things that are very real, but it’s impairing your judgment, causing you not to see what’s really going on, not to see people for who they are.”

  I knew he was eluding to Dane, but I wasn’t in the mood to argue with him.

  “I’ll sleep when we go home – but not here; we have to figure out when we’re gonna save Olivia, if we can do so before their stupid ceremony.”

  Perodine walked over to me. When she reached my side, she uncupped her hand; there, I saw green leaves, small herbs. She reached for my medallion and turned in-between the points of the stars, then pushed the herbs in place and ran her fingers across the surface, whispering words I couldn’t hear clearly enough to understand. With her words, a white glow cascaded over the surface, then vanished, sealing the herbs in place. Finally, she turned the medallion around and let it rest against my skin.

  “What is this? What did you do?” I asked as calmly as I could. Her power, her wisdom always left me in awe.

  “Mugwort...an herb,” she said quietly, letting her hands rest on my shoulder. “It will protect you from darkness in your dreams. Evil cannot hurt you when you rest your eyes. Your mind will be clear enough to dream lucidly – and you need to be lucid if you’re going to understand what’s unclear to you.”

  “It would have been nice to have that from the beginning,” Landen murmured, nodding to Perodine to show her how grateful he was for encouraging me.

  “I didn’t realize dreaming had become elusive to her,” Perodine said regretfully, letting her hands fall from my shoulders.

  At that moment, Dane walked in, and I looked at him like he was insane. I couldn’t feel him again, and I was getting more and more frustrated with him blocking me.

  “What are you hiding?” I asked him coldly.

  Landen pushed me behind him as rage consumed him.

  Dane furrowed his eyebrows. “What are you talking about?” he asked in a low tone as he set the intent to defend himself against Landen.

  Landen smirked when he felt it. “Like you could.”

  “Watch me,” Dane seethed as he pushed his energy at Landen, who didn’t even try; he simply held his hand up, blocking Dane’s insane attempt to hurt him. With little effort, he sent everything right back at Dane, causing him to fly backwards - but he didn’t make it far; Drake was walking in at that moment, and he pushed Dane forward, then held him in the air.

  Fearful tears laced with anger came to the corners of my eyes. “Stop it! Both of you! He didn’t do anything!” I yelled.

  “Do you want to tell her how many they have – or should I ?!” Drake bellowed.

  I moved closer to Landen, not sure who’s side to take in this any longer.

  “Tell me what?” I asked Drake as my chest rose and fell with anxious breaths.

  The hold Drake had on Dane tightened, and Dane screamed in agony.

&nb
sp; “Stop it! Tell me what? Put him down!” I yelled at Drake.

  The moment the words left my lips, he let Dane fall to the floor. Dane then stood defensively with an angry scowl on his face.

  Drake turned to look at me. “Do you want to know why less and less people were brought to me for execution? Why there were none today?”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked in a panicked tone, realizing that Landen was waiting for just one excuse to permanently remove Dane from my life.

  “Mr. ‘I know everything, who all the spies are’ forgot to tell you that your followers were led like innocent sheep into the arms of the darkest priest in this world, that they were forced onto the boats like common animals...women, children, entire families being used as bait,” Drake seethed as his coal dark eyes stared into me.

  “Bait for me?” I asked in gasping breaths as a sick, nauseating feeling consumed me.

  Drake nodded. “They didn’t know if they’d be able to find you - and even now they have their doubts. I was told that either Willow was waiting on me or that the real Willow would come for her followers – for the one they thought was Willow.”

  “How many?” I asked breathlessly.

  “At least a thousand, maybe more...I hope less,” Alamos said, stepping into the room and looking over Dane with accusing eyes.

  I looked at Dane. “Did you know that?”

  He shook his head no. “Not in the way they’re making it seem,” he said, stepping closer to me, only to receive a nod from Landen that caused him to move back at least five feet. Rage filled Dane’s expression. “I was a follower of Drake - not Landen! I heard rumors that the ones that followed Landen were being executed by Drake, but that some were saved by the priest. I didn’t know they were prisoners – or bait!”

  “You know more than you’re saying,” Landen said, crossing his arms as he glared at Dane, waiting for another excuse to strike him.

  I tried to feel the truth in Dane’s words, but I couldn’t; I could barely feel his emotion. I assumed he was just protecting himself - and honestly, he needed to; I doubted I could control Landen, not anymore...he was changing before my eyes.

  Dane turned to look at Landen. “I know that the priests you fight aren’t fools; they’ve reasoned every scenario, and for every plan, they have an alternative. I doubt the men you’re really fighting are on the island,” Dane said as he glared at Drake. “Most of them are here, walking the streets, working side by side with all of us.”

  “You know who they are?” I asked.

  Dane looked back at me. “I would know their voices before their faces. I have two choices: I can either go out there and pretend to be one of them, or I can stay in here and protect you...I’m staying here.”

  “Protect her?” Landen repeated sarcastically. “She doesn’t need you; she’s made that clear.”

  “Olivia isn’t here. She needs one of us,” Dane argued, looking at me for some kind of understanding.

  “Conveniently,” Drake mocked, stepping in front of me and blocking Dane from my view. “I saw you in the courtyard. I saw her walk over to you. What did you say to her? How did you get her on that boat?” Drake demanded.

  I stepped out from behind him, tired of being shielded, tired of this stupid fight between all of them.

  “Did you see her?” I asked him.

  As Dane looked at me, his eyes filled with a sympathy that I couldn’t feel from him. “If you have to ask me that, maybe I should go,” he said quietly.

  “There’s the door,” Landen said, extending his arm to show Dane.

  “Stop. No one’s going anywhere,” I said, raising my hands, trying to stay calm. “How are we gonna save them – all of them?” I asked, looking to Landen for some kind of answer.

  He closed the gap between us and pulled my face against his chest. “Ideas,” he said to the others in an impatient tone.

  I heard Alamos clear his throat. “I do not think saving them will be the issue; the issue is saving the three of you. They plan to sink the boat with all of Willow’s followers in it. They believe some will swim to shore, while others will drown - trapped in their shackles. They’re using them as a diversion.”

  “From...?” Landen asked.

  I looked up from him to study Alamos’s eyes. “Well, from all of you. These priests were told by Donalt before he died that wretches and kings would fight them. They feel that the people of this town, the wretches, will save Willow’s followers, leaving only the kings for them to fight - your family – and they are ready for you.”

  “Just us,” Landen said, looking at Alamos.

  “You may want to make sure it stays that way,” Alamos said. “There could be hundreds on the beach, even more inside. Each of them can see energy, can move energy - and will, at the very least, give you an obstacle. I don’t even know how you’re going to manage to get there to merge; that alone should tell you it’s a bad idea.”

  “I told you how,” Drake said.

  “I think it proves they should,” Perodine said at almost the same time.

  “How?” Landen asked Drake.

  “They wanted me to board a boat and sail there, and I told them that a true king had his own passage. There is a passage that leads to the center of the island.”

  “Perfect. Then we all go attack from the inside,” I said as hope suddenly came into me.

  Drake shook his head. “Center stage; only I can go. Landen will have to step into me before we appear; it’s too dangerous for everyone to go.”

  “And I told you that you won’t be able to handle it that long. Even if Perodine is right and you have some kind of tolerance, no man can withstand the pain for that long. Dane is right: every scenario has been imagined. The two of you merge into one easy target, then when you’re gone there will be just Willow. She may be able to hold them off for a moment, maybe even escape to fight again – but then her grief would kill her. Donalt’s ghost – this demon – is brilliant. If it seems too easy, then it is,” Alamos preached.

  I ignored him; I had no choice. If I tried to think about losing either of them, I’d become just as crazy as they thought I was. “So the only problem we have is getting me there inside of Olivia...I wonder if all three of us could merge into Drake,” I said, looking up at Landen.

  “I can’t take this anymore,” Dane said as he threw his hands in the air and left the room.

  He’s going outside to look for another way for you to get there, Landen thought before I had a chance to stop Dane.

  “Both of you cannot merge into him; it’s impossible. I can only imagine what it would feel like if Drake and Willow’s energy combined – though it isn’t something that will be possible,” Alamos said, crossing his arms.

  I looked at Drake and watched him try to hide a guilty grin that wanted to surface. Landen saw it, too, and a raging jealously began to build inside of him.

  I moved my head from side to side. I knew Alamos was right: at the very least, it would leave me so weak that I wouldn’t be able to fight for Olivia.

  “We can figure this out. Chrispin, Marc, and Brady may already know,” Landen said, looking to the staircase that led to the roof.

  “How long do we have? How long would it have taken you to sail there?” I asked Drake.

  “Just over thirty two hours. They were worried I wouldn’t make it in time because the trip alone would have taken almost three days. They’re confused about the time as well; they’re watching the sky and thought they had more time before today,” Drake answered.

  Alamos moved his head from side to side. “I don’t know that any of us can be certain what time we’re on; for all we know, the space we thought we had between Venus and Mars has vanished and this is Mars – which means it’s more dangerous than you’re allowing yourself to think. Beyond that, I still don’t understand why it moved twice last night or what the looking glass is doing to our perception.”

  “Then go figure it out,” Drake said shortly, nodding his head toward t
he study.

  Alamos started to say something, but he held whatever it was in and turned to leave. As Perodine looked at me before she turned to follow Alamos, I saw the dread and compassion I felt inside of her consume her expression.

  Once again, I was alone with Drake and Landen with emotions I didn’t have time to deal with.

  Chapter Twelve

  I sat on the edge of the pool and pulled my black coat around me, trying to warm myself from the winter air that was seeping in from the open roof. Landen began to pace, as he often did when he struggled with what direction he should take. Drake walked to my side and sat next to me, trying to give me some warmth.

  “Maybe we should go to another room; it’s almost too cold in here,” he said, looking over me.

  “She’s fine,” Landen said firmly as his eyes locked with Drake.

  I closed my eyes as I let out a slight sigh. “I want to figure this out.”

  I felt Landen’s jealously decrease as his intent shifted to finding a safe solution to this trial.

  “Do you have any idea who we’re fighting? What priest?” Landen asked Drake.

  He sighed before he answered. “I don’t trust any of them. I almost think this ghost moves in and out of some of them; one day I feel like I can trust them, and others it’s as if the only one on my side is Alamos. My dad warned me of this; he told me that when or if I took power of this dimension, it would be the darkest day of my life...that...that it wouldn’t matter if Willow loved me or not...the path that Donalt had created would wind and spin out of control.”

  I looked to my side at him and reached my arm through his. “Do you want to see Livingston?”

  Landen stopped his pacing and stood in front of us, judging the emotions and intent he felt from Drake.

  Drake’s perfect lips tried to smile. “He’s come in my dreams. I know all of you have seen him, that he’s at peace - but I’m not ready to go to the world Preston told me about. When I see him again, I want to know who I am, understand what this is all really about.” He looked at me. “I can’t bear for him to tell me again that I shouldn’t love you – because who can control the way they feel?”