Enflame (Insight #6)(49)

Landen nodded once. “Keep her safe,” he said to his sister as he and Phoenix moved into their places around the pentagram.

Clarissa locked stares with me.

“I know, I know...The Realm,” I muttered as I focused on how to get there. It was instantaneous this time.

“Well done,” Clarissa commented as The Realm appeared around us.

At that second, Dane appeared at her side. I lunged myself at him, embracing him in the biggest hug I could manage. I felt him hug me back.

“I want to fix this,” I said into his neck.

He gently pulled me away. “I will.”

“You’re here. Is this going to work now?”

He looked over my shoulder as the ground fell and opened the same scene I’d seen over and over again last night. “I don’t feel it.”

“Maybe it’s because Skylynn is not there,” I offered.

Dane glanced up at the heavens, then all around the battlefield. “It’s more than that.”

“What are you looking at?” I asked, trying to see what the sky could have told him. It was too overcast for him to see the stars.

“The other levels,” he offered as he and Clarissa locked glances, clearly agreeing with one another on some obvious silent notion.

“Levels like up and down, or side by side? I don’t get this.”

“Both,” Clarissa answered.

At that second, Silas appeared at their side, peering out at the field of war. I shied away, not knowing if I should trust him. He must have sensed that; his glowing honey eyes found mine, and he nodded once as if to say hello.

“The time is off,” Dane said to him.

“It’s stopped,” Silas answered.

“Do you see her anywhere?” Dane asked.

“What are you guys talking about?!” I asked, growing more and more scared and frustrated.

“The eleventh hour,” Silas stated, capturing my stare. “Everything stops at the eleventh hour. At first it was for a breath, but now it stops longer each time.”

“Because of this?”

“At first, that was what we assumed. Doesn’t make sense,” Silas answered. “The Escorts stop fighting us, but not because they are weak. They have power. I think it’s a shift. Something is blocking the echo.”

“Echo?” I muttered.

“A shift was supposed to occur at some point, or many. It didn’t happen,” Silas explained in a somewhat annoyed tone. “So now the clock stops at the eleventh hour, as if it is waiting for that shift, for the echo to reach it and guide it again.”

“Is it this spell?” I asked, not caring to tell him I already knew what an echo was.

Silas crossed his arms as he took a step toward me. “It’s everything. Just because you are not aware of something does not mean it does not exist in someone else's reality. The opportunity to remake this night happened long before Dane and Clarissa crossed over, as did the opportunity to undo others, but you have been locked in a triangle. This pause occurred long before it reached us now.”

“Like you’re not,” I countered. “Look, I don’t get what you are, but I know you care about Charlie, so we may not be the only ones that are distracted. How many pauses have you caused?”

“I do care. And yes, I am aware that my actions impact her, but I’m not going to send her into the arms of Hell for the fun of it.”

“The arms of Hell, or the arms of Draven?” was my sarcastic comeback.

Something above me caught his attention. Dane and Clarissa’s, too.

“Is that what I think it is?” Dane seethed.

“It’s not his mirror, and that is not his mom,” Silas answered just before he and Dane vanished.

“What is going on?” I demanded, reaching to catch Clarissa, fearing she would vanish next.

“I’m not going anywhere,” she said as she effortlessly unclenched my grip. “Winston is mirrored by Bianca, or at least he was. The real him is in here, chasing his mother’s image. The Escorts are trying to lure him in, all of the Donalt children.”

I shuddered, thankful that I knew Donalt was in no way, shape, or form my father in any life. Clarissa was intently listening to something I could not hear, looking all around us.

“How strong is your control?” she asked me.

“I think it’s good. Why?”

“Because you have to hold it. No matter what you hear.”

“What do you mean? Is something bad about to happen?”

“It’s already happened, but long before today. Stick to the plan, Willow. Undo the spell in your own way. Do not panic or push. If you do, you will make this worse.”

“What’s worse?”

“Time stops here because you were not moving forward in the past. There is a delay from reality to now. We have to pause now because of the past trials, the lack of real progress. Don’t think that what you are doing now is causing it; realize that it was the past and that you have to keep on your course in order to know if it’s right or wrong.”

“Tell me what is going on now!” I demanded.

“No,” she stated, leaning her head to the side, as if she were trying to hear more intently. Her pale green eyes met mine. “Listen, trust me. If something was really wrong, you know no matter what I would tell you. I’m just telling you now not to panic. It’s the echo.”