Insight (Web of Hearts and Souls #1)(70)

Hannah nodded and drew what looked like a small tornado on the back of the page.

“Okay, Okay. Just calm down. We’ll figure it out,” I promised her, halfway trying to convince myself.

Hannah leaned back and put her hand on her throat. Jessica turned on her side, still asleep. Olivia was still hiding behind Chrispin. I sensed my father and Ashten’s panic. I glanced to the window and saw them pulling up in front of my house.

Brady looked at Landen. “Are you ready for this?” he asked. Landen shrugged. It was clear the last thing he was going to worry about was if they were upset with us. We met them on the front porch, and my father’s eyes danced over Landen and me.

“What happened?” Ashten shouted, trying to look behind us. My father quickly looked us both over again.

“They’re fine,” my father said to Ashten.

I spoke up first, knowing they wouldn’t be as angry with me. I told them what had happened. Knowing that we’d been in the strings alone was almost more than the two of them could handle. I quickly moved past that part and explained to my father that the girls needed help.

My father walked in the house. Ashten went to speak, but Landen raised his hand, stopping him. Ashten then stopped himself and mumbled. Everyone filed outside one-by-one when my father went in to see the girls. Almost fifteen minutes passed before Landen and I went back in, hoping he’d figure out what was wrong.

My father was still looking over Jessica as she lay sleeping. Hannah’s confusion was apparent. She couldn’t understand why Dane, my father, and I were all there. My father smiled warmly back at her.

“Listen, we’re going to make you all better, okay. You just need to calm down.”

He then led us into the kitchen. My father was pacing, confusion coursing through him.

“There’s nothing wrong with them—they just think that they can’t see, hear, or speak.”

“What do you mean?” I asked quietly.

“I can see that they’ve been given narcotics or something close to that, but beyond that they’re fine.”

Brady had been arguing on Landen’s behalf with his father. Wanting to escape he found us in the kitchen. After hearing that nothing was physically wrong with the girls, and seeing our defeated expressions, he offered his opinion.

“I think they’re under some kind of spell. You heard the chants, didn’t you, Landen?”

My father promptly stood at attention. I seemed to have left that small detail out earlier.

“Chants?” he repeated, making sure he wasn’t mistaken.

Fearing he would now have to argue with my father, Brady answered. “They…umm…were in a room with an altar and chants, but they were sick before that,” Brady said, looking guiltily in our direction. We weren’t upset that he’d said something, we just wanted the girls better.

My father slid to the floor against the cabinets, bowing his head to his knees. We all rushed to his side. Landen and I could feel how distraught he was, almost to the point of grief. He looked up slowly, reaching for my face and leaning his head toward mine.

“Dad, it’s okay. What’s wrong?” I asked.

He stared forward for a moment before he spoke. “If I’d brought you home, the two of you would have had enough time to prepare yourself. We could have all helped, but now you two are almost defenseless.”

Landen and I glanced at one another. We knew that we weren’t completely defenseless; our gifts were merging. Not to mention we could leave our bodies as they slept. Telling my father may have brought him some comfort, but we weren’t sure if it would also bring him more worry.

“We’re going to be fine, all of us,” Landen said with a degree of authority that made us all believe he spoke the truth.

My mother tapped lightly on the back door, causing us all to rise. She was genuinely concerned when she saw my father and his composure, but she listened as he gave us instructions. “You need to see if they want to go home now, or if they want to wait until they’re better. If they want to stay, you need to find a way to tell their parents that they’re okay.”

Landen, Brady, and I left the room, giving my father time to explain everything in his own way to my mother. When Brady passed through the entry hall and went back outside, Landen stopped me before we walked into the living room.

“Listen, if we take them back, I want to give them the herb Realm. I don’t want them to have to remember that place,” Landen thought.

“If they forget the chants would break the spell?”

“I don’t know,” Landen thought softly.

I nodded and walked into the living room, holding Landen’s hand. Jessica was awake now, and Hannah was writing her notes to explain what had happened and that she was safe. They all looked up as I walked into the room, staring at me for some kind of explanation.

“Listen, I don’t know how to explain any of this to you. I can’t tell you when you’ll be better. If you want to go home to your parents, we’ll take you there. If you want to stay here a while longer, you’re more than welcome.”

Hannah threw her hands in the air with complete disgust at my bleak explanation. She then turned the page in the sketchbook she was holding and wrote “HOME PLEASE.” Jessica looked at her, then back at me for some kind of understanding. Landen walked over, gently took the pad from Hannah, and wrote what I said for Jessica to read. Feeling the anger coming from Hannah, he wanted to explain it more gently to her. Jessica wrote the words “Which way will make us better faster?”