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“Tell me how you know,” Marc said, putting his hands on Landen’s shoulder. He was so angry and scared, his whole face was red.

“She doesn’t feel the same...they all feel the same; there’s nothing making them individuals,” Landen explained, trying to calm Marc - but Marc pushed away, not allowing Landen to calm him.

“I told you to save that,” Marc said, harshly covering his face and falling to his knees, trying to calm his own emotions.

I sat down in the center of the string and closed my eyes, blocking out the screams and dark images my mind wanted to create for me. I wanted to assure myself that they weren’t there. I knew if they were in distress that I’d feel the pull of the string, that they’d appear before me as an image - and we’d find a way through the wall. I felt nothing, though; just an emptiness. I could barely feel the people of Esterious. I opened my eyes to find the four of them staring at me.

“Nothing,” I said to them.

“Landen, can you find another path? Let’s make sure they’re OK,” Dane said as he heard his name echoed by Clarissa’s voice.

Landen nodded and reached for my hand to pull me up. We walked in the opposite direction, and when the passages to Esteroious ended, another gray wall was in front of us. The devastation coming from all of us was almost too much to bear in the vibration of string. This wall was silent; there was no emotion behind it. At that moment, it was as if the only dimension that existed was the dark one of Esterious.

“My little brother is trapped on the other side of that wall with people I don’t even know – and you think I’m fine with that?” Drake said, looking over Landen’s shoulder.

“Trust me – he’s better off there than he ever was here,” Marc yelled in Drake’s direction.

The current in the string began to rush around us, and the roar of the energy mocked an evil laugh. We all stood frozen, listening to it.

“This is what it wants,” I whispered. “It wants us to be angry and scared; divided. August was right: you guys have to call a truce for now,” I said, looking from Drake to Marc.

I felt their tension leave and calm come – and at that moment, the screams of our family grew louder. “See, when you grow calm – it gives you another reason to be angry,” I said.

Landen stepped away from Drake and put his arm around me. “Come on, we need to leave here before someone really gets hurt,” he said over his shoulder as he guided us back to our passage.

Drake’s eyes looked over the embrace in which Landen had me, and his jaw locked; whatever he wanted to say or do, he suppressed.

Landen and I led them back to the passage of Drake’s room, but before we stepped through, our names were all screamed out from the voices of our family. A chill ran down my spine as Drake’s dark room came into view. We walked quickly back to Perodine’s study; we wanted her to assure us that we were right, that dark illusions were toying with us.

When we reached the study, we saw the silent girl that had shadowed Perodine comforting Beth on the couch. August was at her side, rubbing her back. Perodine was at the table, lost in her work. Alamos was nowhere to be seen.

“Are they OK? Tell me he’s OK,” Beth said, walking to Drake. Her eyes searched over his face, which held only sympathy for her. “Marc?” Beth said, moving to him - only to find Marc reflecting the same sympathy that Drake had. “Willow? Landen? Someone answer me,” she said, walking to me and Landen.

“There’s a wall, a gray wall; we can’t reach them, but we’re more than sure that the screams are an illusion,” Landen said, looking across the room at Perodine. I followed his stare to see Perodine nodding in agreement.

Beth covered her mouth and held back a scream she wanted so desperately to let out; she then walked slowly to the couch, fell into it, and looked up at Marc. “Who did you leave him with? Is he with Chrispin?” she asked as grief for Preston overcame her.

“We left all of them with Pelhan,” Marc said, walking to the cart of food that was in the room.

“So, he’s with your father?” Beth said as relief came over her.

Drake looked at Beth, astonished by what he'd heard before he looked at Marc. Marc nodded and reached for a towel to make himself an ice pack for his burns. Drake looked at me for understanding.

“No one ever really dies,” I said, quietly letting go of Landen and walking to sit on one of the couches. I looked deep in Drake’s eyes as I passed him; some of the pain I always saw there seemed to melt away. I assumed he was forgiving himself for taking Livingston’s life.

Landen went to Marc; he wanted to heal his burns. Marc, though, just turned his back as he saw Landen approaching. “Why won’t you listen to me? You need to save that,” he said, holding the ice pack in his hands.

“It’s a small wound. Let me take the pain away,” Landen argued.

“I don’t care how big or small it is – what’s going to happen when something big happens and you don’t have the energy to heal it because you’ve wasted it on this small stuff?” Marc said.

Feeling Marc’s solid intent of avoiding him, Landen abruptly turned Marc’s shoulder and grasped his hands. The light was immediate; Marc didn’t have the chance to pull away before Landen had healed him. “You being hurt makes you weak; if you’re weak, how are you going to protect me?” Landen said as he released Marc’s hand.

Marc looked down at his healed hand, then up to Landen. “I know I’m unbearable; I just didn’t expect all of this,” he said, looking around the room.

I looked at August. His eyes were lost somewhere in the distance; I felt him struggling to calm himself. He hadn’t really had the chance to say goodbye to Nyla, to any of them.

“Olivia dreamed of a wall, a stone wall, a gray wall of screams, and gray clouds floating just above the ground” I said, regretfully wishing she were there now.

Landen looked at me; I felt his regret. He not only wished we’d brought Olivia, he also wished Brady was with him. Brady always had a way of seeing through the chaos; Marc didn’t have his patience. I tuned my head from side to side, letting him know that we were fine, hoping that I was right. Landen looked at Marc, and I felt the two of them fighting the urge to find another passage to Pelhan’s world.

Dane took a seat next to me and let his arm stretch out behind me, trying to guard me with as much of his energy as he could. Drake’s eyes widened, then he looked across the room at Landen and shook his head in disbelief. He then sat down on the couch opposite me and Dane.

“So that wall
will
fall?” Landen asked.

Perodine nodded. “I assume it is there so you will have no choice but to face the synodic cycle. He now has the three of you in the same room. In just a matter of hours, he will consume either you,” her eyes moved to Drake, “or you, then move to overtake Willow.”

I saw Beth gasp, then her face turned white as a ghost. I moved in front of her to calm her; I knew she was near the point of fainting.

“Why?” she said in a cracked voice. “What did I do? Why are my children being served to the devil?” she said, putting her face in her hands.

No one had the nerve to try and answer her; instead, Marc looked at Drake, waiting for him to do something.

Drake turned his head away and stared at the flames in the fireplace. “Where’s Alamos?” he said in a low tone.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Perodine’s body freeze; the butterflies I’d felt before were back. “You did bring him?” she said under her breath.

I felt the butterflies in Perodine all but consume her. Landen looked at me, and I nodded. He then reached for Perodine’s hand and sent calm through her.

“It is going to take more energy than the two of you possess,” she whispered to Landen as she pulled her hand gently away from him.

Drake leaned back in his seat, and his elbow rested on the arm of the couch. His hand covered his flawless profile as his dark, mesmerizing eyes carefully studied Perodine. He tilted his head slightly, then the corners of his perfect lips turned into a curious grin. “I can’t recall ever seeing you and Alamos together,” he said. Then his eyes moved to me and he said, “Well, once - but not beyond that.”

Drake finished looking back to Perodine. Beth looked at Drake, then to me, then she slowly turned to look at Perodine. You didn’t need the insight of emotion to sense that Perodine was falling apart on the inside. Dane let his arm fall from around me, and I leaned back into him, hiding from whatever was going to happen when Alamos joined us. Drake’s eyes moved to us, his jaw tightened, then he then looked at Landen. “You’re proving to have more willpower than me,” he said. “I would have divided the two of them long ago,” he finished, moving his eyes back to Dane.

Landen rolled his eyes, finding Drake’s words childish. “I know without a doubt that Dane’s soul belongs to my sister Clarissa – just as I know that Willow’s belongs to me. Dane’s sun is water; the closer he is to her, the better,” he said in a casual tone.

As he heard Landen’s words, Drake’s eyes turned a shade darker. “You’d think that she’d only need you; that if you were her soulmate, you’d be able to satisfy her needs without the help of another man,” he said as his eyes stared through Dane.

Marc began to rush at Drake, but Landen blocked his way. August stood, prepared to block Drake, but Drake didn’t move - he just smiled impishly.

“Why are the two of you determined to give this darkness the anger it needs?” August said, looking back and forth between Marc and Drake.

“I’m not angry; it just doesn’t make any sense to me,” Drake said, moving his hand to cover his flawless grin.

Landen stood in front of Marc and stared at Drake. “I don’t care who I have to ask to protect her – I love her that much. If the time comes that I need you – if I have to watch her in your arms just to assure myself she’s safe – then I’ll endure it; in fact, I’d even beg you to do so...if you call that willpower, then I’d say that I do have more than you,” he said.

I heard the truth in every single one of Landen’s words.”
I love you,”
I thought.

Landen smiled as he heard my thoughts, then walked behind the couch I was sitting on and leaned over. I looked up, and he kissed my lips softly and thought, “
I love you.”
He then glanced at Drake and patted Dane on the shoulder and moved him closer to me before returning to the table where Perodine stood. I looked across the room at Drake to find him staring at me with eyes that were engulfed in pain.

Drake turned to stare at the flames. The silent girl at Beth’s side stood; I could feel her intent of preparing dinner for us. I looked to the windows behind us; the sun was beginning to fall, signifying that the hour that Venus would test me was moving closer - faster than I thought.

“August, maybe you should sleep again to see if you dream of Nyla,” Landen said.

August looked up from Drake and nodded. Beth stood, making room for August to lie down. When he stretched out, I could feel his emotions of worry and anxiety hindering him from falling asleep. I moved away from Dane and sat on the floor beside August, and he reached his hand out for mine. Landen started to make his way to us, but I shook my head no.