Image (Insight #3)(27)

Beth covered her mouth and held back a scream she wanted so desperately to let out; she then walked slowly to the couch, fell into it, and looked up at Marc. “Who did you leave him with? Is he with Chrispin?” she asked as grief for Preston overcame her.

“We left all of them with Pelhan,” Marc said, walking to the cart of food that was in the room.

“So, he’s with your father?” Beth said as relief came over her.

Drake looked at Beth, astonished by what he'd heard before he looked at Marc. Marc nodded and reached for a towel to make himself an ice pack for his burns. Drake looked at me for understanding.

“No one ever really dies,” I said, quietly letting go of Landen and walking to sit on one of the couches. I looked deep in Drake’s eyes as I passed him; some of the pain I always saw there seemed to melt away. I assumed he was forgiving himself for taking Livingston’s life.

Landen went to Marc; he wanted to heal his burns. Marc, though, just turned his back as he saw Landen approaching. “Why won’t you listen to me? You need to save that,” he said, holding the ice pack in his hands.

“It’s a small wound. Let me take the pain away,” Landen argued.

“I don’t care how big or small it is – what’s going to happen when something big happens and you don’t have the energy to heal it because you’ve wasted it on this small stuff?” Marc said.

Feeling Marc’s solid intent of avoiding him, Landen abruptly turned Marc’s shoulder and grasped his hands. The light was immediate; Marc didn’t have the chance to pull away before Landen had healed him. “You being hurt makes you weak; if you’re weak, how are you going to protect me?” Landen said as he released Marc’s hand.

Marc looked down at his healed hand, then up to Landen. “I know I’m unbearable; I just didn’t expect all of this,” he said, looking around the room.

I looked at August. His eyes were lost somewhere in the distance; I felt him struggling to calm himself. He hadn’t really had the chance to say goodbye to Nyla, to any of them.

“Olivia dreamed of a wall, a stone wall, a gray wall of screams, and gray clouds floating just above the ground” I said, regretfully wishing she were there now.

Landen looked at me; I felt his regret. He not only wished we’d brought Olivia, he also wished Brady was with him. Brady always had a way of seeing through the chaos; Marc didn’t have his patience. I tuned my head from side to side, letting him know that we were fine, hoping that I was right. Landen looked at Marc, and I felt the two of them fighting the urge to find another passage to Pelhan’s world.

Dane took a seat next to me and let his arm stretch out behind me, trying to guard me with as much of his energy as he could. Drake’s eyes widened, then he looked across the room at Landen and shook his head in disbelief. He then sat down on the couch opposite me and Dane.

“Her dreams should bring you comfort,” Perodine said, not looking up from her work.

Landen walked to her side. Marc followed closely.

“Why? Why should we have not taken them as a warning?” Landen asked Perodine.

“Whatever she dreams reflects a victory for the two of you – even if it shows the conflict,” she answered.

“So that wall will fall?” Landen asked.

Perodine nodded. “I assume it is there so you will have no choice but to face the synodic cycle. He now has the three of you in the same room. In just a matter of hours, he will consume either you,” her eyes moved to Drake, “or you, then move to overtake Willow.”

I saw Beth gasp, then her face turned white as a ghost. I moved in front of her to calm her; I knew she was near the point of fainting.

“Why?” she said in a cracked voice. “What did I do? Why are my children being served to the devil?” she said, putting her face in her hands.

No one had the nerve to try and answer her; instead, Marc looked at Drake, waiting for him to do something.

Drake turned his head away and stared at the flames in the fireplace. “Where’s Alamos?” he said in a low tone.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Perodine’s body freeze; the butterflies I’d felt before were back. “You did bring him?” she said under her breath.

Drake looked at Beth. “He did come through the passage with you – didn’t he?” he questioned, leaning forward.

As Beth nodded and rubbed her hands across her face, I felt a calm come to her. I moved from in front of her back to Dane’s side.

“He said he needed to gather things from his study,” Beth said, falling back into the couch.

I felt the butterflies in Perodine all but consume her. Landen looked at me, and I nodded. He then reached for Perodine’s hand and sent calm through her.

“It is going to take more energy than the two of you possess,” she whispered to Landen as she pulled her hand gently away from him.

Drake leaned back in his seat, and his elbow rested on the arm of the couch. His hand covered his flawless profile as his dark, mesmerizing eyes carefully studied Perodine. He tilted his head slightly, then the corners of his perfect lips turned into a curious grin. “I can’t recall ever seeing you and Alamos together,” he said. Then his eyes moved to me and he said, “Well, once - but not beyond that.”

Drake finished looking back to Perodine. Beth looked at Drake, then to me, then she slowly turned to look at Perodine. You didn’t need the insight of emotion to sense that Perodine was falling apart on the inside. Dane let his arm fall from around me, and I leaned back into him, hiding from whatever was going to happen when Alamos joined us. Drake’s eyes moved to us, his jaw tightened, then he then looked at Landen. “You’re proving to have more willpower than me,” he said. “I would have divided the two of them long ago,” he finished, moving his eyes back to Dane.