Vital (21 page)

Marc laughed out loud. “I bet that was fun to explain.”

Landen grinned and as he imagined it happening. “He said they weren’t bothered by it at all, that they’re unique and can see all around you - your past.” Landen looked at me. “He also said they can see the dead, hear the whispers of the dammed behind the shadows of the world. They’re trying to redeem all of those that are lost, and they’ve managed to do that for some time, but now...now someone’s made a move to hurt one of them. Austin feels that they need to come here, that we can help them.” Landen crossed his arms as he tried to understand everything Austin had told him. “He said they can leave their bodies, that two of them have already come here looking for him when we were facing Mercury. They met Preston, at least that’s what his soul mate told him when he came home today. He fears that whatever was going on when he left has gotten worse. He doesn’t understand how they came here; he just knows that his soul mate wouldn’t make up such a wild story; she described them perfectly to him.”

“What?” I asked. My heart began to race as I glanced in Preston’s direction.

“Yeah,” Landen said. “Austin said it’s as if the universe itself has kept him from talking to me about it, that the fact that he’d managed to catch up with me now must mean it’s finally time for us to meet.”

“They redeem the damned? Souls that are already dead?” Marc asked. Landen nodded. “And you and Willow are trying to save the living damned.”

Everyone looked at Marc, whose revelation sent a chill down my spine. Landen nodded to confirm.

“Well...that could be good,” Marc said, trying to hold a calm, unconcerned expression.

“Or bad,” Landen mumbled as his eyes moved back to Preston and Libby playing in the yard.

“What did you say to Austin?” I asked.

“I told him I wasn’t sure how safe they’d be here if they weren’t brought by someone that loved them. He told me he loved them, that at this point they were like family to him.”

“So what’s he going to do? What are we going to do? When do we meet them?”

Landen’s eyes begged me to exercise patience. “Austin was going to try and convince them to come here. He wanted me to go with them. They have this wild idea that if they come here, they’ll bring their demons.”

“But they were already here?” I said as I fought with my racing thoughts.

“Out of body,” Landen said. “The two girls. They all have a different point of view on leaving. Austin said they just want to talk to one of us before they come, make sure we know what’s in their past, all that they’ve seen.”

“It can’t be any darker than what we’ve seen,” I muttered.

“Right. I told him I was in the middle of whatever this trial was and to try and bring them here one way or another. If they didn’t want to come, then I’d find a way to meet them somewhere.”

“Why not there? Why can’t we just go to them, like now? You said someone came after them - they could be in danger!” I argued.

Landen stepped closer to me so he could reach my hand; he was trying to send patience into me, but I was too uptight for it to work. “Austin spoke the truth to me when he told me about them, but for all I know, meeting them may be dangerous – not for us, for them. We have a demon chasing us, and they help the damned. I don’t want to make them a target, at least not until we gain more balance with what we’re facing. He said they were safe for now, at least as far as he knew. He’ll find me if something’s wrong. I told him everywhere to look for me, and I told him to find Brady or the others if I was too hard to reach. He agreed.”

Stella tilted her head as she looked up at Marc. “But...they save the dead, and we save the living...would that not make us invincible? Would that not allow us to undo everything the devil has done with them at our side?”

I raised my eyebrows and tried to hide my confident grin. Stella was right, and we all knew it.

Marc put his arm around Stella and pulled him to her. “You want me to go? I’ll go talk to them.”

Landen shook his head. “Not yet. Let’s figure out what trial we’re in. We’re sending our family to the safety of Pelhan’s world, so bringing more people to us doesn’t seem fair; without intending to, we’ll be telling them that their safety isn’t important.”

I moved my head from side to side. “It’s too weird. Olivia dreams about her mom telling her that if she finds a song, she’ll see – then that guy shows up here, telling you that he knows musicians that can see. Both the dream and the musicians are in the same dimension? We don’t need to take this lightly.”

“Wait,” Marc said, “they went back there to look for a song – but I thought the dream was about a tattoo?”

“We really need to work on our communication skills,” I said quietly.

“We’re fine. Austin said that he was gonna leave again later today; he had a few people to check in on, then he’d go to them and ask them to come here. If they tell him no, I’ll go that instant. I’d be more worried if Libby was telling me to find a song. We might just be ahead of ourselves with this,” Landen said, turning his ring on his finger.

You think we’ll need them for Mars?
I thought.

I think that whatever we did with our rings is causing us to see past where we’re at, which could be good or bad. Right now, we need to figure out why Preston is hiding Libby and Allie,
he thought before glancing at Marc. “Will you follow Brady for me? I’ll be right behind you with Libby.”

Marc nodded, then took Stella’s hand and led her to the front door. Landen went to find his coat, and I walked to the back porch, determined to get some kind of reassurance from Preston and Libby.

When they saw me take a seat on the back steps, they ran to my side. I reached my arms around them and pulled them to me, then looked down at Preston. “So I thought Libby was sad because I was going to be in Esterious, but I guess she was sad because you were coming?”

He nodded. “It’s OK, though, right Libby?”

Libby smiled up at me.

“Why do we have to go now? Can you tell me what’s gonna happen?” I asked casually.

“It’s safe now,” Preston said innocently.

“Safe everywhere?”

“In the string. We have to go before it’s not,” he answered.

“Are the storms coming back?” I asked.

Preston didn’t answer me. I just stared into his beautiful, innocent blue eyes and tried to understand how someone so young could see and know so much.

“So...I heard that when we were in the trial of Mercury, you met some new people - two girls,” I said to Preston.

His young eyes smiled wisely as he reached for my hand. In that instant, I was standing in the field to the left of my house and saw two girls racing up the hill toward my home. They halted; something gave them a reason not to walk further. I saw Preston approach them, and behind them I could see why they’d stopped. My house was surrounded by cars and people. Landen was on the balcony, looking into the distance. August was consoling him. I knew that at that moment, my body was lying in our bed but my soul was trapped in Evelyn: I was in Drake’s arms. Preston called one of the girl’s names – Charlie. She was the only one I could see clearly. The glaring sun had shadowed the other girl with her. Charlie was young, my age, and her hair was long and dark - just as dark as her eyes. She was small, barely five feet, and not even a hundred pounds.

I watched as Preston used his childlike charm on them, confusing her by knowing her name. I heard the urgency in her plea; she was eagerly trying to find a safe haven for the one she loved. She never said that, but I felt the familiar emotion in Preston’s memory. It seemed this girl and I shared the same determination to help the helpless, to do that at the side of the ones we loved.

She was looking for Austin or any traveler to come for them. Preston took her hand. As she stared into his eyes, her soul was moved from Chara and thrust into Esterious. I watched her confusion as she witnessed Donalt, with Drake at his side, give a speech to the members of Delen; though the memory was old, the hatred I had for Donalt was fresh. When the vision was over, Charlie questioned why Preston was here and not in Esterious. Preston took her hand once more and showed her an image that took my breath away.

Drake and Preston were in a room in the palace, dressing for formal night. I recognized the suit Drake had on: it was the one he wore on the night of the blue moon. Drake told Preston that if something went wrong that night, for him to find me and make sure I took him to Chara. Preston promised him that Marc would carry him home. The innocent prediction Preston made that night told Drake that I wouldn’t come to him, that I’d refuse him. The pain in his eyes brought tears to mine.

When that image was over, Charlie looked at Preston and asked about us, if I would be OK. Preston promised Charlie that I would be. Just before Charlie’s soul left Chara, Preston reached for her wrist. There, she had a mirror image of the tattoo that both Olivia and I had: an ankh with a star in the loop. Hers was fresh, though, still red and swollen. Preston traced the mark, healing it instantly. My shock and fear brought me back to the reality I was in: sitting on my back porch, looking into Preston’s eyes.

“Preston...should I go now? Does Charlie need me to save her?” I couldn’t figure out why my tattoo kept showing up on other girls, why Olivia and this girl now had it.

He looked at me like I was insane. “Charlie is a savior, like you; she doesn’t need to be saved.”

“I need to be saved, protected, Preston. I don’t want that girl to be afraid.”

“She’s not anymore. That moment of fear passed.”

“Has another one come?” I asked, not finding reassurance in his words.

“Charlie is the mirror image of you; her battles are endless, but so is her perseverance.”

“Who are the others? Are they all girls?”

He shook his head no once. “Three girls, four boys.”

“Monroe,” Libby said as she grinned.

“You know them?” I asked her.

“Not yet,” she said, smiling at me.

“How did you show her Esterious? How does that seeing thing work? Her soul must have moved three or four times through those images,” I asked, looking back at Preston.

“When you touch someone, you show them your memories, the reason you own those emotions. Charlie can do that without touching anyone. She can look at someone, ask a question, and see the answer.”

“She feels emotions?” I asked as alarm came through me. Could she be the one I was looking for – the one for Drake?

Both Libby and Preston laughed at the same time, shaking their heads. “No,” Preston finally said. “She isn’t the one that feels emotions like you.” Preston squeezed my hand, and instantly I was pulled into another memory. I saw Charlie in the arms of a stunningly attractive young man. His eyes were emerald green, laced in black, and his hair was dark and slightly long. He carried the image of a free creative spirit. Around them, I saw stage amps, guitars, and drums. He was standing behind her, playing the guitar she had around her as his hypnotic voice sang quietly into her ear. I could feel an undeniable passion and love – almost an addiction - between these two; there was no way this girl could love another. She was my mirror image, fighting for the damned that were dead, fighting to keep that stunning boy at her side. I only hoped she was faring better than I was, that there wasn’t another boy distracting her from her purpose. I hoped she didn’t have a Drake like I did.

“Alright then,” I muttered. “I suppose you’d tell me if I needed to go there, when I needed to go there.”

They both nodded.

Landen came out the back door at the same time my mom and dad pulled up.

Did he say anything?
Landen thought.

Yeah. There are seven people that Austin needs us to meet.”

Now?

Apparently not. I guess they’re safe and we’re not...you were right.

Landen furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to understand the connection these people had to us. He reached for Libby’s hand, then we climbed into the back of my Dad’s Jeep.

“Did Rose go, too?” I asked, wondering where she was.

“She said she wanted to stay here, to help in Esterious. Ashten already left with Aubrey. She didn’t want to be away from Allie,” my mom answered.

My dad pulled up alongside Ashten, Marc, and Brady’s Jeep.

The walk to Pelhan’s was really fast. The string was so calm, it just felt like you were passing through a tunnel. The stillness seemed to make my mother less uneasy about not being able to see. We let Preston and Libby walk but made sure they stayed in-between me and Landen.

Just before my green passages of Infante came into view, I felt something; it felt like I was being watched, almost shadowed. I looked over my shoulder, almost expecting to see Drake, but no one was there. I reached for Libby’s hand and started to walk faster, then all of a sudden I felt someone push me to the side, almost knocking me into the wall of the string. I shielded my energy around myself and Libby, and my panic caused Landen to instinctively put his shield of energy around all of us.

“Walk a bit faster, Jason,” Landen said in the calmest tone he could manage.

My father tightened his arm around my mother and began to walk briskly toward the yellow sparkles that led to Pelhan’s world. Normally, we gradually step into this world - but this time we charged through the gate.