Synergy (23 page)

“I didn’t see that,” I said, holding his stare. “What I saw was a scared girl looking for her soul mate. She needs us. The devil may have thrown us together to destroy ourselves, but we’re smarter than that. We’ll use it to make ourselves invincible.”

“Charlie,” he said as he raised his hand to cradle my face. “She’s as bright as you are, her aura; the two of you are a blinding light when you’re standing side by side.”

I gasped and tried to smile.

“What?” he asked as his frantic eyes searched over my face. “Do you have any idea what I went through standing in that room? What I felt, how bad it hurt me?”

“Baby,” I said, reaching for his face, “you did it. You stood there, you got all the information you needed to and didn’t give in to any hunger. She’s
already helping you. C
an’t you see that? You passed the first test. For all you know, Bianca or whoever she’s working for was expecting you to kill her, me
-
- but you didn’t.” I put my hand on his chest and felt his heart beating wildly. “Your light is feeding you. If you don’t believe that, then we have to find another way.”

He leaned his forehead against mine. “I’m going to get you t
o a safe place, all of you. No E
scort would be brave enough to hunt you near them. There’s too many o
f them; they’re like archangels. Pure. D
eadly.”

His words instantly brought Silas to mind.

“I have to figure out what Silas was supposed to say to them.”

Draven leaned back and fought with the anger in his eyes.

“Comfortable place, Draven. You saw what he said to me.  You know he knows what to say to help them realize what they’re up against. What if I could have said something back there that would have ended this before it began?”

“Go say your goodbyes,” he said, leaning away from me.

I pulled him against my body and stared up at him. “What do I have to do to convince you that I
love
you, that I have no regrets? What do I have to do to take that anger out of your eyes?”

He leaned down and kissed me gently. “I love you,” he said as he pulled away.

Evan’s bedroom door opened at that moment. Aden had woken him, and he looked just as scared as we did. He let out a nervous sigh as he looked over me and Draven.

“I have to find Madison, make sure she’s OK,” I said, squeezing Draven’s sides then rushing to the stairs.

Grayson and Monroe were in the living room with Winston. They weren’t saying anything; they were just staring at each other. I yelled Madison’
s name, but she didn’t answer.
I ran to the kitchen and found the back door open. I picked my bag up off the floor and ran outside, yelling her name.  When I reached the edge of the garage, I heard her crying. I hesitated, trying to figure out where she was. I walked slowly out of the garage and found her leaning against the house, covering her face. I turned her around and embraced her as tightly as I could. She squeezed me back. “I’
m going to die,” she sobbed
against my shoulder.

I pushed her back. “No. You’re not,” I said firmly as fear shot through me.

She
wiped
away her tears, and anger and determination filled her emerald green eyes. “Why were you blocking me?” she asked in a voice that was still laced in tears.

“I wasn’t.”

“Charlie, don’t play dumb with me. All of you just left me in the dark.”

“We didn’t. I swear, we didn’t. Madison, the door was wide open; you just couldn't see it.”

“That makes no sense,” she said, crossing her arms and looking away from me.

“What does make sense, Madison?!” I yelled. “After everything we’ve seen our whole lives, after today what makes you break is a few blind spots? You did see something.”

“No, I didn’t!” she yelled, looking at me again. “I saw another sketch come to life. I saw my nightmare come closer, and I don’t know why. I have no idea why I’m in the middle of this.”

Sympathy washed over my expression. “I don’t either, but I know one thing: this is more about you than me. Your dreams, you knew this was coming
-
- and God help me, Madison, I tried to get you to talk to me about it, about all of your dreams, but you wouldn't, and now we’re right in the middle of this. This darkness is trying to destroy us, and you’re going to let it.” She looked down as guilt came over her.
“If you honestly think that you
’re going to die, if you have any emotions for Britain, any at all, you stay right here.
I’ll kill Bianca and end this.
I promise.”

“Bianca isn’t the end, and you know that. Like I’m going to let you face her or leave here without me.”

“I don’t think you can handle it. I love you, but I really don’t; your own mind is blocking you.”

“But you don’t have to. Tell me what I can’t see.”

I swallowed as I tried to find the words, a way to tell her that that boy’s name was Drake and that he was
very
real, but the words wouldn't come. It was just like I’d felt upstairs: an invisible force was holding me in place, forcing me to watch this. I didn’t know if it was Monroe or something else, but I couldn't tell her.

“Whatever is blocking your mind is taking my words, it has been – but, Madison, you already know. You have a pretty good track record with dreams coming true. Think about that.”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m not going to be like you, Charlie, like Willow. I will not let my heart be my weakness. If I don’t seek a soul mate, then I won’t find one. Don’t mentio
n my dreams again, not that one. N
ot him.”

I started to say something, but she held her hand up. “I know what I’m doing. I know how to stay
wide-awake
and clear headed. If I know what’s coming at us, I
can fight it. We’re leaving. W
e’re goin
g to turn this nightmare around. W
e’re going to survive it.”

“Fine,” I said as I pulled my keys out.

“Where are you going?”

“To talk to Silas.”

“Not alone.”

“Madison, go tell Britain goodbye.”

“If he wants to tell me goodbye, then he needs to meet us at the park.”

I looked at her like she was crazy. “Silas and Britain in the same place? Are you insane?”

She let out a sigh as a half-cocked smile came to her placid expression. “I must be,” she said before she walked to the passenger side of my car and climbed in.

I let out a long deep breath, then climbed in the driver
’
s seat. “What is this, some kind of test or something? Are you trying to make him prove he loves you?” I asked her as I pulled my seat belt on.

“Trust me, whoever I give my heart to will have to face a far greater test than meeting me in a park.”

I backed out of the driveway knowing she’d never spoken truer words. Most people fight to fall in love; she was going to fight to stay away from it.

“Maybe I should take you to your mom’s. You can meet him there, say your goodbyes.”

She was texting on her phone, so she didn’t answer me at first. “I already told my mom goodbye.”

“How did that go?”

“Sad. She knew it was coming.”

“How does your mom know stuff like that?”

“The same way yours does, I guess.
We had my birthday dinner, I heard the story of my birth again,
along with
all the things that made them proud of me as I grew up.
They let me go. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

I didn’t push her to
tell me more
. I knew I had to start focusing on Silas if I were going to get him to show up. I doubted I had much time before we were leaving. As we drove, I thought his name, told him I had questions.

I felt Madison’s stare and glanced at my side at her. Her pupils were wide; she was seeing me, and once again, I made no effort to hide anything from her.

“You knew her,” she said after a few minutes.

“Apparently.”

“Draven was her friend
?”

“Seems th
at way.
”

“She said you were in a family of souls.”

“That, too,” I mumbled.

“No wonder
Draven felt called back to The R
ealm last night, why he’s the one that’s gotten the closest to him.”

“What am I missing?” I asked her.

“Draven
’s looking for
someone to help him understand how to adjust to what he is. You always get what you
seek.
”

“Nice big family
,” I mumbled, holding Drake’s image in my mind, giving her every chance to see him.

“
They’re older than us, and there’s no doubt that we’ve sought guidance from them before, from others in that family she was talking about. Britain told me I met you around that time you saw her.”

“Has he told you why you died? How you went from being undead to in this life with me?”

“Yeah,” she said, looking out the window.

“Well...?” I asked, noticing she wasn’t elaborating.

“I followed you. We’ve always been friends.”

“The only way I was able to die was because I loved someone. How did you do it?”

“I don’t know.”

“Madison?”

“I don’t,” she said, looking at me. “Britain doesn’t open doors for me the way Silas does for you. I just now figured out that that was the only way I could have died, through what Silas told you.”

“Why would he not tell you, Madison?”

“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.”

We rode in silence the rest of the way to the park. Right when I pulled into a parking spot, my phone began to ring. I searched in my bag to find it, and when I pulled it out and saw that it was Kara, my heart sank immediately. I answered on the fourth ring and tried to sound as happy as possible.

“Hey.”

“Charlie, are you alright?”

“Yeah, why?” I asked, finding it hard to hide the lie in my voice.

She was quiet for a second. “Just a feeling, I guess,” she finally said. “Robert told me you already knew about my surprise trip.”

“Mom told me. I’m really happy for you. You guys need to spend some time together.”

“Charlie, we’re going to come home to you. I don’t want to lose a minute of time that I could spend with you.”

Tears swelled in my eyes. “Kara, you aren’t going to lose a minute. When you board that plane, I’ll be stepping into the string.”

She was quiet for what seemed like forever. “I knew you were going to say that.”

“I was going to call you. I really thought you would
have called me by now, the way M
om was talking.”

“When did you talk to her?”

“A few hours ago. Why?”

“She wasn’t at the apartment, and her assistant said she headed out early.”

Early for my mom was before eight. “You know how she is. For all I know, she’s on her way here, but she already told me goodbye.”

“I have a bad feeling, Charlie.”

“Kara, I’m going to be fine. I promise.”

“I’m going to hold you to that,” she said weakly.

“Do. I love you.”

“I love you.” I heard her start to cry, but before I could say anything she hung up.

“Are you alright?” Madison asked.

“Goodbyes suck,” I said as I tried to call my mom. When I pulled up her name, there was a text from her: I know you’re leaving. Even though I’ve already told you goodbye, I wanted to tell you I love you one more time. My phone will be out of service, so I’ll see you later, baby. Stay safe, be the woman I raised you to be.

My mom was never good at anything emotional like goodbyes, so
this didn’t surprise me
at all. I texted back
‘
I love you
’
right as Britain pulled up next to us.

“Looks like he passed that test,” I mumbled as I got out of the car. I nodded once at Britain, then walked out into the field thinking Silas’ name over and over. When I reached the pond, I saw a glowing butterfly and knew he was close.

“Sorry,” I said quietly.

He appeared instantly in front of me. “I have got to find a way not to get angry with you,” he whispered
in a husky tone marked by a swarm of emotions
.

“I seem to have that effect on people.”

“Did he do something to you?” Silas asked as the glow in his eyes grew brighter.

“No,” I said, stepping back slightly, seeing my fear dim
m
ed
the glow in his eyes. “They’re here. Willow is here.”

“I know,” he said quietly.