Image (Insight #3)(41)

“Love, it’s either you or me – we have no choice,” Drake said, letting his eyes rise to meet mine.

As I stared back at him, I felt the intent of the room; they were going to convince me, show me that there was no other way to break through this illusion in which we were all trapped. I felt so outnumbered, overpowered, angry; I pushed by Drake and began to run from the room. I felt Dane behind me; the others stood still. I reached the hallway. I was going to go to the string, to find a way around the wall, an image, anything - just a way out. I knew if Rose were there, if my parents were there, they’d defend me, tell me that murder was never an answer.

I’d made it to the fourth doorway before I felt Dane’s arms around my waist. I pulled against him, but his strength was overpowering, and he turned me in his arms. I struggled against his body until the anger surfaced in breathless tears. My body finally numb, I reached my arms around Dane’s shoulders, and his arms tightened around me. He let me cry, holding me as tight as he could.

“I can’t kill him,” I said over and over again.

“Calm down. You can’t think like this,” he said, rocking us back and forth.

I breathed in and let the tension in my body diminish, then my tears stopped. I stepped away from Dane and wiped my face dry, then leaned against the wall and stared at him.

“They’re insane – all of them. It’s like Alamos and Perodine have been playing a game of chess, and Drake, Landen, and I are the pieces...neither of them realized it was the devil’s board, that in the end he’d find a victory,” I said, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear.

Dane’s eyes held sympathy for me. “He’s not going to win,” he said.

“Taking a life before its time is a victory for him. Letting this dimension suffer to the degree that it has is a win for him. They’ll always remember Donalt’s rein, and they’ll never release themselves from the fear of his presence.”

“Willow, they will forget. This is only the beginning; you have to have faith that all that you’ve done will be worth it,” Dane said

“Worth it? There is nothing worth the destruction I bring,” I argued.

“You haven’t done anything but dodge what those insane people have put in your path,” Dane said, reaching for my shoulders. “And for the record, I’m not a fan of any of them.”

“Well, I’m going to dodge another one because I’m not killing anyone,” I said, crossing my arms.

Dane let his arms drop from my shoulders and stepped back. He then ran his hands through his hair and sighed. “Are they sure they’re reading it right – that you have to do that?” he asked.

I nodded. “All of them agree - and apparently that doesn’t happen often,” I said in a low tone.

“August agrees?” Dane asked.

“He didn’t argue once he heard that when the darkness consumed Drake, it would kill Landen, then overtake me,” I said, a sick feeling rising in my throat.

An understanding came across Dane’s face. “Listen to what you just said: even if you allowed it to take over you – would you want to watch Drake’s body kill Landen? They’re asking you to take the lesser of two evils; everything you’ve lived through so far will be in vain if you don’t stop it from ending your life too soon,” he said sympathetically to me.

“The lesser of two – would you be referring to Drake, someone you hate?” I said.

“I may not like him, but that doesn’t mean I want him to die. After hearing everything I’ve heard over the past few days, I’m surprised he’s as stable as he is,” Dane said, defending himself.

“If that bad soulmate stuff they were talking about has any weight at all, then that means there’s someone for him. Chances are, she looks just like me...what I am going to do if I find my ‘twin’ and she’s lonely? Am I supposed to tell her, ‘Oh sorry, he found the bad soulmate first, and he got in my way - so I had to just kill him?” I said sarcastically.

“Your twin?” Dane questioned.

“They say we all have one,” I said, raising my eyebrows and considering the possibility for the first time. “I’ve been one before; that’s the only way I can understand the dreams Drake is having. He said he strengthens himself with the memories of them – but it’s impossible for it to have been me; Landen is the only one I can complete.”

“How long was I asleep?” Dane asked, confused on how he’d missed so much.

“Not long,” I said, looking down the hallway to the study.

“What if she’s not here? What if she’s waiting for him in his next life?” Dane asked.

“You’re not going to convince me to kill him,” I said, glaring up at him.

“I’m just saying, Willow. You don’t know; no one knows. All you can do is take what’s in front of you and make a choice; that choice will lead to another, and then another,” Dane said as fast as he could.

I looked down. He was making sense - they all were - but I was the one that would hold the knife...I was the one that would have to live with this for the rest of my life.

“You know that no one ever really dies; you saw that in Pelhan’s world when Livingston stood in front of you,” Dane said.

“Livingston lingers because he feels his life isn’t complete; he wants to see us all in this life. Drake’s life isn’t over. He’ll linger too, a lost soul.”