Enflame (Insight #6)(89)

Landen went to charge forward, ignoring his own advice. Phoenix blocked him, but I barely noticed. Someone had pushed past me, charging for the trap Donalt was in, and my father and Livingston were feet behind this person. He was young, my age, blond, long curls, and furious. There was a blade in his hand, and he had one focus: Donalt.

Noticing him, Donalt stepped back in his trap. Obvious fear was across his image.

The boy kept his charge, raised his blade, and sliced it through Donalt. Half of his image fell to ash instantly. The other screamed and rose, disappearing into flames.

The boy didn’t stop there. With an angry glare, he searched the room, finding Alamos off to the left of the trap. He charged forward with his blade in hand.

Drake ran to his defense, but Ashten was already there, holding back the boy’s arms.

“Justus! Stop now!”

Landen and Phoenix had appeared in front of Alamos. Landen took the blade from the boy as the room began to shake violently.

I didn’t know what to do.

Perodine was gathering the ashes that did fall. Once Phoenix was sure that Landen had the boy under control he went to help her.

I kept thinking the name ‘Justus’ over and over in my mind, trying to figure out who he was—then all at once I remembered: he was the first story that my father ever told me about this place, the boy whose soul mate was Alamos’ daughter. He was killed and her body was suspended.

I knew now why he had such rage for Alamos.

He was bellowing, “Where is she!” as he fought to get loose from Ashten and my dad.

Landen put his hands on his shoulders, calming him down with his energy. Slowly, Marc and I approached them. Justus’ eyes glassed over as the anger vanished. Wearily, he turned to look at my father.

“Jason?” he questioned. “Why are you old?”

That kind of made me smile on the inside.

“You died, my friend,” my father said calmly.

Justus didn’t seem to comprehend what he said. He locked gazes with Landen, then threw a glare at Drake.

“Are you his new guards? Some kind of black magic weaver?” His tone was exhausted, unfocused.

“That is my son,” Ashten said, nodding to Landen. “And that is Livingston’s.”

“He took them from you,” Justus said. “Where is she? Tell me where she is!”

“He’s too disoriented. We need to get him home,” my father said to Ashten, who took the weight of Justus and began to lead him toward the doorway.

The people who were blocking the bookcase dispersed, leaving us all to understand what had happened. I had no idea what happened to the ashes that fell. Perodine was walking toward us, and Phoenix had vanished once again.

“Did...did Adonia fall, too?” I asked, knowing that was the name of the girl Justus loved when he was alive.

The pale look on Alamos’ face told me she didn’t. He dropped his head and left the room.

“She was suspended. She can’t fall,” Perodine said to me as her gaze cascaded all over me. When I focused, I felt her grief.

“What is wrong?” I asked her, looking between Landen, Drake, Marc, and her.

“How are you feeling?” she asked.

“Confused.”

“Empty?” she asked.

“No...I do have to focus to feel emotions. A wicked opposite of what I’ve been dealing with, but I’m fine.”

Perodine looked between Drake and Landen. “If she has dwindled this much, I can only imagine what state the other is in.”

Drake didn’t say a word. Instead, he just turned and charged out of the room. I went to follow him, but Landen reached for my arm.

“He’s going to Chara. Let him.”

I couldn't argue with that. I was sure Brady and Austin would have led Madison and the others back there.

Marc was staring past us at a man who was in the doorway to where the looking glass was. He shook his head no once he was sure Marc saw him, then turned to go down the hall.

“Xavier hasn’t been in the palace all day. As of now, he has not returned,” Marc relayed to us.

“He will,” Perodine promised. “I’ll go see what I can find to undo this,” she said, reaching to squeeze my shoulder before she left.

Marc gave a weak grin. “Let me know what you need,” he said, then made his way back to Stella.

“Why is everyone so sad?” I asked.

Landen let a sardonic smile come to the edges of his lips. “They think you’re broken, but I know nothing can break you.” As he reached his arms around me, a warm rush of air surrounded us. The next instant, we were on the roof of the palace.

It was dark outside, but I could see the clouds moving away, almost being sucked into the heavens.

“We pulled the energy,” I said under my breath, feeling the victory.

“More than we thought we would,” he said under his breath, pointing to the distant sky.

At first, I thought it was the moon I was looking at, but then I saw more than one. I saw what looked like planets orbiting the massive sky. They were still hazy, telling me that even though we’d passed our goal, there were still more channels of energy that had to be released.

Wide-eyed, I stared forward, telling myself it would be fine, that I could live through what I went through tonight again if I had to.