Synergy (See #3)(55)

“No, you won’t.”

“Yes, I will.”

She looked me dead in the eye. “No, you won’t because you’ll be dead, everyone will be. I’m going,” she said as she pulled the gear to reverse.

Britain pulled around us, then peeled out of the parking lot.

“Did he tell you how you died before?” I asked after a few minutes.

“He confirmed that there was only one way to fall.”

“Did you fall for him?”

“No,” she said quietly.

“He told you that?”

“No, he wouldn’t tell me anything.”

“Clever,” I mumbled. Britain was playing with her. If she fell for him, she would have known it long before today. She would have felt the pull I feel to Draven; it’s an undeniable emotion, one that I’ve always felt, even when I was blind.

As I got closer to Draven’s, my heart began to race, and dread and fear were all I could feel. Madison stared at me the entire way, taking in all that Silas had said to me. I didn’t want to talk about what Monroe was...it scared me too much.

I pulled around the back of the house and put the car in park.

“You do realize Willow’s family is terrified of her?” Madison said quietly.

At that moment, thunder rumbled above us; somebody was obviously making Willow mad. I looked down as I felt the weight of the world fall on my shoulders. I only had one second to decide if I was going to do this or not, and doubt was beginning to win.





Chapter Eleven


When I was in that room with Willow, I was so focused on protecting Monroe and Madison that I didn’t see nearly deep enough. I was sure that Draven had, though; even though he feared her power, I knew he wouldn't let me go if he thought that Willow would hurt any of us. I took what I did see and focused on the people around her. Willow spent almost every moment with Landen, but their family was always there. Madison was exaggerating. There was a fear of her, but it wasn’t because she was dangerous; it was because she was changing so fast, because she was forgetting what she already knew and not taking the time to balance all the new insights that came to her.

In Willow’s defense, she was distracted by this love triangle between Landen and Drake. Out of the three of them, from what I could see she was the only one that had the issue. Landen wasn’t overly threatened by Drake, and Drake was content to fight at her side. Don't get me wrong, there was jealousy, but not as much as Willow feared there was. Somebody needed to set this girl straight, and without a doubt, Madison could do just that.

“They aren’t afraid of her; they’re afraid for her,” I said to Madison. “When we get Landen back, she’ll be calm.”

“What about before then?”

I moved my head side to side in slight dismay. I really felt for Willow. She was a lot like Madison in the way she handled herself. She came across brash, but inside she was clearly tender. I had a feeling that Landen was her barrier, the one that understood her, protected her. With him gone she was vulnerable. Not because she was weak. But because she didn’t know how to explain herself. And her family didn’t know how to understand her. “I don’t plan on dragging this out forever. Besides, Monroe is the issue. I think we should go with them to wherever they left Landen’s body, use his perspective, bring him back, and hope to God that him or someone there will be able to help us with Monroe.”

“Are you not worried about Draven anymore?”

“I’m extremely worried, but he’s fighting, Madison. If anything, all of this will give him something else to focus on. It’ll help him see that he isn’t a curse to us, that he’s valuable. Needed.”

“How did Willow get that powerful?” Madison asked as a rush of wind rocked my car.

I hesitated for a second as I shifted through what I saw. “I think it was always there, but all of this stuff she’s been going through caused the power to surface...but,” I said as I squinted my eyes and tried to push my mind further into Willow’s thoughts, “she’s forgotten.”

“Forgotten what?”

“You know how we see shadows come to life?” Madison nodded. “Well, people, like images, used to appear in front of her; instead of saying words to them like we do, though, she touched them and changed their emotion, and instead of writing a song, she sketched.”

“She’s an artist? Are you freaking kidding me?!” Madison exclaimed in a desperate tone.

“Seems you guys have a lot in common,” I muttered, angling my eyes at her.

“I’m not her. I wouldn't forget how to do what we do today.”

Who was she trying to convince me or her?

“I wonder why they stopped, why she forgot?” I asked aloud. The people Willow helped before she met Landen weren’t dead; they were alive and well, and from what I could see it looked like they were in some kind of emotional pain. She was able to feel that, move to where they were and change that emotion. It was like she was their guardian angel or something. None of this made any sense.

“Because she’s running in circles, blinded by love,” Madison said shortly, clearly trying to prove her point that falling in love was a foolish thing to do.

I ignored her as I tried to understand where all of this was going. It didn’t make sense that out of all the people I saw around Willow, none of them recognized that the girl was vanishing, that she was losing just as much power as she was gaining. “Maybe. When this is over, maybe we can talk to her about what she forgot, about what The Realm is. For all we know, she could end it for us.”