Enflame (Book 6) ((Insight) Web of Hearts and Souls) (19 page)

A rush of warm air surrounded Landen and me and the next thing I saw was Perodine’s study, with her and August at the table.

Phoenix was with us, too. He locked eyes with Landen. “I’m going to find out where Charlie Myers is, what spells he may have in this web.”

“We won’t be here long. Find me in Chara. Don’t let Skylynn do anything crazy,” Landen ordered.

Phoenix nodded once, taking in his orders before vanishing.

Landen held up his hand to stop August and Perodine’s questions. “One minute.”

He pulled my hand, guiding us through the study into the observatory to the farthest corner of it, leaning me against the wall.

“What is your problem?” I gasped.

“Less than five minutes, and we are right back where Donalt wants us.” he bellowed into the echo of the room.

“What are you talking about?
”

He glared down at me. “What am I talking about? What was that you
said? ‘I’ll give him my energy.’” He swallowed his anger as his eyes rushed across me. “You were right before, that is a line we should not cross. A quick fix. It’s too dangerous for your energy to be with his. I can’t watch you destroy yourself again.” His voice cracked with a mix of emotions. He was not in this life with me. He was back on that battlefield watching me die in Drake’s arms.

“Landen, you need to calm down.”

He clenched his jaw and shook his head once.

“Look, that was a reflex. I don’t get this energy deal, but I
would’ve said that if anyone was in pain. That’s who I am. Who you are. Drake is my friend. In someway he’s yours, too.”

“Donalt is trying to cross us.” He said
distractedly. “He’s came so close in the past.”

I reached for his face and pulled him so he would look me in the eye. I caressed his cheek. “No, he hasn’t.
You’re mine. Right now Donalt is pulling
your
strings, not mine or Drake’s. I may offer my energy to someone, a way to heal or help them, but you are the only man I share my mind, body and soul with. There are no variations to that rule. Ever.”

A breath filled with adrenaline rippled through his body as he instantly pinned me against the wal
l, his lips on mine, his hungry hands rushing over me, sending the hum of his energy into my body.

“
I’m so sorry
,” he thought over and over.

I was so into the way his body felt, the way his hands felt as they moved over my body, the way his lips felt as the
y parted mine, that I had no idea what he was sorry for. I just wanted him to be sorry a little bit longer. I wanted more than five minutes alone with him. I wanted to bring him back to the reality we were in, the one where we were fearless lovers made of one soul.

He ended the dance of our kiss, the push of our bodies against one another, with a subtle grace, then leaned his forehead to mine as we both struggled for breath.

“Forgiven.”

A smile slowly eased across his lips, which I wanted so badly to kiss once more, then I felt a wave of his energy ripple though me, causing my toes to curl. He caught me before I lost my balance.

“I’m going to figure out how to do that to you,” I managed to say as I tried to straighten out my hoodie, my hair.

I felt his gaze and rose my eyes to meet his. “Please do,” he said with a sinful smirk.

“We are not going to let this place get to us. We are not going to let our family get to us. We are good, stronger than ever,” I stated as if it were some kind of pledge.

He nodded once. “They’re mad we left, didn’t come back. They’ve been looking for us while everything here has been falling apart.”

“I’m going to go with my gut here, Landen. I think the kids are okay, that they have been blocked because of what we just fought about. I think that if you do this spell, if we’ve moved forward, it will help them.”

“Agreed,” he said, pulling me to him, stealing one more kiss, and whispering, “I’m sorry,” against my lips once more.

Perodine and August were lingering near the study door. People I knew were from Chara were blocking anyone from coming that far down the hall, not allowing anyone to see us.

Once in the study, Perodine closed the doors behind us.

“All right,” Landen said. “His death was announced. What does that mean for this dimension right now?”

“It means th
ey’re pushing for Drake to fall. They know he does not have Willow’s heart,” August answered. “But we have been preparing for this,” he said, nodding to Draven, who appeared next to him. I knew then why his energy hadn’t felt as strong before: his body was not really here. He was seeing his way here, which made me envy the way they moved their souls around. Before Pelhan’s touch a few hours ago, Landen and I could never communicate outside of our thoughts. It would have made things easier if we had known we could do that all along.

“We have staged support from Donalt’s bloodline,” August stated. “A blessing that will be taken very seriously by the citizens, something that the court will have to concur with,” August explained, reachin
g to pat Draven on the shoulder. But Draven wasn’t paying attention to him. His eyes were dark. He was taking in where we’d been over the last few days, and I held nothing back. I wanted him to see his family. I was almost positive Landen needed him for the spell he was trying to do.

“His bloodline is dead. The entire island is,” Landen countered.

“It is, but with the help of Alamos and the eager citizens of Chara, we’ve been rebuilding the island for a while now. Draven’s energy is so similar to that of Drake’s, of Donalt’s when he was alive, that no one can doubt he is from that sacred island. Draven will arrive on the shores of Delen with his court, his counterpart, and his sister, who looks just like the images portrayed of Willow in a lost time.”

“Madison,” I said with disbelief
, seeing how this was lining up. She was taking my role. I wanted to jump up and down in place, but I held that emotion deep inside, not wanting anyone to think that I was only worried about who Drake loved. I was worried about all of us.

“Correct,” Perodine answered. “Draven will be portrayed as the leader of that island, his blood as royal. His family, his sister, will be set to court our king. We’ve made this so obvious that it will spoil any undesirable plans of the court. If anything, it will cause the traders to surface so we can see who we are really fighting.”

“Has every person agreed to this, or did you push them into it?” Landen asked. It was obvious to me that he was concerned with this crossing paths deal, but they had no way of knowing that. They assumed we just didn’t want Draven and the others to be hurt.

“Actually, we were going to have Olivia play the
role of his sister. Madison suggested otherwise,” Perodine said, nodding to Drake as he opened the door next to her and came in.

His dark gaze moved between
Landen and me. He had to have known we’d fought about him, my reaction to what he went through. He was trying to see where we were with that.

“She volunteered because of
Charlie,” Drake stated evenly into the room.

“What about Charlie?” Landen asked, glancing at Draven, whose eyes had returned to green.

“Charlie will go with me. Madison is never far behind.” With obvious concern, Draven glanced at Drake.

“She’ll wake up, a few hours time,” Drake assured us.

“What is going on?” I asked.

“Nothing,” Draven said as doubt and disdain filled him.

“You’re sure she’s all right?” I asked softly.

“Just dreaming,” Draven mumbled, looking over me once more.

“So, if this all plays out right, everything will be in balance again?” I asked, avoiding Draven’s eyes. I wasn’t going to invite him into what we’d been up to in New Orleans. I knew he’d seen it, and if he were meant to be a part of it, he needed to make that move.

“We’ll have control of the palace once again,” Perodine answered. “Draven will bring no less than two hundred members of Chara here. They will stay in the palace; that control is needed right now. Thi
s meeting right now is dangerous.”

Landen nodded once. “We’re heading to Chara anyway. I’ll figure out what is needed of us there.”

“Wait,” Draven said, reaching for my arm. “How did you know I was supposed to play there? And why do you need me to do that now?”

Everyone else was
confused, but Landen answered anyway. “It’s complicated. Basically, that land has a lot of old energy in it that was displaced after a spell went horribly wrong. I rode souls into The Realm, trying to find Willow and kill Donalt. I need to let them out. I didn’t plan on asking you to help me, but your mother has heard that you will in the echo. I’m still not going to ask you to help. You have to feel that that is what you need to do.”

“That is where you have been. What
you have been doing?” August gasped.

“No,” Draven said as he tilted his head, stepping slightly away from me. “That happened a long time ago, and they’ve been trying to undo it. Why did you have to ride them into The Realm? Could you not just go?”

Landen smirked, holding in the envy he felt for how blindly Draven had mastered entering The Realm. “Back then, there was only one way in, through energy, one shared emotion, and war was the only way—apparently the wrong way.”

“How did you get in?” I asked Draven.

His eyes fell into mine. “Music. I was pulled in when I wrote that song. I didn’t pull anyone out until it was played live.”

Landen and I looked at each other, then to Draven. “Playing it live allows you to pull souls out?” Landen confirmed.

“Yeah, a lot. I can only pull out a few thousand when it’s not in front of a live audience, when we play in The Realm.”

“A few thousand?
” I gasped. “How many do you need out?” I asked Landen.

“Hard to say. At least that many,” he said as his respect and admiration grew for Draven.

“Well,” Draven said coolly, “a small concert would get you that. One problem: I have no band.”

“Aden is on his way back to Chara
, at least I think he is,” Landen said.

Draven nodded as if he had already seen that. His doubt told me his brother would s
tall before coming back to them. I didn’t know if that was best or not.

“That makes a drummer.”

“Can your dad not find other musicians? Do we need to find Winston and Grayson?” I asked.

“Winston is too deep; no desire to come out. Grayson, I don’t know. I doubt you have the time to, and yeah, my dad could find other musicians, hundreds of them
– but Dad can’t see energy. I doubt he knows much about it. In the past, my band protected ourselves and opened a larger gate because we stood in a perfect circle of light and dark.”

Perodine handed her pen to him. “Explain.”

Draven furrowed his eyebrows and sighed, then walked over to the table and turned to a blank sheet in August’s notebook. We all crowded around him to see what he was doing.

“It’s not hard. Charlie, Aden, and Madison are light energy. Charlie stands in front of me, off to the side a bit, between me and Grayson.” He placed dots for them on the page. Then you have Madison, who stands off to the side between
Winston and me. On the back side, you have Aden. It’s light and darkness, one circle.”

“Charlie and Madison are in the crowd
, so the circle doesn’t have to play,” Drake stated.

We all turned to face him, finding him just behind us with crossed arms.

Draven shrugged. “Madison and Charlie have strong energy. They don’t have to play at all. If I didn’t need the best drummer in the universe, Aden wouldn’t have to play either. If I had to bet, I would say that Winston and Grayson would have to play to help open that door. They are not as focused on their energy, at least not without music.”

“So,” Drake said as his stare grazed across me before returning to Draven, “if two people who were aware of their energy
—energy that is supposedly dark—stood in the places you have marked to create this circle, that would work?”

Draven’s curious eyes moved between
Drake and me. “I don’t see why not.”

Landen clenched his jaw. I knew he wasn’t a fan of bringing Drake into this, but it made sense to me. He was there when it happened in the first place.

“You have to understand that everything has to be perfect: the timing, the spell...we do this wrong, and we won’t pull anything out. Instead, we’ll push the souls that are waiting on their loved ones in, giving more power to this dimension,” Landen said.

“Do you have a time?” Drake asked him.

“Eleventh hour.”

“In what dimension? What time zone?” Drake pressed.

Landen seemed to freeze. “The kids fall into meditation at the eleventh hour in Chara.”

August nodded once to confirm.

Landen locked gazes with me. “We’ve been six hours off—that’s why.”

I knew his intent was to go back and try it on the
right time, but it was too late. Too many people knew about this now, and too many paths were crossed. They had to be there, and they couldn't be in two places at once. They had to do this thing with the court here.