Witness: See Series (Volume 1)(37)

He nodded.

“I still hear you playing...” I looked down and saw that I looked the same as I did moments ago. I was solid; not some ghostly image. “Are there two – how are we in two places at once?”

He stepped closer to me and reached his hands for my waist, then leaned his forehead against mine and began to sway me to the music I could still hear. “We are energy…always moving. Some might say that right now this is our soul standing here; others would say it’s a part of our mind….” He smiled slightly. “Some might even say that this is a wicked illusion; nevertheless, we can be in two places at once…if anyone would walk in your room right now, they’d see our eyes locked inside of each other and me playing this song for you.”

“What happens when the song ends?” I asked in a shaky voice as I glanced to my side to see his grandmother’s white cat staring at us from the kitchen window.

“Time is irrelevant. We’re using that song as a beacon, a way for us to remember that we’re really there, not here. It could end, and we could be staring at one another for countless moments - but we’ll still hear it here.”

The light in the kitchen came on, and I could see his grandfather sleepily walking to the coffee pot. “Can they see us?”

My favorite impish grin spread across his face. “They aren’t as open-minded as Nana, so I don’t know. I don’t think we should test it on him, though; let’s go back.”

I looked up at him with questioning eyes, afraid I wouldn’t know how.

“Fall into the music…the last thing you remember about your house... what you were doing.”

I did as he said, and in that moment I was sitting on the couch in my room, staring at him as if not a single moment had passed; in fact, he was still playing the same chord, singing the same words. He let the last lyrics roll off his tongue before he smiled at me and said, “Back.”

My heart was pounding against my chest, and my ears were blushing. I felt empowered and humbled all at once. I couldn’t understand if that was real or an illusion – or how he was able to do that.

“Try again?” he asked, then sat the guitar down next to the couch.

“I...I...I...I just don’t get it...should we be doing this? Playing with something we don’t understand? What if we get stuck somewhere? What if we can’t come back? I don’t know, Draven...this is wicked, and I don’t get it.”

He reached his hand for mine. “Do you fear dreams? Do you question if you’ll wake when you fall asleep?”

I slowly moved my head from side to side.

“It’s the same thing – only you’re awake…that dark place that chases me - the world that Britain and Bianca want to control - lies in a dream world, the place between.”

“How can they control someone else’s dreams?”

“They don’t. The way Grayson explained it to me is that when we dream, we open our minds – like a third eye or something – and in that state our energy can divide and move away from our bodies; that in fact, when we rest - really dream at night – our bodies are paralyzed so they won’t act out what our mind is doing. We’re different because we can go to that world awake, and we have enough awareness to tell our bodies to carry out an act while we’re gone – like an auto pilot. We not only dream lucidly, we do so with others at the same time.”

“How does he know? You trust him?”

“I do. He’s brilliant. What we are – what we can do – there’s no manual to tell us about it. All Grayson did was look at what’s known about energy, about dreams, and discovered how what we do is different.”

“What are we? Why are different?”

“We’re just awake, awake in a world that’s sound asleep.”

“Are you sure we’re not insane in a world that’s sane?”

A quiet laugh echoed inside of Draven. “I’m sure. I know what we do can be done by everyone.”

“How does this have to do with seeing the dead, the darkness? How does it fit together?”

“Still working on figuring that out. It plays into that dream world; I know that for sure.”

“Take me there,” I said as I leaned forward.

He reached to pull me against his chest. “Let’s practice moving to a place you’ve been before first.”

Hours went by. At first we went places we’d taken vacations to as children, then we moved on to concerts he’d either played at or that we’d been to. Eventually, we just started moving to places around Salem: his house, different parts of mine. I even tested how easy it was to move things when I was in one of these places. I moved picture frames in my house, then when I brought myself back into reality I’d go check to see if it was really moved or just some illusion. Each time, I found the change I’d made to exist. It was easy to see why Aden and Draven’s dad, Evan, were concerned about this new aspect of our gift; it was addicting and brought forth a since of invincibility. It was like the only limitations a mind or body had were the ones we placed there; you could literally go anywhere at anytime.

An uneasy feeling settled deep in my gut. I knew if people with a horrible intent knew they could do this, we’d never be safe – that no walls or locks could keep anyone away.