Enflame (Insight #6)(72)

“I’m a winner either way,” I said under my breath as a sick feeling took over my gut. Before I lost control, I fumbled with my jacket pocket to pull out the lemon drops.

“What?” Landen asked, helping me by easing a calm through me with his humming touch.

I gripped his arm and focused on everything I’d seen in The Realm.

“When did this happen?” he asked as anger bellowed in him and he glared at Phoenix, who threw up his hands, stating his innocence.

“Madison and I went.”

Landen grasped my shoulders and turned me toward himself. His stare was full of every emotion from rage to grief.

“You know I’m bound. I can’t tell you to do anything you disagree with, but Willow, you cannot go in there unguarded. Promise you won’t do that again.”

“I’m not bound by anything. I’ll tell her: never again.” Phoenix scoffed.

“What is your problem?” I asked, feeling outnumbered. “She said it was a dream. We went to check it out.”

“You walked into Hell next to a neon light,” Phoenix accused.

“Fine. Whatever.” I looked up into Landen’s eyes. “Did you see how he fooled you?”

The rage inside him told me that he did. “This is insane,” he said, pulling me to his chest. I could feel his heart beating violently against my face. I focused on a calm and pushed it through him.

“We know how twisted he is now. We’ll make him weak as hell, then kill him and Donalt. Problem solved,” Phoenix declared.

“Xavier is Charlie’s mark. I’m sure of it,” Landen muttered.

“Maybe so, but those two blokes linger close to one another. We can help each other out and still stay on our own path. We already planned to weaken the guy.”

Landen nodded to agree.

“Charlie’s mark?”

He grimaced. “Her master Escort to contend with.”

“How many are there?”

His eyes fell into mine as a mix of emotions swarmed through him. “Seven.”

My eyes grew wide with shock.

“Donalt; that is where we focus. The others will have their time.”

“Then why did you spend all night trying to figure out how to weaken Xavier? Why was Xavier involved in this night you are trying to work out?”

Landen hesitated, then spoke aloud, “Xavier’s emotion, the one he invokes, is shock. Usually, the biggest shock we face is our own death, which makes sense when you think about what Charlie and the others are naturally drawn to appease. Donalt focuses on fear; he pushes souls to fear living their lives as they are meant to do, which is why you and I are so focused on bringing back individuality in the dimension of Esterious. In the larger scheme of things, shock and fear are usually emotions that are felt close together, a reason why Xavier and Donalt are both enemies and allies. There are seven deadly emotions, and there are people that fate has chosen to fight those emotions. The past has weaved us together in a wicked and unnatural way.” He glanced at Phoenix. “It is important that each of us are afforded the right to claim the fate we feel, no matter how dark the risk is. I don’t care how clear the path seems, because it never is. Only the souls that are charged with that fate know for sure.”

I didn’t fail to notice how Phoenix tensed up during this speech. Landen’s intent was to make sure Phoenix knew that he felt strongly about the explanation he just gave me.

“The seven, the souls that are chosen to fight these deadly emotions, can clearly help each other, though?” I summed up.

“At some point, in some way, yes. But we cannot stop fighting our fate to do that. That is what went wrong in the past: we lost focus and were fooled more than once. We are going to beat this. We are going to bring back balance, and we are going to do that by trusting our own hearts and souls and by not letting the fear of what might or might not happen stifle the fate our life plan has laid before us.”

“All right, then.” I glanced at Phoenix. “I can’t wait to meet the rest of the seven.”

Landen smirked. He knew I’d picked up on the fact that he was lecturing Phoenix as he comforted me.

“All right,” Phoenix huffed. “Now that we feel all warm and cozy about the hell we are chosen to fight, let’s focus. You killed Donalt, and you know exactly where he will rise, if he will fall after this spell. Let’s set a trap. Get ahead of this,” Phoenix said to Landen.

Landen glanced at me. I knew from his intent that he didn’t want me to come, that he thought it was too dangerous. I glanced away, trying to hide how that hurt me.

“Hey,” he thought, turning me and leaning his forehead to mine. “I won’t be gone long—just enough time to get what I need and set the trap.”

“You’re not saying something.”

He grinned as he reached for my chin and ran his finger along my jawline. “Maybe I have a surprise for you, too, and I’m using this breath of absence as an excuse to get it.”

There was truth to what he was saying, and I felt too guilty to push him to tell me. There was no room for surprises between us. We shared too many insights. If he had one, I was going to let him keep it.

“Hurry,” I whispered, pushing him slightly away and blushing.

He pulled me to him and stole one kiss before a rush of warm air caused him and Phoenix to vanish from my sight.