Crimson Dahlia (9 page)

“Hey.”
Ramsey gently nudged Lila awake.

“What
time is it?” She groggily rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

“Early,
about six a.m. I just finished talking to Griffin; he’s letting Charlotte know
where we are. She’ll be here in a bit, so I’ve got to break down camp.”

“All
right. I’m coming.” With a groan Lila dragged herself out of the sleeping bag.

Ramsey
shook his head. “Still not a morning person, huh?”

“Svatura
may not need much sleep, but that doesn’t mean I have to be all chirpy-chirpy
when I wake up, you know,” Lila grumbled.

“You’re
so far from chirpy-chirpy, I don’t think you ever have to worry about becoming
a morning person.

“Huh.
You’re funny today.”

Ramsey
ignored her and started breaking down the tent. By the time Charlotte popped in,
they were ready to go. She gave Lila a hug that almost cracked her ribs.

“We’ve
missed you so much, sweetie.”

Lila
blinked back tears. “Me too. Thanks for helping get me outta there.”

“Your
parents can’t wait to see you, though I should warn you it’s pretty nuts after
the fight.” She took their hands, and in the blink of an eye, they were
standing in the Great Hall.

Chaos
reigned. People swarmed around them, banged up and bloody. Lila and Ramsey
looked at Charlotte with raised eyebrows.

Charlotte
shrugged. “We rescued a lot of people from those cells. And there was quite a
bit of fighting to get them out. Took me most of the night to get us all out of
there one way or another. We’re still sorting through all of it.”

“Where’s
my family?” Lila asked.

“Over
here,” Griffin called. “Welcome back, we’ve been waiting for you.” He gave Lila
a brief hug and then took her by the elbow. “We didn’t want to distract Hugh,
so your parents don’t know Charlotte went to get you yet.”

Lila
caught sight of her dad through the crowd. He was kneeling on the floor healing
someone, and her mom was next to him wrapping a bandage around someone else’s
arm.

“Mom?”
Lila called.

Lucy
looked up and gasped.  She dropped the bandage and rushed over and threw her
arms around her daughter.

“My
baby, my baby.” Lucy was crying and laughing at the same time. She pulled back
and held Lila’s face in her hands. “You’re here. You’re home. I wouldn’t
believe them until I saw you.”

“I’m
here, Mom. I’m okay.”

“Lila,”
Hugh’s choked up voice sounded behind her.

“Dad!”
Lila choked out. Tears filled her eyes as she turned around and flung herself
into her father’s arms. He held her tightly, saying nothing.

“Sorry
to interrupt, but maybe you’d all like a little privacy?” Selene asked.

Lucy
nodded, tears streaming down her face. She couldn’t bring herself to pull her
gaze away from Lila even for a second.

Hugh
looked around at all the people still waiting for his help, and Selene noticed
his concern. “It’s okay, Hugh. No one is critical. They can wait for you to
reunite with your daughter.”

As
they moved away, Lila stopped suddenly and looked around, “Where’s Marcus?” she
asked.

“He’s
here. I’ll get him and bring him to you,” Griffin said.

She
nodded, and the group moved away. They decided to go to Adelaide’s room. Once
they were inside, Lucy sat Lila down on the bed and then sat beside her and
took her hand.

“Everyone
else will be here in a second,” Griffin said, as he and Selene came in.

Selene
rushed over to give Lila a hug. “I’m so happy you’re okay,” she whispered in
Lila’s ear. “So is Ramsey.”

Lila
glanced over to where he stood in the back corner, watching. But her attention
swiftly turned back to the room as the rest of the family all appeared and
smothered her with welcoming hugs.

“Lila,”
Adelaide was already sobbing her sister’s name as she rushed in and wrapped her
arms around Lila’s neck. “Thank heaven.”

Lila
smiled when Adelaide pulled back and started checking every inch of her. “I’m
okay, Delia. I promise. Where’s Nate?”

Adelaide
smiled and shrugged, but Lila’s knew she was worried. “Talia needs him,”
Adelaide said. “He said he’d swing by later to give you hugs.”

Taking
her cue from her sister, Lila just nodded and smiled, but secretly thought that
was a little odd.
I’ll have to talk to her about it later tonight.

“Do
you want to tell us what happened… what they did to you?” Griffin asked.

Lila
played with the hem of her t-shirt “Not really. They kept us all in a cell and
then started removing us one by one. That’s really about it. I’m hungry. I’m
tired. I could really use a shower, and brushing my teeth would be awesome.”
She turned to Selene. “There are a few interesting facts I picked up that I
think you should know about, but those can wait till later.”

Selene
nodded in acknowledgement.

What
Lila didn’t say, because she knew it would hurt their feelings, was that the
amount of emotion in the room was starting to overwhelm her. For the family
that had worried so much and fought so hard to win her back, she’d endure it.

A
surge of emotion – concern, worry, and frustration - from the back corner of
the room caught her attention. She glanced back at where Ramsey still stood.

“You
okay?” he mouthed.

Her
eyes widened and then she remembered – their link. Lila scrunched her nose in
consternation, which caused Ramsey’s lips to twitch. She nodded.

“My
Lady,” Oren’s voice interrupted them. His emotional state caught Lila’s
attention despite the ocean of sentiment swirling through the room.

“Oren…what
is it?” Selene asked.

“There’s…
something you should… see,” he said in a shaky voice.

“This
is not a good time, Oren. Can it wait?” Selene asked.

Oren
shook his head. “Trust me. You need to see this now.”

Griffin
stood up. He masked it well from everyone else, but Lila felt the shock that
had passed through him.
He must’ve read Oren’s mind. Gotta be serious then.

“You
want me to go with you?” Griffin asked Selene.

“No,
stay here. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Selene sent Lila a smile and then
glided away with Oren. Griffin’s frown followed them out the door. And silence pooled
in their wake.

*****

Selene
walked beside Oren back down to the Great Hall. Once there, he led her to a
back corner of the room and stopped beside a large group of Vyusher gathered
around something, or someone, on the floor.

Desmond
hopped up and halted her. “Are you sure you’re ready?”

Selene’s
brow wrinkled in confusion. “Ready for what?”

Desmond
glanced over his shoulder at Oren. “You didn’t tell her?”

“What
exactly should I have said, Dez? Either the words are a shock or the sight is.
Telling her won’t save her from that.”

Des
was grim as he turned back to Selene. He grasped her by the shoulders and
looked into her eyes. “You need to prepare yourself for what you’re about to
see.”

“Is
someone very hurt? I’ve seen fairly gruesome wounds before, Desmond.”

He
shook his head. “They’re not hurt as far as we can tell.”

“I’m
starting to get worried, Des. Please just show me whatever it is.”

He
took a deep breath. “Okay. We’re here if you need us.” He stepped back, which
seemed to signal everyone else to clear a path for her. In the space they left,
Selene could see two people lying on the floor. Slowly she moved closer.

Oh
my God. Oh my God.

Shocked,
she dropped down to the floor. With a shaking hand, she tentatively reached out
and touched her mother’s face and her father’s arm. “Are they…?”

“They’re
alive,” Oren said.

“Selene
needs you,”
Des thought to Griffin. He was one of the few people who knew the true
relationship between the
te’sorthene
pair.

Griffin
frowned.
“What’s going on?”

“We
found her parents. And they’re alive.”

Griffin
didn’t respond. He immediately left Lila and the others and ran through the
castle to the Great Hall. Selene had believed for over a hundred years that her
parents were dead. That they’d been driven to suicide by her. Her brother,
Gideon, with the ability to bend people to his will, had forced Selene to
remove their parents’ powers when they were young. That was her gift, or curse.
Selene had the ability to turn off someone’s powers. If she concentrated hard
enough, she’d shut them off forever. She’d blamed herself for her parents’
death all this time.

When
he reached his
te’sorthene
, who was surrounded by a large crowd, he
knelt down and said her name softly. When she didn’t respond, he tried mentally
calling her. She didn’t take her eyes off of her parents’ faces.

Griffin
debated his next move. They were surrounded by Vyusher, who had no idea of
their true relationship. It would be a shock to them, but right now Selene’s
needs were all he cared about.  He very gently turned her face to his, saddened
to see the tears streaking her cheeks.

Selene
blinked and more tears spilled.

“They’re
not dead,” she choked. Griffin felt the tremors running through her body and
knew that she was barely holding it together.

“Are
they in the same state as Lila and Talia were?” he asked.

Selene
nodded.

“We
think so,” Oren said from where he knelt on the other side of Selene.

Griffin’s
face was grim. “We should move them.”

“My
room,” Selene whispered.

Griffin
stood and carefully pulled Selene up with him. He could hear her thoughts, but
she was so traumatized, they were just a jumble of words and images flashing
like a strobe light in her mind. The chaos of her mind dragged on him, so he
cut himself off from her.

Oren
called on a few Vyusher, including Desmond, to carry Selene’s parents. The
group was silent and somber as they made their way through the castle hallways.
Griffin sent a mental heads-up to Hugh, Lucy, and the others to meet them in
Selene’s room.

The
sleeping king and queen were gently laid on the bed, and Selene’s gaze never
moved from her parents’ faces as she sat beside them. “Can you read their
minds? Reach them?” she asked Griffin.

He
concentrated for a moment and then shook his head.

“What
about reaching them through their dreams? Like you did with me?” Lila asked.

Selene
closed her eyes and also shook her head.

“Selene
wasn’t able to reach you on her own,” Ramsey said. “She said it was as if you
were in a soundproof room with a one-way mirror. She could see and hear you,
but you couldn’t see or hear her.”

“Then
how’d you reach me?” Lila asked.

“We
used a combination – her dream control with Griffin’s telepathy - but what
worked, eventually, was having me there too,” Ramsey explained. Lila tried not
to blush.

 “But
it took you to get us out of it,” Selene murmured. “I couldn’t pull you through
by myself.”

“So
let’s try a different combination now,” Lila suggested as a plan started to
form in her mind. She looked at Griffin and Ellie, mentally sharing her idea
with them.

“I
think that could work,” Ellie said. “Definitely worth a try.”

“Let’s
get things set up,” Lila said.

Selene
turned to her. “What’s the plan?”

“We’re
going to need most of us to get this done,” Lila answered.

“Who
exactly?” Adelaide asked.

“Me,
Selene, you, Ellie, Griffin, and Hugh…” Lila ticked them off on her fingers one
at a time.

Adelaide
raised her eyebrows. “All of us in the dream with her parents?”

Ellie
nodded.

“It’s
going to get awfully crowded in there, don’t you think?” Adelaide said.

“We
have to. Being in the dream together might be the only way to reach them,” Lila
said. “And we may need to try a couple of things, which is why we need all of
us in there.”

They’d
need a way to do the wagon-wheel formation that they used in battle to take
advantage of the combined powers in the room – particularly Ellie’s ability to
control powers by touch. Through their wagon-wheel, she was linked to every
power they possessed.  So they got busy clearing a space.

Ramsey
moved to help Lila move the chaise lounge across the room. For her ears alone,
he muttered, “Do you really think it’s a good idea for you to go under too?”

Lila
gave him a blank look. “If we need my ability to heal emotions, or if I can tap
whatever it was I used to clear out that fog again, then yes, I do.”

Ramsey’s
lips tightened, but he didn’t argue.

“What?”
she asked him.

“Nothing.
You’re right, helping them is… more important.”

“More
important than what?”

When
he said nothing, she stopped pushing the chair and put her hands on her hips.
“Talk to me.”

He
glanced away. “More important than you.”

Lila’s
heart skipped a beat. “What do you mean by that?”

“What
if you get stuck in that fog again?”

Lila
said nothing for a moment. She was still exhausted from her own recent ordeal and
overwhelmed by the amount of emotion flooding the room from multiple sources.
But she could still feel his worry – so close to panic – at that thought.

“You’ll
just have to pull me back out.”

“So
is Ellie going to use my dream control?” Selene asked.

Ellie
shook her head. “Your power never turns into full control. You’ll always be
more of an observer.”

Selene’s
shoulders slumped.

Lila
walked over and lay her hand on Selene’s arm. She pushed as much hope as she
could conjure into her friend. “We’ll try to find a way around that,” she told
her.

“Okay.
We’re ready,” Griffin said.

“So
it seems as if there are two key parts to this,” Lila said. “The first is
reaching your parents, being able to enter the dream with them.”

Selene
nodded. “It took Ramsey to reach you, though. Just Griffin and I didn’t work.”

“Well,
if anyone’s going to reach your parents, it’ll be you, Selene. We’ll combine
all our efforts to try to reach them.”

“I
can coordinate all of us as long as we’re touching,” Ellie said, taking her cue
from Lila.

“Okay.
Let’s start there. If we can enter their dreams, then we’ll see about getting
them out.”