Witness: See Series (Volume 1)(33)

A boyish grin spread across his face. I knew that look – it was the look he always had when I was missing the obvious. “No…you’re not the weak link.”

“Then show me; show me everything,” I pleaded.

“I will…I promise.” His eyes fell into mine. “I just have to make sure you’re as strong as you can be - I don’t want to scare you.”

He reached for the only acoustic guitar on the stand, then stepped past me. The rock on the nightstand caught his attention as he reached the couch. He gently leaned the guitar against the leather cushions before stepping closer to the rock.

“Monroe gave that to me,” I said as I unconsciously played with the charms on my bracelet.

“My mother had rocks like these,” Draven said as he let his fingers run across the rugged edges of the crystals in the glowing rock.

“Really? How do you know that?” I asked as I walked to the couch and fell into the corner cushion.

“There’re a ton of them in the attic. Nana still has one in her room,” he answered as he came to my side.

I knew what he was talking about in Nana’s room, but that rock was five times the size of this one. I always thought of it as an eccentric lamp that matched Nana’s worldly taste.

“You think there’s more to it? Like, is it magic or something?” I asked in a teasing manner.

The smile that spread across his face was so breathtaking that for a second I forgot the torment we were in. It almost felt like we were kids again without a care in the world, trying to solve the mystery of who we were meant to be.

“Not magic…it’s a natural purifier – from the Himalayas, I think.”

“It must have something to do with energy. After she turned it on, I saw dad, and he was...like, almost solid.”

Draven’s eyes grew curious. “Maybe it does more than purify the air...builds energy – good energy.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “As long as it doesn’t build negative energy, I’m good with it. She made me this, too,” I said, reaching my hand out to show him my bracelet.

His eyes grew warm as he saw what his broken necklace was transformed into. “Does it make you feel safe?” he asked as he moved closer to me and reached his arm around me.

I looked down at the bracelet and turned the pick so I could see it. “It reminds me of you when I see this…gives me balance. Well, for all I know, the rock is giving me balance, so yeah, I like it.”

He reached for my hand and laced his fingers through mine. “If you think it keeps you safe, then it will. It has the power you give it.”

Draven had never been one to believe in lucky charms, and though I thought this bracelet was a unique and special gift, I didn’t think it deserved a comment as deep as that one. I knew he was about to take a ‘baby step’ and show me more of what he was beginning to understand, more about the changes he was fighting.

“How…how do I give it power?” I asked humbly .

He leaned closer and let his lips rest against my temple. I closed my eyes as I felt the warm hum of his skin against mine. “Your mind is your weapon – your power. Your thoughts are powerful enough to move the world...you just have to believe they are.”

I smiled as I heard his alluring voice shape each word as if he were reading a beautiful prophecy.

“My thoughts are erratic and confused. I swear, I’ll never figure out who I was,” I said as the despise I had for Bianca came to mind.

Draven reached for the acoustic guitar and laid it across us. He dealt with my lacking memories the same way he dealt with everything in his life: through music. For the first few weeks after my accident, he would play a song and coax the memories I had around that sound back to life. If it weren’t for the addicting sound of his voice or the angelic way his hands moved across the strings, I doubt I’d have as much of a memory as I do. In a way, Draven saved me from myself - and I was more than sure that before long, I’d have to repay the favor.

He let his fingers tease the strings with the onset of a beautiful song, then looked into my eyes. “I think your problem is you aren’t asking – either that or your question is too broad.”

“What?” I asked as I furrowed my eyebrows. No one had ever told me I had to ask a question.

“When you saw that little boy tonight talking to his dad on the webcam in that vision – did you ask a question that led you there?”

My eyes grew a little wider. I had seen the look Aden had given Draven as he left tonight and felt the tense response in Draven’s body, but I had no idea that I was right – that they could ‘see’ each other that fast. “Aden really did show you everything I did with him tonight – that fast – in just a glance?”

He nodded. “I asked him to. Now, did you ask a question when you were trying to see that little boy?”

“I don’t know…I mean, I was mad that Aden was telling me to look deeper – I guess unconsciously I wanted to know the last time he had seen his dad.”

“And you got the answer you were looking for,” Draven said as his fingers danced across the strings once more.

“So…I just need to ask?”

He nodded. “I think if you commanded an answer to the question, you wouldn’t have to focus so hard or search through so many memories to grasp ‘seeing’”.