Synergy (2 page)

“Those that are here?” I asked hoarsely. “You mean Draven? Your brothers?”

“And Britain,” she said tearfully.

“No one is going to hurt me. I promise.”

Tears streamed down her face as she moved her head from side to side.

“Monroe, listen. I trust your insight. I believe you, and if you tell me that we need to go, right now – right here – I’ll go to Chara and knock on every door and find someone to come for us. Is that what you want me to do?”

She grimaced.
“No. T
hey’re coming.”

“Who’s coming, M
onroe? Willow and Landen, more E
scorts - or both?”

“Everyone,” she said as she buried her face in her hands.

As terrifying as this moment was, I felt my heart flutter with the promise that meeting Willow and Landen would finally be fulfilled.

“Then we’ll be fine. List
en, you’re the boss. You say go. We go. You say wait. W
e wait. I won’t let your
father or anyone else hurt you. D
o you understand me?”

She didn’t answer me. I reached my arm around her and rocked her from side to side. A moment later, Madison came out of the bathroom and looked at me like I was insane.

“What happened?” she asked, kneeling in front of Monroe.

“Did you not notice she was sweating, tossing, and turning when you got in the shower?”

“No, she was sleeping safe and sound,” Madison said, sure of herself.

I was relieved that whatever dream she had or torture she went through didn’t last that long, but at the same time I wasn’t as confident as my words were. Something told me that it took a lot to cause fear in Monroe, and the amount of fear I saw in her eyes would bring a chill to the bravest soul. Knowing Monroe, we still had some time before this happened, maybe enough time to stop it.

I decided then to find a way to talk to Silas that day. It was easy for me to see that he and Monroe had some kind of bond; he’d promised to protect her, and Monroe had pretty much told me with the color of purple that she trusted and loved him.

“Did she dream about ash, too?” Madison asked.

“No, Daddy Dearest.”

“Fantastic,” Madison mumbled. “Come on, girly, let’s get you some water, breakfast.”

Monroe stood and went with Madison down the steps. Though Monroe never spoke to Madison -
-
or anyone else, for that matter -
-
it was easy to see that Monroe liked Madison, especially Madison’s sarcasm. Madison made it a goal to make her smile at least once a day.

I gathered my running clothes from the closet, then locked myself in the bathroom. I braced myself on the counter as I stared into my dark eyes. I told myself to have no fear, to not open that door for e
vil to walk through. I was safe. I was strong. N
o one was going to hurt me
,
or the ones I loved.

Downstairs, I found Kara making pancakes for breakfast. Monroe was at the table; she looked calmer, but still terrified.

“Where’s Madison?” I asked.

“Breakfast date,” Kara said, looking over me. “How did you sleep?”

“Better than Monroe, apparently,” I said as I grabbed my bag and keys.

“That’s not saying much,” Kara mumbled. “You want to eat first?”

“No. I don’t want to run on a full stomach.”

Oddly, she didn’t argue with me.

I put my hand on Monroe’s shoulder. “I’ll be back in just a little bit.”

“We won’t be here,” Kara said. “She has testing today at the school, and remember, I’m staying in
the
city this weekend. The kitchen is stocked, but I’d really rather you guys stay at Nana’s.”

“Too crowded over there. We’ll be fine here,” I said, squeezing Monroe’s shoulder. “Call me when you’re done, and we’ll plan something fun. We have the house all to ourselves this weekend,” I said to Monroe.

She reached up for my hand, and with her touch I saw crows - hundreds of them - circling in the air. I felt danger, my stomach tightened, and escape was all I wanted. When Monroe’s hand fell from mine, the images left, along with the fear.

“OK,” I said as I le
t out a gasp. “Run from birds. Got it.
” I said, trying to sound confident.

Her eyes grew sad as she looked down. I knew she didn’t trust me to do that, either that or she didn’t think it was possible.

“See you in a bit,” I murmured. “Have fun with your friends this weekend,” I said to Kara.

I was really glad she was staying at the apartme
nt in New York with our mom this
weekend. I wasn’t sure if Mom was going to be there or not, but Kara’s friends from college were in town, and I wanted Kara to have a
break from worrying about me.
She’d been on edge for weeks; it seemed like she was always preparing to tell me goodbye for good. Mom had reassured her that no matter where I went, or for how long, that I could see my way to them, that I’d never really be gone, but that offered little comfort to my big sister.

The gene or whatever light Mom was had skipped Kara, or least manifested in other ways. I told Kara that she could see; she just saw worlds that no one else could when she created her stories. I knew if Kara had one wish, it would be that my burden was hers, and that made me sad. I didn’t want anyone to worry about me because all that did was make me worry more. I needed people to be confident around me, to tell me that I could conquer whatever was in my path. I didn’t have time to
worry about what was coming.
I had to figure out how to beat it.

In the garage, I found the silence. The whispers weren’t absent again; they just seemed to have broader boundaries. I thought maybe it was my dad’s spirit that was keeping them at bay around my house, though I didn’t understand why it would have changed recently.

When I reached the end of my driveway, I heard the whispers begin; I’d reached the end of whatever invisible boundary they had. I put the car in park, prepared to help a few of them before I drove. When I did that in the past, they were always more agreeable, more patient with me.

Today was different, though. I didn’t hear my name; at least, I didn’t think I did. It sounded like there were millions of them; the sound was a harsh, violent hiss. It was so loud that I covered my ears and squinted my eyes closed. The pain was agonizing. It felt like my eardrums were going to burst from the powerful vibration of the hiss. The whispers weren’t angry; it was more like a warning, like they were trying to tell me to stay at my home, but I didn’t care f
or anyone telling me what to do. E
specially shadows. Just as
I went to say, “Show yourself,”
they stopped - and just as they stopped, an exploding white light consumed everything around me.

Chapter Two

My heart was beating so violently that my chest hurt. As I shielded my eyes with my hands, I felt a peaceful bliss come over me; it was so calm that it nearly stopped my heart. It was as if every shadow had been helped at once and the light that they simultaneously became was so vibrant that it was blinding. It diminished just as quickly as it appeared. I focused on the bliss that I thought I felt, but it faded with the light as well. I tried to think if I’d thought or done something differently than I normally had done, but there was nothing.

I glanced from side to side, wondering if Silas was near, if perhaps the thought that I had to speak to him today had somehow reached him and he was lurking in the shadows, playing the part of the silent hero.

Nothing. Not even a sign of a butterfly in the air. A horrid feeling of foreboding settled in my gut, telling me to turn back, but I could
n
’t bring myself to listen to it.

I furrowed my eyebrows as I put the car in drive and took in
a
deep breath. I scanned the side of the road as I drove to Wesley’s to see if I saw a shadow, a butterfly, an image of Silas standing in the distance, but nothing was there. I was having a hard time shaking this odd feeling I felt...it was like it was the calm before the storm, the illusion that all was well. My eyes could find no reason to be afraid, but my body and soul were screaming at me to be aware. I had that feeling often, usually when I w
as just feet from Bianca in The R
ealm, when I thought that I finally had her, that I would stop this demon
,
that collected broken hearts
,
for good. 

Every time I thought I had Bianca in my grip, she’d either fake her death or simply vanish into thin air. I had to find a way to beat her, to end her.

As I pulled onto Wesley’s street, I saw something that seemed to irritate me for ever
y reason and no reason: Aden’s H
ummer. He jogged with us every morning, too. He claimed he needed the exercise, but I knew that was just a cover. Twins can never keep secrets from each other long, and Aden knew about Silas. He knew that he wasn’t just some guy that had helped me and Monroe that one night; he knew that Silas loved me, that he wanted to kill Draven, and he made it a point to be with me on this jog simply because he knew that Madison wouldn’t come, that ideally this would be the one time that I wasn’t with one of them. That if Silas were to show himself, it would be then.

Wesley was playing with his dog, Princess, who also jogged with us every morning in the front yard. Aden was on his phone, pacing next to Wesley.

Wesley smiled at me as I got out and clipped my phone to my running pants. I nodded for him to come, and he made a face, telling me that I was wrong, that I should wait on Aden to finish his call. So, I whistled at Princess, telling her to come; she did so eagerly. I grabbed her leash and took off in a sprint with her at my side, then glanced over my shoulder to see Wesley tapping Aden on the shoulder before he began to run to catch up with me.

“Feisty this morning, aren’t we?” Wesley asked when he caught up with me.

“Not a fan of being babysat, and I didn’t get much sleep. Bad dreams.”

“Ah...he loves you. I should be the one offended if you really do need to be protected,” he said, laughing. “Same nightmare?”

“Yep. Ash. L
ots of it.”

“I told you before: your dreams are you.”

“Explain that. Like, that’s how I see things in my life? Is that what you mean?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Kind of. For most people, yes
-
- but with what you can do, and the fact that you’re curious about your past lives, your mind is trying to give you what you want.”

“Not a warning; that’s reassuring. Monroe had a nightmare last nig
ht, too. M
ust be something in the air.”

“Well, I bet I can make you smile.”

I stopped my jog. “Is he here?”

Wesley waved for me to follow him. “No, but I bet it won’t be long now.”

“How are you so sure?”
I said as
I
picked up my jog again.

“I dreamed of him, and I keep seeing signs.”

“Signs? What do you mean signs?”

He nodded to a parked truck on the side of the street that had ‘Austin County’ on the tags. “I bet on this run, I’ll see his name at least three times.”

I looked at the tags on the truck again to see the last three numbers of the plate: 555. I swallowed nervously as I tried to balance my air as I jogged.

“Is that like a Chara thing? Seeing things like that?”

“It’s like a human thing,” he said, grinning at me. “Have you ever thought of someone you hadn’t seen in a long time, and then you start seeing things that remind you of them -
-
then they just show up?”

“Um
. N
o,” I said, furrowing my eyebrows. “But I keep seeing the same numbers over and over again, fives.”

“My mother always told me the easie
st and fastest way for our spirit
guides to talk to us was through numbers. If I remember correctly, five is a good one; change, I think.”

“So I guess it’s a good thing those plates had 5 on them, too?” I said, trying to smile.

“I’d say so. Get ready, Chara -
-
Charlie’s coming home!” Wesley yelled, looking at the sky before grinning at me.

“Tell me this,” I said, trying to measure my breath, “if you didn’t know me, how would you feel about bringing people that can do what we can do to your home? Should I even want this? Is it fair to your world?”

“Ah...Charlie, Charlie, Charlie. Yes, you have to understand that you cannot hurt my world.”

“But why is that myth in place then? The one that says the world will reject you, that you’ll get sick and die if you’re not loved by someone?”

“Look, myths only have the power that
you give them. We bring families
from other dimensions to Chara all the time. I think that idea, myth, is there just to back up the foundation of the
world. T
hat
it’s built by soul mates. Besides, even if it is true, I kinda see you like the little sister I never had - and you know Austin loves you guys.”