Image (Insight #3)(38)

“The wall will fall, right? We will see them again?” I thought.

“One way or another, we will find them again,” Landen promised.

Drake stretched his legs out in front of him a sighed deeply, closing his eyes for a moment.

“It wouldn’t be wise for you to sleep either,” Alamos said across the room to Drake. Drake opened his eyes as he heard Alamos’ voice.

Landen tilted his head curiously and looked at Drake. “You leave your body, too?” he asked.

“I can, but I don’t prefer to; I’d rather dream,” Drake said, looking into my eyes.

“Another gift from your dear Alamos,” Perodine said under her breath.

My eyes questioned Drake, but he just smiled slightly and rested his elbow on the arm of the couch. “It’s not that I remember my past lives; I relive them each night. To me...well, this is just a nightmare,” he said, looking around the room.

“Ironic choice of words,” Marc said, turning his head to the side to see Drake.

Drake looked coldly at Marc, his eyes softening as they moved to me. “I didn’t see them through your eyes. To me, you were helping the people here - and I was bringing the light,” Drake said quietly.

“Where are your demon friends anyway?” Marc asked casually, closing his eyes.

“They weren’t mine, you fool; their keeper lurks in the shadows,” Drake said, looking to the dark corners of the room.

I saw a chill run down Perodine’s back; she shook it off and returned to the table. August sat on the arm of the couch next to Landen and stared at Drake. I could feel his curiosity; he wanted to know everything about Drake, what he had seen and learned. “Who taught you to use your energy to protect yourself?” August asked Drake.

Drake took in a deep breath and looked into the flames of the fire in front of him. “I’ve had Donalt’s attention all my life,” he answered.

“Did he ever tell you where he received his power from? Or what he wanted you to do once you found Willow?” August asked.

Drake’s eyes moved to me, and he shook his head no. “I never asked, he never said; I just knew that I was to love her and rule this world and beyond,” he answered.

“Is he the one that taught you to make time stand still?” Landen asked, moving himself in front of me so Drake would have to look at him.

Drake sighed and smiled slightly. “No, my father taught me to do that,” he answerd.

“Livingston?” Landen questioned, leaning back in his seat.

Drake nodded, then looked to the flames in the fireplace. “He said he always wanted me have a way to stop and think before I made choices that would change my life,” he answered.

August smiled and looked down; I could feel the pride for his son, Livingston, come over him. Landen and I both felt envious; that was one lesson we’d never been taught.

“Is is hard?” Landen asked.

Drake stared forward and relaxed into the couch, then smiled slightly. “You just have to want more than anything to make things right; you have to have the best intentions,” he said. Raising his eyebrows, he tilted his head and glanced at me. “Once you have that intention, you send it out through your energy. It has to be strong enough that all the energy around you is shocked into stillness as yours passes by. When you lose your focus, time begins again.”

“How are you forcing your energy at that darkness over and over again and not getting weaker? How do you build yourself again?” Landen asked Drake.

Drake laughed under his breath and winked at Landen before answering him. “My friend, I fear it is from the same place you find yours - only from another time. My dreams...I remember them so vividly that my imagination can take me back to the moment...to feel...feel they way you do when you’re complete.”

I felt like the wind was knocked out of me. Landen’s perfect blue eyes found me; he was jealous, but he didn’t show it to the others. He reached his arm around me and pulled me to his side.

August looked at Drake, to Alamos, and then to Landen. “The dreams were unlocked to protect him, to give him the ability to withstand the darkness for so long.”

“Is that true?” Landen asked Drake.

Drake shrugged his shoulders. “It would be impossible for me to tell you if there was any truth in what I hear or see,” he said, catching my gaze.

I let my eyes fall from his; I could barley manage the pain I saw there. Landen sat at attention and looked at Alamos. Perodine was pointing to the scroll, and the look on Alamos’ face was absolute disbelief. August followed Landen’s stare.

“Are we all on the same page now?” August questioned.

Alamos looked up from the scroll in our direction. “You intend to kill him – you’ve lured us here as a sacrifice,” he said, standing to walk in our direction.

My face turned white as a ghost, and my stomach turned. Drake looked slowly behind him at Alamos, then to his mother, Beth, who had drifted into a deep sleep.

“Kill who? What are you talking about?” I asked, sitting forward and looking back at Landen.

Perodine’s face was full of grief as she followed Alamos to the couches where we were sitting. Alamos stood in front of the fireplace and stared at Drake.

“This family has betrayed you once again,” Alamos said to Drake as he looked at Beth and Marc’s sleeping bodies.