Redefined (17 page)

“Push. It. A. Way,” he said again through a locked jaw.

“I like his teaching style. He must know the only way to get through to you is to throw you in the deep end and watch you learn to swim,” Cashton taunted.

I felt Draven begin to pull me behind him, and I knew a fight or argument was about to break out. I had half a second to do something - so I pushed. I don’t know if it was with my mind, energy, or soul, but I pushed that painful energy away as hard and as fast as I could - and when I did Landen’s body slammed against the wall that was five feet behind him, causing books to crash to the floor beneath him.

Before I could comprehend what I’d done, he was on his feet, pushing that burning energy right back at me. I put up a defense - call it a glass wall if you want; all I knew was that I didn’t want to feel that again. My energy pushed his away and somehow placed a barrier between Landen and Draven. I wanted that barrier in place because I could sense Draven’s rage, his protectiveness.

All the while, Cashton was laughing so hard he was holding his sides.

I heard the crash and squinted my eyes closed with my hands slightly extended in each of their directions. A second later I heard laughter from everyone and felt no pain. Cautiously, I opened my eyes to see Landen on one wall and Draven on the other. Hundreds of books were across the floor. Landen and Draven were laughing so hard that tears were glassing over their eyes. August was doing his best to look serious. I glanced behind me, feeling a new source of energy, one that was not all that amused. In the doorway, I saw Nyla with her arms crossed.

“Boys,” she said in a forced calm tome, “take your lessons outside, please.” She glanced at me. “Charlie, let them down so they can do as I said.”

Numbly, I let my hands fall - and when I did Draven and Landen were released from their positions. They didn’t crash, though; they seemed to float down effortlessly.

Landen nodded to the room, and all at once every single book across the floor rose and swiftly found its place on the shelf.

“Yeah,” Cashton said through his laugh. “You two can stick with him for a bit. He knows how to use his power.” He gave Landen a dominant thumbs up that he could not see.

“You, Charlie, are a fast learner,” Landen said with a proud grin threatening to invade his lips and bring out those dimples.

He put his arm around me, nodding once in Draven’s direction for him to follow us. Nyla stepped out of the doorway, letting us pass. Landen reached over and kissed her cheek, and she smiled at him against her will.

Landen didn’t lead me through the front door where Monroe was meditating. Instead, he led me through the kitchen, then out the back door, all the while with his long arm around me.

Outside, I nervously looked around for where Willow may be. I knew she had a jealous streak and I didn't want her to see his arm around me and get the wrong idea. It was bad enough that I could sense jealousy coming from Draven in the slightest way.

We walked down the steps and into the field, then turned. Draven was a few feet behind us. He had stopped to take off his black dress shirt and now he was wearing nothing but black slacks and a white tank top. His image left me breathless, craving home and privacy now more than ever.

“Show me what a good teacher Drake is. Take her from me,” Landen said to Draven as his arm tightened around me.

Cashton appeared beside Draven. “You know how to do this, right?” he asked Draven.

All at once, I felt a pull and a push - that feeling of being between two magnets was back, and I didn’t like it at all. I pushed away from both of them with a thought. Landen fell to the ground. So did Draven. Both of them began to laugh again, but I didn’t find it very funny. What was this? How was I doing this?

“Never mind. She does,” Cashton taunted through his bellowing laugh. I could swear the blue in his dark eyes was beaming for a second.

“Get serious, man,” Landen said, trying to stifle a laugh. “Try again.”

I didn’t want anyone to try anything again. I didn’t like it. I wanted to get away - like now.

I felt my body jolt up, then to the side, away from their path. It happened so fast, I barely had time to blink. And because I wasn’t where I was a second ago, both Draven and Landen’s energy collided and knocked them down.

“I could watch this all day,” Cashton said as he grinned profusely.

I began to breathe deeply, thinking this must be a dream. I’m really at home, and my ghost of a father is playing his music around me. My best friend and Monroe are asleep one floor below, Kara is writing in the kitchen and my mom is off making a huge business deal in her office. I was not in an alternate dimension, learning how to push grown men down with a thought or fly - is that what I did? How did I get over here?

Before my second deep breath left me, I felt myself being pulled again. Before I could stop it I was in Draven’s arms. Realizing I was there, I let my defenses down and grasped him for dear life.

“I want to wake up now,” I said into his chest.

I heard a playful laugh as his hands clasped either side of my face and pulled me up so I would have no choice but to look in his eyes. There, I saw the green I loved laced with desire and excitement - and without a doubt, pride. He leaned in and let his lips press against mine. At first his kiss was like the old Draven, greedy. But when my knees grew weak he slowed his touch and the hum of his energy encased me. When he pulled away, he smiled gently.

“You’re awake - really awake, Charlie.”

“How?”

“I think it’s scaring her because she can’t see it,” I heard Landen say.

“Ya think?” Cashton added in.

I turned to see him and Landen just behind me, holding that same proud gaze that Draven had.

“The first time I moved energy, it was a reflex,” Landen began. “A protective one. Even after doing it I had to tell myself to focus to do it again. It wasn’t until I had the next instinct, one that was protective over Willow, that I got it. But you’re different. At that point, I’d seen auras, energy. You haven't, and you did not act out of instinct to protect. You acted out of self-preservation.”

“So what does that make me - selfish?” I asked, somewhat appalled.

“Peacemaker,” Cashton said with a wink.

“No,” Landen said, smiling down at me. “It makes you a realist. You know that if you die or get hurt, you can’t protect anyone. If there is one lesson my family needs to learn, it’s self-preservation.” His eyes rose to meet Draven’s. “Sacrifice is pointless, a one-time deal, and the ones we love need us beyond that point.”

I felt like I wasn’t the only one getting a lesson here, and I wasn’t that fond of what Landen was saying. It was almost like he was telling Draven not to sacrifice himself. What did he mean by that?

The energy around me felt almost disdainful. But before I could push it away Landen’s hand was on my arm and peace eased through me. He grinned slightly as I let out a breath.

“Let’s work on you seeing what you’re doing, and your tolerance. You can’t go around flinging people against walls when they have negative energy.”

“What was that you said about self-preservation?” I asked, smirking slightly.

I was always the smallest in my group of friends, or even in my class at school. Even though I had an ‘I don't care’ attitude, it always did make me feel weak. Knowing I could do this now was a bit reassuring. Frightening, but reassuring.

Landen reached down and picked a flower, then stared at me as he glided his finger through it as if it were an illusion, not solid.

My heart began to race and that smirk on my face vanished.

Chapter Nine

I watched as Landen bent the law of reason over and over again in front of me. When my emotions would tip to the point of anxiety, he would reach for my arm and calm me down with little effort.

“You can do this, too,” he promised. “Show her, Draven.”

Landen gave the flower to Draven, then stepped back, giving us space.

“When you play, do you see the music?” Draven whispered. My eyes told him no. “But you feel it, all around you. You feel like you are the center of it. When you let go, you become this energy. The boundaries of life are gone because you are in the music.”

“Right,” I exhaled as I moved my fingers against each other. I wanted to play right now and escape all that I was dealing with.

He handed me the flower. “Un-focus your eyes, baby.”

I did as he said because along with his addictive voice I heard others in my mind. I heard my mom teaching me this in another world when I was just a baby, my dad showing me how easy it was.

Cashton was the only one that got through to me. He was only a few years older than me, but Dad was already teaching him to play the guitar. He pulled me over to one of Dad’s favorites and pulled the string. When the strings vibrated and appeared to be smoke he moved his finger through it. He taught me to do the same. Before long, I was pushing my energy through the actual strings. He said the music was just like us, that it could vibrate its instrument and move through solid space. That it, like us, controlled our vessel - not the other way around.

“Memories are firing, aren’t they, little one?” Cashton said in a deep whisper.

I nodded weakly.

“You already know how to do this,” Cashton said to me. “You just have to trust that you do. Everything is energy. You can move through whatever you want. I’ll grant you that it’s easier to just move your soul, but you have to learn this way, too, so you can protect your vessel, so you can use the humming energy in your soul to defend yourself from assaulting emotions as well as protect yourself from physical breaches.”

The flower in my hand was mostly red. All around it I saw the haze of that color. It eventually lost its red shade and turned to white. That white was around everything: the grass, the trees, the windmills in the distance. Slowly, I eased my finger through this haze, feeling a sensual tingle of energy. Before I even realized it my finger had crossed through what should have been a solid flower.

I let the flower fall as I gazed widely at Cashton, then to Draven. I could see energy around both of them.

“You see it, Charlie?” Landen asked.

I nodded once as Draven stepped aside so I could see Landen, too.

“All right,” Landen said quietly. “Now, I’m going to feel those bad emotions again and you’re going to see them.”

Instantly, a crimson hue absorbed his aura and began to reach for the energy I could see around me. Without a thought I pushed it back - and when I did the light around me, which was almost entirely white, pushed the crimson away knocking him to the ground.

“Oh my God! I’m so sorry,” I said as I reached to help him up.

He grinned, shaking his head as Draven and Cashton both belted out another laugh.

“One more time,” Landen said, rising to his feet. “This time, try not to push it, but change it. See your light, your peace - change the color. Don’t push me away. Help me.”

My eyes grew curious as I gazed at him. If that were possible, why did he and Willow have to touch me to change my emotions? Why was he teaching me something he clearly could not do?

His aura shifted to crimson again. I had no idea how to change it or help him, for that matter, so I just imagined that the color was white instead. Not knowing why, I started to mentally hum the song of my father’s that I’d always hidden behind. The white haze around me eased into his energy. The crimson around him slowly backed away until it was barely visible next to his body.

“See,” Landen said, “now you have pushed this energy, laced with a negative emotion, back to me. You didn’t change it, but you flooded me with a calm I should feel. Now the choice is mine. I’ll either walk away from you because I’d rather be miserable or I’ll walk closer, exploring that energy, finally deciding to create it on my own.”

“How...why...how did you know I could do that if you can’t? If Willow can’t...you have to touch.”

Landen smiled faintly. “We are all different within our insights. We have to be. If we all carried the same it would be too much for one vessel. You are the Libra, the balance. You can pull almost any power into focus when needed. But you can also turn it off and let others take the lead. Wise girl. Balance.”

“You have no idea,” Cashton said under his breath.

“But how did you know I could? Can you see something I can’t? Did the scroll or that black book say something?”

As Landen’s eyes locked with Draven’s, I felt a common disdain in the energy around me. Whatever they were thinking about or seeing, they agreed not to like it. Landen’s eyes fell to mine just before I dared to see it myself.

“I have found that in the battle of life, every soul shows its deep intent. I don’t need to see the way you’re gifted in order to perceive it. My gift of seeing intent paints a vivid picture.”

At that moment, I saw images of Silas in Landen’s thoughts. They were face-to-face in a gothic graveyard fighting with energy and wit.

“I...I...I don’t understand. You found us in a past life. Silas had a message for you, one that you had given him.”