Emanate: Insight Series ((Insight) Web of Hearts and Souls) (9 page)

“I said they were warriors. I didn’t say they fought for the priest. This is what you might call the open-minded citizens of this world. They plan attacks on the palace. On anyone in power, really.”

“They plan to attack Drak
e? Is that what you are saying?” I couldn’t help it, it was a reflex. I stood so abruptly that the table slammed into the wall.

I heard a few
catcalls and whistles come from the other side of the wall as Justus pulled me down to his side.

“Drake, Donalt, Alamos,
Xavier—they are all the same in their minds. Power-hungry control freaks. They do not want the illusive green-eyed girl to be found any more than they want Drake to rise up. They plan to orchestrate any and all means to discredit the palace. They took credit for building the wall, knocking down the wall, and every other insane thing you have done over the last few months.”

“You know an
awful lot about what I’ve been up to for a man that was in the grave hours ago,” I said with a sigh.

“You slept for nearly an hour. I’ve been listening.”

“They’re talking about this now?”

“They were. They are more focused on how they all plan to breach the dimension next to them and discredi
t Drake at the same time. They’re being spoon-fed information, though.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because their timeline is matching too perfectly to Chara’s end of days. Someone wants them to make a little noise, enough noise, generate enough power to rip a hole in this dimension, in effect bringing down their king and seizing a new world all at once.”

“They’
re attacking Chara from within?”

“They don’t know that they’
re doing that. They think they are breaching an unclaimed wilderness. A gift from above, as they called it.”

Justus
fell silent, and as he did I heard the slide of metal and people taking their seat in the booth that must have backed up to ours. The man was obviously drunk, and he was promising the woman with him how he was going to whisk her away, how he was going to build her a house, how he already had his carriage packed. She just giggled.

“I want out of here
,” I whispered harshly to Justus.

I could easily tell from the look in his eye
s that I wasn’t leaving here anytime soon.

Chapter
Five

~
Landen ~

The Veil, much like the dimensions I travel to, along with The Realm, never ceases to amaze me. They’re always changing. Or at least I see something new each time I return.

I came here for
a reason. This stretch of the Veil lingered between Esterious and Chara. It was an area that Chara had guarded well with our stealth Rampart Warriors, whose goal is to defend The Radiance, the area of Chara that held an immense amount of energy. It is said that it holds as much power as it does because that is the place Guardian and Aliyanna first appeared in our world.

T
he energy in this part of the Veil was rich, so exquisite that souls were well aware that their beings could pass from one world to the other without having to end their lives, meaning if Esterious sent spies or armies our way, this is the path they would use. In most cases, they tried to hide among the true dead, those souls that lived in denial that their lives were over and built worlds around them that mocked the time they lived.

The conspirators
were easy to recognize, at least they were to me; their intent was nothing less than vile. Those souls were sent by none other than Donalt himself to do a host of tasks to bring our world to its knees. This was one of the lesser known tricks of Donalt. Others from my world were well aware of the false soul mates Donalt would put before us, or even the helpless act that he pulled on travelers’ heartstrings—souls begging that we take them anywhere but the hell they were in.

The rest of Chara didn’t know about this place. They didn’t know because it would invoke fear. It would allow them to believe that evil could find them
, even in the midst of bliss.

Truth is
, evil can find you anywhere if you open that door in your mind. The strongest army in the world could stand before you, the most positive souls in the universe could endow you with words that harbor nothing but bliss and promise, but if you opened that door—no one beyond the Creator himself could help you close that door.

Fear. I despise that emotion. How it robs courage, robs fate.

I’ve never feared the dead, but it has always been hard for me to speak or mingle with them. I intimidated them for some reason, which was crazy because I saw myself as the nice brother when Phoenix and I stayed almost constantly in the Veil. I saw myself as the laid-back Rampart Warrior when my father would send me to this border to watch for the dead’s approach. My father is a fierce, close-minded man, but if we were side by side these spirits would merge to him before me.

I use
d to think it was because I could see them and other warriors could not. They could always feel them; seeing…not so much.

Phoenix said it was my eyes, that they were too bright. He found it downright hilarious that
the dead would recoil from me, before and even now.

There was an old man lingering a few feet from me. Every time I took a step toward him, he took one back and acted like he did
n’t see me. It was ridiculous. He was even whistling.

I
wanted to ask him if he had seen anyone out of place around here or heard anything. I needed to figure out how much I needed to fortify this border. My gut was telling me, ‘All hands on deck.’

I stepped forward again and held out a sandwich to the old man. He couldn’t consume it, but he
could take in the touch, smell, imagine it well enough that he could pretend to eat it. This was a rare treasure to the dead, finding something they could no longer have but once loved.

I assumed it was a favorite of his because I’d seen him linger outside of this makeshift shop before this day.

The sandwich in my hand was the real deal. I went out of my way to find him one.

I felt like I was holding out a handful of nuts to
a skittish squirrel. I kept my eyes down, not wanting to scare him. Right as he reached for it, Phoenix appeared and the old man ran—but not before snatching the sandwich from my hand like a starved stray dog.

M
y shoulders fell and I let out a curse as I glanced at Phoenix, who belted into laughter.

“What are you doing dancing with the dead, mate?” he asked, trying to stifle his smile.

“Nothing now—you have any idea how hard it was to get that sandwich?”

“No, no I don’t. Surely, it was simple, though, for you would not have gone through all that trouble when you could have just asked me, Skylynn, or even Draven to ask the dead whatever information you were hunting.”

“You know I can sense you
, therefore, you know that I
knew
you were indisposed.”

The only time I could not sense Phoenix clearly or he could not sense me was when
…well, when we were
involved
with our lovers. When moments like that occur, our energy is focused on one point and has one goal. If he was blank to me, that meant he was ‘busy.’ Basically, it was a supernatural sign that said, ‘Do not disturb.’

He pursed his lips. “Well, I’m not now. So, what’s going on?”
he asked, glancing to my chest.

“Too much. I’m trying to figure out Donalt’s next play
.”

He shook his head once. “What’s going on
?” he said again, with a nod to my chest. “Burning?”

I nodded once
.

He cursed under his breath. Phoenix had a universal view, rather a dual universal view. Not once did he ever think it was wise to play the games that Esterious or
present time Chara was putting before us. In his mind, this reality was not our home; we were just temporary guests trying to restore balance.

My take on it
: sometimes you don’t choose to play, the game chooses you. The only way to bring balance is to play the role before us.

“I can’t figure a way around it,” I said to him.

He nodded for me to pull up my shirt.

I raised my shirt, showing him the burn that in effect was tattooing my skin. It was a mix of triangles, circles, and stars, all moving together to show the dagger of a bleeding heart. At least that was what my people called it.

A bleeding heart is a flower that dies when it blooms and creates the massive trees around the Radiance. Inside the flower, there is what looks like a dagger. Myth says the flower opens and the dagger stabs the Earth and brings forth new life.

I had the dagger shap
e on my chest; Willow had the flower on hers.

Myths all stand for something tangible. Willow
’s heart was to open to mine, and we would bloom, then die in order to create a new life for our people.

“I can always burn you ag
ain and see where that gets us. Maybe it will take the mark away, buy us some time.”

“
It’s not going away. Too many people believe in it.”

What makes any spell or myth powerful is the energy souls put behind the words they are created with. An entire dimension believed without a doubt that I was to be
ar this mark. This would have to be resolved before it ever went away, just like all the other spells around us.

“Do you?”

I shrugged. “I did when I was a kid. When I didn’t think it was me. I did not too long ago, as well. I’d be fine with it now if we didn’t have all these other issues swarming. I’m pretty positive this deal is part of the Saturn trial, but I’m not clear on what the next spell is that Donalt has us all wrapped up in—if it’s at these borders, then the Veil is involved, the dead are.”

Phoenix
’s gaze grew grim. “This is one of the spells I created without you.”

My gaze locked on his. Back in the da
y, he met Skylynn first. He tried to save her first. He failed, and she was pushed further back into the supernatural trap she’s in. He let me in on what was going on with her right after that. At that point, we both tried to save her.

“Skylynn?” I breathed.

“Don’t get all crazy on me. This is my deal, and it happens to back up to something Draven is working on. You can’t throw your energy in with this one. Not a good idea.”

“Because of our past?”
I asked as my vivid memories showed me exactly how many times and in what ways Skylynn and I crossed a line that should have
never
even been considered.

The regret was sickening
, which was why he was telling me to stay out of it. More than likely, Skylynn was told to stay out of it, too. Emotions are energy. Energy is power. Energy is revealing, too. It shows all your dark little secrets, no matter how well concealed they may be.

According to lore, if this deal with Chara we
nt down, Willow would see every sin I’d ever committed when I was a raging, blind fool. I’d see hers, too; every time she and Drake were flesh-to-flesh in the past. My skin boiled at the thought of it.

One n
od from Phoenix, telling me I was right.

“I
promised I’d help her…”

“That you did, mate. And the only way to do that right now is stay away. Draven and I are working on a few things at once, but basically I
’m trying to get it to where Skylynn’s boy can see her. If you’re in this mix, because of the past you had with her, it could bypass him, and then you would be the only one that could see her—and call me crazy, but I don’t think Sunshine would be good with that.”

“You’re telling me to sit this one out, only focus
on the ceremony?”

“Not if
it’s going to hurt you. I’m here to figure out if I need to get you somewhere, figure some way around this, along with what we have going on.”

I barely heard what he said
. Out of nowhere, for no reason, pain slammed into my core and rage stabbed through me. I lunged forward in a blind attempt to react.

“
Whoa! What’s going on, mate?” Phoenix said, looking at me like I was a fool.

My eyes moved in every direction as my mind tried to catch up. The anger faded just as fast as the pain. Willow’s image kept flashing in my mind
, but that didn’t make any sense. She was safe in Chara, sound asleep when I left two hours ago.

I took in
a deep breath, trying to understand where that came from, then all at once my soul settled.

“I thought something was wrong
,” I muttered.

“Is it
all right now?” he asked as his eyes moved all over me.

“I don’t know. I’m losing it
, man.”

“You look downright starv
ed to me. You and Willow all right?”

I tried
to hide a wiseass smile, but he saw it and raised his brow, telling me to spill it.

“She still doesn’t have her
insights back, and even when she did it wasn’t easy. Right when I got over Drake’s claims, Skylynn popped up—we’re as all right as we can be right now.”

“
You need to fix that—like yesterday. What are you doing out buying sandwiches for some ghost? Did I teach you nothing? Buy your woman some flowers, take her on a quiet walk or something.”

“Tri
ed all that. She’s still distant.”

“So your plan is to go all macho
? Find a few fights?”

If anyone knew how to push my buttons and knew they could get away with it, it was him.

I clenched my jaw before I spoke. “I wasn’t asking to join your fight with the dead. I’m trying to figure out what is coming at us so I can stop it. I don’t trust Donalt to not sabotage a ceremony that I’m not entirely sure should occur in the first place.”

His eyes raced over me in disbelief. I may have had my memories back of when h
e and I were thick as thieves, when he was my brother, harbored the emotions to back up that time, but my childhood and life in Chara had altered me a bit and he didn’t care for that change, mainly because he didn’t understand it. It was hard for him to see me so loyal to family outside of the one we had, even harder for him to fathom their beliefs.

“How about you enjoy what you have wh
ile you have it?” he finally said.

“Oh
, you’re one to talk,” I bit out, knowing what was going on with him and his newly found lover.

He raised his b
row. “If anything, me and Genevieve know how to embrace every moment as if it’s our last, and when we do that we do not go out looking for fights or count heads like some mother hen. We love each other—like it’s the last time. Try that.”

I moved my head
from side to side. “You guys are full of advice today, aren’t you?”

He
tilted his head to question me.

“Drake told me to be honest, tell her abou
t the blue eyes and stuff. You’re telling me to drown her in passion. What’s next? Is Draven going to pop in and tell me to write her a song?”

At that
, he laughed. “Look, I get why you and her have learned to put your backs against one another and fight the hell around you, but seriously, you have to turn around once in a while. You have to close the doors, windows, shut everything out and take care of your woman.” He glanced to the barrier behind us. “Whatever this is will work itself out one way or another.”