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Perodine looked at me, then around the the room. “Right where you are standing, this has always been my personal parlor. My pregnancy was kept secret from everyone; I did not leave these two rooms for eight months. After your first breaths, I carried you to the water in the observatory and let the reflection of the stars bathe over you, giving you the strength and power you needed to stay alive, protected,” Perodine said in a shaky voice.

I was almost certain she was holding something back from us, but it seemed foolish to push her any further at the moment.

“Which language does it say we need a weapon in?” Landen questioned, leaning forward.

“Here,” Perodine said as she pointed to a Scorpion in the center of my chart. “Written in the symbols of Analess, next to Alyainna’s birth time, you see Jayda’s name and blood, and below that you see Willow’s birthday,” Perodine said.

“Alyainna, Jayda, and Willow,” August said. “And here it says that the three will be strong as the darkness overtakes the blood.”

“I’ve already had enough of blood,” I said in a low tone.

Silence filled the room, and I could feel the swarm of emotions: anxieties, fears, tension, and remorse; it was almost too much to bear.

“I think we should send for Drake,” August said into the room. We all looked at him as if he was a fool. “If his life is at risk, he deserves to know. If he’s consumed, his life will be over,” he explained.

“I assure you, Alamos watches the stars very closely on Drake’s behalf. I would even say that they knew this day was coming,” Perodine said as resentment rose in her.

“Listen to me, this darkness feeds on negativity; it’s counting on us being divided. It would be best if we all focused our anger in one direction,” August said.

“I don’t think we need the added stress of having him here,” Landen said under his breath, pulling me closer to him.

August shook his head from side to side. We could feel his disappointment in us; it hurt us, but we couldn’t help being human. Drake had been a source of turmoil - but according to all of this, he wasn’t even the bad guy. Landen’s reasoning was that everything that he’d done to us - the nightmares, taking my friends, Livingston’s life, and me just a few days ago - was done for Drake’s own selfish reasons, for him to have the power of my heart – the power to rule.

“Promise me if he comes to you, you’ll listen and work together; both of you loving Willow may be the one thing that saves all of your lives,” August said, looking at Landen.

Landen kissed the top of my head and wrapped his arms as tight as he could around me. I felt an anger rise inside of Marc and Dane; they couldn’t believe August’s request.

“I will
not
seek him – and I can’t tell you what I’ll do if he comes to us. I can only promise you that I’ll make the decisions that I feel will keep Willow safe,” Landen said.

August looked down at the table and nodded. He then tore the drawing that he’d made into shreds and began to arrange the birth charts and the books of Jayda and Samilya so he could study them for a deeper understanding.

Perodine moved her chair closer to August. “I would die in peace if we could just find a way for me to kill the evil bastard for you,” she said under her breath.

Suddenly, a violent force pushed through the room, moving the couch in front of the fireplace, then plowing into Perodine – knocking her into the wall behind her; I screamed as I watched her body fly across the room. Marc and Dane ran to the large painting of Perodine that hung over the fireplace and pulled it down - breaking it into pieces and throwing it into the fire. Landen, August, and I then rushed to Perodine. The force had caused her to lose consciousness, and blood was pouring from the back of her head; I could feel a terror inside of her as she fought against submitting to the pain.

“Do something, Landen!”I screamed, pulling her body onto my lap.

Landen’s hands were already on the back of her head, and I watched as he focused his energy. A white glow came from beneath his hands, and the blood vanished instantly. Perodine’s eyes opened, and she looked up at me and reached to wipe away the tears that were washing down my face. Landen focused his energy around me and Perodine, shielding us from another blow. Marc and Dane were pulling every painting off the walls and throwing them into the fire. Suddenly, a roar filled the room, and the glass windows shook from the sheer force.

“That’s right, you bastard!” Perodine said, sitting up. “Waste your energy – we will send you back to hell where you belong!” she yelled into the room.

The table where the scrolls and books were sitting began to burn. As August rushed to protect them, he stopped when he reached the table.

“I protected those scrolls long ago, and last night I protected the books of Jayda and Samilya; he cannot destroy them,” Perodine said, moving out of the shield that Landen had put around her.

“I don’t think it’s wise to mock him – it – whatever it is,” Dane said as he walked over to me, satisfied that they’d burned every painting. Marc was starting to throw pillows that had artwork stitched into them; he was determined to burn anything that even resembled an image.

“I’m not mocking him; I was just making sure we were right. He would be out causing torment and breeding anger, but instead he is lingering here. We are getting closer to the truth that will defeat him,” Perodine said as she adjusted her ponytail and rolled her sleeves up further.

“Landen, I think we need to start on this floor; we need to cover whatever passage he might have,” Marc said, walking to Landen’s side.

Landen nodded and took my hand. As we followed Marc to the hallway, I tried to stop my body from trembling. I’d seen things that most others hadn’t, but I’d never felt a force like that before; I felt defeated already. Landen pushed a peace through me, and I looked up at him and tried to hide my worries from him. He pulled my hand to his lips and kissed it gently; I smiled and breathed out. We looked at the long hall ahead of us, as well as the massive number of paintings. The doorways only led to more rooms, more paintings, and the task of turning them all felt overwhelming in itself.

Chapter Five

The four of us began to turn the paintings in the hallway. When we reached a room, we’d all enter and cover every mirror, then turn every painting. For the first hour, no one really said anything; we just worked aimlessly. It felt like we were plugging holes in a sinking ship. As Dane and Landen covered a mirror that was over six feet high, the breaking glass made us all jump.

“This is insane,” Dane said, looking at Landen. “Do the two of you understand any of this?” he asked, moving on to another painting.

“I understand that we must unravel a broken message from our ancestors to find a way through Venus,” Landen said, turning on the fireplace so he could toss in the pillows and throws that had artwork on them.

“Yeah, I got that part,” Dane said. “But you’re a descendent of Jayda, right?” he asked. Landen nodded. “OK,” Dane said, leaning in the doorway and waiting for us to finish burning the pillows. “But they’re saying that Willow was Jayda back then.”

I was handing Landen a pillow, but I froze when I heard Dane’s response. Landen looked at Marc, then back to Dane. “Do you know that you were always a girl – always a boy – I mean, which one of you was Jayda?” Dane asked.

Marc threw the last pillow in the fire. “We’re always in the same sun; we always have the same sex,” he said, looking around the room to make sure we hadn’t forgotten anything.

“How are you so sure?” Landen asked, knowing Marc believed what he was saying.

“Well, I asked my father that day you took us to see him. I wanted to know everything about dying; I wanted to make sure he was not going to come back as a chicken or something,” Marc said, almost amused by his words. “And that was the answer he gave me.”

“When I first met her, Aora told me we always stay in the same sun,” I added.

“I think Willow was Jayda and Landen was the ruler – and over time, through all the generations, Landen just happened to be born on Jayda’s side and Willow on Samilya’s,” Marc said.

“Then what are you confused about? You seem to have a better understanding than we do,” Landen questioned Marc.

“I just think they’re missing something. They’re mixing Alyianna, Jayda, Willow,” he said, looking at me and my charm. “I’m sure you’ve lived more than three times; there are at least four languages on that scroll. Last night, August admitted that there could be more – that some of the languages are so close, it’s hard to distinguish them.” Marc crossed his arms and looked at Landen, then continued, “We just can’t afford for them to have something wrong. Did you feel that power that knocked her across the room? I mean, it just moved above me and Dane, and it almost knocked us down...this isn’t a game of who gets the girl...it’s bigger than that...bigger than we can even imagine.”

Dane was nodding along with Marc. They weren’t afraid; they were resentful. They hated that we had to weave through Pelhan’s slow lessons and Perodine’s allusive truths.

“Right now, I’d rather unravel half truths than sit around and wait for the unknown,” Landen said, putting his hand on my back and guiding me out of the room.

We all made our way back to the hallway. When we’d reached the point where it ended, we stood across a banister. Now that it was daylight, we could see out of the large windows. The workers along the wall were missing, but we could see them in the distance, gathered in large groups.

“They’re anxious,” Landen said, focusing on them.

“Well, as long as they’re not angry, that’s good - I suppose,” I said.

Landen nodded in agreement. I envied that he could feel them all. I hated and loved that I had a barrier to almost half of this dimension. I loved the fact that I wouldn’t be tormented by the depths of their darkness, but I hated that Landen had to feel it. I couldn’t even feel them through him; he had to bear it on his own. We’d had deep discussions on the matter over the past few days as we helped restore Delen. I’d ask countless times for him to tell me what the workers were feeling; I thought that if I knew, I could find a way to break through to them - to release them. Landen, though, seemed content with my barrier; he felt it was protecting me.

“Maybe the two of you should give a speech of something,” Dane said.

“What are they going to say?” Marc argued. “Um…there’s a devil that’s trying to overtake us, so we have to take a break from defending you against the rest of the world – but don’t worry, we have these books and this scroll...it’ll be fine,” he mocked.

“No,” Dane said as he rolled his eyes at Marc. “But I think they’re more than aware that our family didn’t show up today and that the two of you are in here,” Dane said shortly.

Landen reached for Marc’s shoulder, and I reached for Dane’s arm; they were letting the pressure get to them, and we wanted them to feel calm. They each let out a deep breath with our touch.

“Save that,” Marc said. “I can see that your Aura is dimming,” he warned.

Landen nodded and let go of Marc, then looked at Dane.

“I understand what you’re saying, Dane – but we don’t want to do anything that will give the people of Delen the impression that we’re going to rule over them. And, if we told them what we were facing, the darkness would feed off their fear. We have just over thirty hours before this will all be over; we need them all to be calm,” Landen explained.

Dane nodded, understanding Landen’s point of view. We walked to where the hallway began and resumed the task of turning the paintings. The doorways led to small rooms with only simple beds and tables inside them; we assumed we were in a servant’s wing. We felt like we were making faster progress. As the hallway expanded, the paintings grew larger, and little nooks led to short hallways with only sitting rooms in them. We were growing braver, and we separated to gain more ground faster.

I wandered to the doorway on the left, where I could see small frames lining the walls. I looked back and saw Landen and Marc turning a large painting. Dane was covering the mirrors, and the breaking of glass still made me jump. At the end of the hall was a bay window, and the light from it and the dim lamps was the only light in the nook. I took in a deep breath and started turning the small paintings, deciding to walk down one way, then up the other.