Insight (Web of Hearts and Souls #1)(66)

“You feel this?” I thought, astonished.

“It’s amazing. Does it always feel like this?”

“No, never.”

I reached my other hand out to my father’s shoulder. Letting the same memories flow through my mind. The charm hummed, and the sensation pushed through my hand. A smile came across my father’s face, and he looked at Ashten. “They’re going to be fine,” he said confidently.

Ashten nodded and stepped away from me, and I lost my touch. He glanced over his shoulder at my father as he walked away. I could still feel the peace that I gave him. My father sighed and turned to walk inside his house, causing me to lose my touch on him as well. The high that I felt began to fade.

“Let’s follow him. I want to help my mom, too,” I thought, stepping toward my dad.

We passed through the front door behind my father. My mother was sitting in the front room on a long white couch. She had a sketchpad in her lap and was outlining the house I was raised in.

“Is everything okay?” she asked my father as he took a seat next to her.

“It will be. We’re just asking them to take in a lot at one time,” my father said, putting his arm around her.

“Do you think she’ll ever understand that we only wanted to keep her safe?” my mother said, feeling a deep regret.

“They both will one day. We can’t blame them for being upset. If I were Landen, I’d be furious. At least he’s still calm enough to ask questions,” my father said.

“I just think if we’d come home, Monica would be alive, and the other girls would be safe in their homes,” my mother said in a cracked voice as she laid her head on my father’s shoulder.

“Willow wouldn’t be the person she is without having the friends she had in Infante, and they wouldn’t be the people they are without her. Even though Monica’s life was short, I don’t think she left this world with any regrets.”

My mother looked up at my father and smiled. “She had such a vibrant energy around her. I can still feel it when I remember her,” she said quietly.

“Then she lives on through you, through everyone she ever knew,” he said, kissing her forehead.

I stepped closer and knelt down in front of my mother. Placing my hand on her knee, I remembered every happy memory I could from my childhood; the impact my mother had not only on me, but on each of my friends, too. The rush swept through me again, and I closed my eyes, taking in the pure bliss I felt as I helped my mother. Her emotion moved to the bliss I was feeling. I opened my eyes to see her smiling. I could feel her soul come to life again. I stood slowly and looked at Landen.

“Do you want to check on Libby?” I thought. Landen smiled, took my hand, and led me to the staircase that was in front of the door.

I could sense Libby sleeping peacefully. At the top of the stairs, we opened the first door to the left. It was a very large room with high ceilings. The far wall of her room had a large bay window, and baby dolls and books lined the windowsill. It was a room made for the princess that she was. When we both walked to her bed to sneak a peek at her sleeping face, her eyelids fluttered open softly, a smile spread across her baby face, and she whispered, “Willow, is it time to get up?”

Being seen by her sent a surge of shock through the two of us. Our eyes flew open, and we were back in the beach house. Catching our breath, we sat up with a start. When we realized what we’d done, laughter exploded from the two of us. We’d managed to control where we went. I was able to help our family, and we made it home within the blink of an eye.

We allowed our bodies to drift back to sleep, and our souls walked along the beach through the sunrise.

The peaceful feeling of another person and the sound of the wood creaking on the front porch of the beach house brought us both back to our sleeping bodies. Landen jumped up and tiptoed toward the front of the house. He then looked back at me. “Rose,” he thought. I nodded in agreement.

Landen pulled the front door open, expecting to see Rose, but instead he found a large basket sitting on the floor of the porch. He brought it into the house and set it on the coffee table in the front room. A note was attached to the top of the basket that said: I thought you two would need a few things. Take your time. Love you.

In the basket under a blanket was a new sketchbook and food, along with a change of clothes.

“How did she know where we were?” I asked.

Landen smiled at himself as he read the note again. “This is her place. Sometimes trying to understand the intent around me can be difficult. Rose and August brought me here when I was fourteen and told me that whenever I needed peace, I could come here.”

We settled on the floor, making a picnic out of the fruit and muffins that Rose had brought.

“I could feel Rose differently just now,” he said, looking at me. “I felt her emotion of peace.”

I looked at him with wide eyes.

“Did you feel her differently?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I mean, I knew she didn’t want to disturb us, but I just took that as my own insight.”

“That’s how my gift feels. You just know what they want to do,” he said, smiling at me as his eyes drifted to my lips for an instant.

“How are they merging?” I asked, bewildered.

“I don’t know. I didn’t feel any emotion until you touched my dad last night,” he answered.