Witness: See Series (Volume 1)(25)

“Seriously, I’m not a prisoner in this house - or yours, for that matter.”

Aden sighed. “Don’t worry; I sent a group text to Dad, Grayson, Madison, and Draven. They won’t let him do anything crazy.”

“Like they could stop him,” I said shortly as I reached for the handle and charged out of the truck.

My car was parked in my spot. I glanced in the window as I passed by and saw my bag. I halted, then turned around to get it. As I climbed back out of my car, I found Monroe waiting on me.

“Oh yeah,” I mumbled. I was so mad at Aden that I forgot to ask her in. “Come on…you get to meet Kara – fun,” I said with a forced, fake smile. She looked down and waited for me to lead her.

When I opened the back door, the guitar sound was blaring in one of its angry tunes. I shook my head. Looks like everyone’s mad at me.

Kara was walking down the stairs that led to my room. When she saw me with Monroe, a warm smile filled her face.

I looked over my shoulder to see Monroe looking all around – almost as if she were looking for the sound. I raised my eyebrows. “Hear something?”

She looked at me nervously, then down at her feet.

“Monroe, it’s so good to see you,” Kara said as we met her in the entry hall.

“Did Nana call you?”

“Mom did – this morning. Madison helped me get everything ready for Monroe to stay with us.”

“So I guess Nana just asked me to be polite?” I said shortly, knowing it wouldn’t have mattered if I said yes or not.

“Well,” Kara said bleakly as her eyes moved across my face. “She’s the only one you still listen to.”

I glared at Kara. It wasn’t that I listened to Nana more than her or Mom; it was just that I felt Nana was calmer – and never made rash decisions or chose to push an issue she didn’t understand.

“None of you thought to tell me they were here – that Evan was back?”

“Maybe if you came out of your room once in a while, you’d know things. Seriously, mom is thinking of putting a kitchenette up there. She thinks that way, you may eat more – but I told her you’d never come down if that happened.”

“Well, if the company downstairs wasn’t so interested in telling me to run away and never look back, I might. Did you ever stop to think that if I leave with Austin – I may never come back, see you again?” I choked on those last words. I couldn’t believe I actually said that aloud. It was my second fear of leaving; the first was taking my demons to another world – and I’d chance both if it meant saving Draven from whatever he was fighting.

Kara’s eyes glassed over, and she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me. “I just want you to have peace - even if that means I can only see you in my dreams,” she whispered in my ear.

I hugged her back and let an angry tear race down my cheek. “Truce,” I whispered.

“Truce,” Kara said as she let me go. “Have you guys eaten?”

“Yeah,” I mumbled.

“Alright,” Kara said, reaching her arm around Monroe. “Let me show you where you’re staying.”

I followed her and Kara up the stairs, sure that she’d stop at the guest room - but she didn’t; instead, she kept climbing the stairs to my room. I was shaking my head, ready to argue. Madison was already sharing my room with me – even though it was huge, intended to be a living room but changed to my room at my request; I didn’t want to share it with two other girls, especially if there were perfectly good rooms that were empty.

When we reached my room, I saw that it had been invaded. My double bed was gone; now, there were two twin beds on opposite sides of the room. In the center were a black bean bag cushion and two big leather chairs. Across the floor and one of the beds were Madison’s sketch books, and images I couldn’t comprehend were on each of them. Some were of demons that kinda looked like monkies. There were ones with Ankhs on them, and others with eyes. Some were dark and captivating, and others were emerald and mesmerizing, like Madison’s. There was even one that looked very much like Britain’s steel blue eyes.

“What’s going on? Where’s my bed?” I asked, completely confused on how my room could be transformed so much in the course of one day.

“Upstairs,” Kara said, nodding to the short staircase that led to my father’s studio.

“You’re kicking me out of my own room?!” I all but yelled.

“Listen,” Kara said as she turned and put her hands on my shoulders. “This is for your own good. Apparently, what you can do - what your friends can do - has raised some concerns. Mom’s first idea was for you to just move in with Draven, but I told her you needed your space and that you wouldn’t want to be away from us, or…the sound I know you hear here…before you had to be.”

I glanced around at the thin air at the sound of the guitar that was still scolding me. “What do you mean? What concerns?”

Kara let her hands fall from my shoulders. Monroe nervously walked to the bed that didn’t have any sketches on it and sat down. It was clear she was uncomfortable with mine and Kara’s argument.

“I don’t understand them,” Kara said in a calm voice. “But from what I gather, once you see a place or go to a place, you can go back there. Apparently, that’s what Draven is doing now, and they think that the reason you saw the illusion of Draven arguing with you in this room on the night of your accident is because we let Bianca in this house; she was in this room and was able to come back to it.”