Synergy (See #3)(7)

“He wanted to know if I was with you and told me to make sure Madison was with you before I went to the school.”

“Why didn’t he call me about it, then?” I asked shortly. “I wouldn’t be so mad about the distance he kept if I knew why.”

“He did.”

I furrowed my eyebrows as I unclipped my phone from my waist. It was frozen; I couldn’t get it off the lock screen. “That’s weird.”

“I told him you looked fine and then took off to catch you.”

I turned my phone off, then sprinted the last few feet to Wesley’s driveway. As I caught my breath, I tried to turn it back on, but I couldn’t get it to work.

“Let me see your phone so I can call him. My phone is acting weird,” I said to Aden.

He handed me his, then took mine to see if he could try to fix it.

Draven answered on the first ring. “You better not have said anything. Tell me she doesn’t know.”

“Know what?” I said shortly as my face blushed with anger and I glared at Aden.

Draven never answered me; instead, he appeared in Wesley’s front yard. He was wearing his favorite holey jeans and a black T-shirt, but he was barefoot and his hair was wet; he looked like he’d literally just gotten out of the shower. What I was looking at wasn’t really all of him. He’d seen his way here, but I’m sure his body was still holding his phone in his room.

“What are you hiding?” I said as my eyes blazed through him.

“Nothing,” he said as he stepped closer to me, holding my stare and locking his jaw in place, obviously trying to remain calm.

I focused on him and asked the question in my mind, trying to see him, but he was blocking me.

“Then stop blocking me,” I demanded.

“Why can’t you see that I’m blocking you to keep you safe?”

Really, Draven. Get a new excuse. “Why can’t you see that I’m sick of that? I’m sick of not knowing everything about you -- what you’re becoming. If you love me, then we’re one person -- and you can’t keep secrets from each other. Your pain is mine.”

“Fine,” he said quietly. “She’s gone.”

“Bianca?”

He nodded once. That couldn’t be all of it. Rage was in his emerald green eyes.

“That isn’t a news flash, Draven. You know I’ve been hunting her.”

“I mean that she has no interest in us anymore,” he said as he reached for my neck and pulled me closer, his thumb urging my chin up so I could see deeply into his eyes. They turned dark as night, and in that instant I was gone.

In this vision, I found myself in some kind of medieval looking chambers. What I saw was exactly what I’d seen in the first vision I had of Bianca: a man was against the wall, and she was leaning into him and whispering into his ear. I moved to the side to see if I recognized the man, and when I did, my heart hammered out of control and I lost my hold on that vision.

“What...? How...? Was that him? The prince?” I whispered harshly to Draven.

His eyes told me yes.

“We have to do something! Warn them. That world is dark enough; she can’t have control of it,” I said in a panicky whisper.

“I’ve already done what I can for now.”

“What do you mean?!”

“Last night. After the concert, after everyone had been helped, I had this bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, so we went back. We blended in and just witnessed what was around us. I thought I saw her, so we followed her and ended up in this large estate-looking place. By the time I got there, that guy was way deep, too far for me to help. There was another one, and he was literally falling to the ground when we showed up.”

“What did you do? You left him there? What did you say to her?”

“We just played. Well, at least we let your song play as loud as we could. It stopped her from hurting anyone else, but she has two victims now.”

“Two?”

“Two guys,” he confirmed.

“Let’s go back then. They left people behind. We can help them.”

“The people left there destroyed that Estate – or at least Mother Nature did. There’s nothing left.”

“Who’s the other guy? Why did she take two? Are they in The Realm?”

“I don’t know why she took them or where they are. I just know they’re deep, deeper than we’ve ever gone.”

He should know better than to lie to me. I could read him like a book. “Who’s the other guy, Draven?” I asked, pointing out he’d avoided my question.

He glanced at Austin, then back at me. “I don’t know, but I have my suspicions.”

“Landen,” I murmured as nausea washed over me.

Draven shrugged his shoulders faintly. Clearly feeling the same defeat I did.

My world began to crash down around me. Draven was wrong: Bianca wasn’t gone, and she hadn’t moved on; all she was doing was blocking my way out of this world. If that was Landen with that prince, then he couldn’t help me. Willow couldn’t help me either. They were now just as trapped as we were.

“I’ll find her,” I swore as I swallowed hard.

“No, you’re not. That’s why I didn’t tell you. You’re not going after her. For all you know, it’s a trap.”