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  “How?” Landen asked.

  “Over the past three days, we stood in the string just in front of Pelhan’s dimension. I meditated and listened to Chrispin’s words as they created what I should see. It took time, but slowly I began to see the glow, to see him smiling proudly at me,” Olivia explained.

  “You were told to stay in Pelhen’s world,” Dane said shortly.

  Clarissa stepped in front of Dane with an angry scowl. “Is that where you kept disappearing to? Aora told us you were meditating – you lied to me,” she said in a tone that expressed the betrayal she was feeling.

  “I didn’t lie; I just didn’t tell you where,” Olivia said shortly.

  “Wait a minute,” Brady said with wide eyes. “Why do you care if she didn’t tell you? That’s not the point.” His face showed the utter amazement he felt. “The point is, she can see; that’s absolutely remarkable – do you have any idea how incredible it would be if we could teach our family to see in here?”

  Clarissa rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. Olivia smiled as she took in the overwhelming sense of accomplishment she felt. She looked at me. “I told you that one way or another, Chrispin knew I’d be in Esterious,” she said.

  I looked up at Landen. He raised his eyebrows and smiled slightly. “She reminds me of you sometimes,” he thought.

  He wasn’t the first person to come to that conclusion. Throughout our childhood, Olivia and I had been mistaken for one another. Not only did we have the same disconnected feeling for the world around us, we were both petite with olive skin, long dark hair, and unique green eyes. My idea of having a twin somewhere in the world was fading; I feared that Olivia just may be her - and that she, without a doubt, belonged to Chrispin. A grief that I’d never find the one who belonged to Drake began to seep into my soul. Landen’s smile fell, then he reached his arms around me and pulled me to him; I felt hope come through him.

  We slowly began to lead the others to Esterious. Olivia came to my side and followed silently. I felt the disdain inside of Dane, but I couldn’t understand it.

  I took in Landen’s emotion and made myself focus on a beautiful outcome. He tightened his arm around me. “You may be the one that has to talk to Drake - alone,” he thought.

  I felt my stomach begin to turn. I wasn’t afraid of Drake, but I didn’t trust myself alone with him - not after everything I knew now. Landen sensed it, and through his touch I felt a calm. “You’re the only one he trusts, Willow; he’ll do as you ask if it’s in his power,” he thought.

  I looked up at him. “What do you want me to do – play with his emotions so we can have our way?” I thought as resentment began to surface in me.

  “No,” Landen said. I looked over my shoulder to find the others staring at us, and my cheeks flushed with the anger I was starting to feel.

  “Listen to me,” Landen said, pressing his lips against the side of my head. “He is the path to what we need: the path to the safety of Delen, the path to his soulmate, the path to defeating that demon. You know I believe there’s a reason for everything – so there has to be a reason that we’re both in this life. I don’t want you to toy with him; I want you to be honest with him, tell him what we need.”

  “I just don’t like being in the middle,” I thought.

  “I don’t want you in the middle either. Beyond this truce, you need to let that anger out. I don’t want you to mull over why he didn’t tell you he was Oba. Ask him, fight it out; there’s a very good chance that his dreams are the only reliable source we have for the next trails. The scroll didn’t do us much good this time,” Landen thought.

  “The scrolls had everything right except who the knife would go through,” I thought, trying to find a way around talking to Drake alone.

  A spark of grief and horror raced through Landen’s emotion, and I immediately felt guilty for bringing that moment to his memory.

  “I don’t know if Drake knew that part or not, and I doubt he’d tell me - but I’m sure he’d tell you. He’s a part of this, Willow, and August is right: we can’t afford to be divided when we’re faced with a demon like this,” Landen thought.

  As I reached my hand out and let it rest on his chest, images of the darkness pushing through him raced through my memory. I wanted to forget it all, to push it down.

  “The only way to move past it – is to face it,” Landen thought, reading my intent.

  I nodded. “Can we try to talk to him together first? Then, if that doesn’t work, I’ll talk to him alone,” I thought.

  “That’s what I was planning on doing; I just wanted you to be prepared to be alone with him,” Landen thought.

  “I am as ready as I’m going to be,” I thought, leaning into him.

  We stopped at the passage that led to Patrick’s home; we wanted the people in Delen to see us, to know that we hadn’t abandoned them. As the haze moved past us, we smelled the fresh flowers that they’d laid on the staircase. For once, we were happy to see them leading our path, happy that they still had faith in us.

  I led us up the stairs. When I opened the door, I saw Patrick staring out his window at the streets; he felt solemn. He turned as we entered the room, and a smile filled his face - but his mood didn’t shift as I expected it to.

  “Did something happen?” Landen asked, reading his emotion.

  Patrick’s eyes filled with sorrow. “A mass of people tried to escape over the wall last night; they didn’t make it,” he said in a low tone.

  The solemn mood Patrick had spread into all of us; I tried not to think of the lives that were lost while I rested contently in my own world.

  “The morale is down in the city,” Patrick said, then smiled slightly. “Seeing all of you should bring back their hope.”

  “We plan to see if we can reach a truce tonight,” Landen said.

  “Tread carefully...Drake has the same enemies that you do,” Patrick answered.

  Landen nodded, then looked down at me; it was as if we were the last ones to realize the thin line Drake walked on.

  As we stepped out on the street, people stopped what they were doing and watched us pass. I felt their joy and hope. Landen and I reached our hands out to touch them and returned what we felt as we walked by. I could see the wall and hear the builders in the distance. It had grown another foot since we’d left; I wondered how high they were going to take it.

  The palace looked beautiful at sunset. It was almost completely painted white now, and flowers were on every balcony. My willow tree, the one that had grown in the center court after my first trail, swayed in the Autumn breeze. I smiled as I watched the energy of light dance around it. It was my first mark on this world, and that night I was determined to make another.

  As we approached, the doors opened. The woman who’d shadowed Perdoine during our stay was waiting on us. She still wore a solid black dress, but she’d pinned a red rose to her chest; the color gave me hope that even those most loyal to the court could find a way to change.

  As we followed her up the stairs to Perodine’s study, I looked back at Brady and Clarissa to see their take on the palace. Clarissa was eyeing all the paintings along the walls, and Brady was more focused on where we were going.

  “I wouldn’t have thought you’d have wanted to come back to this place,” Dane said to Olivia.

  Olivia hesitated. I glared at Dane; I couldn’t believe he would have wanted her to remember the time she was held here, the time she lost her sight. Olivia turned on the step where she stood; Dane was just behind her, and her eyes moved slowly across his face. A content smile then spread across her face. “This palace was a doorway I walked through. I don’t fear it; it was simply a small stepping stone on my path to Chrispin,” she said.

  She turned and looked at me, and I reached my hand out for her to come to my side. Dane looked up at me, and I felt his emotion of disdain grow. It bothered me that they were being distant with each other. They’d never been close. Growing up, I was the one friend that linked them. A
t times, I’d feel pulled between them – and right now, that was last thing I needed on my plate.

  Landen reached his arm around me. “I’ll talk to him when I get a chance. He’s only acting that way because his pride is hurt; he sees her as a threat,” he thought.

  “He always has; I just don’t know why he’s putting me through this right now,” I thought as I began to climb the steps again.

  When we reached the study, we found Perodine staring out the window at the wall that was growing taller by the moment. Brady and Landen went to her side, and I made my way to the table to see if she’d made any more notes on what she’d found in the scroll. The others followed me there. The books that Alamos and August had brought were stacked neatly at one end of the table. The scroll was in the center, and a note pad with a mathematic equation was sitting just below it. When she saw Brady and Landen at her side, Perodine turned and reached her arm around Landen. He pulled her close to him, and I could feel the calm he was giving her. I smiled, wondering how close they were in my first life.

  Perodine’s eyes moved to me. “Did you have a good birthday?” she asked.

  I tried to smile. “I just rested, painted,” I answered.

  She nodded. “I have a gift for you,” she said, crossing the room to the table that centered the couches.

  I watched her with anticipation. I knew that whatever she gave me would be perfect. On the table was a long box made of cherry wood. The hinges were silver, and so was the lock that closed it. Perodine carefully picked up the box and walked to the table in front of which I was standing. I stared at her, wondering what was inside.

  “I am afraid it is not new; it was once yours,” she said, smiling.

  Landen and Brady came closer to see what was in the box. I carefully reached for the silver latch, then opened and pulled the lid up slowly. Inside, there were paint brushes - every kind imaginable - in perfect condition.

  Perodine traced her finger across the box. “I have no idea where the talent of art came from, but it most definitely has always been your passion,” she said as she watched me gently pick up the brush that laid on top. They felt like they were mine; I remembered them. I smiled as images I must have painted long ago came to me.

  “You told me that when you painted, you let your soul speak to you. Each time you had a problem that seemed too big for you to comprehend, you would paint; when the painting was complete, you had resolved whatever was tormenting you,” Perodine said.

  Olivia and Landen looked at each other, then at me. “I assure you that’s her way of sorting through her conflicts today,” Landen said. I felt how proud he was of me, how much he loved me.

  I gently laid down the brush I was holding and carefully closed the box. I then extended my arms to hug Perodine, and in her embrace I felt the kind of love my mother, Grace, gave me: unconditional. Perodine was abundantly thankful I was in her life, and I let the gratuity I felt flow through my emotion. I then leaned back and let my arms fall.

  “Did you have a peaceful night?” I asked.

  She looked over her shoulder at the wall, then down at the scrolls. “No demons; just the wake of his evil,” she answered. I knew she was referring to the lives that were lost last night, the innocent people who just wanted to escape. An uneasy breath escaped me. I fell into the chair I was standing in front of and tried to pull my thoughts together; there had to be a way around war, a way that Drake wouldn’t be over taken by evil.

  Landen reached for the math equation. “Are we sure that Venus is done now?” he asked Perodine.

  “I want August and Alamos to check my math, but I am almost certain that the timing was right,” Perodine said.

  Landen handed the pad to Brady, who picked up a pen and started going over the equation. I looked at Landen curiously. “Math is a universal language that Brady has always spoken well,” Landen thought. I raised my eyebrows, showing the surprise I felt. “It’s always been too black-and-white for me,” Landen thought.” I try to find a way to prove the theories wrong - and it annoys him,” he finished, smiling at Brady.

  I felt August, Nyla, Beth, and Marc approaching from the other direction. My insides started to tie themselves in knots, and adrenaline rushed through my veins. Landen walked around the table and reached for my hand, and I felt his calm as he pulled me up and led me to the couch that faced the fireplace.

  “He’s not with them,” he thought. With his thoughts and his emotion of calm, the knots started to unwind, and a numb feeling came in the wake of the adrenaline.

  “I don’t think I can talk to him; I won’t be able to control my anger – I’ll only make it worse,” I said, leaning forward and letting my head rest on my knees.

  I felt Landen gently run his hand across my back and Clarissa take a seat next to me. Olivia sat on the table in front of me. “I don’t want you to hide anything from him; anger, fear – he has the same emotions, and the two of you are going to have to face them.”

  As the dread built in me, I turned my head from side to side. I knew that if I were to release any kind of emotion, Landen would feel it. I was struggling to protect him from any doubt that I loved him; I just wanted to hide. Brady’s idea of a deserted island was sounding better and better as the seconds crept by.

  “There’s nothing you’ll feel that will make me doubt what we have; we are not running,” Landen thought.

  I looked up at him to find him smiling at me. “I promise,” he whispered.

  I leaned into him and took a deep breath. August and Nyla appeared first in the doorway, and Beth and Marc were behind them; they had so many emotions running through them, it was hard for me to judge them. Marc and August looked curiously at Olivia, and Nyla and Beth just smiled. I knew then that they were more than aware that Olivia had found a way to see in the string, a way to travel.

  “Did something happen?” Landen asked August.

  “Drake had a meeting with his court, so we had to leave,” August said as he took a seat on the couch next to ours. Nyla sat down next to him. Beth came to Olivia’s side and let her arm drape around her. I watched as Beth whispered something to Olivia; I couldn’t hear her words, but I knew they filled Olivia with pride.

  Marc let his hands rest on his hips, then raised his eyebrows. “I knew Chrispin was hiding something from me,” he said, looking between Olivia and Beth.

  “He wasn’t hiding anything; he wanted to tell you, but you’ve been distant,” Olivia said.

  A guilt came over Marc and Landen; the last thing they intended to do was push anyone away. Landen looked over his shoulder at Brady, then to Olivia. “I won’t leave them behind again - I promise,” he said.

  Marc nodded in agreement. “Does he know you’re here? Should I go and tell him?” he asked.

  “He’ll be here soon,” Olivia said, turning to smile at me. Clarissa shook her head from side to side and she couldn’t hide the betrayal she was feeling. Olivia and Clarissa had grown close over the last few months, and now they couldn’t feel more distant.

  “Where is he?” Landen asked.

  “He led Preston home,” August answered, leaning forward and burying his head in his hands.

  “You’re concerned...did the court see you?” Landen asked.

  August leaned back, shaking his head slowly from side to side. He then sighed and stared into space. “He’s in a dark place. The only one on his side for sure is Alamos,” he answered. His eyes then moved quickly to Landen. “He’s on his side. You can feel he wants to help him, right?” he asked, looking for validation.

  “He loves him as if he were his son; he won’t betray him,” Landen answered, confident in his words.

  August sighed and extended his arm around Nyla.

  “How was it having all of them in the same room?” Landen asked, nodding his head in Marc’s direction.

  Marc looked down and walked to the table with the others. August smiled as he watched Marc walk away.

  “Tense at first, but Preston eased it over, and th
ey were all civil,” August answered.

  I felt an overwhelming pride coursing through Beth. I could feel Chrispin approaching, and I looked over my shoulder; a second later, he appeared in the doorway. He looked at Marc and Brady and smiled boyishly. His eyes then found Olivia, and he walked quickly to sit by her side. He wrapped his arm around her and smiled at me.

  “Is she not the most amazing woman you’ve ever met?” he asked Beth.

  Beth smiled and nodded. “One of four, hopefully,” she said under her breath. Remorse began to seep into her; I knew her thoughts were with Drake at that time.

  Clarissa’s body tensed next to mine, and a jealously raced through her. Perodine slowly walked to the couch next to ours, then leaned against the edge and stared curiously at Olivia.