Synergy (24 page)

“Do you need to talk to her? What did she tell you to say to them in this life?”

“I’m not supposed to tell her anything.”

“Who then? Landen?”

He nodded.

“Then tell h
im. You know where he is in The R
ealm; tell him and wake him up.”

“No,” he said, crossing his arms.

“Why?” I asked in a frustrated tone.

“Because this is not the time.”

“When is going to be the time? Are you assuring me that he’ll live through this, that we all will?”

Silas looked to the water, then back at me. “The wind can blow in any direction.”

“Don’t say something that lame. You’re here, alive and well. Make a difference.”

“I’m not alive.”

“Whatever,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Are we going to fight again?” he asked.

“Are we? I don’t get it; undead or not, you know enough to stop this, and you’re not.”

“Charlie, you have to trust that things will happen the way they’re meant to.”

I wanted to throw his words back in his face, to tell hi
m
that was exactly what happened when I left before, that I was meant to love Draven now, but I couldn't do that. “Fine. If you won’t help me with them, will you help me with Monroe? Where is her mom? How can I stop her dad from coming after her?”

“You can’t.”

“Can I do anything?” I asked sarcastically.

He put his hands on my shoulders. “Charlie, he’ll never stop looking for her. She’s his. Other children like her have been born, but never to darkness. He sees her as a weapon, as a gift; he believes that she validates his power.”

“What kind of weapon is she? She’s a child, an innocent child.”

“She is chaos.”

“Explain yours
elf, “
I said as my eyes rushed across his serious expression.

“She’s growing stronger, seeing more. Her touch already reveals the set course of the future. It reflects the past, too. She fears no evil - not because it’s within her, but because she sees us all as one. Right now, she’s fighting with her emotions, fearing for the ones she loves, but when she loses that fear, she’ll become a divine witness, an example for each soul to follow. But before she reaches that point, she’ll be dangerous if she falls into the wrong hands.”

“How could she be dangerous?” I asked, trying to grasp what he was saying.

He let his hands fall from my shoulders. “She’s a child right now, and she has a choice to abandon her course at any time. The next phase of her power will allow her to show everyone their fate, which will be chaos; instead of following a course that was chosen by each soul for itself, they’ll run from it in fear. Only a few would be strong enough to face it, to run right into the course before them.” He looked down. “Monroe is strong. She’ll hold her power within her and use it wisely until she gains control of it. The phase after that will be the one that’s the most dangerous.” His eyes met mine agai
n. “She’ll have the power to wi
p
e
away all emotions from those she chooses.”

“She could create evil?”

“Evil has emotions, dark ones. She could take theirs away, too. She can take away the good ones as well. If she falls into her father’s hands before or at that point, he could use her against you and Willow; the family of souls she built will have no merit. You won’t fall into a blissful feeling of one; you’ll fall int
o the nothing that creates The R
ealm.”

“Does she know this?”

“If she does, she doesn’t clearly understand it. More than likely, she feels the power building. She needs to be in Chara. She needs to be around people that understand her.”

“I’m taking her there now.”

“No. Willow isn’t taking you to Chara; she’s taking you to Esterious.”

“Then I’ll get Austin to take her there.”

“If you have one focus, it needs to be to get her there.”

I nodded, grateful for a straight answer, at least a plan. “What else do you know? Where are you going now?” I asked, seeing the familiar certainty in his eyes.

“To help those I told Landen I would.”

“You mean the people that are supposed to die? Become like you?”

He nodded. “I’ll be in The R
ealm with you when you find Landen. I won’t let anyone hurt you,” he promised.

“You won’t let anyone hurt me, but you’re about to watch people die. Has the thought crossed your mind to stop it?” I asked as anger engulfed me.

“I’ve had a long time
to think about what Landen said to me. Trust that this has to happen.”

“Do I know them?”

“Not in this life.”

“Where are they? Are they in this dimension?”

“Charlie, you aren’t going to stop it. You have enough in front of you without worrying about people you’ve never met.”

“Tell me where you’re going,” I demanded.

“Call, and I’ll be at your side.”

“Tell me,” I said, gripping his arm.

“New Orleans.”

I sighed, knowing that that was thousands of miles from here. He was right: I didn’t know
whomever
he was going to help, but that didn’t make me feel any better. “Tell me they want this, that they won’t be in pain or feel cursed.”

“They already feel cursed; this will cleanse that,” he said, looking away from me.

“Are you lying to me?”

“No,” he said quietly as his eyes found mine again. “They may
not understand, or even be frigh
tened
like we were at first, but that’s why Landen asked me to be there. They won’t wonder the way we did; their transition will be immediate, no long, confusing dreams that take years to play out. I will be their guide; I’m helping, not hurting -
-
I promise.”

I looked down. “Fine. I’ve got to go. I have to get Monroe out of here.”

He leaned forward and let his lips touch my forehead. “I love you, and when this is over you will discover that you still love me,” he said, then vanished.

As I walked back to the car, I studied Britain and Madison’s silhouettes; they looked like they were fighting, which wasn’t surprising with the mood Madison was in. When Madison saw me getting closer, she reached her arms around him and kissed his neck, then climbed into my car.

Britain turned to see me walking closer. “Don’t do this, Charlie.”

“Do what?” I asked weakly.

“Leave.”

“Britain, I don’t have a choice,” I said as I walked to my
driver’s
side door.

He leaned over my car and pointed down to where Madison was sitting. “She’s a sacrifice, and you know it. If you’re not going to stop it
-
- then I will.”

I stared at him and tried to understand if he was afraid of losing her because he loved her or because he’d lost his source of light, if he was just worried about his own life. I finally said, “If you want to stop something, get those boys away from Bianca.” I opened my door, climbed in, and turned the key. “Last chance, Mad
ison. Get in the car with him -
take a vacation. I’ll come back for you.”

“No, you won’t.”

“Yes, I will.”

She looked me dead in the eye. “No, you won’t because you’ll be dead, everyone will be. I’m going,” she said as she pulled the gear to reverse.

Britain pulled around us, then peeled out of the parking lot.

“Did he tell you how you died before?” I asked after a few minutes.

“He confirmed that there was only one way to fall.”

“Did you fall for him?”

“No,” she said quietly.

“He told you that?”

“No, he wouldn’t tell me anything.”

“Clever,” I mumbled. Britain was playing with her. If she fell for him, she would have known it long before today. She would have felt the pull I feel to Draven; it’s an undeniable emotion, one that I’ve always felt, even when I was blind.

As I got closer to Draven’s, my heart began to race, and dread and fear were all I could feel. Madison stared at me the entire way, taking in all that Silas had said to me. I didn’t want to talk about what Monroe was...it scared me too much.

I pulled around the back of the house and put the car in park.

“You do realize Willow’s family is terrified of her?” Madison said quietly.

At that moment, thunder rumbled above us; somebody was obviously making Willow mad. I looked down as I felt the weight of the world fall on my shoulders. I only had one second to decide if I was going to do this or not, and doubt was beginning to win.

Chapter Eleven

When I was in that room with Willow, I was so focused on protecting Monroe and Madison that I didn’t see nearly deep enough. I was sure that Draven had, though; even though he feared her power, I knew he wouldn't let me go if he thought that Willow would hurt any of us. I took what I did see and focused on the people around her. Willow spent almost every moment with Landen, but their family was always there. Madison was exaggerating. There was a fear of her, but it wasn’t because she was dangerous; it was because she was changing so fast, because she was forgetting what she already knew and not taking the time to balance all the new insights that came to her.

In Willow’s defense, she was distracted by this love triangle between Landen and Drake. Out of the three of them, from what I could see sh
e was the only one that had the
issue. Landen wasn’t overly threatened by Drake, and Drake was content to fight at her side. Don't get me wrong, there was jealousy, but not as much as Willow feared there was. Somebody needed to set this girl straight, and without a doubt, Madison could do just that.

“They aren’t afraid of her; they’re afraid for her,” I said to Madison. “When we get Landen back, she’ll be calm.”

“What about before then?”

I moved my head side to side in slight dismay. I really felt for Willow. She
w
as a lot like Madison in the way she handled herself. She came across brash, but inside she was clearly tender. I had a feeling that Landen was her barrier, the one that understood her, protected her. With him gone she was vulnerable. Not because she was weak. But because she didn’t know how to explain herself. And her family didn’t know how to understand her.
“I don’t plan on dragging this out forever. Besides, Monroe is the issue. I think we should go with them to wherever they left Landen’s body, use his perspective, bring him back, and hope to God that him or someone there will be able to help us with Monroe.”

“Are you not worried about Draven anymore?”

“I’m extremely worried, but he’s fighting, Madison. If anything, all of this will give him something else to focus on. It’ll help him see that he isn’t a curse to us, t
hat he’s valuable. N
eeded.”

“How did Willow get that powerful?” Madison asked as a rush of wind rocked my car.

I hesitated for a second as I shifted through what I saw. “I think it was always there, but all of this stuff she’s been going through caused the power to surface...but,” I said as I squinted my eyes and tried to push my mind further into Willow’s thoughts, “she’s forgotten.”

“Forgotten what?”

“You know how we see shadows come to life?” Madison nodded. “Well, people, like images, used to appear in front of her; instead of saying words to them like we do, though, she touched them and changed their emotion, and instead of writing a song, she sketched.”

“She’s an artist? Are you freaking kidding me?
!” Madison exclaimed
in a desperate tone.

“Seems you guy
s have a lot in common,” I muttered
, angling my eyes at her.

“I’m not her. I wouldn't forget how to do what we do today.”

Who was she trying to convince me or her?

“I wonder why they stopped, why she forgot?” I asked aloud. The people Willow helped before she met Landen weren’t dead; they were alive and well, and from what I could see it looked like they were in some kind of emotional pain. She was able to feel that, move to where they were and change that emotion. It was like she was their guardian angel or something. None of this made any sense.

“Because she’s running in circles, blinded by love,” Madison said shortly, clearly trying to prove her point that falling in love was a foolish thing to do.

I ignored her as I tried to understand where all of this was going. It didn’t make sense that out of all the people I saw around Willow, none of them recognized that the girl was vanishing, that she was losing just as much power as she was gaining. “Maybe. When this is over, maybe we can talk to her about
what she forgot, about what The R
ealm is. For all we know, she could end it for us.”

“I don’t need anyone to do my dirty work for me.”

“Madison, stop this. Don’t be jealous of her.”