Redefined (9 page)

He ignored me as a thought obviously kicked into place. “What did you mean before – that you know how to help souls move on?”

“I’m haunted. All of my friends are. We hear whispers and then call them into place, show them love, and allow them to move on.”

“Not supernatural beings, though?”

“I don’t know what you are calling ‘supernatural.’”

“Meaning you, people like you, people that have defined powers and extended life patterns.”

“No. The souls I help are damned.”

“A little shocked that they are dead?” he asked, raising one eyebrow as if he were trying to get me to remember something.

“You could say that. In general, they lived bad lives, and they need to be reminded that they were not bad.”

“Right. What emotion do you feel when you help them? What lingers in your soul?”

“It doesn’t get easier, if that is what you are asking.”

“Little shocking - seizes your soul as you decide to either fear it or take hold of the adrenaline and ride the wave.”

“You could say that.”

He let out a deep sigh as his eyes looked over me in the protective way that only a big brother could.

“I may not clearly know my life plan, but my advice to you: figure out how to master shock.”

“Why?” I breathed because that direction sounded all too familiar.

“So you can recognize and guide others through it.”

I cringed as I thought of my time in Pompeii, how I failed so badly at guiding those souls through the shock of that explosion. We did not ride out the adrenaline. We submitted to fear and cowered away.

“It will take some time. You’re being tested, but fret not; I’m here now.”

“I thought I was supposed to help you find a queen of the veil? Why would she not be in the veil?”

“Not that simple. You see, there are seven, seven that are to bring balance in their own way. The queen of the veil is light, pure light - and last I knew she was at home with you. I doubt Dad would have put the cart before the horse. She must be here if he left you here.”

“What would I have to do with it? ”

He smirked and mocked a bow. “I suppose we will see. The more I talk to you, the more I remember - and breaking out of here will help me gain even more. I don’t know where we are. Honestly, we could just be the search and rescue at this point.”

“What? You don’t remember what your cause is?”

“The Selected live on for eons, and from time to time we feel an urge to penetrate The Fall. We don’t know why until we pass it. In that span of light and power, we are told what we are to do and why. My issue -- I landed here and lost that reason, and now apparently my baby sista is here to rescue me…among other things.”

“You said seven?”

“That’s right.”

I pulled the envelope out of my back pocket and handed it to him. He glanced down at my name.

“Charlie.”

“That’s me.”

He pursed his lips.

“What?”

“A ghost named Charlie has been lingering around me for almost twenty years. Saw him as a good friend - that is, until a few hours ago when he turned into my father.”

“He has a way of not pushing himself on you.”

“You have no idea,” he muttered as he opened the envelope.

“Nothing is on them.”

“Unwritten stories, sweetheart. Words will come as those that live them make steps to claim their rights. They are intact, though, so no one is truly failing at this point.”

I could not disagree more.

“Mom left a box, too...well, a block of wood.” I pointed to the crest he had moved from the fire. “It has that crest on it.”

“Awesome,” he breathed. “Anything for the likes of me?”

“I don’t know, man. I’m going to figure out how to get them back. I think a demon is holding them hostage or something.”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “They went home and no one could hold them if they wanted to. In order to trap them, they would have to have known who they were, and you have clearly explained to me that they have staged false lives.”

My soul was at war. Part of me wanted to grasp these images in my mind, believe that my parents were safe, that I would rescue my brother as planned and move on to save this reality. The other part knew that evil was holding my family as hostages.

“I would love to believe you, but I’m going to wake up in a bit, and all my problems will still be there.”

“You want to wake up now, fine. Let’s rock and roll, sweetheart.”

He nodded his head, and I felt a bolt of energy wave over me. My eyes closed, and as they did I saw not only those forgotten memories of this place, but also the mark on my back...flashes of this life, of growing up with my overworked mother came to me...her caressing my back, outlining it with her nails as she put me to sleep when I was young – it all seized my breath.

That Fall or whatever came into view once again. I could see Cashton racing after them, my father reaching for his shoulder. Just before he wrapped his arms around my mother, a blinding light consumed them. I screamed in my dream, trying to catch my mom, trying to tell my dad to wait – and that scream chased me into my waking moment. I rose up from a bed, gasping through the last part of it, trying to figure out where I was.

Chapter Five

This room was a bedroom, obviously. I was on a bed. Oddly, every wall, floor to ceiling, was bookshelves. Thousands of old books stared back at me. The energy of them, the stories they held singed the air with brilliance. To my left in an oversized chair, I saw Draven. His hooded eyes were dark as night. To my right, I felt someone sit on the edge of the bed: Madison.

Hovering over my head was Cashton. “So now that we are awake, can you bother to believe me?”

“He’s not here,” Madison mumbled, closing the book in her hand and leaning toward me from the edge of the bed.

Frantically, I looked between her and Cashton, wondering if we were talking about the same person.

“Where am I? Am I still dreaming?” I managed to say between gasps, noticing how dry my mouth was.

“Not anymore,” she whispered as her concerned green eyes took inventory of my demeanor. “This is August’s home.”

“Who is this?” Cashton said with approval in his tone as those eyes of his moved over her image.

I glanced from him to Madison. She was acting like she could not see him, even though he was feet from her.

“Chara,” I murmured as I fell back and covered my eyes with the palms of my hands.

Madison scooted closer to me. “Are you all right? You look like you have seen a ghost or something.”

“Or something,” Cashton said with thick humor in his voice.

“Madison, do you think we’re alone?” I asked quietly, trying not to look at Cashton - to play into this psychotic break.

“Hardly.”

I sighed, only to see Cashton smirk.

“This family is relentless. Almost too nice for my blood,” Madison said, glancing at the closed door that must lead to the rest of the house.

“She can’t see me unless I want her to, and I don’t simply because I have no idea what you have gotten yourself into,” Cashton said as he crossed his arms.

“I’m not the one that misguided my descent and landed in the veil, rendering myself with next to no memory,” I bit back.

Madison’s eyes grew wide for an instant. “Charlie, you all right?”

That made Cashton laugh and me blush.

“No. Odd dream that is all too real at the moment.”

Her eyes expanded, trying to see it. I made no effort to hide anything.

“What is that? How come her eyes are darker?” Cashton asked in disbelief.

“It’s called seeing. We see the living, too.”

“Figures,” he mumbled.

“Umm...yeah, we do - but I see nothing of that dream. Tell me about it,” Madison urged.

Cashton put his finger to his lips, then made the ‘crazy’ gesture - meaning Madison would think that I had lost it if I told her. My eyes questioned him. Clearly, he had no idea how close Madison and I were.

“I don’t know who to trust,” he stated in an obvious tone. “Is she marked? Have you seen it? How much like you is she? What emotion does she fight?” he asked me as he looked over her once more. I glared, knowing all too well that he was checking her out for more reasons than curiosity.

I smirked as I moved my head from side to side. The answer to his question would take me far too long to explain. Madison had an obsessive personality. She would become addicted to a project or cause and not rest until she had conquered it.

“Where is Draven?” I asked with a gasp.

“Learning control,” Madison answered.

“Why do you look mad?” I asked as I scooted up in the bed.

“Because I don’t like the company he is keeping - though you might.”

“Drake?”

She nodded once.

“He’s with him now?” I asked, bewildered, thinking that was so unlike him just to leave me, not knowing if I was okay or not. But then again, I did ask Drake to help him.

“Yeah. I’m supposed to get him when you wake up.”

“How long have I been asleep?”

“Three days, close to four.”

“What?!” I asked, glancing to Cashton. He had moved around the room and was now hovering over Draven’s still body.

“Music,” Cashton muttered. “That gives him a point in the ‘win’ box for me. Hard to tell if he is right for you without his soul in his body, though,” he mused, almost to himself.

I furrowed my eyes in his direction, letting him know that I couldn’t care less what he thought of Draven.

“Yeah,” Madison said. “Those little ones gave you one hell of a sleeping drug. Jason, the doctor, Willow’s dad, said that you were shocked but it was mild, like sticking a fork into a socket. The little ones put you down because you had not slept in almost two days at that point. They said, ‘She’s blocking the message. She has to dream,’” Madison said with a raised eyebrow, clearly not fond of six-year-olds running the show. “If it makes you feel any better, they knocked us out, too, but we only slept for like a few hours.”

“Children?” Cashton said, standing up straight as he looked over his shoulder at me. “Children that had the power to knock you out?”

I only gave him a weak nod.

“Aden. Is he okay?” I asked Madison.

Her expression grew grim. I felt my insides cave. “He’s not here anymore.”

“What?!” I gasped as grief struck me in my core and I rose to meet her eye-to-eye.

“Whoa. Stop.” Madison said, clenching her arms to her stomach. “He’s not dead or anything, geez. But I think you’re trying to kill me.”

Confusion took over my grief. Madison showed instant signs of relief in her demeanor.

“Madison, what the hell? What happened to you - us?” I asked, careful not to move, think, or feel.

“A lot,” she breathed out. “Aden is in another dimension. I don’t know the name, but I know it’s a step up from this one. Well, maybe not a step up. Let’s just say it’s a place where the citizens connect with their higher selves often and meditation is a way of life - like seriously meditating.”

“Why is he there?”

Sorrowfully, she glanced away. “That bitch knocked the wall down, Charlie. Aden had a flood invade his mind. Not just a glimpse of past lives, but all of them, in detail. He needed to deal with that...get away from Draven’s glare. You know him. He had to go away, analyze it, plan for the worst just so he could have peace of mind.”

“Worrying to find peace of mind...interesting,” Cashton said with a glance that made me think that phrase should have triggered a memory of something.

“Draven would never hurt him,” I said in instant defense.

“No, but he’s a man - and a jealous one at that. Aden woke first, asked to be taken there. From what I saw through Olivia, he hadn’t put it all together yet. There was something he didn't understand and somehow he knew those people would be able to help him.”

“What did Draven say about that?”

“He wasn’t awake when he left, and when he found out he was mad, furious that he didn’t even talk to him about it. I think he’s scared you are going to blame him for Aden leaving the way he did.”

“Stupid,” I breathed, dreading standing between those brothers once again. It wasn’t the wall thing. It was because it was something I’d always done: played the peacemaker. Long before we figured out the light and darkness thing, it was clear they were night and day, two perfect opposites.

“Men,” she scoffed as she rolled her eyes. “Anyways, that little knockout had us all wake up with something different - at least the three of us. Aden’s wall was knocked down, we know that; my sixth sense of emotions has been elevated to a level I can’t stand, and Draven is now intensely aware of his energy.”

“What?!”

What did she mean? He was bad now? Pulling energy...is that why he was with Drake now?