Synergy (42 page)

“You look better,” Dane said, smiling slightly at Landen.

“Just y
our everyday brush with death. N
o big
deal,” Landen said in a dense
tone.

Dane and Clarissa broke eye contact with both Landen and Willow, and I braced myself for the moment when they’d tell them that they d
idn’t have a brush with death. T
hey died.

“What’s going on?” Willow asked as her eyes moved across them, clearly noticing that they weren’t acting like themselves.

“We
found your little friend. L
ooks like he lost his way,” Dane said, looking at Landen.

“Whatever, man,” Winston said, rolling his eyes and pulling free from them, then walking to Aden. When he got there, he received a slap on the back of the head from Aden.

“Quit being a tool,” Aden said through his teeth. “Where were you? Where’s everyone else?”

“Ask them,” Winston said, crossing his arms, refusing to answer.

“He was looking for his daddy,” Dane said with heavy disgust.

“Were you?” Willow said sarcastically, raising her eyebrows.

“You guys weren’t in Esterio
us.
I didn’t feel you there,” Landen said in a mystified tone. I admit I didn’t know him that well, but it was clear to me that he was using all of his insights as he tried to understand what h
ad happened while he was in The R
ealm.

“Bingo. T
his man gets a prize,” Winston said, only to get another slap on the back of the head, from Draven this time.

“Where were you?” Willow asked Dane and Clarissa. “I haven’t seen you in days.”

“Infante,” Clariss
a answered, “looking into this E
scort thing.”

“That’s not where you found me,” Winston said as he dodged another smack from Aden. “Where were we, chaps? Tell them, why don’t you?”

“A guy
named Silas brought him to us. T
old us that you knew him, that he needed to be with you,” Clarissa answered.

My stomach fell. If he was going to say it, he needed t
o say it; this was killing me.
I wasn’t ready to watch Landen and Willow fall apart again.

“He just walked up to you and said, ‘Here, take this kid’?” Willow asked
disbelievingly
.

“Something like that,” Clarissa said, unable to look Willow in the eye.

“Listen,” Dan
e said, “we have to get back. J
ust keep him under control.”

“Where are you going?” Landen asked. “Mom’s cooking dinner. Everyone’s going to be there. We need to relax, think things through.”

“They don’t know how to rest in peace,” Winston said as a wicked grin came across his face.

“What is going on?” Willow asked, looking from Winston to Dane and Clarissa.

“Nothing,” Dane promised. “We’re not trying to be rude – not at all. We’ve met
a few people who understand The R
ealm, and we need time t
o work through it. We’re fine.
I swear
.”

“We’ll work through it with you,” Willow said in a concerned tone.

“I know you will,
but if I don’t understand it enough to explain what I know simply to you, then I need more time,” Dane said, looking down at Willow, pleading for space with his eyes.

“Alright. Space. I
t’s yours,” Willow mumbled.

“Where are you staying so I can find you?” Landen asked.

“New Orleans. O
ne of Austin’s houses,” Dane answered.

“Is that where you’ve been?” Willow asked.

“Spent a lot of time in the French Quarter,” Clarissa said as she tried to smile
.

Dane reached his arm around Clarissa. “We’re going to get back.”

They turned to leave, but Clarissa hesitated, then looked over her shoulder. “Landen, tell Mom I love her. Tell Dad, too...I love all of you.”

Landen’s eyes grew wide as he saw her tears. He stepped forward, but she held her ha
nd out t
o stop him. “I’m fine. I swear
. I’m fine.
I just don’t t
ell you that I love you enough,
and I want you to know that I’ve always felt like the luckiest girl in the world. I hav
e the best family in the world. T
he best brothers.”

She leaned against Dane, and he pulled her close as they disappeared into the glow.

Landen turned around and grabbed Winston by the back of the arm. Draven took his other arm, then they led him on through the string. I was staring at Willow, waiting for her to piece it all together. “Tell her,” Madison whispered to me, then she and Aden walked forward, leaving me in the back with Willow.
Thanks guys. No worries. I got this. Not. Madison was the one that could gauge auras
,
not me. Draven had formed a bond with her. Not me. Yet, I was the one left to explain Silas. Great.

After a second or two, Willow glanced at me. “Why would Silas take Winsto
n to them, and not us? Not you. N
ot Chara?”

I shrugged my shoulders, finding no words to explain to her what Landen’s sister and her best friend now were.
Dead.
“He’s unpredictable.”

“What are you not saying to me?” Willow asked.

Am I really that obvious? 
“I don’t know how to say it,” I mumbled.

“Try,” she said as she all but stopped.

I gritted my teeth and balled my fist. Madison looked over her shoulder and raised her eyebrows, telling me to spill it.

“Silas. Silas
isn’t real,” I finally said.

“He looked real to me,” Willow argued.

I rubbed my hands across my face, then let out a deep b
reath. “I mean, he’s not alive, but he’s not dead. H
e’s undead.”

“What?!” Willow whispered harshly.

“He’s, like, immortal. L
ike some kind of archangel or something. He can appear and disappear like a ghost, but there are some places he doesn’t go – or can’t go. He
spends a lot of his time in The Realm. A
lot of t
ime killing E
scorts.”

“So he’s a ghost,” Willow said, clearly not finding that very shocking. I was starting to think that they’d handle this better than I thought.

I moved my head from side to
side. “No. My dad is a ghost
and he’s not flesh; he’s like Dra
ven’s mom. Silas is different;
he’s made of flesh. I don’t know wh
at to call him besides ‘undead.’
”

“I still don’t understand why he would take Winston to them.”

I grimaced.
“I don’t know. I know that he made a promise to Winston’s mom, to Monroe, that he would pro
tect them, not let The Realm take them. T
heir dad take them.”

“When did he do that?”

“I don’t know. A
fter Monroe was born. Silas is, like, thousands of years old. That’s my problem: he remembers who I was before, and apparently I was what he was: undead.”

“But you’re not dead now,” Willow said, trying to understand me.

“What is dead anyway? No one is ever really de
ad.
Silas has this whole story. All these unspoken rules. A
pparently, when I was
what he was, I tried to change E
scorts, stop the source of darkness, an
d...” I said, glancing
at Draven, “...it only worked with Draven. He fel
l in love with me and changed,
but when he changed, he became dead, sent into another life. Ac
cording to Silas, I followed Draven
to protect him, and the only way I could do that was to become alive – not undead – and to change again, I must die. There’s more to it, but that’s the gist,” I explained, not wanting to tell her that she was the one that had prepared me for this in another life. I knew she needed rest, a chance to take a breath before she took in all that I knew.

“Is he dangerous, Charlie?”

I moved my head from side to side. “No. If I had to guess, I’d say he’s helping your friends. I’m sure he’s recounting where we are with the battle of light and darkness.”

“Why wouldn’t he share it with us?” Willow asked.

I couldn’t figure out how,
with all senses she had, she hadn’t figured this out yet; that told me that she wasn't ready to hear it, and I wasn’t going to lay it all out for her.

“I’m sure he will. When he’s ready. W
hen he thinks you’re ready.”

We had reached Chara at this point, and I couldn’t be more eager to end this conversation.

Willow nodded for me to step through the passage. Draven was waiting on me on the other side.

Even though I had been to Chara almost every day through seeing, standing in the presence of this peace in the flesh was near numbing.

The sun was setting, which made the lush green fields even more breathtaking. Draven leaned down and gently kissed my lips. This was our victory, even if it only lasted a few hours; we had finally reached the place we’d dreamed about for so long.

“That book isn’t at my house. I looked,” he said quietly to me.

“It’
s at mine, under Madison’s bed. A
t least that’s where I left it.”

He glanced to where Madison was. Preston and Libby, Willow’s baby sister, had met us in the field. Draven’s pupils expanded. “Still there,” he mumbled.

I stood at his side, waiting for it to appear in his hand. I expected it to happen instantly, but it didn’t. I guess he was mak
ing sure everything was legit
at my house. I was kinda sad. I wanted to go, but I knew my mom had told me not to return until she told me to. Draven knew that, too. I guess that’s why he was going before I had the chance.

Brady pulled up in a Jeep. T
hey had all of our bags loaded before Draven’s eyes returned to green and the black book appeared in his hand. Something was wrong; I could feel it. I couldn't get him to look at me. He put his hand on the small of my back and urged me into the back of the Jeep.

Five minutes. I was able to enjoy the bliss of Chara for all of five minutes. Now, I felt dread. I felt like I was in trouble. Like I was still standing in The Realm. In that wicked forest.

Draven kept his stare with the open fields, refusing to look at any of us. Madison and Aden noticed instantly, but Draven wasn’t letting any of us see him at the moment.
This was not good, not good at all.

I nodded along as Landen and Brady talked about Chara and their family, whom we were about to meet. They took us to Willow’s house. August was on the front porch with a host of other people. Draven held my hand as we walked up the steps. He handed the book to August and whispered something to him. August’s eyes grew concerned, then he introduced us to everyone: Willow’s parents, Landen’s, their grandparents,
and Brady’s
soul mate. I could barely grasp the names; I was too focused on the way Draven was acting.

August nodded for me and Draven to follow him up the stairs. He opened the door to the second room. “Take all the time you need,” August said to us, then he left the room.

Draven let our bags fall to the floor as he closed the door.

“Why do we need time, Draven?” I asked as I glanced around at the guest bedroom we were in
,
to the balcony doors, which were slightly ajar.

He turned around slowly and urged me to sit on the bed. He then knelt down in front of me and looked at up at me with sorrow in his eyes.

“I love you, Charlie.”

“Love you,” I said as a sick feeling came to me.

“Do you remember how I told you when we were just kids that I would always take care of you? That together we could figure anything out? That we were our own family?”

“Draven,” I said as I clenched my hands on the edge of the bed. He was terrifying me. I didn’t see a goodbye in his eyes, but I saw sorrow; I saw him bracing himself for my heart to break.

He reached gently to hold the side of my face. “She’s missing.”

“Who?!”

“Your mom,” Draven said as he swallowed hard.

“What? How? How do you know that? You were only there for a few minutes.
We left, like, yesterday.
”

“You know I was there longer than that, baby. Nana was at your house with the police. Your mom hasn't been seen in seventy-two hours.”

“I
saw her two days ago, Draven. S
he saw her way to me.”

“
You
saw her; no one else has. Charlie...your dad isn’t at the house either.”

“Then he’s eithe
r looking for her or with her. H
e’s always with her.”