Synergy (See #3)(44)

“You know,” I said, glancing at Nana and then back to him. “We like it. The reason we fought about going before was because we were afraid we wouldn't be able to help our shadows there. Because you waited, because fate led you on a different path, we have saved over ten thousand souls. Don’t regret that for second. We don’t.”

A smiled beamed across Austin’s face, and across Nana’s.

“Spoken like a true citizen of Chara,” he said as his eyes met mine.

I pushed back from the counter as I mumbled, “Hopefully.”

As I walked by the living room, I glanced in and saw Winston gaming and Aden trying to get his attention. I wanted to avoid Winston at every cost; he was less than happy with me in The Realm.

I ran up the stairs and down the hall. When I reached the studio, I found Draven at the window, playing as he stared at my house. I hesitated for a second, then walked over and tapped him on the shoulder. He finished the chord he was playing, then let his hands rest, but he didn’t look at me.

“Either I have gotten really bad at playing, or your dad is mad at me,” he said as he stared out the window. I followed his gaze to see that the lights in my house remained off.

“He’s been keeping his distance. I think he’s doing that so we would be ready to leave now.”

Draven furrowed his eyebrows. “Something doesn’t seem right.”

“What is right, Draven? It’s time for us to go.”

As he looked down at me, his eyes expanded to black instantly. I didn’t hide anything. I let him see everything. I wanted him to know what I knew now. I wanted him to know that even though I had a past with Silas that was so heart wrenching it would cause any sane girl to question her heart today, I didn’t question mine. I fell for him. I died for him. I would do it again.

A few moments later, his eyes returned to the alluring green I loved so much. “Why would your mom say goodbye like that? Send Kara away?”

“Is that what you want to ask me? Talk to me about?”

He pulled his guitar off him and set it in the stand, then placed his hands on my hips and leaned his forehead against mine. “I can’t change what’s happened. I’m just trying to change what could happen.”

“There’s nothing we can’t handle if we’re together.”

“I need you to go to a safe place,” he whispered, tightly closing his eyes as if he were in pain.

I reached for his face and beckoned his eyes to open with my fingertips. “We can argue about this all night, Draven. It’s all of us or none of us.”

He swallowed the dark emotions he was clearly fighting, opened his eyes, and said, “You don’t find it odd that your dad isn’t around right now? That your mom told you goodbye? What do they know? What are they fighting to protect you from?”

I thought of my parents, the light my mother was, the darkness my father was. How impossible they must have thought their love was. I knew no matter what, I would prevail where my mother failed, that I would find a way to diminish The Realm, stop it from calling the boy I loved into its cold darkness. I would stop it from testing any soul, and that war began right here, in Draven’s arms. I had to find a way to convince him that I had no regrets. That somehow we were all meant to be in this moment with the people in our lives.

“They know that our fate is here. You were right about being connected to these people by past lives...Draven, we are meant to meet them. All of us have a chosen fate, and it’s time to face it.”

He pulled in a deep breath as his eyes fell into mine. “Why did you do it? Why did you fall?”

I knew him well enough to know that in his complex mind, he was questioning if I fell for him simply because Willow had told me I would. Knowing him, he thought I fell for him simply out of loyalty to who Willow was then. “Because I love you,” I promised. “I could only fall if I truly loved you.”

His lips threatened a smile, but one never came. “You didn’t have to fall to save me. I was already saved.”

“Did you hear what Willow said? I could only fall if I loved you, if that was what the universe or God wanted. Please don’t question something that clear, because if you question that, we’ll never be able face the unknown, we won’t be able to save souls. We have to trust ourselves. You have to trust yourself. I know I don’t understand these auras you see or the pull you crave, but I do know that you are stronger than you think you are.”

“I just need time, Charlie, time to figure out how to control the urges. It’s a hunger that I can’t explain. I literally feel like I’m fading, that if I don’t find a way to feed that hunger, I’ll vanish. Either way, I lose you.” His hands reached for my face. “I just can’t.”

“You can do it; my dad did it,” I said, covering his hands with mine. “He found light in his music through the love of his fans...he made his own escape, and you can, too. You already have begun; your music is reaching people, both dead and alive.”

A sardonic smile came to the corners of his lips. “I wish I knew how he managed to do that.”

“Is that why you’re looking for my dad? Are you looking for advice?” I said as our hands fell away from my face.

He leaned against the windowsill. “Maybe.”

I walked over to him and leaned my body against his. “That was his life, not yours. What he endured, you will end. The Realm will never hurt anyone else after we get through with it.”