Witness: See Series (Volume 1)(29)

“Sounds like a good guy to me,” Aden said flatly.

I looked in Monroe’s direction, looking for some kind of response that would tell me if I were wrong or right, but she stayed still.

“Don’t let this Britain guy mess with your head. This fight between him Draven has moved to another world – the dream world. If Draven did set a fire, it’s nothing compared to what he could have done in that place.”

My eyes grew wide. “Tell me what happens when you follow him there?” I asked, looking intently up at Aden.

A familiar anger came to his eyes. “It’s crazy, Charlie…imagine creating anything with your mind - any power, any weather, any building. The only thing you can’t change is the people in the place with you.”

“Is it a place like what Austin talks about – or a dream?”

“I don’t think it’s a place. Austin talks about dimensions like what we live in. They’re only different because of the choices they made as a whole. This is like stepping into a virtual reality.”

“Is it scary?”

Aden looked down as he titled his head. “When I follow him, it doesn’t see so grim…but the other day, he let his guard down and I was able to see him for just a split second. When I did, I realized that what I see and what he sees is different. Kinda like how we see in the first place; he’s always seen the nightmares, and I’ve always seen the lost dreams.”

“Has Madison gone? What does she see?”

“Yeah…the emotions she feels in that place shift dramatically without warning…it’s hard for her to stay long.”

“Will it be hard for me?”

“I don’t know, Charlie. When you were at your best, you saw it all…it might be too much for you.”

“I can’t get to my best if you shelter me,” I argued, growing more determined to go to this virtual reality at this moment.

He grinned slightly. “You did really good tonight – seriously. You’re almost there.”

“Thanks,” I mumbled as I looked down at my phone again.

A new text read: “Call me tomorrow – I know they are watching you now.”

I shook my head as I read Britain’s text.

“Have you seen a girl there? A beautiful girl with long, dark hair and angelic blue eyes?”

Aden’s jaw clenched, and his eyes moved to mine, but he didn’t say a word.

The wind left my lungs. I had been foolishly hiding in my house, thinking my simple texts would keep her away - but I was an idiot. They were distracting me from what was going on, I wasn’t distracting them. Bianca had her own little world to find my Draven in…she could take him from me, and I’d never know the difference.





Chapter Seven


I reached in my pocket and pulled out the black book that Draven had taken from Britain. I looked for Silas’ name amongst what I was sure was Latin, but I couldn’t understand any of what I was reading. I mean, I knew this language from studying it in school, but I would have to focus to call back those forgotten lessons - and right now focusing on any one thought was too much to ask.

“What’s that?” Aden asked.

“Nothing,” I said as I tossed it under Madison’s bed. “Its Madison’s. I just found it,” I mumbled. I hated lying, but I didn’t need to add anything to what I was trying to figure out. I started gathering the sketches Madison had across the room. I knew without a doubt that she’d been to that dream world Aden talked about…these images were too dark, darker than the shadows we chase. What was with the Ankh? I remembered her talking about this symbol, wanting a tattoo like it or something - but she hadn’t mentioned it in months; seems like the idea was still strong in her mind, though.

Monroe crawled on the floor and started helping me gather them. Aden was going through my phone, reading all of my texts. I didn’t care. I had nothing to hide. Britain really was just a friend to me.

Aden looked up. “What does he want with Madison?”

I glanced at him to see his face as white as a ghost. Madison was his and Draven’s cousin, but they always treated her more like a little sister (even though there was only a year between them). No guy had a chance to break her heart with the threat of them around. I remember telling Draven to let her fall in love at least once. He always said that the guys she liked weren’t good enough or wouldn’t understand the way she ‘sees’ or how important what she could do was. You have no idea how many arguments we had on the fact that no one would understand – we didn’t even understand. I think that was one of the reasons Madison was ready to leave with Austin; she thought that in the dimension of Chara, or perhaps another, she wouldn’t have to hide who she was – that she could find someone.

“I don’t know. According to him, she’s in his dreams.”

“What?!”

“Seriously, calm down,” I said as I glanced at Monroe. “You knew this. You saw her dreams a few months back, remember? She’s had really bad dreams – even before all of this happened. Britain is in them, but so is another guy.”

“I saw the place, not a guy. Is it this Silas guy?” he asked, trying to curb his tone.

“I don’t think so…she said he had dark eyes.” I looked down at the sketch I was holding and saw the eyes she described. “Like these.”