See (28 page)

Madison leaned back on her arms and watched Bianca leave, completely satisfied with the fact that she annoyed her to that point.

I looked at her, and she raised her fingers to her lips, telling me not to say anything. She reached to turn down the music. “This is gonna be a blast, Charlie – I think you need highlights in your hair, too,” she said louder than she needed to as she walked to the short wall to look over. A second later, I heard the front door open, then shut. Madison broke out into an absurd victory dance. I just shook my head and tried to hold in a laugh.

She grabbed Draven’s hoodie from the wall, then came to my side and held it out for me to put on as if it were some kind of crown. I blushed but reached for it anyway and slid my arms in.

I looked at her. “Perfect timing,” I said, trying to hide a sly grin. “But you’re gonna have to cancel whatever plans you have - I made plans with Draven tonight.”

She laid back on my bed and stretched out. “I know.”

“
You know?” I asked bleakly.

“
Yeah, he called me – he said you were coming back around – that you knew the two of you belonged together.”

“
I never should have forgotten that.”

“
Agreed,” she said, looking over me. “Did I make it over in time? Kara was near panic when she called me.”

“
Kara called you?”

Madison laughed, “Do you seriously think I’d leave the house looking like this if it wasn’t an emergency?” she asked, pulling her sweats out to show me how ridiculously big they were.

I shook my head. “Brilliant, thanks – I was holding my own ,” I said as I thought over my argument with Bianca.

Madison’s eyes looked all around me. “Starting to see through the darkness.”

“
I need your help – my memory hasn’t come back all the way. I have to figure out what I was trying to protect Draven from – you have to tell me.”

She looked down. “Draven told me to be cautious when I helped you remember – to be careful and not to put my opinions or perception in your mind.”

“
Just answer my questions – that’s all I’m asking.”

“
K,” she said, taking in a deep breath and sitting up.

“
Have I always known they were bad?”

“
Since the first day you saw them – you said it was quiet.”

As she said that, memories started to echo through my mind and a sick feeling absorbed me. I remembered looking up from my work – it became silent for no reason. Bianca was talking to the teacher; he nodded, then told the girl next to me to move so Bianca could have her seat. It took her most of the day to get me to talk to her – class after class, she’d look into the teacher’s eyes and find a way to sit next to me. I remembered the first thing she said to me: “You are simply breathtaking – I have to introduce you to my friend.” Her eyes stared into mine, and I watched as her pupils dilated. I looked away and said, “Thanks, but no thanks.” Her response was immediate: “You’re not with someone, are you? What’s his name? Is he special like you?” I shook my head no and stood to leave.

When I stepped into the lobby of the school, I could see that it was about to rain – the sky was dark, and I reached for my headphones, but my phone was dead. I remember panicking, thinking that I’d never make it home without my music. Bianca came to my side and said, “Aww look, it’s gonna rain – let me give you a ride home – it’s the least I can do – you’re the only friend I’ve made today.”

“
Why did I get in that car?” I said under my breath, shaking my head from side to side as I looked at Madison.

“
I asked you the same thing – you said you felt like if you didn’t, you’d pay the price on the walk home,” Madison said, holding my stare and trying to see how far my memory was going to take me.

“
Did I ever try to get away again? I mean, did I just give in after that point?”

“
You tried every trick in the book – you couldn’t see their past, which made us believe that they were pure evil – you became determined that Bianca was trying to distract you with Britain so she could reach Draven – we’ve always thought he was the target for the darkness.”

“
See…see their past,” I repeated, wondering what she meant by that.

“
I’m not going there with you – Draven said he’d teach you.”

I remembered him leaving this morning – the idea that I could see my father – that sparked another memory.

“
I was afraid that if he shared his gift of music with the world that he would pay the price my father did,” I said in a tearful whisper.

“
Right…and he vowed never to do that…instead, they stay hidden and just let their music leak out across the ‘net’ without a name behind it.”

I reached for the phone on the dock to turn it off so I could hear the guitar sound – I wanted to hear my father tell me I’d make it through this. The sound was still there, and I felt the confidence behind every chord.

“
What’s he saying?” Madison whispered.

“
That I’ll break through this dark cloud around me,” I answered as the sound grew louder, as if to agree.

“
I think we were wrong. I think you’re just as much a target as Draven is…I don’t think Bianca was distracting you. I think they’re after you, at least, she is,” Madison said as her eyes looked over me.

“
Did I ever agree with you?” I asked.

“
No…but I know I’m right – they took the memory of every man in your life away and only left Britain’s.”

“
I never told them about another man…they couldn’t take what they didn’t know,” I said, determined that I still had to protect Draven. I knew that Bianca was a seductive, manipulative soul. I remembered having Madison drive up and take every piece of evidence that Draven was in my life back to Salem – I even remember telling Draven that I was just packing for the summer – that I wanted to take those things with us when we left with Austin. I cringed as I remembered the lie leaving my lips.

“
They played you, Charlie – let you believe that Bianca was after Draven – watched you wash away evidence that he existed. I would even say that they saw the shield you used when you lied to Draven.”

“
He knew I was lying to him,” I said under my breath, thinking of the pain I remembered in Draven’s eyes.

“
He knew you had your reasons,” Madison promised.

“
What’s my shield? Tell me how to use it.”

“
I’m not going there with you. I told you that Draven will teach you to see. You have to see to protect yourself.”

I looked down, knowing that no matter what, I had to figure out how to see before I was face to face with Britain.

“
When was the last time I talked to you before Saturday?” I asked, looking up at her.

“
Thursday morning.”

“
The day of my party.”

She nodded. “You said you were going to end this – that you’d figured out that they had to obey free will – you said you were going to let your shield down long enough for them to see the free will of your soul – you thought they’d fade like the shadows.”

That phone call came back to me – it was the only time I can recall ever fighting with Madison; she told me I was insane and threatened to tell Draven – or at the very least, call my mom – I wondered if that’s why Mom came home early.

I looked at her with accusing eyes – my mom may have saved me that night – but there was no telling what she had to face to do that.

“
I didn’t tell anyone – not even when your mom called me from the ER – Draven’s dad tried to get it out of me – but I didn’t tell him either…I wasn’t gonna betray you. I just told them to get you away from those two – I begged your mom to just leave town that night, but she refused to run…she said at the very least, you deserved to walk the line at your graduation. I begged Draven and Aden to go there – but they wouldn’t either…Draven refused to break his promise to you.”

“
I told him to wait for me here…that no matter what happened, not to come for me,” I said as tears came to the corners of my eyes.

“
I could kill you for saying that,” Madison said, reaching her arm around me.

“
I just didn’t want him hurt.”

“
Being away from you hurts Charlie – it always has.”

“
Does Draven know Britain and Bianca exist? Did you tell them – Evan?”

“
Draven knows you fought something…but he doesn’t know the name behind it. I’m gonna keep it that way…at least until I know that they really aren’t after him. What that birthmark means – if Britain doesn’t have one, then you may have been right – if he does, then you were a fool.”

I gazed into a blank stare. I didn’t have any new memories to enforce what I was thinking, but I was starting to put the pieces together.

“
I thought Britain was a victim of Bianca…that…that he was under her command – possessed.”

“
That’s where I think you’re wrong – you thought that the dominance he had around her was an act to fool you – that’s why I came up last week. I think they’re one in the same…I just don’t know what they are.”

“
I had to have a reason to think he was a victim – I had to have seen something.”

Madison shook her head from side to side. “I really think he was just playing you. I watched him with you – he was more aware of you than Draven has ever been…I think you just fell for the attention – it was like he could read your thoughts.”

My eyes grew wide. “Do you think he can?”

“
When you learn to see again, you’ll understand that what we think comes across in our body langue; he was reading that…the only person that can see behind that shield of yours is Draven…but you’ve managed to block him out…that’s why we are where we are now.”

“
Why did you say I fell for his attention…did Draven and I have a bad relationship…did he not give me attention?”

“
You had a perfect relationship…a real one – one that had every element in it. You had your problems…you felt like you were holding him back from his music…that if it wasn’t for the shadows or knowing each other since you were children that what you felt for each other would have faded – can we agree now that you were wrong?”

I nodded as she said that. I could remember lying awake at night, thinking those thoughts and fighting with the urge to tell him to chase his dreams.

“
You were wrong…if anything, this ordeal has showed you that. It wouldn’t have mattered if you had met him as child or passed him on the street – the way you feel about each other would be the same. The two of you complete each other….what was meant to make the two of you weaker has only made you stronger…he’s never gonna let you out of his sight again.”

I bit my bottom lip and fought angry tears. I was furious with myself – with Bianca. I had to fix this….fix us.

“
I can only hope I can find someone to love me the way he loves you,” Madison said, reaching her arm around me.

“
You will,” I said as I tried to smile.

She looked down and pulled her arm to herself and began rubbing her wrist. I glanced down and saw that it was raw…like she drew something there, then wiped it away. For the first time in a long time, I saw her confidence show its weak side.

“
What was there? Why did you wipe it away?” I asked, trying to decode the smudged ink.

“
I was thinking about getting a tattoo…I wanted to see what it would look like.”

“
Of what?”

She continued to wipe the ink away from her olive skin. “I was thinking about an Ankh.”

“
That sounds pretty cool – that’s the cross with a loop at the top, right?”

She nodded. “Eternal life.”

“
You should get it – draw it the way you want it; we can find an artist to mock it.”

She shook her head no. “It was – It was just a stupid idea. I think I want something more original.”

“
You are original – one of a kind…get it.”

I’ve known Madison my whole life, and even though my memory was out of place, it was easy for me to understand that we weren’t talking about a tattoo…there was something else beyond being inked or the battle I was fighting that was tormenting her thoughts.

“
What’s wrong?” I mumbled as I scooted closer to her.

“
We have more to worry about…it’s nothing.”

“
Tell me,” I said as firmly as I could – she was always my rock, and it was clear that right now she needed me to be hers.

She let out a deep breath, then closed her eyes. “I keep having bad dreams.”

“
About?”

She opened her eyes. “A guy.”

“
Who?”

“
I don’t know – I’ve never met him…I’ve dreamt of him before – I’ve dreamt of him my whole life.”

“
Is he bad?”

She looked down at her hands and began to play nervously with her rings. “I don’t think he is…but I think where he is – it’s bad. I think he’s confused…lost.”

“
Is he a man, or is he young like us?”

“
Like us…he’s tall…he has the most captivating dark eyes…and there’s this power that seems to emanate from him…but under that, he’s just a boy….and I think…I think he’s gonna be hurt.”

“
Madison, look at me,” I said as I reached for her hands. “I don’t understand seeing or what we can do – but you have to realize that these dreams must mean something – I mean, maybe you should leave my problems alone right now and figure this out.”