Vital (6 page)

“I’m not a threat. I’m the only one who’s still thinking clearly,” Dane said coldly.

“Stop it!” I yelled. “All of you! This is nuts! Why are you fighting? We have bigger issues,” my quivering voice pleaded for a truce.

Drake glanced back at me, then nodded once and stepped away from Dane.

“What did you mean about the prison, Dane?” I asked, seeing that they were calling a silent truce.

Dane stared coldly at Drake as he answered. “Mr. Perfect here has pushed more than a hundred spies through the string over the past few days.”

“How do you know that?” Drake asked callously.

“I’ve been in the city. I’ve heard them. I’ve been to the underground meetings, the ones that have one purpose: to overthrow you,” Dane answered.

“Let me guess: you were the guest speaker,” Drake seethed.

Dane smiled sardonically. “I would have if I’d been given the opportunity – but you see, my friend, there are too many who have an opinion about you. They believe that Landen is the devil – and that devil has you on a string like a puppet. That right now you’re so lovesick that you can’t see that your reign has already been given to another man.”

“Who is leading these meetings?” Landen demanded.

“So now you want to hear what I have to say?”

“Dane,” I pleaded.

He didn’t say anything; he just glared at Landen.

“Alright,” I mumbled bleakly. “I’ll figure it out myself,” I said, walking toward the direction from which he came from before. Drake and Landen began to follow me.

“You’re not gonna let her go in there?” Dane argued, following us.

“Stopping her is pointless,” Landen stated flatly, looking over his shoulder, knowing I was only bluffing.

“Alright,” Dane uttered in an annoyed tone. I halted, then turned and looked at him. “The speakers hide their faces with hoods. From what you can see, you can tell that they’re all older men. They have control over their energy, and they teach others to ‘see’, as they call it. They’ve said that this war is beyond what the eye can perceive. There are some that have already managed to escape their bodies the way we do. Most are too timid to do so. If anyone shows any strength, they’re taken from the crowd. Your friend that you just sent to prison was taken two days ago. I would imagine that’s why he could see in here; they taught him to do so.”

I looked up at Landen. “That’s bad.”

Drake looked down at me, letting his dark eyes tell me not to worry. It was easy to see that he wasn’t surprised or alarmed by what Dane had reported. His apparent confidence hindered my fear.

“Awful confident, aren’t you?” Dane accused, seeing Drake’s obvious lack of concern. “Could that be because you’ve found a new source of power?”

Drake turned sharply to Dane, then he and Landen both pulled their shoulders back, trying their best to deter their anger for my benefit - but with little success.

“I haven’t found anything. The power I have, I was born with,” Drake said coldly

“Whatever. The two of you are only using Willow as a source of power, and one day she’ll wake up and see that if she was just an ordinary girl, neither of you would have given her a second look.”

“What?!” I yelled, putting my hand on Landen’s chest in a vain attempt to hold him back.

“Willow, I’m just calling it like I see it. Neither of them showed up in our lives until they needed your power.”

I took a deep breath before I spoke. “Dane, you obviously have been brainwashed by these meetings. You need rest or something because I promise you, if you ever say something like that again,
I
will be your worst nightmare - not them,” I said, nodding in Landen and Drake’s direction.

He raised his hands defensively, knowing he’d crossed a line. “Sorry. You’re right. They’ve gotten into my head. I just need to spend more time around you, for you to keep me sane,” he said, stepping cautiously closer to me while ignoring the glares from Drake and Landen.

Help me call a truce here, Landen. I don’t need this on top of everything else
, I thought.

He looked down at me and nodded once, but held his stern expression. “We need to go. The others are waiting on us,” Landen directed, glancing at Drake.

Drake nodded. “Wait right here; Mom is on the other side of this passage. You guys take her, and I’ll find Alamos, then meet you there.”

As Drake disappeared into the passage, I looked at Dane “I want you to go home. You need to talk to Clarissa. You’re no good to me if you’re distracted by the fight the two of you are having.”

He shook his head no. “If I go home, I’ll only make it worse. She wants us to run away from all of you, and I’m not gonna do that. The only way we’re gonna be normal again is when I know you’re safe, that you aren’t being played.”

At that moment, Beth stepped through the passage. Landen reached out for her arm to guide her.
I’m gonna walk ahead. You’re gonna have to talk to him; he literally has the intent to fight with me, and right now I feel like letting that happen,
Landen thought.

I sighed and nodded. Landen guided Beth forward, glaring at Dane as he passed him.

I looked up at Dane. “What is with you? I mean, did you get knocked in the head or something?”

The look of shock on his face matched the mystified emotion I felt from him. “You think I’m not acting like myself?” he asked, genuinely surprised.

“Um...no,” I scolded, walking forward.

He followed me into the glow of the string; I didn’t want Landen to get too far ahead of me. I knew he wouldn’t step through without me, but the fear of the pain that our separation would cause was clear in my mind.

“How am I acting different?” he asked.

I looked up at him. “Dane, seriously – you’re asking me that? Clarissa is your life. Do you have any idea what she’s going through right now? She hates me because of you. Not to mention that you’re deliberately picking fights with everyone – with Landen.”

I watched as he took in my words; it was as if they were all foreign to him.

“I’m sorry Clarissa is mad at you. If she comes back, I’ll talk to her.”

“You need to go to her.”

“I’m not going to Chara.”

“Why not?! It’s obvious that Esterious has messed with your head,” I argued.

“I feel suffocated there. We tried going home yesterday, and I couldn’t breathe. I think someone somewhere is telling me that I need to stay in Esterious, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

“Literally or figuratively suffocated you?” I asked, feeling the truth in his words but not understanding it.

“Both, I think,” he answered, looking down.

“Why are you so mad at Landen? That’s the line with me you know you can’t cross.”

His expression turned cold, then washed away as he tried to look innocent. “I just don’t understand why he’s in an alliance with Drake. They’re supposed to be mortal enemies, and now all of a sudden they’re best friends? You of all people should find that odd.”

I raised my eyebrows “I don’t know that I’d call them best friends. Mortal enemies? Where did you get that from? They’re not murderers. The only real enemy they have is the darkness.”

“The darkness,” Dane mocked. “That’s a thing that can never be defeated. A man - you can defeat that.”

I stopped and glared up at him. “If you believe the devil can’t be defeated, then you don’t belong at my side. My sole intent is stop him – and if you recall, I’ve fared well so far.”

As his face blushed with the anger I felt from him, he gently put his hands on my shoulders. “I just want to see my enemies...I’m sorry. I will try desperately to act like myself, but you’ve got to at least take in my perspective before you make a rash decision again.”

“Rash? Like I have time to think,” I said as I rolled my eyes.

He shook his head in frustration, then reached for my hand as we walked on in silence. I could feel Landen just ahead. He’d already sent Beth into the passage, and he was waiting for me, growing less patient by the moment.

“You know he can feel your intent and see your truth better than I can. You have a choice to make in the next few seconds: either walk away from me, or stand at my side with Landen and Drake.”

His squeezed my hand and glared forward. “At your side,” he said shortly.

I felt truth in his words, but something was off about him. Something told me to pull away, not to trust him, and I let his hand go before I could tell myself that that was an absurd thought. I thought about reaching for it again when I felt his eyes rain down on me, but by then Landen came into view and reached for my hand as he judged everything he was feeling coming from Dane. The resistance in Landen’s confident blue eyes led me to believe that he felt it, too; he knew something was off about Dane. I knew instantly I’d have to find a way to convince Landen that he was wrong – that I was wrong. Dane was fine; just confused.

“Clean slate,” Dane said shortly.

Landen nodded once, but didn’t smile.

He’s not going home
, Landen thought as he guided me through the passage.

“No. I don’t know what to say to him.”

The passage led us to the room in which Drake’s dreams of me were invoked. In an attempt not to remind me of my childhood nightmares, the staff had removed the bed and podium. The ceiling was now covered, and the room was brightly lit, painted in a beautiful ivory tone. What was once a bedroom now resembled a welcoming entry hall.

Dane seemed surprised by the dramatic change that had taken place in just a few short days. I felt a disgust rise in him, and I assumed it was from the memory of trauma that the demon had put us through as we passed through the influence of Venus. He walked in front of me and Landen, leading the way to Perodine’s study.

At the other end of the hall, we could see August approaching us. He was eager to speak with me and Landen and had grown tired of waiting for us to arrive. As Landen looked down at me, I could feel him hiding his nervousness; there was no telling what had stirred this eagerness in August. As he approached us, he looked past Dane and into Landen’s eyes.

“I want to talk to you about something – but not here,” August said to him.

Landen was instantly alarmed by August’s intent to leave immediately for Chara. “Home?” he said to confirm what he felt.

“Yes, that’s best,” he answered.

I was eager to honor his request; if Dane followed us, I’d be able to work out his fight with Clarissa.

Landen squeezed my hand as dread filled him. “Alright, let’s go.”

Dane waved at me, then began to walk the other way.

“Wait, where are you going?” I asked, completely surprised that he wasn’t going to follow me.

“To the prison to see if I recognize anyone down there. If you’re still gone after that, I may walk the streets. I want to know where those men are and what they’re doing,” Dane answered as he continued to walk away from me.

“Prison?” August asked as we began to walk back to the passage.

“Drake was attacked, and the man who hurt him was taken to the prison here,” Landen answered solemnly. It was clear that his thoughts were within the countless possibilities of what August was about to tell us.

“Is he OK?” August asked as fear spiked inside of him

Landen sighed. “It’s like it never even happened. Jason said Drake was even better off now than before.”

Landen pulled me closer, ensuring that we’d both enter the string at the same time. I looked back at August as we began to walk to Chara and could see his eyes searching through his thoughts.

“Healing him is easy for you,” August commented.

Landen nodded. “I don’t feel like I have to force myself to focus as much as I did in the beginning.”

August looked at Landen curiously. “Does it feel different to heal Drake, different from when you heal anyone else?”

Landen pulled my hand to his lips and gently kissed my warm skin before he answered August. “Healing Willow is effortless; it’s as if it’s my purpose in life. Healing Drake feels differently, though; like my purpose is to still heal Willow, to keep her safe - but in order to do that, I have to keep him alive.”

I looked curiously up at Landen; we’d never discussed his view on this new gift. August seemed satisfied with Landen’s answer, but he never explained why he asked in the first place. We reached Chara and took possession of Brady’s Jeep, then drove it to our house.

Landen looked to his side at me.
Do you feel Dane differently now?
he thought.

I tried to hide the look that would tell him I did as I muttered the thought that my best friend was still missing.
Why do you ask?

Because a minute ago, I knew he intended to go to the prison and then walk the streets – but you asked him. Were you trying to get him to come with us, or could you not see his intent?
Landen asked, glancing at me as we drove across the field. It was clear to me that we were having this conversation in our thoughts so August wouldn’t pick up on the growing disdain that Landen had for everything and everyone.