Vindicate (33 page)

“Breathe for him!”
Olivia yelled.

“This is him?
Y
ou’re sure?” I said, looki ng over my shoulder at Draven.
I w as sure Landen was next to him, but I couldn’t feel Drake, so I h ad no way of knowing for sure. N
o way of knowing if he was someh ow deeper in this R
ealm.

“Wake him up, and we’ll find out,” Draven said, admitting that he had no idea.

I tilted Drake’s head back and breathed into him on the counts that Olivia was yelling at me. Two counts in, I felt the hum of his lips; I felt his arm move around my waist. I leaned back and found his eyes slightly open.

“Say my name!” I screamed at him.

He coughed, allowing the water in his lungs to escape. “Love – you are my love – always my love,” he said in an exhausted whisper.

A smile beamed across my face. He was waking up, but that victory was short-lived. In his embrace, I felt my energy being pulled from myself – drained. My head began to spin out of control.

Draven pulled me away from him. “I told you to be careful! E
verything is intensified here!
”

“He’s not awake ! N
ot all the way ! H
e ’s real -
- but not awake!” I yelled , shaking Drake ’s chest . Draven held me back with every ounce of his strength, but he was no match for me. I reached for Drake. “Open your eyes – look at me!” I yelled.

I felt someone’s hand on my shoulder and turned defensively, only to find Madison standing there.

“A promise is a promise. Move. W
ake Landen. W
ake the healer.”

I furrowed my eyebrows as I gazed at her. I understood the promise. T
h at this was her place, not mine, but I didn’t understand why she needed a healer.
Then the suffocating urgency to get out of here flooded my soul again. Landen needed me. This was not my place.

I pushed back and turned to Landen.

“Are you sure there isn’t any water in his lungs?!” I asked Brady, seeing how calm he and Draven were.

“None.
I never left him,” Brady swore .
“I felt him come back. All of him. This is him. I would know his energy anywhere.”

He knew I would, too. Brady was just so abu ndantly relieved that he had to tell someone.

I took Landen’s face with one hand, and with the other I splashed what was left of the water across his f ace. H
is body. I leaned my lips against his.
“
What words are sacred…tell me what is sacred. W
ake for me. R
emember who you are. Remember me!
”

I pus hed my lips harder against his. I felt them move.
I felt his strong lips move against mine. He sat up abruptly, pulling me to his lap, holding me with his powerful arms against his chest.
Oh. My. God. His kiss. It was life. It was more powerful that it had ever been. I felt whole, understood. He was not half my soul. We were one soul. And we were alive. Alive in each other’s arms.

I wanted this to be the end. For this to be him. All of him. But something told me there was damage that I could not see or feel.
Tears of doubt and joy came to the corners of my eyes as I savored every movement of his lips.
His warm, humming lips.

“
Say the words, Landen, ”
I thought.

“
I love you. You are my life.
I love you, ”
he thought.

He pulled his kiss away from me, and his blue eyes fell into mine. “I love you, Willow.”

I wrapped my arms aro und him, feeling his strength. T
he essence of his beautiful soul.
Whatever the damage was beneath the surface was not worth the worry at this moment.

Before I could sigh in relief, I heard a horrible scream and looked to my side.

Madison’s hand was on Drake’s chest. A fading light w as expiring from her touch. H
er and Drake’s eyes were locked inside of each other as wonder took over their expression s . I didn’t see why Charlie had screamed. W
hy Aden had an instan t panic overcome him at first, but then I saw it. T
he blood. Madison’s wound . T
he one I had healed was back. She collapsed in Drake’s arms as her blood pooled on the stone floor.

Without hesitation, Landen moved me from his lap and crawled to her side. He ripped the bottom of her tank top back before he ever looked at her face.

When he saw her image, I felt Landen’s astonishment. “Who is this?” he asked as he looked at Drake, who seemed to be paralyzed with shock.

“Madison – Madison!” I yelled. “Heal h er! When this happened before Dad said she punctured a lung. S
he’s drowning in her own blood!”

“Before?” Landen said under his breath as if he were seeing the moment.

“Landen, focus!”

Charlie was holding Madison’s head, crying breathlessly against her skin. “Don’t leave me! Don’t leave me!”

Aden did his best to console her, but Draven kept his distance. I felt his yearning. H
is only desire to hold Charlie, but he wouldn’t move. H
e refused to touch any of them.

Landen’s hands covered the wound on her small waist, and instantly a glow of light appeared there. He held his hands there longer than he nor mally would. I felt his doubt. H
e didn’t have my father here to tell him that everything beneath the surface was healed, and he was determined to make sure she was whole once again.

His hands stayed in place so long that her entire body began to glow. From the corner of my eye, I saw Draven step back, ensuring that mor e space was between him and us. It was like he couldn’t bare the temptation of the light.

Madison opened her eyes and took a gasping breath. Landen moved his hands to find the wound gone. All the blood was gone. Like it had never happened.

“
When I healed her, the blood was still there ,”
I thought.

Landen’s astonished eyes met mine.
“
You healed?
”

I nodded.
“
Think ing of you – watching you learn I did .
I don’t understand why it came back. What did I do wrong?
”

“
Nothing, ”
Landen said as his eyes moved from Madison to Drake, then to me.
“
You gave her your energy…
and she gave it to him.
”

I looked down to see Madison staring at me, gaining her breath. It made sense now. I t made sense that Per odine wouldn’t take her blood. T
hat my dad and Perodine were talking so intently to her in the hallway.
That Britain had told me I’d been misinformed.

I felt sick to my stomach. In a million years I would have never asked someone to step into the path of death or danger to save someone else. “Tell me. W
ho should I be mad at? Did they talk you out of this or in to it? Who decided that you would be a sacrifice ? W
hat would have happened if I didn’t wake Landen in time?
!
What would have happened if this wasn’t him?” I said in a voice that was laced in betrayal.

She leaned away from Drake, who was still trying to understand who Madison was.

“My choice. M
y promise to keep,” Madison stated blankly as she stood.

I stood, too, and so did everyone else, unsure where this was going.

“I neve r asked you to be a sacrifice! I asked you to help.
I asked if you could bear to see him!” I looked at Drake, then back at her. “How cruel would it have bee n if he woke to find you dead. After all this time. A fter everything .” I was furious with all of them. How poetically cruel could this night have ended. “
– I deliver him a dead girl?!”

Madison’s eyes looked up and down me. “You’re welcome.” Then she turned to walk away , but Drake reached for her arm and with his undeniable strength, he turned he r to face him. Their eyes swam inside of each other . I watched as Madison’s chest rose and fell heavily, then pushed his arm down. “I’m not her.” A nd with those words, she woke. Vanishing from this R
ealm.

She was the smart one. I was still standing here even though every part of me was screaming evacuate . Leave while you’re ahead.
You’re alive. They are alive. Rejoice for that victory.
And get the hell out of here.

Aden yelled Madison’s name, vanishing along with her.

Drake looked at me. “What just happened?”

“Did you ha ppen to let some seductive wench into your chambers a day or so ago?” I asked as I crossed my arms.

He looked down, then all around him. “No,” he said breathlessly. “Is this a dream?”

I looked over my shoulder to Draven.
I wasn’
t sure if they could wake now.
I know he said they had to take themselves bac k, but I wanted his direction. H
is advice.

Brady had pulled Landen to him and was hugging him, slapping his back.
Olivia was captivated by Charlie – Draven…she was concerned, and it took me a second to understand why.

Draven was stepping back slowly and was almost to the stone wall .
Charlie was advancing with tears streaming down her face. W
ith betrayal echoing in her emotion.

“I can’t do this!” Charlie said to Draven.

He clenched his jaw and tilted his head as anger for who he was soared through him.

“Our best friend!” C
harlie yelled. “She was dying, fading faster than before , and you did nothing!”

“What did you want me to do, Charlie?
!
” Draven asked in a disgusted tone.

“You coul d have held me. Y
ou could have told me th at it was going to be all right . B
ut no . You let Aden do that. You left us. L
ong before this moment, you left. You are so caught up in this freaking R
ealm that y ou have forgotten who you are. W
ho I fell in love with. Y
ou are becoming exactly what you promised you would never be!”

Draven stepped forward angrily, but then halted and balled his fist. “I’
m fighting to not become that. W
hy can’t you see th at?! Why do you have to push me?! W
hy do you have to tempt me?! If I touch you, if I even think about it, Silas will kill me – is that what you want ?! Y
ou want to see us fight to the death?!”

“
Who is Silas?
”
Landen thought as he gripped my hand and pushed me behind him.

“
Their Drake, ”
I thought as I tried to figure out what to do or say. I knew this fight wasn’t sta rted by him not consoling her.
I knew it started long before today and that this was the last straw. T
hat the stress of this had caused Charlie to snap.

“Seriously?!” Charlie said coldly. “Since when does h e tell you when to touch me?
H
ow to touch me? Since when would you let any man have that kind of control over me?”

“It’s not control, Charlie – it’s protection,” Draven seethed. “You can’t even conceive the amount of self-control I have to have around you in this R
ealm, in our world.
I crave your light, and the temptation is too much!”

Draven’s eyes moved to us, then back to her. “I led you to your Chara. Your Willow.
I helped just like I promised you I would.”

“What was your motive behind that?” Charl ie seethed .

“To mak e sure you were with your kind. That you were safe. T
hat you have people with no alternative motives to guide you.”

“So you plan to just dro p us off in another dimension? Y
our brother –Madison ? You’re just going to leave us? W
alk away like nothing ever mattered?!”

“Ev erything matters!” Draven bellowed as he stepped forward. With that step, Silas appeared between them.

“That’s Silas,” I said quietly as I moved forward, but both Drake an d Landen moved me behind them. P
repared to t ake sides. T
o take Draven’s. Landen felt that way because he felt my em otion – my gratitude for Draven. I f I had to guess, I would say that Drake found a familiar agony in Draven, one he recognized in himself.

Draven slanted his head and slyly said, “Show yourself.”

Instantly, the room turned near dark as shadows surrounded Silas. Draven dodged around Silas and grabbed Charlie, and in that moment they vanished.

I was furious at Silas. I blew wind from my lips; watching the shadows scatter like ash, then thrust my energy at him as I pushed my way between Drake an d Landen. “You son of a bitch. I told you to stay away.
I told you if you hurt him, there would be hell to pay!” I roared as I watched my energy have little to no effect on him.

Drake and Landen were at my side, taking every step with me. “Did he threaten you, Love?” Drake asked in his familiar magnetic tone.