Image (Insight #3)(37)

“She’s beautiful,” Beth said, gripping my hand.

“This is Libby,” I said as I thought of Libby and Preston playing in the field of flowers by my house. “And Olivia, the one for Chrispin,” I said, thinking of Olivia walking across the field with Clarissa.

Beth nodded. “I remember her,” she said. I’d forgotten until then that Olivia had been held here and that her sight had been taken from her by this horrible place. As I looked across the room at Drake, my face turned red with anger. He and Landen had taken a seat at one end of the table and were watching August, Alamos, and Perodine work on the other end.

Beth followed my gaze. “Drake told me when he pulled her from the ocean that he felt connected to her.” She smiled slightly, ”I didn’t feel her in his heart – but I was more than sure she belonged to one of my sons.”

The heat in my cheeks left as I remembered that Drake did save her life. She’d fallen overboard with my friend Monica, but they didn’t reach her in time.

“You said you felt Stella in Marc’s,” I said, remembering the night Beth had watched over me. She nodded as she looked across the room at him. “You could help me find who’s meant for Drake – couldn’t you?” I whispered, sitting up a little.

Her eyes found mine, and she squeezed my hand. “He’s going to have to learn to forget you first,” she answered.

I let my shoulders fall and leaned back into the couch.

“One day, when all this nonsense is over...he will,” she said to me, but I knew she didn’t believe the words she said. I reached my hand to my charm on my neck and let my fingers run across the sun and the moon. I hated that it – who I was – had caused so much trouble that day.

“When that wall falls – I want you to take me to visit Chara,” Beth said.

“Why don’t you just come home, live there?” I asked quietly. Her eyes found Drake, and he glanced over his shoulder, catching her gaze.

“He needs someone,” she said quietly.

I felt a horrible guilt rise inside of me; it was so strong, Landen looked over his shoulder. He pushed away from the table and walked over to us, and Beth stood, allowing him to sit at my side. “I’ll sit over here,” he said, pointing to the other couch that faced the fireplace. She shook her head no and stretched out on couch opposite us.

“It’s almost dawn,” Landen said, sitting down beside me. Dane had drifted to sleep next to me.

I leaned into Landen. “Did they say anything?” I asked.

“August and Perodine are showing him what they found before,” Landen said, sighing.

Marc found his distance from Landen uncomfortable and made his way to the couch beside ours. “You look horrible; you need to sleep,” Landen said to him as he sat down.

“I’m fine - thanks for the compliment,” Marc said, rolling his eyes. “Why don’t the two of you sleep and do that thing you do and go check on our family?”

“No!” Perodine and August said in unison. Perodine walked up behind the couch where Marc was sitting, and August came to our side. “It will follow you there,” Perodine warned. “We have to make sure the children are protected.”

“I don’t think it’s wise for you to even rise outside of your bodies,” August added.

“We slept hours ago; it didn’t appear until we had awoken,” Landen said to calm August’s fears.

“Yes, but as the hour grows closer, he becomes stronger,” August said to Landen.

“Perfect; they’ll be so exhausted by tomorrow, tonight – whenever – that they won’t be able to think clearly,” Marc said, folding his arms across his chest.

“We aren’t tired; we’ll be fine,” Landen said to Marc.

Drake stood from the table and walked to the doorway that led to the hallway. I looked at Landen.

“He’s going to get a blanket for Beth,” Landen thought, answering my unasked question.

“You have sympathy for him,” I thought.

Landen smiled slightly and looked deep in my eyes before he answered. “I know what it’s like to watch my mother struggle with the decisions that I’ve made, that were made on my behalf; we’re all victims, but Beth – Beth has had to endure more than all of us,” he thought.

I let my eyes fall from his and squeezed his hand. I’d seen the pain in Beth when she’d cared for me; she was a woman that had lost so much and had never been repaid. “I want her to go home with us, but she says Drake needs her,” I thought.

“Until this is all over – Drake has found his place – she won’t be at peace. We just need to do what we can to make her comfortable with the path in front of us all,” Landen thought, moving his arm around me as he stared at Beth’s sleeping body.

My thoughts took me to my own mother, my father; I could only imagine how worried they were right now. I knew that Palhen himself would find it a challenge to keep them all balanced in our absence. I hated it; I hated that I somehow always seemed to cause so much trouble for the people who loved me.

Drake returned with a warm quilt. He covered Beth’s body and adjusted her sleeping head on the pillow, and I felt a jealousy rise inside of Marc as he watched Drake care for his mother. I don’t think Marc would ever get over not having her throughout his childhood, fearing that she was dead for so long. Drake took a seat on the opposite end of the couch where Marc sat.