Insight (32 page)
“The girls are sick,” my father said finally.
“What do you mean?” Chrispin asked.
“We don’t know if it’s Chara or something that was said over them in Esterious, but right now they’re on the edge of life,” my father said.
“So we take them back,” Chrispin said blankly. As the words left his lips, the demons flashed before my eyes, and fear suddenly filled me. Landen and Rose looked at me simultaneously.
“You don’t know what we saw. If you did, those words would have never left your lips,” Landen said kindly, looking at me with all the compassion his body possessed. Chrispin’s regret was immediate. Olivia’s emotion fell, and her tears followed.
“After breakfast, I’m going to call Ashten, and we’re going to look for Livingston. Whoever wants to come is more than welcome,” my father said, looking at Landen and me.
At the gates of the string, we all stood dressed in black. The only traveler to stay behind was Rose. The string was calm by our home, but as we walked on the current changed to the point that you had to push forward with each step. The hum was so deep; you could feel it in your soul. Just before the passage, Clarissa whispered instructions to Dane. Landen used our gift to prepare me.
“You can’t smile, not even your eyes, and we can’t touch. You and Clarissa must lead. It’s illegal for a man to walk before a woman, it’s the only respect the women in this world have.”
I wanted to ask why, but I was too busy burning his simple instructions into my memory.
“Keep your left hand in your pocket—rings are forbidden here.”
“Then I’ll take it off.”
“No, it’s protecting you. That and the necklace are the only reasons you are not feeling my anxiety about having you here.”
I did as he said, not wanting for one instant to feel his pain; it was almost as bad as being separated from him.
“Keep pace with Clarissa. She’s going to lead us to the courtyard. Today is the day that Donalt speaks to the people of Esterious. If Livingston is here, he’ll be in that crowd. We have to leave after that. It’ll be too easy for them to see us as out of place.”
Before stepping into the passage, I turned and kissed Landen passionately, not caring who saw me do it. I needed to feel him, to have his soul tell mine that we’d return to our home together.
“I love you,”
I thought.
“You’re mine, Willow. I will always love you.”
I warily grinned up at Landen then took my place at Clarissa’s side as we stepped through after my father. The passage led into a large building. I could smell oil burning, and the room was sweltering. My father led us up a metal staircase encased in rust. Once at the top, he knocked twice quickly, hesitated then knocked again. A moment later, you could hear someone unlocking chains on the other side, then the thick metal door opened.
Standing in front of us was a man. His years were near my father’s, yet his brown eyes were older. The man was dressed in a long black cloak shambled with dust and holes. He looked down the stairs at the large group my father had brought with him. I could feel his fear as he stared at Landen and me side-by-side.
“Jason, I do believe that you’re premature. The moon is not yet full,” the man said.
Ashten and my father gave each other a cautious look then slowly shook their head ‘no’ to the man. Landen looked crossly at our fathers, then to August for an explanation. The only response he received was smiling eyes and an emotion of pride.
“We’re only searching for Livingston. Have you seen him?” my father asked.
“Yes, he was mistaken for another and was assigned duties in the fields. His time is over today. He should, like everyone else, be in the courtyard.”
The man’s eyes never left mine as he spoke to my father.
“Am I allowed a formal introduction?” the man asked.
“My apologies,” my father said.
“This is my daughter, Willow. Willow, this is Patrick, an honored friend of Esterious.”
Patrick smiled at me and bowed his head slightly. He then extended his arm, inviting us through the doorway. The room was dark. You could see a simple table, bed, and desk aligned on one wall and a fireplace on another. The floor was made of wood, and there was no color to the walls. At one time, they may have been white, but now they were a dull gray. Patrick pulled the long thick gray curtains shut and lit a row of candles that lined the mantel over the fireplace.
“And who might this young man be?” Patrick asked as he glanced over his shoulder at Dane.
“This is Dane. He and Clarissa are one now,” Ashten answered.
“Ah, and he’s here because…?” Patrick asked.
“Dane has a gift as well. The string is visible to him,” Ashten replied.
Patrick was either unaware of how sensitive my gift was or simply didn’t care if he was revealing. He was astonished as his eyes danced across each of us. The uneasy feeling coming from Ashten and my father was making itself known.
Patrick walked by us one by one, looking up and down. As he reached Landen, and me he stopped and stared into my eyes. A smile then came across his aged face, and his eyes seemed to lose a few years.
“Have you brought something to cover the color in your eyes? Especially Willow’s? I would dare say even an old man like Donalt could see them in a crowd,” Patrick stated humbly.
I took an uneasy breath and leaned back into Landen, to afraid not show my fear. Landen put his hands on my shoulders and kissed my head softly, taking my fears away and filling my soul with calming warmth.
“People here only have brown eyes. We have to wear a film over our eyes to change the color,”
Landen explained.
“Like a contact lens?”
I asked.
“Yeah, just like that. It doesn’t hurt.”
My father pulled a box out of his pocket and passed out the lens to change our natural color to a stone black. Patrick walked over to a small closet and pulled out a long black scarf.
“You’ll want to cover that sovereign gem upon your neck, unless you’re seeking attention I’m not aware of,” Patrick said to me.
“Should I put it in my pocket? Isn’t it hot? I’ll stand out in a long coat and scarf.”
“No,” Landen and the others said in unison. It was easy to feel that they all thought it was protecting me, or at least feared it would be lost as well. August took the scarf from Patrick, walked over to me and explained, “It is always cool here. The sun doesn’t shine. The sky, like everything, is gray.”
A loud chime could be heard outside Patrick’s home. Anxiety filled the room. The only one who still had his peace was August.
“Ah, it is time. Shall we?” Patrick said as he blew out the candles.
Clarissa and I left the home first. I didn’t look to see who followed behind us or how closely. I only concentrated on the one that I knew was Landen and walked forward. There was no grass, plants, or trees to be seen, and the birds didn’t sing. The silence was screaming at all of us.
I kept my pace shoulder to shoulder with Clarissa. Several others, all dressed in black, were walking in the same direction that we were. From most, I could feel the sorrow they had, and from others a void that was as real as it was when Drake was at my side.
Like in my dreams, the buildings were all the same. On the street level, there were what looked like food and clothing stations, and above them the rest of the buildings were tall with gray, perfectly spaced windows. As a river would flow, the people streamed toward the palace. My eyes were held straight, not touching anyone but Clarissa.
To my right, I saw Ashten and my father flank off, and to my left, Brady and Marc did the same, leaving Dane, Landen, and August behind us. At the end of the alley, a large wall could be seen. Men dressed in black cloaks lined the top of it, facing a much higher structure.
This structure was indeed the palace. It was over a mile wide, eight stories high, and solid gray. Windows were sporadic, and wide diamond-shaped balconies were on every level.
Along the rooftop, a line of men stood, staring out into the crowd with daring composure. We halted just past the gate. As we stared forward, I couldn’t imagine how we’d find Livingston in this crowd of solid black. I could feel my father and Ashten widening their path further away from us, and Brady and Marc mirrored them.
The air filled with the chime of a large bell that rang three times, and the crowd grew still. On the fourth balcony, the doors opened. From the darkness emerged two figures. One was undeniably Drake; he was dressed in a black suit. It was easy to feel that the females in the crowd were attracted to him. He smiled, and I heard a few breaths let loose from the women. I wondered if they even cared how dark he was. He brought new meaning to
fatal
attraction.
Beside him, a much older man stood. I was sure it was Donalt. He was smaller than Drake and had long white hair. His face held no expression; neither of them held any emotion that I could feel. The bells chimed again as they stepped closer to the edge. I had expected the crowd to roar at their approach, but the silence rained on. It was then that I felt someone staring at me. They were in the palace, and my eyes searched from window to window, balcony-to-balcony.
In the window above the fourth balcony, I saw a small figure. Squinting my eyes, I saw him smile at me. He was the little boy with blue eyes in my nightmare, the one that only needed to be loved. He smiled and waved his little hand. Air wheezed through my lips as the dream came rushing back to me. My emotion didn’t go unnoticed.
“What is it, Willow?”
“I’ve seen that boy before. He’s called me, and I helped him.”
“What boy?”
“The one on the fifth floor.”
As I thought the words, the boy stepped back into the darkness, not to be seen again. Donalt had been speaking the entire time, and for the first time I realized I couldn’t understand the words he was using. My eyes searched person to person to see if I recognized anyone else in the crowd that I’d helped. As Donalt’s speech ended, the crowed turned, and the faces before me all seemed familiar.
Dream by dream, my eyes landed on person after person. My mouth fell open, and every part of my body froze as each and every nightmare came back to me. The fear within me was uncontrollable, so strong that even Clarissa could sense it. She hooked her shoulder behind me and urged me to turn. Wide-eyed and in a trance, my body was led by Clarissa out of the courtyard. Keeping a fast pace, we reached Patrick’s house, where she went to lead me in. Before I took the step off the street, I hesitated, looking for Landen’s emotion behind me.
“I’m here.”
Taking my last step in the door, Clarissa briskly opened the metal door that led to the passage. Still in an absent trance, Clarissa grabbed my hand and pulled me down the stairs. At the bottom, I felt my feet leave the ground as Landen picked me up and carried me through the passages. The only ones that I knew were safe were Landen and Clarissa.
As Landen all but ran to our home, the string’s passages flew past me. As the green fields came into view, I found my clarity.
“Is everyone here?”
I thought.
“What’s wrong with Willow?” Marc asked.
“We’re all here.”
“I’m fine. It’s nothing,” I said aloud, defusing the concern I felt coming from everyone.
I looked behind me and saw Livingston pass through the passage; he frantically looked at us one by one, anger engulfing him. “Why did you do that?” he yelled. “You should have never brought them there! Do you have any idea what could have happened?” He halted when his eyes found August.
“You shouldn’t have stayed that long not with all that’s going on!” yelled Marc.
“That’s exactly why I needed to be there because of what’s going on!”
“Let’s just calm down,” Chrispin said, stepping in to squash his father and brother’s feud.
“Let’s go. I’m done,”
Landen thought as he pulled my hand toward him.
We walked away from them, still feeling their frustration and hearing their arguments. I don’t think our absence was noticed until we’d already reached our house. Once inside, Landen pulled the drapes and pushed a chair against the door that had no locks. He then led me back into the den and fell into one of the large chairs, pulling me with him.
Landen held me tightly, frustrated and angry. Not forcing thoughts or words from me as I laid with him, I listened to his heartbeat rising and falling with his chest. Time passed and the sun that had glowed behind the drapes faded into night.
As my eyes grew heavy, I thought,
“Can we go to our place?”
Landen stood with me in his arms and carried me to our bed. Lying side by side with him, I stared into his eyes, losing myself somewhere inside him. He kissed me just as softly as he had the first time, only now warmth accompanied the love that rushed from him. This was the only place where what I was made sense, and it was easy to feel that my feelings weren’t alone.
Now the rush that had become so addictive was called again, and we were immersed with a feeling of love that was incomparable to anything on earth. We’d both missed our place, the place where we’d met each night in our dreams throughout our childhood; it was even more beautiful than the world where Landen was raised. Everything was bright, full of life. The only element it needed was sound. Though we could see the birds, their song was absent to our ears, and the water that flowed through the gentle stream did so in silence.
We glided hand in hand as we’d done since we were children. I watched Landen’s eyes search each new horizon that came into view. We both felt safe there but had our bodies on high alert as they lay in our bed.
“Do you know where this is?”
I thought, wanting to assure myself that now that he stood there again, he’d only been there with me.
“I’m surer now than I’ve ever been,”
Landen thought, pulling me to him and kissing me tenderly.
Our path had led us to a place we’d always loved to go: a small waterfall. Beneath the fall was an indentation that wasn’t affected by the light mist that surrounded it. Inside, as we nestled, we looked through the water at the soft warm sun.
“How many did you see today?”
Landen thought, drawing me against him.
I called the memories forward.
“It was as if they all were there.”
His eyes closed as he pushed his rage down.
“Landen, something is…something is off about that little boy.”
“What do you mean?”
“When I helped him, he was dirty, and he was in the town like the others. How do you think he got to be in the palace?”
“Are you sure it was the same one?”
“He looked right at me and smiled, like he knew me. Why were there children in there?”
“Donalt has what you might call a court: his blood line, the women he spends his time with, the priests and their families live in the walls.”
“I just feel like I’ve been set up. I really thought that that boy was neglected.”
“Neglected?”
“Yeah. He was dirty and sitting alone outside as his parents argued inside the building.”
“You were set up. Did you not notice how the people didn’t speak?”
“Yeah”
I thought, baffled.
“They aren’t allowed to speak above a whisper. If a couple were screaming at each other, they’d have been put to death, and the child wouldn’t have been outside alone.”