Synergy (19 page)

“Yeah, well, you may have given her a few books, maybe even had a few chats with her, but I’m her best friend. She may not be in love with him right now, but she’s falling for him. If all of this hadn’t happened, if we weren’t leaving, she would fall for him.”

“But we are. One way or another, we will leave. There are no coincidences; we are leaving now because she’s not supposed to love him.”

“You’re just saying that because you hate him. How am I going to tell her to leave and not tell her that when she see’s Willow that she’ll be looking into a
freaking
mirror, that somewhere down the line, she’ll see that boy in her dreams?”

“She saw him today in The R
ealm, and she still wants to leave.”
He argued.

“I couldn't even see him clearly in there; and besides that, we were a little distracted.”

“Right, the demon.”

“Maybe Draven’s right. We should just
stay here and find them in The R
ealm. After that, then we can figure out if we even need to go.”

“We’ve tried all afternoon. No luck.”

“You guys went back.”

He n
odded once. “I always knew The R
ealm was more complex than what meets the eye, but I never imagined it was this bad.”

“What do you mean?” I asked as my eyes grew wide.

“We have come so close to them, at least Draven has, but when he finds them, they’re asleep or the world around them collapses. We’ve even seen them fighting each other on the horizon, but when we got too close they vanished.”

“They were fighting? Should we even be trying to save both of them?”

He sighed.
“We all agree that it’s an illusion. You
know just as well as I do that The R
ealm brings your fears to life with a simple thought. I’m more than sure that Bianca is toying with their hidden fears.”

“So they’re asleep inside a nightmare? I wonder how deep they are.”
I mused.

“I think they’re slipping, but Draven thinks he’s getting through to them.”

“Why does he think that?”

“Because he got them to repeat
the lyrics ‘an angel fallen a
devil
has risen, our fate is calling.’
When they hear that song, they almost wake up, but then something pulls them deeper. It’s almost like they want to be there, like t
hey want this war to end in The R
ealm.”

“That wouldn't be a bad thing,” I said, seeing how I would play this the same way if I had the choice.

“If they knew what they were doing, but I don’t think they do. If they did, they would be changing the world around them, using their minds as a weapon, but they’re not; they just play into what’s around them. They’re basically facing a test like what Draven went through, but only it’s in slow motion, and I don’t know what lives they lived before or what bad things they could have done, but I know that what they’re seeing is in some way a reflection of that.”

“A reflection?”

He nodded. “They get too upset for it not to have been real at some point.”

“If they are being
tested, does that mean they’re E
scorts?”

“Maybe, or maybe the darkness
is just toying with their minds.”

This was not good. Not good at all.
“Either way, they aren’t going to come back the same; Draven didn’t,” I said as I perceived the endless battle before us.

“That’s why I want to wake them up there. What’s weird is that earlier I saw one of them act out the life of the other.”

“How can you know that for sure?”

“The names they called themselves. It was like they were switching places, but I don’t know what they would gain from that, or even what Bianca could.”

I tried to weigh all of the reasons anyone would want to switch places with another. I couldn't find a reason to be hopeful. Even if they were doing that to themselves, it was something they shouldn't toy with. They needed to live out the lives they were born into. “The longer she’s alone with them, the worse off they are. I want to go back with you guys, like now.”

“I think we need to find their bodies; if we can see our way there from their perspective, th
en we could wake them up in The R
ealm, ensure that Landen is Landen and the other guy is the other guy. The only way we can do that is if we leave. So, you’ve got some convincing to do. Draven still wants to send you and the girls and stay behind.”

“Alright,” I said, turning to walk in.

Aden reached for my arm. “I really am sorry I accused you of that. I just feel torn. I love you both, and...and if he loses you...then I lose you.”

“He’s not,” I said, reaching to squeeze his arm. “I love both of you, and I’m not going anywhere.” I handed him my keys. “Our bags are in the car. I can’t go home.”

His eyes filled with grief
, and I turned to walk away.

Inside, I found Grayson and Monroe sitting at the table in the nook. They were staring at each other, and I could only imagine what was playing in their minds. I tried to focus on them, but Nana broke my concentration.

“How come every time I see you, I have to make you eat?” she asked.

I blinked and noticed her and Evan sitting around the island that centers the kitchen.

“Where’s Draven?”

As soon as the question left my lips, I heard a guitar scream out above me.

“Working out his thoughts,” Evan said just before he took a sip of his coffee.

Nana had gotten up and was getting a bowl down. “I’ll eat; I promise. I just want to talk to him first.”

“Sit down,” she said over her shoulder.

I took in a deep breath and gritted my teeth as I walked over and took a seat by Evan. I didn’t feel like arguing with Nana after the day I’d had, and besides, she was right: I hadn’t eaten that day; maybe that was why I was getting tired so early.

“Where’s Austin?” I asked. Right as I said that, he walked
in
the kitchen.

He looked at Evan and shook his head. “I don’t know what to tell you;
that kid has a few issues,” Austin
said, glancing at Grayson and Monroe, neither of whom bothered to look up. I leaned back in my stool to see the lights from the TV in the den flashing across the wall in the entry hall. I was sure then that Austin had
been trying to talk to Winston. M
ore than likely Winston never stopped gaming during that time.

“Tell me about it,” Evan said as he took another sip of his coffee.

Austin took a seat next to me as Nana sat a bowl of soup and some toast in front of me.

“I need to call Wes, thank him for telling you to come to me first,” I said as I took a sip of my soup and glanced at Austin.

“He knows you’re grateful -
-
and distracted,” Austin said, trying to reassure me. “Truth is, I already knew I was going to come to you. Seems you made quiet an impression when you went to my house.”

I smiled slightly as I took a few more sips of my soup, then something struck me as odd. “Austin, why didn’t you tell me Madison could be Willow’s twin? Your soul mate thought she was her.”

He smiled
faintly
as he reached for the cup of coffee Nana had brought him. “Sometimes I think I travel too much.” He took a sip of his coffee. “Landen didn’t bring Willow home until late August. I was gone, so I wasn’t at their celebration, and when Willow was in trouble and we were searching for her in Esterious, we were looking for a different body, the one her soul was trapped in, so I didn’t know what she looked like then either.”

I almost choked on my soup. Once I coughed my way through that, I glanced from Nana to Evan to see if that struck them as odd, which it didn’t. Aden walked in at that moment. He sat our bags down along the kitchen wall, then nodded before he walked toward to the living room.

“A different body.” I said locking eyes with Austin.

He nodded and smiled. “I told you they were powerful. They can move their soul to any place into anyone. They do that to help, but it didn’t work out the way they wanted to then. Actually, it was a near tragedy. After that was over, I headed out to check on the people I had led to different dimensions. I didn’t see Willow face to face until three days ago, and when I did, at first I thought somehow you guys were there.” Regret washed over his face. “I could tell Landen’s attention was divided. He listened to me but then told me he had to go. We said our goodbyes, and as I walked away he came out of the house again and asked a few more questions about you guys, what you could do, why I thought we needed to meet. It was obvious he was terrified to me
e
t you, and honestly I didn’t know how he would react if I told him Madison looked like Willow. Right when I went to tell him, he saw his brother Brady leaving the dimension and told me he had to figure out what was going on and that he would catch up with me in a few days.”

“Was he terrified to meet us because of the darkness we are?” I asked, only to get a dirty look from both Nana and Evan.

“Sorry,” I mumbled as I took another sip of my soup. I knew as soon as it was gone that I would be free to talk to Draven, and from the sound of the aggressive guitar, I knew he wasn’t working out anything; he was blowing off steam,
rage
.

Austin shook his head no. “He was worried that he would bring darkness to you. He said that whatever you were fighting could not be as dark as what he was, and he didn’t want to make you
r
life worse, or come here and bring what he was fighting to this world.”

“Did you tell him everything, though? How could it be worse?”

“Well, in my defense, I told him everything I
knew then. I didn’t know about The R
ealm or any test Draven faced.”

At that moment, Evan pushed his stool back. “I’m going to get some rest. Wake me if something happens.”

I looked down at my empty bowl. I may have struggled with who Draven had become, but it would be easy for me to say that Evan had the hardest time with all of this. He was terrified for his son, and he would do anything to take his place.

I looked up at Nana. “Did I eat enough?”

“Not really, but there is no sense in making you wait any longer; that sounds aggressive,” she said as she glanced at the ceiling.

I could tell it bothered Austin that Evan was upset by what he said. “You didn’t say anything wrong. We’re just on edge.”

“I know. I should have come back sooner,” he said, looking down at his coffee.

“It wouldn't have stopped it. Chara ma
y be a beautiful place, but The R
ealm would have still pulled him in, tested him.”

“Maybe so, but if I had come back, he would have opened his eyes in Chara, not a place that was full of shadows and darkness.”

“You know,” I said, glancing at Nana and then back to him. “We like it. The reason we fought about going before was because we were afraid we wouldn't be able to help our shadows there. Because you waited, because fate led you on a different path, we have saved over ten thousand souls. Don’t
regret that for second. W
e don’t.”

A smiled beamed across Austin’s
face, and across Nana’s.

“Spoken like a true citizen of Chara,” he said as his eyes met mine.

I pushed back from the counter as I mumbled, “Hopefully.”

As I walked by the living room, I glanced in and saw Winston gaming and Aden trying to get his attention. I wanted to avoid Winston at every cost; he was
less than happy with me in The R
ealm.

I ran up the stairs and down the hall. When I reached the studio, I found Draven at the window, playing as he stared at my house. I hesitated for a second, then walked over and tapped him on the shoulder. He finished the chord he was playing, then let his hands rest, but he didn’t look at me.

“Either I have gotten really bad at playing, or your dad is mad at me,” he said as he stared out the window. I followed his gaze to see that the lights in my house remained off.

“He’s been keeping his distance. I think he’s doing that so we would be ready to leave now.”

Draven furrowed his eyebrows. “Something doesn’t seem right.”

“What is right, Draven? It’s time for us to go.”

As he looked down at me, his eyes expanded to black instantly. I didn’t hide anything. I let him see everything. I wanted him to know what I knew now. I wanted him to know that even though I had a past with Silas that was so
heart wrenching
it would cause any sane girl to question her hear
t today, I didn’t question mine.
I fe
ll for him. I died for him.
I would do it again.

A few moments later, his eyes returned to the alluring green I loved so much. “Why would your mom say goodbye like that? Send Kara away?”

“Is that what you want to ask me? Talk to me about?”