Synergy (See #3)(27)

“I’m starving anyways,” Austin said as he stood.

I looked down at my running clothes, which I was still wearing. “I’m going to take a shower and pack a bag. We’ll be over in a bit -- at least Monroe and I will; Madison is eating dinner with her parents.”

Draven glanced at me. “I’ll wait on you.”

“I’m fine, Draven. Nothing is going to hurt me,” I said quietly.

His jaw tightened. “Right,” he said as he stood and put the guitar back on the stand, then walked over to me and kissed my forehead before he left the room.

Austin watched him leave, then looked back at me. “I walk in on a passionate kiss, and that was the kiss he gives you to say goodbye?”

I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. “He can read me like a book.”

“And what did he just read?” Austin asked.

“I want to ask Silas to look after Landen until we can help him. I want to ask him if he knows anything about the dreams – if they’re a warning.”

“Is this guy dangerous? I think I should stay with you.”

“Not to me. But he knows stuff. He may even know how dangerous it is for us to go to Chara.”

“I don’t care what he says. You’re coming with me, all of you.” Austin bit out showing a dominance I’d never seen before. Which told me he could handle Draven just fine.

“If you want to help, stay at his side. He has us all on edge.”

“Why?” Austin asked as concern filled his eyes.

“His emotions, the dark ones, open up that Escort thing in him. Sometimes he’s pulled into memories of a past life when he was a bad person. He realizes that we’re on guard, and that makes him mad. He’s fighting to stay who he was, but what he doesn’t realize is that person is gone. He has to push through this, balance who he is now.”

“If there’s anyone that can help him do that, it’s you,” Austin said sympathetically.

“That’s why I’m not leaving without him.”

“I’ll talk to his dad, and Nana. They’ll convince him to go,” Austin promised.

“Maybe if I’m lucky, by the time I get to his house, we’ll be ready to leave.”

“Let’s hope,” Austin murmured. It was easy to see he wanted to tell me something but couldn’t find the will right now. When I focused on him, all I saw was Madison’s image; I took comfort in the fact that it was a happy image, even though I knew it wouldn’t be for long.

He sighed, then left the room without another word. I walked over to my bed and grabbed my phone. I found my mom’s number and texted: Tell me where you are. Austin is here. I don’t know when I’m leaving but I want to know where you are.

I scrolled to Kara’s name, but I couldn't bring myself to text her. I doubted she’d made it to the city yet, and I didn’t want to ruin her weekend, at least not yet.

I took my phone with me down to my old room. Monroe was quietly packing her things, and Madison was sitting on her bed, waiting for me.

“Well?” Madison asked.

“Draven doesn’t want to go. He wants us to take Monroe.”

I stared at Monroe, looking for some kind of response, but she didn’t bother to make one.

“That’s not going to happen,” Madison said firmly.

“Right. Austin is on our side with this, too. I’m going to take a shower, then go over there. Maybe you should go spend some time with your parents. After your dinner, we’ll talk this out; with any luck, maybe we can leave in the morning.”

“I’ll go after you get to Draven’s safely,” Madison said as she laid back on her bed and prepared to wait for me to take a shower.

“And who’s going to make sure you get to your mom’s safely? I’m not the one that’s been ‘called,’” I said, trying to find the words to tell her how bad this really was, how she was a bigger part of this, more than she could ever imagine. I tried to balance the anxiety that was building, but it was clear she felt it. She looked down at the necklace that the witch had given her that was laced around her hand.

“I’m not afraid of it, Charlie...of any of it.”

I tried to force the words, or at least open a door for her to see all that I knew, but I couldn't, and all that did was invoke the emotion of betrayal. I waited for her to feel that, to demand that I show her, for her to force me to let that wall down, but she refused to look me in the eye. That told me that she wasn’t ready to know.

“Pack,” I said as I went into the closet.

I grabbed one of my large bags and pushed a few outfits into it before I grabbed a change of clothes and went to the bathroom. In the shower, I just tried to breathe, tried to put everything in perspective, to understand if the one thing I’d been waiting on wasn’t Austin, my escape, but an elaborate trap laid out by the devil. I’d always been one that relied on my gut feelings, and my gut feeling was telling me that all hell was about to break loose. It was also telling me that I needed to help those boys, that if I helped them they would help me. That they were the missing piece to the puzzle. Holding the answers I needed to understand who I was.

I was putting away my blow dryer when my mother appeared out of nowhere beside me, still wearing one of her business suits.