Vindicate (24 page)

“I think that’s the pro blem,” Olivia said, raising her eyebrow s .

“What?”

“Apparently, grasping auras – energy – moving into souls – bodies came too fast for you. Because it came so fast, you never learned the fundamentals of it, and without that, you cannot get this seeing thing as instan tly as we all know you want to.
Stella said your impatie nce would cause another storm. P
ossible flooding. As soon as Perodine decided to help you another way,” Olivia raised her hands slightly in the air and tilted her head with a fake playful smile, “
then the sun came out.”

“Are you mocking me?” I said as I playfully squinted my eyes.

“No,” she said with a wink. “If you can see where t his place is, you can go there.
Perodine is going to make it where you can see it.”

“Why couldn’t we have just done that before?”

“Because. Y
ou have to see it first .
Draven has seen it. She is going to do one of her wit chy spells and pull his energy along with Landen and Drake’s together so you can see it . M
ove there. It will also ensure we all go to the same place at the same time.”

“Witchy?” I repeated , trying not to laugh. Perodine was definitely in tune with the energy of the world, but I wouldn’t call her a Witch.

Olivia smirked . “I didn’t call her that . Y
our little Madison friend did . And Perodine didn’t argue. A pparently , Perodine has been looking a little harder for your ‘twin’ than she let on.”

“What are you talking about?”
I asked as I tried to judge her with every insight I owned.

Olivia shrugged her shoulders. “Something about dreams Madison was having .
T
hen there was some woman that stopped Madison and Charlie on the street yesterday and told her that she had a message for her – that the most powerful Witch was seeking her to satisfy the goddess of Mother Nature.”

The absurdity of that statement made laughter erupt from me. I held my mouth to block the guilt for feeling that emotion. “Are you serious?”

Olivia grinned. “You know she has been a round for a few million years.
I’m sure she has picked up a t hing or two in the way of magic.” He r smile faded as her gaze drifted over me. “
Charlie said the woman was as serious as she cou ld be. It scared them at first, but now that they a re here, know what you can do. K
now that you’re not some goddess loo king for a sacrifice, they’re good with it.”

“Well, what do you know. Willow Haywood was right all along. I do have a twin.” I meant it as tease, but it sounded harsher than that.

“Willow.”

I held my hand up to stop her. “I know . Ju st sayin’.”

“Willow, seriously, don’t put all of your hope on one girl.
I don’t think she is ready for any of this. I’m not sure the others are either.”

“They’re more ready than you think they are.
” I said with a smirk. “
They think deep.”

“Thinking and doing are two different things. They are at opposite ends of the spectrum from you.”

“What do you mean?”

She pursed her lips as she gathered her words, her argument.
“They have more of a dark edge than you. They have spent their life with ghosts . S
ome good, most of them bad. All the y want to do is save the dead, and you’
re trying to save the living.”

“Right. We need them .”

“Maybe. But still. I n this l ife, they may be the same age a year or so younger, but on the big scale, well, we all know you and Lan den have lived millions – over four .”

“They need us .
We have been through what they’
re going through.”

“But you don’t remember it.
I think they do.”

“Think, or know?”

She grimaced.
“I had the pleasure of speaking with Grayson, Monroe’s ol dest brother. According to him after some test Draven had a few weeks ago, he can recall them all, and apparently there is this guy named Silas th at is tempting Charlie’s heart. T
he only way he could even get her to conceive that she had loved him befo re was showing her past lives. N
one of them seemed thr illed with that enlightenment. T
hey are in the middle of something big, and we just added to it.”

“What about Madison?”

“Well, apparently she shields herself pretty well from Grayson. He didn’t know how much she knew or remembered, but he was sure that a guy named Britain has been sort of jogging her memory.”

Jogging ? More like a marathon.
“Sounds to me like whatever memories they have are one-sided. It would be like Drake only showing me our lives together – omitting Landen or even Dane.”

“That is what I am saying. They’re young, and they h aven’t grasped that yet. T
hey’
re dealing not only with the emotions of being as young as they are in this life, but those same uncertain emotions they had in other lives.”

I was only halfway listening to her; I kept hearing Madison’s words in my head, seeing her reaction when I called her out on Britain.
“Something tells me love triang les are not their focus,” I muttered as I thought over Madison’s point of view on falling in love.
“What about Aden ? W
here is he in this?” I asked.

“Honestly ? In my opinion he is the only quote unquote sane one. Very calm energy around him.”

“Good .
” I said, crossing my arms. “And what about our little orphans that my evil angel seems to admire so much?”

Olivia moved her head slowly from side to side as her eyes reflected the awe she was feeling. “I think that little one – Monroe, is just like Libby and Preston. T
here is a story there .
One that I’m not sure I want to know.”

“Has she said anything since then?”

“They’re gone.”

“What?!”

“August was with Stella when we came back. S
he told him everything tha t happened.
The ghost. W
hat that little girl said. We took them to Chara; we had to, Charlie and Madison insisted.”

“Is that safe ?
I mean, will it hurt them because they were not brought by someone that loved them?”
I asked with a panic. Prepared to go and save them from any harm at this instant.

“No,” Olivia said, looking down. “Libby and P
reston asked for them to come. T
hey already knew, Willow, they knew you would find them, and they love everyone.”

I let out a gasp as I told myself that I was not alone in this. That I could trust my family to help those kids. “That younger one, though, the one named Winston I’m not sure I trust him; I don ’t think the others do either. T
he older brother G
rayson, I like. H
is emotion toward Monroe reminds me of how I feel about Libby.”

“I think Winston jus t needs a mom, and we both know that between your mom and Landen’s mom, that role will be filled. N
ot to mention Rose and Felicity.”

I tilted my head faintly to silently tell her I agreed with here on that last point.
“I just don’t think all the suns hine and peace is their style.
I see them more in a place like this,” I mused .

“You may be right, but we don’t need that right now, not until we get Landen and Drake back.”

“Agreed,”
I said as I focused my senses. I had no idea where everyone was. This was the first trial that had come where our entire family was locked in one place, trying to figure it out. “Where is Dane anyway? Clarissa?”

“Still in Infante .”

“We need to send someone to tell them we found the song . T
hose kids.”

“They know.”

“Then why are they not here?”

“This E
scort thing . W
hat Draven calls himself, that Bianca girl is, has them both intrigued. I think Dane is trying to figure out ho w he was manipulated so easily. T
rying to understand if he was evil in another life.
Clarissa said he is worried that he was one and doesn’t know it.”

“That’s insane. W
hy does he care? He needs to come back.”
I argued wondering if I had time to find him before I went into The Realm.

Olivia turned her head from side to side as she bit her bottom lip. “Let it be, Willow. Let them chase whatever they want. F
or all you know, what th ey learn now may help you later. I f these so called E
scorts are real they’
re nothing to toy with.”

I furrowed my eyebrows as I tried to read between her words. I knew there was more to what Clarissa and Dane were up to. I hadn’t had a chance to even talk to Dane about what he remembered. W
here he was while his body was in motion. I decided to trust Olivia’s vag ue explanation and worry about it once I’d faced what was in front of me.

“Obviously, they are. D
o I need to remind you who I’m hunting?”

“Hunting ? A s in killing? I thought August gave you his speech on rising above that?”

“How did you know?”

“Stella. Willow, I think i f you take your anger in there i t’s going to do more harm than good.”

“I’m human, Olivia, and I’m furious. I’m beyond that emotion. I can’t even begin to explain to you how mad I am. If you th ink I am going to go into that R
ealm and walk up to that girl and give her some kind of counseling – tell her that she is loved in spite of her evil – you have another thing coming.”

Olivia opened the book in her hand and turned to a marked page, then read: “
The irony of man is that we refuse to forgive.
We refuse because we feel that act condones evil. That it places us in agreement with the wrongs done to us, but when we refuse to forg ive we disrupt the balance of good and evil that rest s in every soul. By not forgiving evil, we become more evil….”

I let out a frustrated sigh. “Who wrote that?” I asked, not really interested in the answer.

“My father.”

“Seriously?” I asked as I looked more cl osely at the book in her hand. T
he leather was weak, the pages slightly yellow. It almost looked like a journal, but the pages were typed.

“When I was looking for that song, I went to storage. I knew my mom was a music fanatic and thought maybe it was a song sh e had heard when she was alive. I t was a farfetched idea because obviously that song has a modern edge, but still. When I was there, I found a few of their journal s , their writings, which were stored with their office stuff. This is one of them . M
y father’s thesis on modern myths.”

Olivia’s parents were brilliant people. Her mother was a historian. Her field of expertise was on Southern history, but she held a vast knowledge of all history. Her father was a history professor - he did teach some classes on American history, but his passion was much deeper than that. I remember listening to him tell us stories about the Indians, the Greeks, the Orient…
most kids are told storie s about Cinderella, but Olivia and whoever was at her house were told myths of other times. O
nes that held meaning beyond the surface. I remember Olivia and I acting out the stories when we were playing. H
ow we would fall into the role of past myths and let them consume us.

What I admired most about Olivia’s parents – what I know my parents admired, especially my father, was how open they were. They never pushed their point of view on anyo ne, especially their daughter. They always told Olivia, eve n me, to learn. L
earn everything, then decide where to let our beliefs lie.
In others words, believe what you want – not because you were told, but because you truly believe it. The world was robbed the night they died.
Olivia was robbed.

“As always very wise words. O
nes I can only hope to understand one day.”

“There is more . S
o much more,” Olivia said, closing the book. “I think you are a modern myth.”

“I may be modern, but I am very real; not a myth.”

“That is not what I am saying. Listen, what you are doing now – the battles you face – the emotions – the realization –will be stories told in this dimension – Chara – for thousands of years. You are the example.”

“Example of what ? H
ow to die?” I said, breaking eye contact with her. I didn’t want that weight.
I didn’t want a nyone to remember what I’d done. H
ow foolish I can be.

“No. H
ow to live. I truly believe that these trials are nothing mor e than a coming of age for you. N
ot life and death.”

“They are hell . N
ot a coming of age . T
hey hurt people, and I don’t even know why . No one does. E
very m inute, another layer is added and at the same time, what I was supposed to worry about is gone.”

She moved her head side to side with frustration.
“Do you deny that when these trials are over that you w ill not be a different person? T
hat now, four trials in, you are already not a different person?”