Vindicate (Insight #5)(6)

“Did you feel anyone else in the room with you?” Perodine asked .

I slowly moved my head from side to side.

She looked at Alamos , who shook his he ad no. “There is nothing left. I f anyone was there , they perished.”

My angry , confused eyes peered into him. “There was no one else there. That soun d – that sound was in the air. Yes , there was emotion behind it. Yes , it was real, but the soul that created it wasn ’t there. I would have felt someone that powerful.”

“More than one created it , ” Brady clarified , looking at me. “Music is my insight . I can hear every part of a song. There was more than one creator of that sound . There was more than one soul that brought it to life.”

“How was that sound there , though?” Marc asked . “How did it know at what moment to play ? Why didn’t it play before?”

“Find Austin. Find that Charlie girl . That musician with her , ” I demanded .

“We ’re already looking, I promise , ” Brady said slowly and clearly to me , as if he wanted me to hear the truth in his words.

Silence took over for a moment or two , then Alamos cleared his throat. “I think it’s safe to say that this trial does not lie in this dimension . Or any other. I t’s in a different realm.”

“What do you mean? How do I get there?” I asked .

Alamos turned his head from side to side , telling me he had no idea.

“It’s in their mind right now , ” Perodine said calmly. “Mars has begun , and just as we feared, it is the worst tr ia l yet.”

“You didn’t predict he would be taken – both of them , ” I said as rage blushed through my skin. As Brady leaned forward , Perodine shifted out of his way. He locked eyes with me , bringing calm back. To ensure that I held it , he reached for my hands and gripped them with all of his strength. I felt the tension in the room release as they felt gratitude that Brady had mana ged to fall into Landen’s role. He had managed to reach me in the depths of my despair. He deserved the respect they were giving him. I felt shame, though. I shouldn’t need someone to keep me calm or watch over me. I should be stronger than that.

“We predicted war. Seduction , ” Alamos confirmed .

I was really starting to hate that word. I swear if that girl laid her hands on Landen against his will I would rip her apart piece by piece. “No one bothered to tell me that , ” I fumed as my eyes left Brady’s for his.

“We didn’t have a chance , ” Alamos said quietly. “We tried to tell them,” he said , looking over his shoulder at Landen and Drake’s bodies , “b ut they couldn ’t see past t he moment they were in. They had already conceived the idea that they were gone. That their death would come the night of the winter sol stice .”

“Which was the wrong night , ” I said shortly. “So when is it going to happen this time ? When does this end ?” I needed a plan. Right now.

“We don’t know , ” Alamos said.

“How can you not k now?! Look at your scrolls. Your precious freaking scrolls!” Seriously? No plan? How could they not know?

Sympathy filled his face. “I have . I can tell you what war you will fight, but not the time. That luxury expired when Drake and Landen froze time over and over again.”

I broke free from Brady’s grip and stood , raging with grief as thunder exploded in the sky. “Don’t you dare m ake this out to be their fault. My fault ! We make the decisio ns we have to when we have to. We ’re human and have no choice but to listen to our emotions!”

Brady had stood and pulled me to him , squeezing me as tightly as he could. “We have a deal , Willow , ” h e whispered into my ear.

My hands clawed at his back , trying to find a way to channel my emotions . Trying to find control. I pushed the emotions down again. Felt the agonizing pain of that act. I didn’t want to feel anything if I could not feel it freely. After telling my soul and body to get over their temper tantrum over and over again I fo und control. When my grip released , Brady knew I had grasped it once again. His hands moved to my shoulders , and he pushed my stiff body to sit down again as he sat in front of me.

After a few seconds Alamos spoke up. “I’m just saying that we have no ide a what day it really is anymore. Chrispin told me that the calendar in Infante said that it was day nine in the eleven th month.”

I started to twirl my ring on my finger. I figured it was not an overly noticeable nervous tick. Hopefully, it was one that I could use when I felt my emotions boiling to the surface. “How is that possible ? That was weeks ago , ” I said as I remembered my birthday on the nineteenth of November. The day I took my own life.

Success. No thunder. No reaction from the atmosphere. I twirled the ring faster , so fast that it almost burned. I would take the burn over broadcasting how I felt to the world any day. I was not weak. I refused to be weak.

Perodine nodded. “We know. We told him to make sure when he went back, but if Landen or Drake ever stopped time in that dimension , they are off , too.”

“He did . Once .” I said as I thought of that one time in New York w h e n Drake and I battled a war of wits on the frozen streets.

“More than once , ” Alamos corrected.

“What?” I asked , looking at him.

Alamos looked over his shoulder at Drake ’s body , then back to me. “It was stop ped while he saved your friends. Olivia. Those boys. He kept time frozen for hours as he searched the depths of the sea for your friend Monica. He did every thing in his power to find her. Save her, but failed.”