Enflame (Insight #6)(40)

“But it will change the way he feels about himself.” I wrapped my arms around myself. “He doesn’t think he deserves me.”

“Deep down, he does. Let him work through this, trust him when he holds back. In a few hours, he relived thousands of years. In his mind, it happened yesterday. Who he was before that life span, who he is in this life, is a bigger part of him than that past.”

“I can’t feel that girl or Phoenix. Do you know if their intent is pure?”

“I doubt Landen would be with them if it wasn’t.”

“How close did he come to killing Silas last night?”

“Very.” I glanced to my side at her. “Landen doesn’t know your new friends well, but he feels indebted to them. He knows Silas is not a fan of Draven, but he also knows that Silas is in some way loved by Charlie and that Silas has been charged by him in a past to deliver a message.”

“What message?”

“I don’t know. It was bound by Landen, and Silas must obey what he was told.”

“You can’t hear it? In his thoughts or something?”

“No.”

Frustrated, I watched the battle rage on once again, feeling powerless as I twirled my ring on my hand then all of a sudden it hit me.

“What if I use the looking glass to go back to undo this? Would that solve it?”

She nodded to the battleground. “This is old. If and when the elements are in place and your soul wishes to undo the present result, I have no doubt the looking glass will give you that power.”

“So I’m the ‘Reset’ button.”

She laughed. “I suppose. As complicated as the spell is...it feels good to have you in our corner.”

“I’m forever more in Landen’s.”

At that moment, the ground began to shake violently, and the people on the battlefield collapsed into a fiery pit. The energy around us was so dense that it vibrated my very being.

“It’s happening,” I gasped, trying to move.





Chapter Nine


I blacked out completely. I thought I heard Clarissa tell me that it wasn’t happening, that we were being forced out by the energy, for me not to worry, another time it would work, but her voice fell to the background. My mind took me to that battlefield, to the sound of bullets and cannons. The ones that I’d seen take my life moments before.

What was odd was that I didn’t feel them, the pain of the piercing bullets. Instead, I felt flames, burning, agonizing flames.

I heard Phoenix scream, “Guardian!” just as death consumed me.

The sunlight across my face and cool hand caressing my brow made my eyes flutter open, ending the agony of the fire. Nana was above me, smiling down. I raised up, looking for everyone else. Landen was passed out at my side. No one else was in sight. There was not even a trace of the burning pentagram.

“The front door is half a mile that way,” she joked.

“I was in The Realm.”

“I saw.”

I sat up slowly. Hearing Landen groan, I reached back for him. He opened his eyes but closed them immediately.

“The light still hurt?” I asked him.

“It’s not as bad,” he muttered, rising.

At that second, Phoenix appeared to his left. He nodded politely to Nana.

“Paths crossed?”

She smiled to confirm.

“Is that where you stay? Is there a room for him?” he asked.

“Yeah. The kitchen. He needs to eat.” Nana’s firm tone made it obvious she was more than serious.

“Oh yeah. I keep forgetting he’s human,” Phoenix grumbled just before he and Landen vanished.

“What?” I gasped, furious that he kept taking him away like that.

Nana laughed. “Let it be. Drive me back.”

Feeling abandoned, I rose from the dewy grass and walked side by side with her to the Jeep. As I drove it across the field, I glanced at her.

“What is it with men? I told them the paths crossed, but no, they wanted to go play in some graveyard all night.”

That really made her laugh. “Their caution is warranted.” She carefully glanced over me. “Your control is strong.”

“I was able to let some emotions out in The Realm,” I said. She nodded like she knew that. “What do you know about Monroe?”

“Not enough. I’ve been listening, though. I fear for her brothers.”

“Why?”

“Her mother is in that Realm, somewhere deep. One of them wants her back, and he will bargain to get her, even if that means losing Monroe.”

“Winston?”

She nodded. “And Grayson will stop at nothing to protect his sister, the way he promised his mother he would. I think the evil will use her illusion to draw them in.”

“Let me guess: I should not warn them or stop this; let it be.”

“My advice word for word. If it collides, you will have no doubt.”

“I passed out in your backyard. How is that not colliding? Give me an arguing point I can use with Landen.”

“Not my backyard. Many fates run side by side. You will know if it collides, trust me.”

“It’s okay for us to be here?” I asked, noticing the random people along the driveway, the house that looked like it belonged in a museum.