Synergy (See #3)(79)

“How many illusions of hers have you seen? How sure are you?” Willow asked.

“More than I care to have. Understand that the images she shows you of them in passion are the ones that are the furthest from the truth. When you’re close. Really close. She’ll show thousands. Everywhere you look, you’ll see her arms around him, him begging her to hold him tighter.”

“No soul. No innocence,” Draven said quietly as he pulled me closer. I assumed that he must have told her about what we went through, how Bianca had fooled him once.

I let the conversation of the room fall silent in my mind. I was trying to see into Madison. She was blocking me, but from what I could gather from the intense look on Perodine’s face, they were trying to talk her out of going into The Realm.

As calm as I was, I had a gut feeling that told me that I was on the verge of losing her. I kept seeing that image she’d sketched of the lifeless girl on the floor. I tried to tell myself that had already happened, but I couldn't shake the feeling. Even though I was supposed to find Drake in The Realm, I was going to keep my eyes open for the healer, for Landen.

I heard Willow tell Olivia that she should go with us instead. They’d just told Willow that if we die in The Realm, you die for real, and Willow was trying to prevent Olivia and Madison’s nightmare from coming true; she didn’t want to be near anyone who looked like her. I wanted to agree, but Olivia refused to agree to that plea.

Draven pulled me against him tightly, then slowly let me go and went to Willow’s side. Aden came to mine. I glanced up at him. “Look who’s finally going to hunt with me,” I said slyly, trying to take the edge off his mood.

He elbowed me and smiled, revealing his dimples. “What’s that about?” he asked, nodding toward Madison. I shrugged my shoulders and let him see what I knew. I saw the concern in his eyes, but my attention was pulled away. Draven was trying to explain to Willow that she had to be careful with her energy in that world. That a little would go a long way.

“Remember how we talked about pulling energy? How I pulled from Charlie?” Draven asked her. Her eyes reflected a yes. “In The Realm…that’s the place that I’m tempted the most. Everything is heightened. When I think that I’ll just take a little, when she thinks she’ll just give a little – we’re already crossing a line. You’re going to want to give everything you have to wake them, and you can’t do that.”

“If that’s what they need, I will,” Willow promised.

Draven moved his head from side to side as he locked his jaw in frustration. “That will kill you. That will kill them.”

“How am I going to know what they need? What I can give?” Willow asked.

“I can’t tell you that. You need to put aside your desire for instant gratification. There will be a delay, and in that delay you’ll want to give more, but you can’t, not until you know for sure that they need it. That you have it to give more.”

Even though the calm I was feeling had imprisoned my emotions, my mind forced me to be afraid. I didn’t know if Draven could handle that, seeing her light in that place. I doubted Willow would know when to stop, and the last thing she’d be thinking about was how she was tempting Draven. Not because she was cold, but because he hadn’t told her how addicting light was to him; none of us had.

As soon as I felt that emotion, Willow locked eyes with me. “We’re all coming home,” she promised. I nodded and turned the ring on my finger, and instantly calm came back to me. I was determined to wake them before Willow could, when Draven was far enough away from me that his hunger wouldn’t tempt him.

I focused on the man in the cloak. It looked like he was almost done setting up whatever he and Perodine needed to open a door for Willow. I caught a few glimpses of him, his memories, as I watched him. His name was Alamos. He was priest or something like that, and he was almost always at Drake’s side...but his history stretched all the way back to Willow’s first birth. He loved Perodine. I was sure of it. What a complicated web all these people weave. If there were going to be a tomorrow for me, I was looking forward to figuring them all out. It didn't make sense that Willow had two people in her life that were millions of years old and still needed us. Why could they not figure out how to see?

Draven and the others were explaining to Willow and Olivia how they could create any weapon, do anything in The Realm, and how they must have a degree of urgency while we were in there.

Perodine and Madison came in the room. Willow’s father stayed in the hall.

Madison came to my side, refusing to show me anything they’d talked about. I glanced at her stomach before turning my attention to Perodine and Alamos.

Alamos pulled back the drapes around the bed, clearly revealing Drake and Landen. I reached for Madison’s wrist to tell her I was there. She didn’t make a move as she gazed at Drake’s near lifeless body.

Perodine was holding a different chalice and the same knife she’d cut me with before as she stood in front of the makeshift altar at the foot of the bed. “Come,” she said to us, and we all moved forward.

Perodine came to me first. I knew she wanted blood again, and I held my finger out for her. As she pricked my finger, her eyes met mine. I felt a warning there. “Whatever wall falls....I’ll help you put up again,” she said so quietly that I doubted anyone else heard her. I questioned her with my eyes, but she moved on to Aden, then the others. I watched her avoid Madison more than once. Finally, she stood in front of her, but Perodine silently refused to take Madison’s blood. Madison took the knife from her and sliced her own finger, letting twice as much blood fall into the chalice.