Enflame (Book 6) ((Insight) Web of Hearts and Souls) (13 page)

“I don’t want you to think Landen is ruined, that any of us are. We are growing. Nothing will change the way he feels about you.”

“But it will change the way he feels about himself.” I wrapped my arms around myself. “
He doesn’t think he deserves me.”

“Deep down, he does. Let him work through this, trust him when he holds back. In a few hours
, he relived thousands of years. In his mind, it happened yesterday. Who he was before that life span, who he is in this life, is a bigger part of him than that past.”

“I can’t feel that girl or Phoenix. Do you know if their intent is pure?”

“I doubt Landen would be with them if it wasn’t.”

“How close did he come to killing Silas last night?”

“Very.” I glanced to my side at her. “Landen doesn’t know your new friends well, but he feels indebted to them. He knows Silas is not a fan of Draven, but he also knows that Silas is in some way loved by Charlie and that Silas has been charged by him in a past to deliver a message.”

“What message?”

“I don’t know. It was bound by Landen, and Silas must obey what he was told.”

“You can’t hear it? In his thoughts or something?”

“No.”

Frustrated, I watched the battle rage on once again, feeling powerless as I twirled my ring on my hand
then all of a sudden it hit me.

“What if I use the looking glass to go back to undo this? Would that solve it?”

She nodded to the battleground. “This is old. If and when the elements are in place and your soul wishes to undo the present result, I have no doubt the looking glass will give you that power.”

“So I’m the ‘Reset’ button.”

She laughed. “I suppose. As complicated as the spell is...it feels good to have you in our corner.”

“I’m forever more in Landen’s.”

At that moment, the ground began to shake violently, and the people on the battlefield collapsed into a fiery pit. The energy around us was so dense that it vibrated my very being.

“It’s happening,” I gasped, trying to move.

I blacked out completely. I thought I heard Clarissa tell me that it wasn’t happening, that we were being forced out by the energy, for me not to worry, another time it would work
, but her voice fell to the background. My mind took me to that battlefield, to the sound of bullets and cannons. The ones that I’d seen take my life moments before.

What was odd was that I didn’t feel them, t
he pain of the piercing bullets. Instead, I felt flames, burning, agonizing flames.

I heard Phoenix scream, “Guardian!” just as death consumed me.

The sunlight across my face and cool hand caressing my brow made my eyes flutter open, ending the agony of the fire. Nana was above me, smiling down. I raised up, looking for everyone else. Landen was passed out at my side. No one else was in sight. There was not even a trace of the burning pentagram.

“The front door is half a mile that way,” she joked.

“I was in The Realm.”

“I saw.”

I sat up slowly. Hearing Landen groan, I reached back for him. He opened his eyes but closed them immediately.

“The light still hurt?” I asked him.

“It’s not as bad,” he muttered, rising.

At that second, Phoenix appeared to his left. He nodded politely to Nana.

“Paths crossed?”

She smiled to confirm.

“Is that where you stay? Is there a room for him?” he asked.

“Yeah. The kitchen. He needs to eat.” Nana’s firm tone made it obvious she was more than serious.

“Oh yeah. I keep forgetting he’s human,” Phoenix grumbled just before he and Landen vanished.

“What?” I gasped, furious that he kept taking him away like that.

Nana laughed. “Let it be. Drive me back.”

Feeling abandoned, I rose from the dewy grass and walked side by side with her to the Jeep. As I drove it across the field, I glanced at her.

“What is it with men? I told them the paths crossed, but no, they wanted to go play in some graveyard all night.”

That really made her laugh. “Their caution is warranted.” She carefully glanced over me. “Your control is strong.”

“I was able to let some emotions out in The Realm,” I said. She nodded like she knew that. “What do you know about Monroe?”

“Not enough. I’ve been listening, though. I fear for her brothers.”

“Why?”

“Her mother is in that Realm, somewhere deep. One of them wants her back, and he will bargain to get her, even if that means losing Monroe.”

“Winston?”

She nodded. “And Grayson will stop at nothing to protect his sister, the way he promised his mother he would. I think the evil will use her illusion to draw them in.”

“Let me guess: I should not warn them or stop this; let it be.”

“My advice word for word. If it collides, you will have no doubt.”

“I passed out in your backyard. How is that not colliding? Give me an arguing point I can use with Landen.”

“Not my backyard. Many fates run side by side. You will know if it collides, trust me.”

“It’s okay for us to be here?” I asked, noticing the random people along the driveway, the house that looked like it belonged in a museum.

“The property was leased by our friend for the film. The shoot is over, and they’re packing up. You are more than welcome here.”

Just as I rounded the driveway in front of the house, an image of a little girl appeared in front of me. I slammed on the brakes, but the Jeep rolled right through her.

“Control,” Nana firmly stated as my pounding heart caused the taste of blood to surface. I pushed that sensation away and charged out of the Jeep, thinking I’d seen an image, that they were back. But when I reached the back of the Jeep, the little girl looked up at me, then vanished.

I heard the Jeep cut off. A second later, Nana walked around to where I was.

“Not your images, sweetheart.”

“A ghost?” I asked as what I witnessed last night echoed in my thoughts.

“Right. It seems you ar
e starting to see into the veil. The images can’t be far behind.”

“I never saw ghosts before,” I muttered.

“Child, the goal is not to repeat our past, but recreate it. Seeing the veil is a plus. I’m sure Phoenix is helping you with that in some way,” she said as she held her arm out to guide me into the home.

When we reached the bottom stair, I heard a haunting violin. Somehow the music was putting me at ease, helping me hold that control that was demanded by my soul.

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. “Al
l 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.