Synergy (17 page)

“Well, that’s a little deeper than I thought it would be,” Madison said after a few minutes.

“What part?”

“Isis. At least you know now why you have always found peace fighting for this darkness.”

“Madison, seriously, that’s all you got out of that?”

“OK, fine. You loved him, you feel like you are in debt to him - but correct me if I’m wrong: you left him for Draven. End of story, you found a new love, a deeper one.”

“Fine,” I said as I turned the car on and backed out of the driveway. I showed her,
showed
her Willow, and she didn’t even try to ask questions about that. It was obvious she was not going to face this, and I was sick of worrying about what would happen when she figured it out. For all I knew, she already knew.

We drove in silence to her house. I pulled up behind her car and put my car in park.

“OK, listen, I have already told them what’s going on. I wont be long. I guess just say what you have to say to Draven, and I will be there as soon as I can to help you seal the deal. We’ll leave tonight.”

“Sure about that? No other g
oodbyes you want to say?” I bit out
, gripping the steering wheel, trying once more to get her to talk about how she felt about Britain, what she would do if she were
standing between him and that p
rince.

“This is a good test for him. We’ll see if distance makes his heart grow fonder.”

“I’m not letting you leave without facing him. You have to stop running from your heart. Close the door if you don’t want it open.”

Madison reached to open the door. “We have to convince the others to leave first.” She pulled the seat forward to let Monroe out, then waved behind her as she walked into her mom’s house.

I slammed my fist on the steering wheel. I was so mad at myself. How come I couldn't get through to her? What was I going to do if she got hurt, if something happened to her?

Monroe calmly pulled her seat belt across her. “You can show her all day long. Her mind is not going to let her see what she cannot handle.”

“What? What are you saying? Did she not see her? Willow?”

“You spend almost every moment of every day with her. Do you honestly think that you have never let your guard dow
n when it comes to seeing that p
rince? Do think that the door was not open for her to walk through?”

“Monroe, does she know?”

She moved her head from side to side as she stared at the house.

“Why is her mind blocking it?”

“It’s just too much.”

“Are they going to hurt her? Is anyone going to hurt her?”

“Madison is the only one that can hurt herself.”

“What does that mean?”

“All of you made a choice. You are here now because of it.”

“I need to get you safe,” I mumbled as I backed out of the driveway.

I started to shift through all that I had been through that day, all the darkness, all the deep conversations trying to find answers. I was mad at Silas. I walked away from that conversation with nothing but guilt. I may have learned about my beginning to this curse, that I knew Willow and Landen before, but none of that was going to help me now. I needed to k
now more about that devil, The R
ealm, who Silas was about to help become like him. It al
most sounded like back then
Willow and Landen were building an army. The question was, what war would need soldiers born across time? What was really happening right now?

My thoughts had pulled me into in a daze. A mile before Draven’s house, Silas appeared in front of my car. I slammed on my brakes, but my car drove right through him. With a pounding heart, I looked in my mirror to try and find him, but he had vanished. I slammed my hands on the steering wheel
again;
furious that in the middle of this he was still trying to stand between me and Draven. I hit the gas and drove as fast as I could to Draven’s, then pulled around the back of the house and parked behind the garage. I pulled the keys out and leaned my head against the seat and closed my eyes.

“He wasn’t trying to stop you,” I heard Monroe say innocently.

I opened my eyes and glanced at my side. “Really?” I said with little interest.

“He was trying to tell you he was sorry, that he would answer the questions you were thinking about.”

I raised my eyebrows. “What are you saying? He can read my thoughts?”
Please. Please. Say no.

“Selectively.”

“What does that mean?”

“If you are thinking about him and you ask a question, he can hear it.”

“So he decides to give me a heart attack? Do undead people not use cell phones?”

Monroe could not hold back a grin. “They do, just a different kind.”

In dismay I moved my head side to side.
“Listen, I need to think for a second. Why don’t you go in and get
Nana
to get you some dinner?”

She glanced at the clock on the dashboard, then looked back at me. “Will you make su
re you are in the studio at ten
fifty-five?”

I furrowe
d my eyebrows. It was almost nine
. “I can. Do I have a date or something?”

She didn’t answer me; instead, she got out and walked into the house. I moved my head from side to side as I watched her go in. I didn’t get that little girl. If I could see the future, I would tell everyone. I would not rest until all danger was out
of
the way. I didn’t understand why she was calm, how she just witnessed all of this and did not show any fear.

I closed my eye
s and began to remember Egypt.
That night, I spoke with Willow all alone. I let my senses slowly recreate that night. I didn’t want to miss a single detail. I opened my eyes and found myself there, a witness to a conversation that happ
ened so long
ago.

The moon was full, encasing the sky. There were more stars than I had ever seen in this life above us. Willow and I walked side by side along a waterway. I could see the awe in my eyes for this woman. Willow was at least forty then; she seemed so calm, wise. Even though I’d lived long past forty years, I w
as st
ill a child, a young soul.
O
ne that craved an open conversation with a mother figure.

“How did you know about us?” I asked her.

“A dream.”

“Did you dream of Isis?” I asked, wondering if
she sent Willow to me
.

“I dreamed of you.”

Befuddled, I muttered, “Why me?”

“When you seek answers, you find them. I was seeking you, and I found you in this life.”

“Did you know me in another?”

“No, but I will know you in a life after this, but before that point, you will serve as a catalyst.”

“How do you know that?”

She was quiet for a moment. She looped her arm though mine and smiled slightly. “Every life is different. Vastly different. In this life, I have been given a gift. I have been able to see where I was and where I will be. I am able to see how beautifully we are all weaved together.”

“Why do you need me if you already know what will happen?”

“Because a life like this, a life that is this aware, will not come again for me
. Many
things could change what I believe will happen.
When I die, this time I will be reborn blind. I will have no knowledge of any past, or fate, but I will feel it, I will feel called to it; that will happen at least ten times before we meet again.”

“And you need me because I will remember. You need me to remind you of what you desire today.”

We halted by the water, and she turned in to face me. “I want to prepare you, but I have my doubts
that
my words will alter any fate of yours.” Her eyes grew sad. “Your choices will be difficult, and you are so tired at this moment.”

“Prepare me?” I asked, mystified, sure that I was prepared for anything. “I will help you. I admit I am tired, that I envy death, but if I am going to live, then I am going to fight. I will honor the charge given to me by Isis. Altering the fate of others is my destiny. I already know that.”

Willow nodded once. She glanced at the water, then back to me. “You see how this water flows, how it does not argue with the path it is given? You know that it will flow into the ocean, and at some point it will be absorbed into the air and return to the earth. Though its path may take it to several other lands, it may serve as nourishment, or home for nature, but one day it will find its way here again and flow once more down the same path.”

I watched myself, trying to understand her parable. When she saw me struggle with her words, she smiled. “Life is like that. We follow a path, we play many roles over the course of time, but eventually we will return to our beginning. What we do when we return decides if that path will be repeated endlessly or if we’ll forever more be changed, changed into something that would bring peace to our souls, to the world around us.”

“Where are you on that path?” I asked.

“Somewhere in the sky, aware that I will rain down on the earth. I can see each life before me. I know that if the wind blows ever so slightly in a new direction that my course will change. Right now, I am trying to change my course. I’m trying to ensure that when I return to my beginning that I will not flow gently with the current, but that I will swim against it. I will become a wave and cleanse away all that brings suffering. I will find balance, restore this world to what it was meant to be.”

My chest swelled with pride. “Tell me what you see, and I will know what to say to you when you return. I will help you become the wave.”

She gazed at the reflection of the moon on the flowing water; he
r wise eyes seemed contempt and
weary. “My course is mine to understand. The emotions and trials I will face will be what I need to change. I cannot allow you to rob me from that.”

“So, what do you need me to do? Continue to fight what I am fighting?”

Her eyes found mine again. “It does not matter what I need you to do. All that matters is what your soul is telling you. I have sought you out because I know without a doubt I will see you again. Now, whether you are awake and Julia or you
are
in a new life will be your choice, and right now the wind can blow in any direction.”

“Are you saying I can die? How? I have not sought a way, I assure you, but I can say with certainty that no death can come to me.”

“It can,” she said calmly. “You have to choose to fall.”

“Fall?” I asked curiously.

“Listen,” she said as she looked in the distance. “The man at my side is my soul. We are one, but in life, at times, you must learn from others. I have loved another, and so has he.”

“Why are you telling me this?” I asked, blushing with shame.

“Because on the path before you, you will have a choice. One that will tempt your heart.”

“Another man?” I asked, clearly not believing her.

Her eyes told me yes.

“I love Silas. He was given to me. I cannot leave him.”

She looked down. “I would say the same today, but I would be lying to myself. I know without a doubt that in the very next life I live, I will be in the arms of another.”

“Are you telling me to make that choice? Is that what this is about? Is that why you wanted to talk to me alone?” Anger and betrayal filled my eyes.

“I don’t know what choice you are going to make; a thousand paths are before you.”

“Then what are you saying? What is the point of this?”

She was silent for a moment as she gazed at the moon, then she looked back a
t me. “I have loved many souls, some dearly
.” She looked down.
“A dear friend of mine…his life is your hands.
”

“Is he going to be bad?” I asked with wide eyes.

“Julia, no one is truly bad or good; they have just forgotten.”

“Are you asking me to spare his life? Are you asking me to die for him?”

“No,” she whispered. “Those choices will be yours when the time co
mes.
He will be passionate and fearless, but the only person that will be able to see him for who he really is, the one person that will be able to pull him from the sleep he is in, is you.”

“Me?”

“When he first lays eyes on you, he
will hear my voice, his older brothers
. He will figh
t with the ghost of our
memory, but eventually he w
ill wake, he will remember who we
needed him to be.”

“So I am to save him. I must make sure I see him so he will wake.”

“When you see him,
you will feel a pull, an awakening
to your soul. You’re not tired today, but you will be then. You will find hope within him.”