Image (Insight #3)(5)

August looked back in our direction. “Just like the scroll.”

“What scroll?” Perodine asked.

“It was found with their charts,” he said, wading toward us.

Perodine looked at me and smiled. “You did manage to steal it,” she said as relief overcame her.

“You know what it is?” I asked, stepping out of her way.

She reached for a towel, wrapped it around herself, then led us to a doorway. On the left, it led to another vast room; two of the walls were books from ceiling-to-floor, one was a wall of windows, and in the center of the third was a large fireplace. Two doorways framed either side of it, leading to more of the palace, and three couches framed the fireplace. A large round table was in the center of the room, circled by six chairs, and books and scrolls were open all over it. As Perodine walked over to it and began to clear a space for the scroll we’d brought, we followed her, eager to get her interpretation.

“We knew that Donalt had the most trusted stargazers of that time study the heavens above at the time of your birth; we knew that it held the path of all of your lives. The night you were pushed into the string was the night you intended to steal it,” Perodine explained as she moved open books from the table to make room for the scroll. “I never knew if you had it or not; I think I’ve looked for it every day for the past four million years,” she continued, reaching for the scroll.

As Landen handed it to her, his eyes met mine. Perodine then gently unrolled the delicate cloth; if she could read this, our lives would be told to us before we had a chance to live them – which was something that everyone and no one wanted. I could feel disappointment coming from Perodine.

“What is it? Is it the wrong scroll?” I asked.

“No, it’s the right one - but it’s been altered,” she said as she leaned in and looked closely at the symbols. “It looks as if you sought advice on how to decode it; there are answers around the planets, written in code, and foreign words,” Perodine said.

“Those are answers?” August asked. Having seen the document as an original, seeing the division now was astounding to him.

“Well, what someone thought were answers,” Perodine said bleakly.

“If Donalt is a ghost, how dangerous is it that Willow is here?” Landen asked.

Perodine seemed to freeze, and her eyes raced back and forth. She then looked to the doorway that led to the pool, then back at us. “Where’s Allie?” she asked.

Allie, Brady and Felicity’s infant, was someone I felt would lead us all one day. Perodine had said as much when I saw her last.

“In Chara, where she belongs,” I answered.

As I spoke, Perodine shook her head no. “No, he knows about the passage you made to Evelyn and Stella, the one that rests next to your home...Donalt knows everything,” she said in a rush. Landen and I looked at each other; it had escaped our attention that we’d left an obscure gate inside Chara.

“You must go there and take everyone with your bloodline to Pelhan; I’m sure he’s expecting them. Return here with your shields – it’s the only protection I think we have,” Perodine said, walking to us, then guiding us to the doorway.

“What do you mean ‘shields?’” Landen asked, stopping her.

I could feel her impatience and urgency. “The Cancers, the ones who have lingered at your side your entire life,” Perodine said breathlessly.

I took Landen’s hand and pulled him to the doorway. I knew what Perodine was saying: return with Dane and Marc, the two that had unknowingly guarded me and Landen throughout our lives.

“Landen,” August said to stop us. He then took a sheet of paper from the table, wrote a quick note, and rushed it to Landen. “Tell Nyla to give you these books - and make sure she gets to Pelhan.”

Landen nodded; we knew August intended on staying there and trying to unravel the scroll so he could protect us.

The people of Delen were lingering on the streets, wondering what was about to happen. Landen raised his hand and said “We’ll be right back,” over and over again, trying to assure them that they were all safe.

When we stepped in the string, my heart felt like it was pounding through my chest. I couldn’t breathe, and not finding breath sent me into a panic: I started to see black spots, then a dizzy sensation swept through me. Landen reached his arms around me and held me as tightly as he could against his chest, rushing a calm through me. It can’t get any harder, Landen...I’m not over the last time; I can’t go through something like that again, I thought as the panic faded in his embrace.

He leaned back and looked into my eyes, and I found myself mesmerized by the diamond blue eyes that the light of the string had created.

“We love each other. They cannot tear us apart.”

“I’m not as strong as you; I get weaker every time.”

“You get stronger; we both do,” he thought.

He swayed me with the flow of the string, and I closed my eyes and took in the overwhelming power of energy flowing around us, as well as the calm that Landen was giving me. I slowly began to catch my breath, and when the tightness in my chest began to release, I let my hand fall inside of Landen’s. He smiled at me and gently kissed my forehead.

In the distance, we could feel the string filling with emotion, an anxious emotion. Landen tightened his grip on my hand, and we began to run to Chara - fearing the worst. When the first hazes of Chara came into view, we saw hundreds of people crossing out of Chara into the neighboring dimension, Olence. We passed by them, eager to make sure our family was safe; inside our passage, we saw Chrispin and Olivia waiting with their travel bags.