“So, you choose to make friends with her
other loves, but not me?” Drake said, looking back at Dane.
“I’m tired of all the talk, Drake - go back
to your gray hell,” Landen said, stepping toward Drake.
Clarissa pushed me behind her and advanced
alongside Dane and Chrispin. Seeing another opportunity, Drake
reached his hand out and started to pull Clarissa to him, using her
Aura as a rope. Landen saw Drake’s Aura stretch toward Clarissa and
threw his energy between them, then turned, pulled Drake’s ashy
Aura to him, and flung his body on top of the building across the
street - over one hundred feet in the air. “Did you kill him?”
Chrispin screamed.
“It wouldn’t be that easy,” Landen said
under his breath, walking quickly back to me. I was trembling from
all the adrenaline that was rushing through me. Landen pulled me
tightly into his chest, and we both looked to the rooftop where
he’d thrown Drake. Seconds later, we saw Drake walk to the edge and
look over at us, smiling. Chrispin’s anger raged out as he charged
toward the building, but Landen reached for Chrispin’s flaming red
Aura and pulled him back to us. “He’s going home,” Landen said
through his teeth.
“Are you sure?” Chrispin yelled, looking at
Landen.
“He didn’t realize how strong we’ve become,”
Landen said, kissing my head and rocking me back and forth. He then
led us all back to the limo. The driver came a few minutes later.
As we drove off, no one spoke. We only half-heartedly listened as
the driver recounted the accident for us. I was surprised to feel
how calm Olivia was; she just stared at me as if I’d just won the
game for the team.
Even after all the drama, when we were
dropped off in front of our condo, we still turned heads as we
walked across the lobby. The looks went unnoticed, though, as we
waited patiently for the moment we would be alone and could speak
freely. As the elevator doors closed, Clarissa looked up at Landen.
“Are we going home?” she asked in voice barely above a whisper.
Landen shook his head no. “He won’t be back
until he has a new plan.” He then looked across the elevator at all
of them and said, “We’ll stay here; all of you have a lot to
learn.”
Once inside the condo with the door closed,
Chrispin turned to Landen and said, “First thing I want to know is
how you threw him.”
Landen raised his hands to block the
question, as well as the others that were sure to follow. “I need
to talk to Willow; all of you need to change – something
comfortable,” he said into the room as he took my hand and pulled
me into one of the bedrooms. He walked in first, and I followed and
closed the door behind us. He then dropped my hand and started to
pace the floor; he was so angry. “I have got to stop making these
mistakes,” he said through his teeth, almost to himself.
I realized then that his anger was at
himself, not Drake. “What mistakes?” I asked, bewildered. Landen
walked quickly to me and put one hand around my waist and one on my
face. He stared at me, almost remorseful. “August tells me not to
sleep here without you - the first chance I get, I do the opposite.
Pelhan tells me not to stop you from anything - the first time I
do, Drake shows up. I’ve done everything but drop you on his
doorstep,” he said in an apologetic tone.
“You didn’t stop me from anything,” I said,
reaching for his face.
“You wanted to help; I told you to
stay.”
“You were protecting me, and there wasn’t a
single second that you came close to losing me,” I said, smiling. I
looked at my hand on his face, to my ring. “I used power, too; I
was able to shield Olivia and get out of the limo. Even when he
froze everything, I had no fear - only anger.”
He smiled slightly. “The ring called me,
too; I felt myself pulled to you and found myself in front of him,”
Landen said, closing his eyes as he began to calm down.
“See, we both did well. He can’t hurt us
now. We have the upper hand, two against one - and when we teach
the others, we’ll be strong enough to redeem Donalt’s entire
dimension.”
Landen opened his eyes and let his smile
grow, bringing his beautiful dimples to life. “You did feel angry
when I found you,” he said, realizing he was being too hard on
himself.
I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him; I
could feel him release himself as he pulled me closer. We felt
empowered, free from the pull Drake had on us. We changed out of
our nice clothes, then went back into the in living room, where
everyone was waiting on us dressed in pajama bottoms and
T-shirts.
“We should go up to the roof; there’s a
garden up there. For your first time, it’ll be easier if you’re in
nature,” Landen said, walking to the front door. I smiled at all of
them, excited to show them.
“Will you teach me to throw someone?”
Chrispin asked when we reached the rooftop.
“You’re going to have to take small steps
here. I don’t even know how I’m going to teach you to calm your
mind,” Landen said in a serious tone.
The garden was an array of flower patches
surrounded by a brick walkway. We circled around one of the larger
patches and let our legs rest along the edge of the flower bed.
“Alright. All of you need to just sit here
and clear you mind...hear, see, and feel inside of your soul,”
Landen said calmly.
We all closed our eyes, and within a breath
I opened my mine and stood behind myself. Landen was right behind
me, and we stepped back and watched the others.
Above us, the night sky seemed to glow with
billions of stars, and darkness could barely be seen behind them.
The sky opened up and poured into Landen and my bodies. After a
moment, we could see a small light slowly reaching out of Olivia,
and the sky opened up and began to reach for her. The light was
thin, though; nowhere near the width that was pouring into me and
Landen.
As the moments passed, Olivia’s light
expanded, then her soul appeared behind her body. Her shock was
immediate, and we slowly approached her to calm her. When she saw
us, peace came over her, and she was suddenly taken by the colors
all around her. Dane was the next one from whom a light came; it
started small, like Olivia’s, then grew - and he appeared seconds
later. He wasn’t afraid; he was absolutely amazed by what he had
done.
I watched Clarissa and Chrispin closely for
a light to come. They were calm, but they just weren’t letting go.
It wasn’t until Olivia’s soul touched Chrispin’s and Dane’s soul
touched Clarissa’s that they let go and the light came from them.
They all stared in awe at all the colors.
We lingered on the rooftop. Landen and I
were afraid to leave our bodies unattended; keeping them safe was a
new priority for us. When we could feel our bodies coming close to
exhaustion, we waved to the others and opened our eyes – but no one
followed us. I couldn’t blame them; I would have stayed in
meditation if I had any strength left. We stood, careful not to
disturb them, then walked down the stairs into the condo and
collapsed on the bed, too tired even to pull back the covers.
Moments later, we were standing at the foot
of our bed. We looked at each other with calm faces and slowly
knelt to the ground. We both knew that when we combined our energy,
we grew stronger. The reality of facing Drake tonight gave reason
for us to want to be as strong as possible. Landen slowly reached
for my heart. As I reached for his, our energy joined, and a
breathless high consumed us. Late into the next morning, we woke
feeling stronger than we ever had. We could feel the others in the
living room; they were blissful. We dressed slowly, enjoying our
moments alone. In the living room, we found Olivia and Clarissa
sitting in mediation; their souls were walking around the room, and
Dane and Chrispin’s eyes followed them. “You can see them?” Landen
asked, amazed.
Dane looked at Landen and grinned. “Yeah.
Watch this,” he said, nodding at Clarissa. Clarissa’s soul walked
slowly over to Dane, and he stood, waiting with anticipation.
Clarissa then stepped through him, and their Auras joined and
beamed brightly across the room.
“Olivia can do it, too,” Chrispin said,
standing. Olivia passed through just as easily.
“Can you guys do it?” Landen asked. Chrispin
nodded yes. Olivia and Clarissa then brought themselves back to
consciousness.
“I can’t believe you guys learned so
quickly,” I said, still in shock.
“It wasn’t hard,” Olivia said, stretching
her legs out.
“Were you guys up all night?” Landen
asked.
“Only till like, two, but we’ve been up
since seven. We’ve already been on the roof, but it got to hot,”
Chrispin explained. “So, will you teach us how to move one
another?”
“Can you see Auras?” Landen asked. They all
nodded. Landen then looked around at the condo. “We should go home;
Mom will kill us if we break anything here,” he said.
As everyone went to gather their things, he
looked down at me and thought,
“Maybe this won’t be as hard as
we thought.”
As I felt our building confidence, I smiled up at
him; any fear we might have had of Mercury or Drake was slowly
fading.
Once home, we made our way to the side yard,
and Landen walked over and picked a flower. “Can you see the energy
around it?” he asked all of them. They nodded. Landen then slowly
passed his fingers through the flower, and the energy flowed
through me and him.
Landen moved his finger back to flower,
finding it solid on purpose. Chrispin reached down and picked a
flower, and the others followed his lead. “It’s just like when
you’re stepping into one another; it’s only solid if you see it
that way,” Landen explained. “If you want to move someone, you have
to see the energy around them as solid and move it wherever you
want it to go,” he finished.
Olivia stood in front of Chrispin, reached
out to his blue Aura, and pulled him slowly up. Seconds later, Dane
was in the air next to him. It was all I could do not to laugh.
“Come on, Willow, put Landen up here,”
Clarissa said, laughing at the idea. I looked at Landen; I hadn’t
lifted anyone yet.
“
Come on, now - you’re not going to let
them show you out?”
Landen thought in a teasing manner. He was
trying to entice me - and it was working. I reached for his energy
and pulled him up slowly, higher than the others; the energy was
weightless. All at once, I felt Landen’s weight start to show
itself, so I lowered him, thinking he was going to fall. Five feet
from the ground, I had to let him go. Landen landed on his feet and
walked over to me, grinning, then softly kissed my lips.
“What did I do wrong?” I asked.
“Nothing. I just wanted down. If Drake can
throw me, I want to know how to stop him,” Landen explained. I
could see Clarissa and Olivia’s arm weakening as mine did, and
Chrispin and Dane fell to their feet. I heard clapping and turned
to see August, Libby, and Preston standing on one of the distant
hills.
Chrispin wasted no time picking up Olivia
and dangling her in the air. Clarissa held her hands up, blocking
Dane. “I’m not fond of heights,” she warned. Dane gave in to her
request and pulled her to him using her energy, proud of what they
had learned.
August and the children approached us.
Landen reached out playfully to Preston and Libby and picked them
up. When they were still feet away, their laughter was so loud, it
echoed against the hills. Landen passed them on in mid-air to
Chrispin and Dane, then walked over to August.
“I see you’ve learned a lot,” August said,
patting Landen on the back. “I heard you had an interesting night,”
he continued. Landen looked at him curiously. August’s eyes moved
up to Libby and Preston. “They said you did well,” he finished.
“I didn’t expect to see him,” Landen said
with regret in his voice.
August smiled. “What did you expect - for
him to knock on your door in a week and say, ‘Let’s duel?’” August
said, almost laughing.
Landen shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know
the rules to all of this,” he said, a little embarrassed.
“No one does, son; our present always
unravels itself in its own way. Just keep getting stronger and
never let your guard down when it comes to Willow,” August
warned.
We spent the remainder of the day practicing
moving our energy; it was amazing how fun and carefree it was. As
the moon filled the sky, everyone parted to go to their homes. We
climbed the steps to our house full of bliss and comfortable with
the path that we’d chosen for the first time since we’d found each
other. I made us a plate from my still overflowing refrigerator. As
we ate, I slowly gathered my nerve; I wanted to go to Esterious
tonight and move through people, to give them peace. Landen felt my
emotions and tried to ignore them. Once in our room, I gathered all
my nerve and took a deep breath. “Can we drift first tonight and
see if we go there again?” I asked quietly.
I saw Landen’s jaw tighten; he wanted to
tell me no, but he was afraid to deny my request. “I don’t think we
can go there from here; this dimension is protected,” he said,
opening the balcony doors.
“It’s not protected from images,” I argued,
remembering the weak girl we’d seen a few nights ago.
Landen sighed and lay across the bed; I
could feel he wanted to help, but he just wasn’t sure of himself.
“What if someone gets hurt because we made them act different?” he
asked, trying to make me feel guilty.
“I just want to make them feel better, at
least until we can move them all. I want them to know that their
suffering is almost over,” I pleaded.
Landen reached his arms out for me, and I
crawled across the bed and fell into his arms. His kissed my
forehead softly.
“
Let’s just be careful, OK?”
he
thought. I let out a deep breath, excited that he was going to let
us go. He smiled when he felt my emotion. I squeezed him tighter,
and he reached to turn off the lamp. It took me a few minutes to
fall asleep; my anticipation was taking my calm away from me. My
body finally submitted, though, and I drifted.