Vindicate (Insight #5)(60)

“We are telling you that not because of the dream Olivia and Madison had, but because we are afraid for your life,” Draven said calmly.

“Apparently, I’m too dangerous t o be bothered with that fear,” I said with a sustained certainty.

Draven let go of Charlie and slowly walked to my side, holding my stare with his entrancing eyes. When he reached my side, he looked down and tilted his head slightly. “Remember how we talked about pulling energy, how I pulled from Charlie?”

I let my eyes tell him yes.

“In The Realm …that is the pl ace that I am tempted the most. Everything is heightened. When I thin k that I’ll just take a little, when she thinks she will just give a little –we are already crossing a line. You are going to want to give everything you have to wake them, and you can’t do that.”

“If that is what they need, I will.”

He moved his head from side to side as he locked his jaw in fru stration. “That will kill you. That will kill them.”

Like the threat of death was not already on the table. “How am I going to know what they need? What I can give?”

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

A soaring pain rippled through the emotions of the room. “We are all coming home,” I said as I looked at Charlie. Her calm was gone, and the anxiety she fed off was back. I had a feeling that the reason she was going to be helping Drake and not Landen was so she would be far away from Drave n, so he would not be tempted.

I was anxious, ready to go. I looked over my shoulder, knowing that Perodine was close. I saw her in the hallway. She and my father were talking to Madison quietly. It wasn’t hard to see that it was a tense discussion. Madison’s eye s were wide as she stared at the floor and took in what they were saying.

“There is more,” Draven said to call my attention back to him.

“What?” I asked, not losing my stare with Madison. I was waiting for an excuse to go over there and figure out what they were saying to her.

“In this place everyone controls the atmosphere,” Draven said as he reached for my chin to move my eyes back to his.

“Everyone?” Oh, this is going to be a blast. Not.

He nodded. “And you can manifest anything at any moment.”

“Manifest?” I repeated, furrowing my eyebrows.

“Yes. Manifest. You want to be in a city then you will be. You need a sword; think of it, and it’s there. As with every power, there are dangers to that.”

When is there not a danger? “Like?”

“Like you don’t know when you will come back. I don’t know what kind of foothold Perodine can give y ou, but I can tell you that world has pushed me out without warning. With weapon in hand and God help whoever is in my pa th. Your aim will be the same and if you throw something, it will ma nifest here.”

I didn’t need a weapon. I had Mother Nature. So I wasn’t worried about that.

“That is why no one but me and Perodine will be in here,” Alamos said a s he turned from Landen’s side. “You also need to always make sure you are with nature. A t the very least water –your sign rules water . It gives you clarity. Power. Move the illusion to places like that.”

“I hope that’s easier than it sounds,” I mumbled .

“Do not hesitate in this world, child. I cannot tell you how long we will be able to open this window to you,” Alamos said as he snapped his fingers and the candles on the alter ignited.

“It is,” Draven promised. “Just think of it . Anything. You want to fly . You fly. You want fire. Think of fire. Your thoughts literally create every single thing in The Realm .”

At that moment, Perodine and Madison walked in the room; my father stayed in the hallway. He smiled slightly and nodded at me.

I locked eyes with Madison. “Are you alright?”

“Better than ever,” she said with little enthusiasm.

Alamos pulled back the drapes on each side of the bed. As he revealed Drak e’s side, I stared at Madison looking for some kind of reaction, but she remained calm.

Perodine was holding a small silver bowl and the dagger that I had ended my life with.

“Come,” she said quietly as she stood in front of the makeshift altar that had been set up for her.

All of us surrounde d her. She began with Charlie. Perodine pricked her finger and let a drop o f her blood fall into the bowl. She moved on to Draven, Aden, Brady, and Olivia , then me. When she reached Madison, she locked eyes with her. I could feel Perodine’s motherly concern, but I could not understand it. Perodine was silently re fusing to take Madison’s blood. Madison took the knife from her and sliced the tip of her finger and let several drops of her blood drop into the basin.

Perodine looked down, then turned to the altar. Alamos looked at me. “Focus your eyes . See energy. See the aura of them . A ll of you.”

I did as he said. I remembered thinking when I first learned to see energy that I would neve r see the world the same again, but the truth of the matter is that you can turn it o ff. You can choose to not see. Not feel energy if you wish. I guess that’s why s o many people are unaware of it. They don’t know there is some kind of switc h you can flip on in your mind. A switch that will show you beauty in everything.