Enflame (Book 6) ((Insight) Web of Hearts and Souls) (14 page)

“It was in the echo before Willow called us,” Evan commented. “I was so certain of it that when we gave a statement to the police, I mentioned it was a tentative engagement that the boys intended to keep, that they were backtracking to do so.”

“What police report?” Landen questioned before I could ask him what the hell an echo was.

“Charlie’s mom. Her office reported her missing because she wouldn’t answer the phone and missed a meeting. When they found their homes empty, they came to us because we are the emergency contact.”

“Is she missing?” I asked, refusing to eat more than a few strawberries.

Evan glanced at Nana as she sat on the other side of Landen. “Nicole called, talked to them. Told them she was going overseas a few weeks early. There is no cause for alarm in this dimension.”

“She is missing,” Landen stated as he pushed my food closer to me in a silent request for me to eat more.

“I know Nicole. She would do anything in her power to protect her daughter. Where she is now is a mystery.” Nana sighed. “I think this, along with the boys’ behavior, is meant to be Charlie’s distraction...you can’t let that happen.”

“If we cross before we are meant to, it will do more damage than I could explain,” Landen pressed.

Nana reached for Landen’s arm. “I agree, but you should not let that hinder you
—cause you to purposely not cross. I told Willow, and I’ll tell you. Willow learned everything too fast and forgot what was natural to her. That was your downfall, and you can ensure that they don’t make that mistake.”

“They can see us. They know what we’ve been through,” Landen countered.

“They see your actions, not your mind, and that is where Willow’s biggest battle was...is.”

Landen reached his arm around me, but I was
too distracted to meet his gaze. I was watching two ghostly children play on the floor with wooden trucks.

“We’ll guide, but I cannot tell them what to do.”

“Will your family unravel the box we gave the boys?” Evan asked.

That caused me to focus. I hated how messages kept coming from the past. What box?

“I have no doubt they are trying to help them understand it. But any code, message, scroll, or even the Zodiac will not pave their path. They will know inside what is right to do and when to do it.”

Landen glanced at Evan’s phone sitting on the table in front of him. It read ‘7 A.M.’ on the screen.

“I will not be strong enough by the A.M. eleventh hour, and I doubt the people here want to see us try again. Tonight at the eleventh hour I’ll try once more. If I fail, I’ll leave for Chara and tell Draven you are here and want him to play, but that is as far as I go until coincidence suggests otherwise. I don’t want them hurt, and I have no idea how much control Draven has at this point. Testing him is more than dangerous.”

Evan smirked. “I’ve been told that Drake has been coaching him and Draven has proven to be a fast learner.”

Landen tensed at the sound of Drake’s name. “What are you not saying?” Landen asked, noticing Evan’s dread.

Evan drew in a deep breath. “I have two sons.” He pushed back from the table, then stood. “I’m afra
id if I tell you all my worries it will hinder you from helping them both. So right now,” he glanced at his ghostly wife, “against my better judgment, I’m going to let you understand that on your own, let you get some rest.” He glanced at Nana. “Leave them your phone in case they need us.” He then left the room, only giving me a polite nod as he did so.

Nana stood and walked to the counter and pulled a cell phone out of her purse. She handed it to Landen as she nodded toward the narrow staircase in the corner of the kitchen.

“There is a rather dim room at the top of those stairs. I brought clothes for the kids in case they needed more with them. They should fit you both. Everything you should need is in those bags. We have some friends we are going to meet. If you need anything, call.”

Landen glanced around. “We have a home here we can go to. You don’t need to open your friends’ doors for us.”

Nana glanced at me. “Whatever would make you comfortable.” She squeezed Landen’s shoulder before she followed Evan out the back door.

The silence between us was cold,
empty. Even the ghosts felt it. Their silent gazes in our direction caused chills to spread across my skin.

“You don’t want to go to our home,” he stated finally.

“It’s hard to rest in a house you are not wanted in...it will be hard to rest here, too, so whatever,” I answered with little emotion, really just wanting to go home to Chara.

He stood and reached his hand down for me, pulling me to the narrow staircase. I hugged the wall as we climbed the stairs, avoiding walking into any of the dead. There was only one door at the top of the stairs. It opened into a quaint bedroom with a double bed, nightstand, and one other door that must have led to a bathroom. The one window in the room had the shutter pulled down and thick drapes on both sides that, along with the large tree outside, shadowed the room.

There was a ghost in there, too. A young woman sitting in a rocking chair, weaving yarn together. Landen nodded at her and she vanished. He waved his hand across the room and I felt and saw a light blue energy expand across the room, blocking out every emotion and intent but his. He’d put us in our own little bubble.

I wanted him to just go to sleep, for me to have the time to sit and think, figure out what was going on, but he had a far different intent than I did.

I didn’t want to talk, to say something I would regret, to learn something I’d rather not know. Instead, I walked to the bed and opened the bags Nana had set there to find a choice of clothes to change into, everything I would need for a long, hot bath. I started to pull them out, but he stopped me and gently turned me to face his piercing blue eyes. Inside the still dilated pupils I could see a lingering, distant flame.

“Let it out,” he whispered.

I glanced away from him. “I already did. In The Realm. I’m numb now...can you not feel that?”

“I was hoping I was wrong about that emotion,” he said gently.

“Why are you questioning your insight of emotion? What did they do to you?” I asked, daring to meet his sultry gaze.

His tantalizing eyes were drinking every part of me in. “Everything is intensified, including my own emotions. I just have to make sure that what I feel is really not just me.”

“Why would my numbness scare you?”

A weak smile dared to met the corners of his lips. “When I would hear my parents fight when I was younger, August would tell me not to worry when they fought, but worry when they stopped because that meant they didn’t care anymore. He said that my fears were foolish because all soul-mates cared...you’re not fighting with me.”

“Why do you want me to?” I asked with a hint of
a tremble in my voice.

“You have every right to. You followed me here
. We left every single person we care about behind. My past has been thrown into your face. I refuse to go home. I refuse to ask for help or help others unless I know I have to. You should have ripped me to shreds by now, but you haven’t.”

I reached for his waist, pulling him closer. He leaned his forehead against mine, bringing his fingertips to trace my bottom lip as if I were a forbidden fruit he could not touch.

“I’m trying to let you work through this.”

Both his hands raised to either side of my face, cradling me gently as his eyes painfully rained over my face.

“You always told me that you would not have the control if or when we found someone from my past—you basically promised me that you would be deadly. But, you’re not. You stood there last night, not one emotion.”

“Your insights are jacked up. It took everything I had to stand next to the two of you. I have no choice but to have control. I have to keep my emotions at bay. When you step away from this, you will see how this doesn’t matter right now. She doesn’t matter.”

His hands fell from me as he turned. “It does matter.” He glanced over his shoulder at me. “Last night, I watched you die over and over again in Drake’s arms as I stood next to her, as I was fooled by an image of you. I was a fool then, and right now you should be telling me that. I should be begging you to forgive me.”

I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around his waist. “
I feel you inside me. I know how hard you are being on yourself. I love you...unconditionally
.”

His hands squeezed my arms. “
I don’t deserve you
.”

“I don’t deserve you, so now we’re even.”

I let my arms fall and walked around him, setting the bags on the floor beside the bed before I pushed my shoes off and climbed into the bed.

“I have a million questions, and we both need sleep, so can we please go to our place?” I said as I lay down and caught his alluring stare, feeling the passion ignite within him.

He slowly climbed on the bed, hovering over my body, allowing me to feel the heat of his presence. His lips found mine and gently kissed them. The hum of his touch sent warm chills across my skin. I opened my eyes in protest when he stopped his kiss. His fingertips gently reached for my eyes, shutting them, then he lay next to me and let his humming hands caress me to sleep.

I was exhausted, but my mind was racing in every direction. It took a while for me to fall asleep, and it seemed like even longer before I found myself in our place, sitting on the bank of
a gentle river on a sunny hillside.

Quietly staring into nothing, I waited on him. When the day turned to night, instantly I glanced to my side to find him there.

“
I wonder if I could heal your eyes with my energy
.”

It was so odd
to see him in constant darkness. He’d always been my sun.

“
If we only join our energy to heal each other or make each other stronger, then it becomes a chore...that is not its purpose
.”

“
You can call it a chore. I’ll call it an excuse
.”

That made him grin, but I was already crawling closer to him, reaching my soul for his. He stopped me, holding my gaze.

“
I’m not going to ignore this. It will only make it worse. We are resting now, in our place. Talk to me
,” he pleaded.

“
I don’t know where to start. I told you I’m fine
.”

“
And you told me you hated that word. Ask me anything. Let’s get it all out. I can’t handle this wall I feel between us
.”

“
You feel a wall
?”

“
I feel you holding back
.”

“
Because I have to, you know that
.”

He tilted his head and offered a tender gaze. “
No, Willow, you can’t hold it in either. You have to learn to balance it. Control is not enough. Your emotions are a power—like a hand
,” he thought, lacing his fingertips through mine. “
You can caress, console, love, pull something closer, push it way, or shape it into a powerful punch...pushing that down will put us right back where we were before Mars
.”

My hungry gaze
took in his essence, everything about him; his eyes, which could be compassionate one minute, usually when looking at me, and fierce the next, usually when speaking to anyone else. His strong profile that seemed to clench when his anger surfaced. The mark of his dimples that beamed when he when he was happy. Everything about him was the same, yet different.

My mother had told me once that soul mates fall in love with the same person a thousand times. I think for the first time that random rambling made sense to me. I smiled shyly, knowing that advice came when I was no more than ten, on a night I was watching her get ready for an anniversary date with my dad. I couldn’t figure out why she was so nervous, so I questioned that emotion.

I was nervous right now. Butterflies were fluttering in my stomach, a warm tingle in my soul. I felt like time had stopped, that nothing else mattered right now.

“
You want questions
?”

He nodded once in response.

“
K...those images of fire that went into you—were they all of your lives, or the lives of a Phoenix
?
What is a Phoenix, anyway
?
Is it a bird
?
Is it a ghost
?
What is the deal with the boy Phoenix
?
Is that his real name
?
What is it with the ashes
?
Do you think Donalt could come back that way, too
?

Before he could think to answer, I went on. “
What is an echo
?
Why can I see ghosts now
?
Did you lie to Skylynn when you told her you knew where her lover was
?
What happens when this spell you are doing is undone
?
Why did you need her energy, and how did you use her energy before
?
I know Jupiter is expansion, so why are you not expanding? Why are you keeping us away from everyone else
?”

He sat up a little straighter to begin to answer me, but I went on. “
Exactly how many paranormal beings are we up against
?
What is the quote ‘other side’
?
Are you supposed to go through a veil, then a Realm, then reach the other side
?
Sounds more like a bad ‘Why did the chicken cross the road’ joke to me
.”

That made him laugh.

“
I think you need Monroe for this spell, but you can’t ask her because that would be crossing lines or something idiotic like that. Why does your skin hum? I like it. Don’t get me wrong. I thought it was Drake at first, inside your energy, so it scared me, but now I don’t know. Oh, and by the way, I think that Xavier guy is still around in Drake’s court. Oh, and how can you move so fast now? Are you even human anymore, or like some kind of crazy thing I’ll have to name for all of history to refer to
?”

He was doing everything in his power to hold in a grin. I shrugged my shoulders.

“
Sometimes when I’m nervous I talk a lot
.”

“
Why are you nervous now, and never before around me
?”

Shyly, I glanced away. “
Because I don’t want to talk right now. I want to make you better. I want to claim your energy as mine. Put a billboard across you that says ‘Taken.’ Because I feel the wall between us, too, and I want to break it down...you have become a mystery to me...one that I am aching to unravel
.”

He pulled me onto his lap. “
We are going to break down this wall with words, so that way when you do make me stronger, that wall won’t get in our way
.”

The anticipation of that moment to come made me want it all the more. I felt that desire in him, too, and that made every part of my soul tremble with anticipation.

“
A phoenix is a soul that is immortal in one form. At the end of its course, it burns its being into ashes and recreates itself—while it builds its strength, it lingers in the veil. Once it’s strong, and as long as it has all of its ashes, it can move through the reality it lived in, into the veil, The Realm, any dimension on this side. If its ashes are taken by anyone, they are at the command of that person; they must appear when called, and while they’re missing their ashes, they cannot be in reality for very long...the veil is where they reside. I was burned as a phoenix sixteen times...those lives came into me the other night. What I know of life before that is only what I learned, assumed, or was told
.”

He hesitated, wanting me to either take in what he said or let his words settle. Gently, his fingertips traced my arms, adding to my craving of wanting to fall into his soul.

“
Every soul is immortal and carries the essence of lives lived before. I may move faster, hum, or carry the trademark of a phoenix, but that is only because those lives are fresh in my mind. I have confidence that I have that power, so my mind produces it for me...it’s an instinct that I don’t have to focus on
.”

I leaned my head back to receive a tender kiss on my lips. “
I like it
,” I assured him, feeling his emotion of shame.

“
Skylynn had taken my ashes after my seventh burning. She wanted me to help her bend time, to undo a spell she had done in the past...it didn’t take me long to get them back from her
.”

I cringed, thinking of what he might have done to persuade her to give them back. In response, his arms tightened around me.

“
I was far more powerful than her, and she was very new to the veil...once I got them back, I decided that she could help us. When Phoenix and I would come across a point where we needed to get into The Realm, we would find her. Skylynn doesn’t trust many, so most of the time she would barter with us. Our relationship
—”

“
I don’t want to know
,” I thought, cutting in as I sat up.

He pulled me against him again. “
Meant nothing. She knows that. The promises she made you think I made last night were not about us. They were about me helping her bend time. I told her I could do nothing without you.”

His arms tightened around me. “
Phoenix always said that was a mistake. That I told her my weakness. He even thought she was purposely botching the spells to keep us around. She had...has abandonment issues
.”

“
Is that why she took his ashes
?”

“
I’m sure. That last spell brought me to human form, which meant it would be lifetimes before I could see her again and even if I did, there was no promise I would remember who she was
.”

“
What happened to your ashes, then
?
Does someone have a hold on you now
?” A sudden panic caused thunder to explode around us.

“
There were no ashes with my last death. My entire being vanished into thin air. Skylynn and Phoenix ensured that
.”

“
You have no doubt
?” I questioned.