Enflame (Insight #6)(69)

Before I could suggest that she go and spend some time with Nana, she asked, “Why did you sketch this?”

“I’ve been watching it in The Realm. This is my Jupiter.”

“This is not Jupiter. It’s one of my nightmares.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m a winner either way,” she mumbled under her breath.

“You were there?” I said, pointing to the pentagram I’d sketched.

She shook her head. “Not there.”

We locked glances. “You’re sure?” I asked.

She narrowed her eyes like she was trying to focus. “God, you really are a brick wall.”

“Me? You’re blank to me, too,” I accused.

“Stay next to me. I’m going to The Realm to figure this out.”

“I’m going, too, then,” I protested, fine with giving her a numb feeling but refusing to stay behind.

“You don’t know how.”

“I do, too. I can go to the orange field.”

“You first,” she said with heavy sarcasm, clearly doubting me.

I admit I had my doubts. I’d only gone in through the veil before, but I knew what it looked like, so I closed my eyes and focused on it, letting my soul move there.

When I focused my eyes, I saw her in front of me. “How dangerous is this?”

“What isn’t dangerous?” she said with a smirk.

“Good point. How are you going to figure this out?”

“The Realm is created by memories.”

“But it was a dream. How are you sure that they are really memories?”

“Agony is never forgotten,” she said as her voice cracked and the field disappeared.

Everything was dark. I could hear dripping water and the air reeked of a swamp. I felt Madison grip my arm and pull me forward. I felt my way along the wall, almost sure I was in some kind of cellar or something.

I heard a girl scream in rage and a man chuckle. With that sound, Madison’s grip on me grew tighter. I had no idea if I could calm her down or not, but I focused on a calm emotion and let that push through her. In my mind, this was a dream, and I had no reason to fear anything or anyone here.

A light appeared in the distance. When we reached it, we could see torches lining a wall. On a makeshift bed was our image. Whether it was her or me, I had no idea. One arm was cut open and blood was dripping into a bowl. The other arm had an enormous needle feeding a bag of blood into her. A man whose face was covered by a black hood was standing over the girl.

The girl on the bed seethed. “He will kill you—cut you into shreds—you have crossed the wrong man!”

“Fiery, just like the other,” the man teased as the girl bowed her back, trying to get away.

“You have fooled no one, Devil. You will not hurt me! My soul is mine!” the girl spit out at him as she struggled. All that did was make her cut arm bleed faster.

“I’m a winner either way,” the man said, attaching another bag of blood to the needle. The girl’s eyes fluttered closed as he squeezed the blood into her. Moments after she passed out, he sealed the wound on the arm that was bleeding with nothing more than a touch. She moaned in protest.

The hooded man placed my medallion around her neck. “The stage is set,” he mumbled against her closed eyes.

“Devil!”

The bellowing sound of Drake’s voice made both Madison and me jump. He’d charged down the passageway in which we were standing. The hooded man stood up straight, holding his hands up, feeling the muzzle of the gun on his back. When Drake cocked the gun, he vanished.

Drake holstered his gun and rushed to the girl, unbuckling her restraints and pulling the needle out of her arm. Once the girl was cradled in his arms, he carried her out of the darkness. We followed, still unsure of which one of us was in his arms.

The next scene The Realm showed was the girl aware, sitting up in Drake’s arms as the horse they were on reared back at the sound of gunfire. Drake gently let her down, following swiftly. He was pulling her into the cellar of the house I’d watched over and over again. She was fighting with him.

“He’s the devil! Leave him be!” she yelled.

He turned her in his arms. “No one ever takes you from me!”

“He’s not after you! There is another girl that looks like me! It’s a trap!” she yelled.

He pushed her into the cellar and charged across the field. We waited for her to follow him and ran alongside her image. She screamed for him, and he turned – just like I’d seen a thousand times before.

Her necklace caught his attention; he reached for it. “Is this his!” he screamed, pulling it from her, but he had no time: the bullets soared through him, and the girl died in his arms.

Madison raised her hands slightly, causing everything to move in slow motion. The second the girl began to bleed, on the other side of the field Landen’s gaze moved from the girl approaching him across the field to where Drake was. The girl being led to him was tossed into the fire of the pentagram. Phoenix tried to push Landen in, too, but he was paying no attention to the spell they were focusing on. He fell to his knees in obvious grief.

“That was you,” I said to Madison as I glanced at the body Drake was holding just before they fell to their deaths.

“He filled me with your essence, put your necklace on me. For what?” she asked, glancing all around us.