Witness: See Series (Volume 1)(68)

“Face to face - like you went through your memories to where she was? By yourself?!” Madison asked, clearly alarmed.

“Yeah,” I said as I reached for my phone. “It really isn’t hard. It was just like really being there.”

“It scares me,” Madison said. “I mean, I’m worried I’ll get stuck somewhere or something.”

I turned my bracelet on my wrist before I scrolled through the missed calls and texts my adventure had caused yesterday. “Get a charm or something that will help you focus on home,” I mumbled as words began to circle in my mind. I felt lyrics coming to life so fast and so fierce, they were taking over my thoughts.

“You sound like Aden,” she said shortly, clearly not agreeing that any kind of charm would bring you safely back to the world we lived in.

Aden…I needed Aden to create that beat. My finger scrolled to his name, and I hesitated before texting him. I knew if I called him right now, we’d spend all day working on it, and I didn’t have time for that. I had to find Austin – find a way out of here. I closed my eyes as my hand silently moved to the sound I heard in my memories. I knew I could remember it for a few more hours – and show him later.

I scrolled through to find Draven’s name. Ignoring the heartbreaking pleas he had texted last night, the ones begging me to tell him where I was, I opened the text box and typed: ‘A devil risen an angel fallen this world will not be our prison our fate is calling’. I read the words over and over, then handed the phone to Madison. “Does this sound bad? I mean, those are lyrics I just thought of for the song we’re working on, but I don’t want him to take it the wrong way.”

Curiously she took my phone and read the words a few times. “That’s fierce, but not in a bad way. It reminds me of you two.”

“Right, but he isn’t too fond of the dark side in him. I don’t wanna make it worse or make him mad.”

“Look, Charlie, you know him better than anyone else. This sounds perfect to me. If I was a dark shadow, I’d come when I heard that…it would tell me that anything beautiful is possible – even for a darkness like me.”

I took my phone back and read the words once more before I hit ‘Send’. I followed the text with another that said: ‘that just came to me – well dad helped me come up with that you don’t have to use it.’

Madison was watching what I was texting, and once I hit send she asked, “Was that what that rock display was all about?”

“I’m sure there’s more to what he meant by that, but at least it helped me come up with those lyrics.”

Her eyes moved across my confused expression. I instantly felt guilty for sending that to him – what if he took it the wrong way?

“You want to talk about where you ran off to yesterday?” she asked.

I looked at her. “Do you wanna talk about your dreams with Britain and that other guy?”

“I told you I would when I understood them.”

“Well, I’ll tell you about who I met yesterday when I understand him.”

“Who?” she repeated.

Before I could answer her, my phone vibrated. I looked down to see Draven’s response. ‘Perfect – love you.’

A relieved smile came across my face.

“Charlie – who did you meet yesterday?” Madison asked impatiently.

“It doesn’t matter. We’re leaving, remember?” I said as my confidence grew.

“If you’re serious about leaving, I’m getting that tattoo before we do anything today.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Seriously?!”

“Yeah, seriously. I think you should get it, too,” she said as she raised her eyebrows.

“What? Are you crazy? I’m not even old enough – at least not for a few days.”

“Kara will sign for you. I already asked her.”

“You convinced Kara to sign for me to get a tattoo?”

“It wasn’t hard once I told her about my dreams. She already cleared it with your mom. Ask if you don’t believe me.”

“You told Kara about your dreams, but you won’t tell me?”

“I told her about my nightmares – not the other dreams.”

“Then tell me. You can’t just walk up to someone and say, ‘Get this tattoo’ and not say why. That’s, like, completely permanent; not something you decide to do in an instant.”

“I didn’t decide in an instant; I’ve been thinking about it for months. I even had the artist draw out the tattoo I wanted – met him, the whole nine yards.”

“Fine. You’ve had months, and I’ve had like a day - and I still don’t know what nightmare is causing you to permanently mark your body.”

“OK, fine,” she said as she stood and began to pace. “Imagine this: a dark room, a pool of water that reflects the stars in the center of it. Even though we’re inside, the weather is fierce – wind, lightning, thunder – and there are other girls there, ones that kinda look like me. Bianca is there, and she’s changing form over and over again – racing across the room, doing everything in her power to infuriate the girl who’s causing the fierce weather, showing her unthinkable images – and that girl is aiming at Bianca and her illusions. The only thing keeping her from killing either of us is that mark – because she knows that because we have that mark, we aren’t Bianca – we’re on her side.”