Inside the home, the entry hall was lined with lighting equipment and thick plastic black suitcases, apparently ready to be loaded in the eighteen-wheelers that were outside.
The violin sound was more intense inside, too pure to be a recorded sound. As we passed the great room on the right, I saw its creator and suddenly control was something that I could lose in the next breath.
Skylynn was playing as she gazed at a burning fire.
“Jealousy only resides in those who have doubt,” Nana cautioned.
“Then I guess both Landen and I have doubt.”
“I said resides; I didn’t say it could not surface to remind us how foolish we are to let it. Talk to her. She means you no harm.” Nana let her hand run across my back, then walked down the hall in the direction of where I felt Landen.
I listened patiently to the cry of the violin, hearing its whispers of love, promise of heartbreak, the power behind the music. Moments later, after a long, crying note, she glanced at me for the first time.
I took a brave step into the room with her.
“You see me?” she asked.
I nodded to confirm.
“That is good, I suppose,” she said quietly as she let the violin fall from her shoulder.
“I don’t want to hate you. I really don’t, but it is hard for me to look at you,” I flatly stated as my glance cascaded over every inch of her. She was beautiful.
She weakly nodded once. “That’s fair. Before yesterday, you didn’t know I existed, but I always knew you did.”
I wanted to ask her why she held him anyway, but I had no right. I was in another’s arms at the time.
The violin in her hand vanished as she crossed her arms and tilted her head in the direction I knew Landen was.
“I love him, but not in the way that you think I do. I find comfort in his protection, hope in his life, and purpose in his plan...it was a physical friendship that was it.”
“I don’t need a description,” I bit out.
“Fair...” Her blue eyes appraised every part of me. “You’re lucky.”
“Maybe you have been in the veil too long. I am the furthest thing from lucky.”
She smirked. “I meant that you found him so early. My impatience cost me so much.”
“I don’t think you can ever really lose anybody.”
“You don’t understand. I used a power to see my future, to see my love. Then I sought him, but by doing so I altered who we were and he was taken. Now I know of him, but he does not know of me. I worry that my meddling has caused me to lose him to someone else.”
“If he is yours, you can’t lose him.”
“He holds her now. I saw them. I feel myself growing weaker. I see no reason to fight if that is true. I think that is why we failed last night.”
“How are you sure you are looking at the right person? That the magic you used led you to the right vision?”
Anger blushed her ivory skin. “Why would you ask such a cruel question? Doubt me?”
Oh, I had a reason to ask. No doubt there.
“There is a girl that looks just like me, and last night I saw that her image was used to fool Landen.”
Something sparked in her eyes, and she vanished at that moment. I heard clapping and turned to see Phoenix leaning in the doorway.
“I’ve never gotten her to leave that peacefully before.”
“Here I was thinking it was something I said, when she must have run when she saw you,” I teased.
“No. I’m sure it was something you said. She’s on the hunt now.”
“For...?”
“Who knows? She has a host of secrets she keeps,” he said with a modest disdain.
Something beyond this was on his mind, and it had everything to do with Skylynn. That scarf bracelet came to mind. I wondered who it belonged to, why the aroma of it caused emotions to erupt within the soul of Phoenix. He didn’t strike me as someone who lost his cool often.
“You must have reminded her of one,” he said under his breath.
I nodded weakly, not really caring what I reminded Skylynn of. As I went to walk past him, he held out his arm to block me.
“I know how a Scorpio’s mind works, Sunshine. Don’t make this out to be more than it was. It’s in the past, and it wasn’t a pleasant one.”
“It felt intense between them last night,” I said, clutching my hands into a fist and demanding that my emotions stay in the cage I’d locked them in.
“Only because he acknowledged that he used her to get to you, because she told him she still needed him to find hers. He has never left a debt unpaid on purpose, and the thought that he has unknowingly sacrificed the way you feel about him to redeem this is not helping matters.”
“If anything, it’s made me love him more.”
His slight grin took my breath away as I gazed at the fire in his eyes, the mystery there.
“Right, then. Go do what you humans do. I’m going to give a listen at what the word is on when we should try this spell once more.”
“Wait,” I said, reaching for his arm. “I’m going to tell you something, but you can’t burn Drake’s energy, not unless I’m there.”
“Oh, Sunshine, tempt me not.” His mischievous, sultry smirk made me want to slap him just for teasing me.
I rolled my eyes. “Last night when I was watching you, I heard Clarissa say ‘Xavier.’”
“Right. That’s the first and last time that bloke fools me.”
“It might be a coincidence, but I’ve heard that name in Esterious. I think he’s in the court. I can’t remember what Drake said, but I think he’s pushing him to get his throne. I just wanted you to know he might still be lurking, and if so, he’s in the same place Donalt is.”
“Interesting,” he said with an absent tone as his eyes appraised me once more, leading me to believe that he may have already known that and wasn’t sure he liked the idea that I had put it together. I guess they were beyond serious when they said they did not want to cross paths.
I shrugged my shoulders. “Maybe your veil friends can tell you.”
“Perhaps,” he muttered as his eyes searched deeply into mine.
“I mean it, though. Don't touch Drake.”
He tilted his head as the flames in his eyes sparked. “Why?”
“Because when you did that to Landen, it knocked him out for hours. He’s still not right. If you do that to Drake, then someone will have to stand in his place, a member of our family. I don’t want anyone to get hurt. The timing has to be right.”
“What knocked Landen out was when I opened his eyes. Not the burning of energy.”
“Forgive me if I don’t trust you. I want to be there.”
He stood up straight. “All right, then. But let me be blunt. He will want Guardian’s energy out of him. He would want you to see him for who he is.”
“And I do. A great man, a good friend.”
He only offered a sly smile before he vanished.
I followed Landen and Nana’s emotion through the house until I found the kitchen. Landen was at the table with Evan. At first I thought there were two other women helping Nana cook, but as one of them turned to face me, I saw that half of her image was burned. I gasped, trying to hold in the sickening sensation that was seeping up my throat. Before I could blink, Landen was at my side, silently urging me to come to the table and sit beside him. As I sat down, he answered a lingering question Evan must have asked.
“I admit these paths are close, but this is complicated, and I want to be sure before I go back to Chara and ask Draven to play here.”
Evan leaned forward as he cupped his steaming mug of coffee in his hands. At that moment, the ghost I knew to be Draven’s mom appeared at his side, letting her hands rest on Evan’s shoulders.
“They will play here. I’m so sure of it that I have a truck on the way here with his equipment. If you are looking for a point of time for a perfect cross, then it would be the day after tomorrow, when this set
is packed and the final farewell party is scheduled.”
Landen glanced at the ghost behind Evan. “It’s been spoken in the echo?” he asked.
She smiled to confirm.
Nana took away the empty plate in front of Landen and set a bowl of fruit and a bagel in front of me. I ignored them as my wide stare tried to figure out who was dead and who was alive. The images would look so real at a distance. Only the clothes or marks of death would give them away. But more than once I was fooled. There were actors in costume outside the back door and I had to do a double take to ensure that they were living.
“It was in the echo before Willow called us,” Evan commented. “I was so certain of it that when we gave a statement to the police, I mentioned it was a tentative engagement that the boys intended to keep, that they were backtracking to do so.”
“What police report?” Landen questioned before I could ask him what the hell an echo was.
“Charlie’s mom. Her office reported her missing because she wouldn’t answer the phone and missed a meeting. When they found their homes empty, they came to us because we are the emergency contact.”
“Is she missing?” I asked, refusing to eat more than a few strawberries.
Evan glanced at Nana as she sat on the other side of Landen. “Nicole called, talked to them. Told them she was going overseas a few weeks early. There is no cause for alarm in this dimension.”
“She is missing,” Landen stated as he pushed my food closer to me in a silent request for me to eat more.
“I know Nicole. She would do anything in her power to protect her daughter. Where she is now is a mystery.” Nana sighed. “I think this, along with the boys’ behavior, is meant to be Charlie’s distraction...you can’t let that happen.”
“If we cross before we are meant to, it will do more damage than I could explain,” Landen pressed.
Nana reached for Landen’s arm. “I agree, but you should not let that hinder you—cause you to purposely not cross. I told Willow, and I’ll tell you. Willow learned everything too fast and forgot what was natural to her. That was your downfall, and you can ensure that they don’t make that mistake.”
“They can see us. They know what we’ve been through,” Landen countered.
“They see your actions, not your mind, and that is where Willow’s biggest battle was...is.”
Landen reached his arm around me, but I was too distracted to meet his gaze. I was watching two ghostly children play on the floor with wooden trucks.
“We’ll guide, but I cannot tell them what to do.”
“Will your family unravel the box we gave the boys?” Evan asked.
That caused me to focus. I hated how messages kept coming from the past. What box?
“I have no doubt they are trying to help them understand it. But any code, message, scroll, or even the Zodiac will not pave their path. They will know inside what is right to do and when to do it.”
Landen glanced at Evan’s phone sitting on the table in front of him. It read ‘7 A.M.’ on the screen.
“I will not be strong enough by the A.M. eleventh hour, and I doubt the people here want to see us try again. Tonight at the eleventh hour I’ll try once more. If I fail, I’ll leave for Chara and tell Draven you are here and want him to play, but that is as far as I go until coincidence suggests otherwise. I don’t want them hurt, and I have no idea how much control Draven has at this point. Testing him is more than dangerous.”
Evan smirked. “I’ve been told that Drake has been coaching him and Draven has proven to be a fast learner.”
Landen tensed at the sound of Drake’s name. “What are you not saying?” Landen asked, noticing Evan’s dread.
Evan drew in a deep breath. “I have two sons.” He pushed back from the table, then stood. “I’m afraid if I tell you all my worries it will hinder you from helping them both. So right now,” he glanced at his ghostly wife, “against my better judgment, I’m going to let you understand that on your own, let you get some rest.” He glanced at Nana. “Leave them your phone in case they need us.” He then left the room, only giving me a polite nod as he did so.
Nana stood and walked to the counter and pulled a cell phone out of her purse. She handed it to Landen as she nodded toward the narrow staircase in the corner of the kitchen.
“There is a rather dim room at the top of those stairs. I brought clothes for the kids in case they needed more with them. They should fit you both. Everything you should need is in those bags. We have some friends we are going to meet. If you need anything, call.”
Landen glanced around. “We have a home here we can go to. You don’t need to open your friends’ doors for us.”
Nana glanced at me. “Whatever would make you comfortable.” She squeezed Landen’s shoulder before she followed Evan out the back door.
The silence between us was cold, empty. Even the ghosts felt it. Their silent gazes in our direction caused chills to spread across my skin.
“You don’t want to go to our home,” he stated finally.
“It’s hard to rest in a house you are not wanted in...it will be hard to rest here, too, so whatever,” I answered with little emotion, really just wanting to go home to Chara.
He stood and reached his hand down for me, pulling me to the narrow staircase. I hugged the wall as we climbed the stairs, avoiding walking into any of the dead. There was only one door at the top of the stairs. It opened into a quaint bedroom with a double bed, nightstand, and one other door that must have led to a bathroom. The one window in the room had the shutter pulled down and thick drapes on both sides that, along with the large tree outside, shadowed the room.
There was a ghost in there, too. A young woman sitting in a rocking chair, weaving yarn together. Landen nodded at her and she vanished. He waved his hand across the room and I felt and saw a light blue energy expand across the room, blocking out every emotion and intent but his. He’d put us in our own little bubble.
I wanted him to just go to sleep, for me to have the time to sit and think, figure out what was going on, but he had a far different intent than I did.
Chapter Ten
I didn’t want to talk, to say something I would regret, to learn something I’d rather not know. Instead, I walked to the bed and opened the bags Nana had set there to find a choice of clothes to change into, everything I would need for a long, hot bath. I started to pull them out, but he stopped me and gently turned me to face his piercing blue eyes. Inside the still dilated pupils I could see a lingering, distant flame.
“Let it out,” he whispered.
I glanced away from him. “I already did. In The Realm. I’m numb now...can you not feel that?”
“I was hoping I was wrong about that emotion,” he said gently.
“Why are you questioning your insight of emotion? What did they do to you?” I asked, daring to meet his sultry gaze.
His tantalizing eyes were drinking every part of me in. “Everything is intensified, including my own emotions. I just have to make sure that what I feel is really not just me.”
“Why would my numbness scare you?”
A weak smile dared to met the corners of his lips. “When I would hear my parents fight when I was younger, August would tell me not to worry when they fought, but worry when they stopped because that meant they didn’t care anymore. He said that my fears were foolish because all soul-mates cared...you’re not fighting with me.”
“Why do you want me to?” I asked with a hint of a tremble in my voice.
“You have every right to. You followed me here. We left every single person we care about behind. My past has been thrown into your face. I refuse to go home. I refuse to ask for help or help others unless I know I have to. You should have ripped me to shreds by now, but you haven’t.”
I reached for his waist, pulling him closer. He leaned his forehead against mine, bringing his fingertips to trace my bottom lip as if I were a forbidden fruit he could not touch.
“I’m trying to
let you work through this.”
Both his hands raised to either side of my face, cradling me gently as his eyes painfully rained over my face.
“You always told me that you would not have the control if or when we found someone from my past—you basically promised me that you would be deadly. But, you’re not. You stood there last night, not one emotion.”
“Your insights are jacked up. It took everything I had to stand next to the two of you. I have no choice but to have control. I have to keep my emotions at bay. When you step away from this, you will see how this doesn’t matter right now. She doesn’t matter.”
His hands fell from me as he turned. “It does matter.” He glanced over his shoulder at me. “Last night, I watched you die over and over again in Drake’s arms as I stood next to her, as I was fooled by an image of you. I was a fool then, and right now you should be telling me that. I should be begging you to forgive me.”
I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around his waist. “I feel you inside me. I know how hard you are being on yourself. I love you...unconditionally.”
His hands squeezed my arms. “I don’t deserve you.”
“I don’t deserve you, so now we’re even.”
I let my arms fall and walked around him, setting the bags on the floor beside the bed before I pushed my shoes off and climbed into the bed.
“I have a million questions, and we both need sleep, so can we please go to our place?” I said as I lay down and caught his alluring stare, feeling the passion ignite within him.
He slowly climbed on the bed, hovering over my body, allowing me to feel the heat of his presence. His lips found mine and gently kissed them. The hum of his touch sent warm chills across my skin. I opened my eyes in protest when he stopped his kiss. His fingertips gently reached for my eyes, shutting them, then he lay next to me and let his humming hands caress me to sleep.
I was exhausted, but my mind was racing in every direction. It took a while for me to fall asleep, and it seemed like even longer before I found myself in our place, sitting on the bank of a gentle river on a sunny hillside.