A look of guilt came over me. I slowly sat
down on the side of her bed, and she reached for my leg.
“I just want to help if I can,” Felicity
whispered.
“You can’t help me fix something that’s
already gone down in history,” I said, looking down.
“Tell me, Willow.”
“I haven’t even told Landen,” I said,
feeling guilty.
“If you want this to stay between us, then
it will. Brady is on pins and needles around me anyway,” Felicity
said, trying to make me feel better.
I looked at Felicity. I argued with myself
that it would be hard to forget something that everyone knew; yet,
Felicity always had a way of making me feel better. In fact,
talking my problems out always helped me resolve them faster.
“They found a picture of me in the remains
of my old house. It was from another time. Drake and I were in the
picture together, happy,” I said in a low tone, now focusing on
Landen downstairs so I could end this conversation if I needed
to.
Felicity leaned back and looked at me with
disbelieving eyes.
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” she finally
said. “I mean, it doesn’t matter today. You love Landen.”
“I know. It just bothers me that I was
connected to him. It bothers me not knowing where Landen was in
that life. I could never choose anyone over him.”
“It’s a photo; it could have been taken at a
barbeque, for all you know,” Felicity said, feeling guilty that she
had brought it up.
“Do you think I’m wrong for keeping it from
Landen?” I asked, ashamed.
“I don’t think Landen needs another reason
to be angry with Drake - and if he lets his emotions control him,
it could weaken him. I wouldn’t tell Brady if I were in your
shoes,” Felicity said, believing every word she spoke.
I nodded, hiding behind the excuse of
protecting Landen again.
“So, everyone’s talking about Mercury...are
you worried?” Felicity asked
“Not really. August said it had a lot to do
with communication; Landen and I are pretty good in that area.”
Felicity nodded. “You still need to be
careful. I wouldn’t let my guard down.”
I leaned forward as my eyes danced across my
memory - through everything that I’d seen. “You know what is so
stupid about this? My heart is the power, supposedly – and there’s
no way Drake will ever have it. Why won’t he just give up?”
Felicity smiled. “Because he’s a man. Beyond
that, you can’t judge someone’s actions until you walk in their
path. Drake sees all of this differently; for eighteen years, he
was told that you belonged to him. After hearing Livingston’s
letter, I felt sorry for him. I can only imagine how betrayed he
must feel. It’s going to take time for him to conquer the war
that’s raging in his soul. I’m just sorry that you and Landen are
forced to fight it with him.”
I felt my stomach drop. My eyes glazed over
as tears tried to come forth. I’ve always been a person that tried
to see the point of view of another, and my gift of emotion made it
easy for me. Felicity gave me a sense of clarity. I’d never once
stopped to think of where Drake was coming from; maybe it was
because I couldn’t feel him. I imagined for a moment talking to
him, helping him to see that we were victims of Donalt. As the
memory of his touch came to me, I shook my head slowly no; I had a
deep fear that if he were ever given enough time - his touch would
captivate me.
Felicity reached for my hands on my lap. “I
wouldn’t worry about him. I’d just try to find a way to help the
people in Esterious.”
“They’ve started to call us,” I said,
thinking of the woman in the field a little while ago.
“Have you been able to help them?”
“Just temporally. Landen is afraid that if
we cause them to act differently, they’ll lose their lives,” I said
in a frustrated tone.
“He has a good reason; August tried to
motivate a man - but he lost life, and so did his soulmate. Their
children were spared, left to fend for themselves, and I understand
that it’s not easy to be a woman there - much less two young
girls.” Felicity’s Aura had a shade of red run through it,
reflecting the anger she had for the way of life in Esterious.
“Landen told me about that. I just need to
work on my patience; its running thin. I just want to charge in
there. I’m not afraid of Drake, Donalt, any of them,” I said
confidently.
“I wouldn’t be either, not with allies like
Perodine. But you know there is a time -”
I raised my hand, stopping her; that phrase
seemed to be family motto, and I was over hearing it. Felicity
smiled.
I looked up quickly, confused. I felt
August; it was late, what was he doing here? I walked over to the
window and looked out. I saw him outside with Landen and Brady; he
was calm. I wanted to go down there and be nosy, but I held myself
back. “August is down there,” I said to Felicity.
“That’s a little odd... it’s late for him,”
she said. I nodded in agreement.
Felicity walked to my side, and we stared
out at them from the shadows of the room.
“From here, it’s hard to make out who Landen
is and who Brady is,” Felicity said, snickering.
I nodded, though I knew exactly who Landen
was; I could see the white glow that seemed to connect us.
The conversation went on for a few more
minutes, then August walked into the darkness. Brady and Landen
made their way in, and Landen followed Brady upstairs to where we
were. Landen smiled at me when he walked in the room before he went
to peek at Allie. Brady was at his side.
“I think she just smiled at you,” Brady said
to Landen.
“She’s way too little to smile,” Felicity
said, walking quickly to the cradle.
I was close behind. Brady tilted his head
and smiled at his baby girl, and she smiled back.
“She’s smiling at you, not me,” Landen said
proudly.
“This kid is going to be walking before the
week is over,” Brady said proudly as he gently picked up Allie.
“Don’t say that; she needs to be a baby,”
Felicity said, reaching to kiss Allie.
“Listen, we can’t hold her back; I’m not
going to make the same mistakes my father made. Allie has an old
soul, and we’re going to guide her - not hold her back,” Brady
said, looking first at Landen, then to me.
Felicity nodded. She had no intent on
holding Allie back; she just wanted her time with her.
“Are you tired?” Landen asked me. I nodded
as I felt a yawn come on. Felicity reached for a monitor and handed
it to me.
“I don’t want you guys to have to sit in
here all night. I’m sure that’s a little boring.” I took the
monitor and reached up to kiss Allie goodnight as she lay in her
father’s arms. Landen followed me down the hallway.
“I’m going to jump in the shower,” he said,
going to our bag before he went to the bathroom that was in our
room.
Seeing my sketchbook in the side of the bag,
I pulled it out and quickly began to sketch the woman in the field.
I even sketched the beautiful girl on the narrow couch. For some
reason, the image felt unfinished – like I didn’t see everything I
was supposed to. Sketching them didn’t bring me any peace. Landen
came out of the bathroom and lay next to me. For a moment, we
stared silently at the sketch.
“You have a talent that can’t be expressed.
It looks like you took a photo,” he whispered.
“I just want to find her,” I said, lying
back on his shoulder.
He wrapped his arms around me. “There will
come a day when we can help them all; we’ve sent our thoughts
there,” he said, sure of himself.
“What was August doing here?” I asked.
“He has to help someone travel tomorrow, so
he can’t go with us. He said Rose was better at judging Auras than
he was anyway,” Landen said, reaching to turn off the lamp.
“If he’d rather travel than go with us, he
must not be all that worried,” I said, regretting that I’d canceled
on Olivia.
“He is concerned, but there are only a few
of us that can go to where he’s going tomorrow. Dad and Jason are
going with him, too,” Landen said.
As we drifted off to sleep, we went to the
place we always dreamed of, the beautiful silent place. What was
odd was that even here we could see the energy glowing off the
water, trees, and grass. Even the silent birds seemed to glow. We
stayed there until we could feel Allie’s frustration, then we
drifted back to Brady and Felicity’s house and reached her just
before she woke. I took the pleasure of feeding and changing her.
As she lay in my arms, she gazed up at me with pure bliss in her
expression. For the first time, Landen asked to hold her, and her
smile seemed to brighten; I was sure she saw her father in Landen’s
eyes. She drifted to sleep in his arms, and he laid her down just
before the sun started to peek over the hilltop.
“
Do you want to try and mediate before
the others wake?”
Landen thought.
I nodded. We woke ourselves up and dressed
silently in the dark, careful not to wake Felicity or Brady. We
found a spot where the sun had dried the morning dew, slipped off
our shoes, and crossed our legs. It seemed like I’d only taken two
breaths before I felt connected. I opened my eyes next to my body
and looked up to the sky; the sea of pearls was there, just as
beautiful as it was the day before. Landen stared in disbelief at
the sky as he rested beside his body. We didn’t go anywhere; we
just sat beside our bodies and watched the heavens open and a pure
light pour through us. It was a breathless wonder. I reached for
the flowers next to us and glided my fingers gently through them,
feeling their energy; as it moved through me, it moved through
Landen.
We stayed in that state for the next hour.
When came back to our bodies, the colors around us seemed to be
even clearer now, and the white light that surrounded the two of us
had widened. I stood and started to walk toward the house.
“
Where are you going?”
Landen
thought.
I turned to him and smiled slyly. “To cook
breakfast,” I said, sure of myself.
The grin that spread across his face was
breathtaking, and his eyes captured me for a moment. We went
through Felicity’s refrigerator and found everything we needed,
then he helped set the table and poured glasses of juice. The smell
of pancakes and bacon woke Brady and Felicity, and they came down
the stairs. Brady was carrying little Allie.
“You guys are up early,” Felicity said,
walking to me to see if there was anything that she could do.
“Willow is trying to prove a point,” Landen
said proudly.
“What point is that?” Brady asked, handing
Allie to Landen.
“That I can cook,” I said over my
shoulder.
Felicity elbowed me. “They brought food over
three times a day for a solid year when I first came here,” she
said under her breath. I grinned, loving Chara more every
moment.
“Allie didn’t wake up until, like, five,” I
said to Felicity.
“I told you so. She’ll be up all day
again...it works for me,” Felicity said.
“I think I’m going to go with you today,
Landen” Brady said while he fixed his plate.
“We’ll be fine,” Landen argued.
“Let him go, Landen. He’s to the point of
driving me mad; he fixed a jeep last night that wasn’t even broken.
You know your mother is going to be here in about five minutes;
I’ll be fine.” Felicity said, taking Allie from Landen and putting
her in her cradle so we could all eat.
“Beyond the fact that Rose hasn’t been on
the string in years, I’d be a nervous wreck thinking of you two
gone with two children,” Brady argued.
“You can come - but not to protect me; for
your sanity. And you can’t tease or make fun of anything that we
do,” Landen said, almost serious.
“What would he tease you about?” Felicity
asked, confused.
“Meditating,” Landen said, purposely trying
to get Brady in trouble.
Brady kicked Landen under the table.
“You better not tease them. In fact, you
need to be taking notes. Libby told me we were all going to learn,”
Felicity said, looking sternly at Brady.
Landen and I froze. Olivia’s dream was
rushing through our memory, and we always took what Libby said as
the truth.
“When did she tell you that?” Landen asked,
concerned.
“A week or so ago. I didn’t ask her why; I
was too busy trying to make sure you guys were on your way back
here,” Felicity said, feeling a little guilty.
Aubrey walked in the back door with Preston
at her side. She was carrying a large dish of food. Felicity looked
at me and smiled. I tried to hold in my laughter, but the
expression Landen was giving me across the table was priceless.
Preston ran over to Landen and climbed in his lap.
“You guys are up early. Who cooked?” Aubrey
asked as she put the food she brought in the refrigerator.
“Willow,” Landen said, clearing his plate.
Aubrey froze as she heard my name, then turned to smile at me. I
could feel her confusion as she began to clean the kitchen.
Rose and Libby came a few minutes later. I
felt how excited Rose was to travel; it was easy to see that she
missed it. We took our jeep to the opening near our house. Inside
the string, Landen carried Libby, and Brady carried Preston. We
didn’t have far to go; this dimension was only a ten-minute walk
from our passage. We stepped in and found ourselves on a
rooftop.
“This will be a good place to watch before
we go down,” Rose said, walking cautiously to the edge. Landen and
I followed her. Brady stayed back, nervous that the kids would
fall. I knew they knew better.
“OK, look down here,” Rose said, leaning
across the brick wall and looking down.
The streets were busy; people were rushing
by, tied up inside themselves. I could see all of their Auras, and
they were different from the ones at home; the shapes were not
even, and some of them even had dark spots in them.