Witness: See Series (Volume 1)(18)
“He’s jealous,” Nana said firmly.
“Of what?”
“What Draven has: you.”
“What?”
“I think he has a crush on you…Draven caught him wandering through his thoughts of you, and a fight broke out. I think he just wants what Draven has – someone who understands what he is and loves him in spite of it.”
“OK, that’s gross – and second of all, I am what Draven is.”
“No, dear, you’re not…you’re on the opposing side – and you need to make sure you keep Draven fighting to be on your side.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Listen,” Nana said as stepped closer to me. “Everything has changed…I thought that if…I always surrounded him with love and made him see that there was a positive to the darkness he would see that this day would never come…but it’s here now, and we just have to figure out how to fight it.”
“Explain to me what he’s seeing. I know you’ve seen it; Evan told me so.”
Nana looked down, then up at me. “It’s like a dream, a nightmare; anything can happen…at first I thought it was in his head, but now after watching Grayson and Winston, I think it’s more like an out-of-body experience; his soul goes somewhere dark.”
“He said he was moving between memories, picking things up – that Britain could even see him.”
Nana nodded. “When I saw that, I knew I was right about the out-of-body experience. Somehow, he’s moving himself; he’s found a different level of his gift - but it’s dangerous, Charlie…I don’t know what to expect. All I know is that right now, the only thing saving him is you and his music.”
“I’m not a good luck charm. I wanna learn how to do what he’s doing – fight at his side. I don’t have the temper he has. I’ll be able to see clearly.”
“You need to master seeing first. How easily is it coming?”
“I have to tell myself to focus; it’s easier to see the dead - at least, I think it is. I really haven’t helped much of anyone lately. I can feel the impatience building,” I answered as my eyes drifted toward the night that was just outside the garage.
“Well…seeing any of us isn’t doing you any good. We’ve all learned to guard our thoughts; we had to. If these kids or Draven see our fears and take them to that place with them, we’ll become a target. They’ll come after the ones they care about – or even know.”
“Why? Explain this to me – what demons?”
“Charlie…if there’s no one to go home to, then there’s no reason to go home…these demons want these kids to stay there - for what, I don’t know or understand.”
“How am I gonna learn to see if everyone has their guard up?”
“Go in public. People watch.”
“Public didn’t work out for me today,” I said as my anxiety instantly made itself known in the core of my stomach.
“That Bianca girl is thriving off your fear. You would have been fine if you’d just calmed down…anger would have even served you better than fear.”
“Easy for you to say,” I mumbled.
“Charlie, don’t fight me on this…I don’t know how to guide you. I’m going on a feeling and a hope.”
“When you taught me to see again – to see that night of my party – you told me not to step into a memory, that I could get trapped there. Have you changed your mind? Is it safe to do what Draven’s doing?”
“I still don’t think it’s safe to step too far into a memory when you see it at first; if the person you’re seeing decides to remember differently or replaces that memory with another, then you’ll be trapped. I do think it’s safe to go back though, the way Draven does – as long as you know you have a solid way out.”
“I don’t get what he’s doing.”
“He’s just building his memory, remembering what he saw as his own. With that memory, he can go back. He’s managed to build a porthole – or passage – all around this world. If he’s ever seen it, he has a doorway there.”
“Do you think I can do that?”
“I have no doubt that you can, that you can do more than I’ve had a chance to fathom.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“Do,” she said as she halfway smiled.
“Shouldn’t that girl be in school? How long does she have to stay with me?”
“She’s always been home schooled. Her tutoring started a week ago.”
“Maybe that wasn’t a good idea. She should be around other kids her age.”
“She would have to talk first.”
“What – she can’t talk?”
“There’s nothing wrong with her beyond trauma. Grayson said she hasn’t said more than a few words over the past four years.”
“What happened four years ago?”
“Not sure. I know she saw what happened to her mom – why she’s missing.”
“I thought we didn’t know where she was – that those boys thought she was in the nightmare? Can she see?”
“She looks deep, but I don’t know what she sees because she’s hiding it from everyone – including herself. As far as the nightmare or what happened to her mom...I don’t know; they all seem to see something different when I ask them.”