Enflame (Insight #6)(60)
Draven’s curious eyes moved between Drake and me. “I don’t see why not.”
Landen clenched his jaw. I knew he wasn’t a fan of bringing Drake into this, but it made sense to me. He was there when it happened in the first place.
“You have to understand that everything has to be perfect: the timing, the spell...we do this wrong, and we won’t pull anything out. Instead, we’ll push the souls that are waiting on their loved ones in, giving more power to this dimension,” Landen said.
“Do you have a time?” Drake asked him.
“Eleventh hour.”
“In what dimension? What time zone?” Drake pressed.
Landen seemed to freeze. “The kids fall into meditation at the eleventh hour in Chara.”
August nodded once to confirm.
Landen locked gazes with me. “We’ve been six hours off—that’s why.”
I knew his intent was to go back and try it on the right time, but it was too late. Too many people knew about this now, and too many paths were crossed. They had to be there, and they couldn't be in two places at once. They had to do this thing with the court here.
“You have time,” Perodine said to Landen.
“I don’t think I do. Brady said the meditation is longer each time. I have to at least try.”
“I believe it is the last eleventh hour that will break the spell you are up against.”
“How? Why?” he asked her.
“The children started to fall into that deep meditation the day you came out of The Realm. There are two eleventh hours each day. If they are stifled, it is because of past trials. There have been five. On the fifth day, the tenth eleventh hour Jupiter will be square, and natal planets in all of your charts will be in a positive force, with very little opposition. You are supposed to be distracted by the little ones, or each other, but I believe they are pointing an arrow at the time you need to undo this.”
“And that lines up with the day after this arrival of Draven and his court,” Landen said under his breath, hating and loving this revelation.
“Perfectly,” Perodine confirmed.
“And with the day that Evan said they would play,” I added.
Landen didn’t say anything for what seemed like forever. “It’s the slight oppositions that leave me questioning this...we’ll keep this plan for now, but I will change it if I have no other choice.”
Perodine walked slowly to him, letting her eyes move across him. She pulled his chin gently down so she could see into his eyes.
“That fire will never burn out. You regret it now, but one day you will not. It has given you a rebirth once again. With open eyes, you will move this universe.”
I didn’t have to feel Drake’s emotion to know he was seething with jealousy at that moment. It made me feel bad for him.
Perodine let go of Landen and walked to Drake. “You have been vindicated. He knows you were there. He’s heard her scream your name. You will move the universe with your willpower alone...take this blessing of Jupiter and move forward.”
Drake bowed to her as if he’d been knighted or something, then he reached to shake Landen’s hand.
“Let’s make a deal to keep them all safe,” he said, nodding in the direction of Draven and me.
“Done,” Landen said, holding his stare.
There was a knock at the door, but Landen didn’t wait to see who it was. He let go of Drake, and an instant later I felt a warm rush...the string was the next thing I saw.
Chapter Thirteen
It felt good to be in the string, walking toward home, a place where I never had to worry about being unwanted or unloved. It didn’t feel good to know that Landen was dreading it, that in some way he didn’t want to call Chara his home anymore. I had to really focus on his intent to understand that, to get a grip on his emotions.
He did love Chara, and he loved our family. But when we are at home he feels like he should be fighting, he feels guilty for our bliss – and as far as our family...when you are not around the ones you love, you become fearless, living on the edge because you have nothing to lose. Being around them made him realize how painful it would be to lose them, how painful any goodbye would be. His dread was justified. He wanted to undo the past that his eyes were opened to, and he didn’t want to lose anyone else in this mix.
“You’ll feel better when we get home,” I said, squeezing his hand.
“Maybe,” he said, trying to smile.
“What is wrong?” I asked, wanting to know if my judgment of his intent was on point.
“I don’t know if I can look my parents in the eye. They have a hard enough time with what I can do. I don’t know what they are going to think about what Clarissa is going through, if in some way they might think it’s my fault, and it is. It’s my fault Brady’s daughter is falling into that deep sleep, too. I’m hurting them and not even meaning to. Sometimes I think it would be better for us to just take off, fix this, then come home.”
“No way,” I said, stopping and facing him.
He locked his jaw and looked away from me.
“Your family would never blame you for what is going on. Hell, they told us a million times that they were ‘called to help us.’ They need you and you need them. Going away like we did is good for us, but walking through this passage to our home is going to keep us in line—not because our family is there, but because we will be reminded of what we are fighting for. You can’t charge across the universe knocking down walls, only to put one up at home.”