Insight (15 page)

“Can I come in?” she asked. I scooted over on the bed, making room for her to sit beside me.

“I can only imagine what sketches will come out of the day that you’ve had,” she said.

I smiled as it rushed through my mind. Mom saw the photo album on the table and grabbed it, smiling as she looked at the pictures. She then started turning the pages, watching my friends and I grow up over the years.

“Do you miss them?” she asked.

I nodded.

“Can you imagine what they’d say about you finding Landen?” she said, smiling. “What did you think of the string?”

“It was amazing, indescribable. It would change, the feelings, the colors, it all changed,” I answered in a rush.

“I wish I could see it,” she said, feeling envious.

I suddenly realized how scary only feeling it would be.

“So, Landen and you…” she said, shifting her emotion.

I felt myself blush. “Is everyone still shocked about us?” I asked, sitting up a little straighter.

“Not shocked. It’s just amazing. I still cannot believe that you don’t have to use any words to communicate. Did it scare you?”

“We didn’t even realize it.”

“Is it everything? I mean, can you hear his thoughts now?” she asked glancing to the doorway.

“We only hear each other when we speak to one another. I’m not sure if he could hear me now or not.”

“What about the dreams, are they the same place?”

“I think so. The last few have been at this beautiful home in our new world.”

“I bet it’s the one he built,” she said, smiling wider.

Landen building a home…I tried to picture it. His hands were not callused; his skin was not browned from the sun.

“They all help. The family starts the house when the children are around the age of ten. It’s not something that happens overnight, though. Your father said his was nearly finished when he left. He had spent ten years on it.”

The way I felt about the home was intensified. It would always represent Landen to me.

“You know the houses are run off natural energy. The whole dimension is run off the power of sun, wind, and water.”

This world was becoming a utopia to me. It was as if the world that I’d I lived in had the same choices, but failed to take the right path.

“Ashten went to see Aubrey today. You know it’s hard to be away from your soul mate for a long time. Clarissa found hers as well,” my mother said.

“Did he say what she thought about Landen and me?” I asked nervously.

“Aubrey and I are a lot alike. She can’t wait to meet you, and she’s very proud of her son,” she winked at me.

My mom started to tell me about all the people I would meet when we finally got Chara. I drifted off to sleep somewhere in the middle of that conversation.

At first, I slept without any dreams. Slowly, though, my home came into view. I walked into the house, stopping to smell the flowers on the front steps. Once inside the house, I made my way through the rooms I’d seen the night before. I made plans to create paintings and place them, highlighting my first time in the string and the wonders of the world where my childhood was spent. I traced my fingers through the designs in the framework that bordered the center of the walls.

I was in a large room. The couches and chairs all had beautiful patterns on them, and I ran my fingers across each one. I could feel the handmade stitching.

In the center of the wall was a vast fireplace framed by a beautiful mantel, and along it were pieces of what looked to be crystal. The shapes were all amazing, but one caught my eye: a willow tree. It was six inches high, and the branches and leaves each broke out into their own crystals. The sunlight peering through brought out an array of colors. Stepping closer, I could see a little knob on the base of the tree. I gently picked up the delicate tree and twisted the knob. I felt it wind up like a music box, and I could only imagine what song would come from it.

I felt Landen’s hands on my shoulders, he moved them slowly down my back birthing a throbbing sensation from my soul. One hand reached for my waist, and the other reached for my arm, he gently lifted it, so that I was stretching back and threading my hand through his dark hair. As I gazed into his eyes, his fingertips feathered down my arm, it took all I had not to laugh, that tender caress fell further, tracing my chest, my ribs, all the way down to my waist. I held his stare as I leaned up to let my lips brush against his.

Throughout the day I had grown use to the warmth of his lips, the power of his flesh, so much so, that I missed that right now, yet some how, he made this seem real, too. I could feel a tingling sensation on my skin, I could sense his presence reaching out for mine. He deepen our kiss as he pressed me to him and swayed me in the silent room.

Every touch that night was innocent, yet provocatively sensual, holding the promise that we were more than lovers, we were eternal.

I didn’t want to wake from the dream, I wanted to be alone with him, but daylight brought us both back to reality.

“Did you have a good discussion downstairs last night?” I asked.

He looked intently into my eyes and carefully thought his words through before he spoke. “All we came up with were more questions. It doesn’t make sense why the string doesn’t burn you when you pass through. Your dad said that was always his biggest fear. He could always see the green haze around you, but it didn’t ever hurt you, inside or out. We can’t figure out why you can’t change the emotions of the ones that are in your presence, or why the emotions that call you are so simple. It’s amazing that you can see them through an entire string.”

“Do you know why they can’t see me or feel me?”

“You never completely leave the string. You stay in the haze just on the edge, and that might be why.”

That seemed to make sense. It just bothered me that I’d never seen the haze before.

“Livingston thinks that if you focused your energy, you’d be able to affect the ones in your presence. If you could, you’d be able to give courage or a sense of empowerment to those who need it. He knows that there are good people in all the worlds, even in Esterious,” Landen said, looking away. I could feel that he was uneasy with his thoughts.

“You don’t like his ideas, do you?”

“He believes what he’s saying, but they’re guarding their intentions, not thinking about anything but the moment they’re in.”

“What do you think it is?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t think it’s anything we should look forward to hearing,” Landen said, tightening his jaw.

“The way we feel is a choice. I hope Livingston doesn’t think I’ll be able to change those who aren’t willing.”

“That’s exactly what our fathers and I said.”

“So when do we leave? What’s the plan?”

“That storm we were in was just a little one. Marc looked in the string last night, and it got worse after we left. It should completely pass by late tonight. We’re going to leave early tomorrow so Libby won’t have to travel through the night. Today, we’re going to go to one of the towns here and practice what you do so we can start to define it. You can’t help anyone until you can control it.”

It wasn’t anyone’s intention, but I felt like a science experiment. It made me uneasy. Showing Landen was one thing, but I already felt embarrassed, thinking of the others watching me and critiquing what I was doing. I rolled on my back and stared at the arched wood above us, wishing I could just tell them to save myself from embarrassment.

Libby ran into the room and dove onto the bed, making a place for herself between us. She was already dressed in a bright yellow swimsuit and sundress.

“I wish you guys would go swimming with me instead of a silly hiking trip,” she said with a big pout on her face.

Questioning her words, I looked at Landen, but he was just as lost. I assumed it was another story my mother had told her to keep the peace.

“We’ll miss you, and I promise to come back soon,” I said to her.

Libby laughed out loud when I started to tickle her then all at once she went rigid and her eyes were somewhere else, looking past the room. I sat up quickly, feeling the fear coming from her. I shook her lightly and called her name. Landen stood up and lifted her to a sitting position. Her fear impacted us both, and we were reaching the point of panic. Then all at once it was gone, and she resumed her normal excitement. Landen and I sighed deeply, and Libby looked at us as if we’d lost our minds.

“Did her emotion change, too?”
Landen thought.

“She had fear, but only for an instant, now she’s fine. What do you think she saw?”

“I don’t know. I just hope whatever it was passes just as quickly.”

A sickening feeling came over me, accompanied by an intense sense of dread.

Landen and I got ready for our day. When we went downstairs, I was surprised to see that only my mom and dad were there.

“Where is everyone?”

“
Marc and Livingston went to check the progress of the storm. Dad went to see my mother.”

A sense of relief came over me. I wouldn’t have to be anyone’s science experiment after all. When I looked at Landen he was grinning.

“
You didn’t think I’d let them make you uncomfortable, now did you?”

“You might just be too perfect, Landen Chambers.”

“Doubt that, you just bring out the best in me.”

I could feel his disdain and I didn’t understand it. When my eyes questioned him he responded.
“I’m a bit adventurous and stubborn, even reckless, but…I was that way because I wanted to find you. Figure out why I’m different. You’ve calmed me down.”

“Is that why your dad and the others are looking at you like you are a ticking time bomb?”

That made him laugh.
“Not a time bomb, they just know they crossed a line by keeping secrets from me. If there is one thing you do not mess with in Chara it’s a persons soul mate. They are still hiding something and they know I won’t take it well.”

“Whatever it is…we’ll get through it.”

“I promise you that.”
He said reaching to trace my bottom lip.

For an instant we’d forgotten we were standing in the den, with my parents a few feet away.

It seemed my father had taken on the cooking duties for the morning. He was fixing his famous omelets. The enticing aroma saturated the air. I heard my stomach growl as I took in the heavenly scent.

“I hope you guys are hungry. There’s more than enough,” my father said as we sat at the table.

My mother was sketching the mountain view that served as the background to the cabin that we’d called home for the past few days. Everyone seemed at peace, even Libby.

“Are you going with me and Landen today, Dad?”

He was surprised and flattered by my question. “I think I’m going to stay here with your mom and Libby,” he said, sitting down.

I was sure he had his reasons. Secretly, though, I really just wanted to see the way his hazel eyes would look in the string, I imagined they’d be green the way they were when he was happy.

“So I heard you had a good day traveling yesterday, that it came quickly to you,” he said.

I glanced at Landen, and he grinned back at me. I wasn’t sure I liked being the topic of conversation
.

“I promise I didn’t tell them everything. They don’t even know where we went,”
Landen thought. He was learning to read me as easily as I read him.

“So where did you two go anyway?” my father asked.

Landen raised his brow and tilted his head as he took a big bite of his omelet. I was reading him now, and he was saying loud and clear, ‘
I told you so.’

“Well, a lot of places. We started at Victoria Falls,” I answered.

We had my mother’s attention now. She’d put her sketch down and was looking at me, a surge of energy coming from her. “Zimbabwe?” she asked.

There was no holding back the laughter from my father, Landen, and me. My mother sat back in her chair and tried to imagine how. I knew how hard it must be for her. The shock that I felt was still clear in my memory. After I told my mother of the rest of our travels, she was excited for me. I wished I could show her. Maybe one day either my father or I could take her.

Landen and I took the rental car and drove to the closest town. It was a tourist town, and we hoped it would be easy to find someone who was unhappy when they were vacationing.

“Landen, do you think I could really help people close to me, like Livingston does?”
I thought as we strolled across the sidewalk that lined the town.

“I think there’s a reason for your gift. I don’t want you to rush it. It’ll happen when it’s supposed to.”

I wasn’t sure if he didn’t want me to rush it because he was afraid of how I’d use it, or if he thought it would go away the same way they said Libby’s would if we provoked it.

“Do you really think I can, though?”

“
I know you’re special,”
he said, giving me my favorite playful grin.
“Did you like your tree last night?”