Beth nodded. “Not much,” she said
quietly
“I think you need your rest; you’ve been up
all night,” he said quietly to me.
A large clap of thunder made itself known. I
shook my head, smiling; someone would have to be dead to sleep
through this storm. He rolled his eyes and reached for a piece of
fruit on the tray. Suddenly, Alamos and three other men in hoods
walked in the room, and Drake’s body tensed when he saw them.
Alamos cleared his throat. “It appears we
have an unexpected guest, sir,” he said in an angry tone.
I felt Beth and Stella’s fear rise. Drake
nodded his head, then two of the men walked over to Stella and
grabbed her by the arm, leading her out of the room. Drake moved me
and stood.
“What are you doing?” I said harshly.
Drake tensed, then turned and looked at me.
“I’m only taking a precaution here.”
“What?” I said, trying to stand.
Drake sighed deeply and followed the men out
of the room, not looking back at me. I could feel Stella’s horror.
I tried to stand, but the anger had taken strength from me. I
looked at Beth; she nodded, then followed. She had every intent of
helping Stella.
I sat frozen, imagining Marc and the others
fighting those men; I took a deep breath and pulled myself up,
stumbling as I walked. I could feel Stella; I was going to find her
and spend my last moments defending her. I walked down the hallway
with my eyes closed, squinting for strength and following only her
emotion. Beyond Beth, I could feel another person with her;, they
were angry, but it wasn’t Marc or the others...this was someone
else. I turned down a hallway, and at the end two tall doors were
opened. I was sure Stella was there. I could hear people arguing;
in loud, angry voice, Drake was telling someone that they’d been
misinformed.
I took the last steps to the open doorway
and let the doorframe hold me up. Inside the room, Stella was lying
on a table with her eyes closed. Two men stood over her. Another
man was lying on the floor; he looked like he was dead. Beth was
crying in the corner, and Drake was arguing with the woman I
searched for, Perodine, with Alamos at his side. His eyes found
mine, and I didn’t need to feel him to know that he was furious
with me. Perodine’s eyes followed his and found me. She loved me; I
was sure of it. The anger she had for Drake and Alamos
intensified.
“Are you insane?” she screamed at Drake.
“She has to love you. This will kill her.”
“She does love me,” Drake said, stepping to
me.
Perodine waved her hand, and a clear veil
fell over me, making it impossible for him to reach me.
“You fool – she has minutes left,” Perodine
said harshly.
She then stepped inside my shield with me,
pulling my weight to her.
I looked up at her. “Stella...get
Stella...it’s too late for me.”
Perodine shook her head in disbelief. “You
really don’t know who you are, do you?” she asked. astonished.
I shook my head no. “Take Stella...someone
is coming to save her,” I whispered.
She waved her hand, and I gasped as I saw
Stella’s body floating across the room in our direction. Her eyes
never opened; she just lay flat against thin air.
Perodine led me down the hallway, back in
the direction of my room. I kept my eyes glued to Stella, sure that
she was going to fall, thinking that I was hallucinating. Perodine
waved her hands behind us every few feet, and I looked back to see
what looked like walls of water blocking anyone from following us.
In the distance, I could feel Marc and the others. Stepping closer,
I felt something more than them; it was a warm relief, like I’d
found my home, my peace. I was grateful that death felt so
inviting. As soon as I saw Marc take Stella, I was going to close
my eyes and let my soul rise to another place, a place where you’d
feel no pain or fear - only love.
We turned down the hallway that led to my
room, and I saw Marc, Jason, and Ashten rushing toward us; their
relief and fear was filling the hallway. I stopped and stared:
leading them was a tall, breathtaking man; his eyes were so blue,
they took a breath. I felt a remarkable veil of love come over me.
My eyes searched his; they weren’t the same ones that I’d seen
before - yet they were so close, it hurt my heart.
Perodine pushed Stella’s body to Marc, and
he reached for her. Once she was in his arms, he turned and ran the
other way. The blue-eyed man stepped cautiously to me, and I
searched deep in his eyes, knowing he was the one that had placed
the veil over me.
“
Willow,”
I heard in my head, causing
me to gasp.
Flashes of another life came across my face:
it was me and him, together, in love...
Willow, could that really
be me? How?
“
Can you say my name? Can you say
‘Landen?’”
I gasped again. Jason stepped forward. “You
only have four minutes left,” he said to us.
Landen...that’s not Landen...I know
Landen
. I looked up at him. “You’re not him,” I said,
confused.
He stepped forward and reached one of his
arms around me, then cradled my face with the other - looking deep
inside me. He then leaned forward and kissed me softly.
“
I’m in here, Willow...I need you to
remember. It’s time to leave; she’s gone.”
My lungs filled with air as my life came
back to me. I remembered everything: who I was, who he was, how
much I loved him. I reached my arms around him, kissing him as if
it were the air that I needed. I felt the weight of my body fall,
and the heat of his body left. I opened my eyes to see Evelyn’s
body fall to the ground. Brady’s body fell back, and Ashten and
Jason quickly caught him before he reached the ground. I looked up
at Landen to see him smiling; the love felt so amazing. Landen
looked to see Brady standing, and he reached his arms out and
pushed them, telling them to leave. I looked to where Perodine was
standing; she was staring at me, and she smiled. “Wake now, child,”
she said proudly.
I felt a burst of energy surfacing in my
bed, in Chara. I never felt so alive in my entire life. Landen
leapt across our bed, pulling me up. I could feel Rose, my mother,
and August in the room. Landen waved them all away. I heard the
door close and felt them flowing down the stairs; their joy and
relief made its way to me. I cried as Landen kissed me more
fiercely than he ever had before. I was such a fool; how could I
have ever forgotten something so beautiful?
“
I’m sorry...,”
I thought. He pulled
away, staring into my eyes. I took in the beauty of the blue,
knowing they were my strength forever more.
“You have nothing to be sorry for,” he said
softly.
“I was cruel to you...I’ve been with him,” I
cried.
“You couldn’t remember who you were,
Willow...your heart never left me - I’m sure of it.”
I wrapped my arms around him, taking full
advantage of my newfound strength; I only wanted to crawl inside of
him somewhere, to be one the way we were meant to be.
“I love
you, Landen...I love you so much, it hurts.”
Landen reached his fingertips to my eyes and
gently closed them. I knew he wanted me to rise with him, and I
gave in to his silent request. Immediately, it calmed my mind, and
within that second I was standing at the foot of my bed with Landen
at my side. I didn’t step slowly into his energy; I threw myself
inside of him. The rush came through us, and it was more powerful
than it had ever been before.
Chapter Sixteen
I didn’t know how many hours had passed
before we reluctantly brought ourselves back. I reached over and
lay on Landen’s chest, never wanting to leave this room; he held me
tight.
“How did you get Perodine to help you?” I
asked, replaying the ignorance in which I’d lived over in my
mind.
Landen shifted his body so he could look
into my eyes. “We tried everything. Every time I tried to dream, I
was taken to a different part of that dimension - never the same
one. If I went into the string, it hurt you; your father all but
tied me to you. Everyone who was capable of traveling flooded
Esterious with the sketch you’d made. Preston came over here
yesterday. Brady was here, checking to see if you’d come back.
Preston told us that we needed Perodine, and Brady ran toward the
string before I could say anything. He found Perodine using the
passage that we’d made near the waterfall, and he was bringing her
here when he passed Jason, Marc, and Dad. They brought her here,
Brady told me to step into him, then we took off.”
“Perodine was here?” I questioned.
Landen smiled. “Willow, she’s so proud of
you. Even though it was near dusk, she could see the beauty
here.”
“I don’t understand how Drake found me...my
star was here?” I said, looking down at my Ankh.
“Willow, when I said everyone who could
travel went into that dimension, I mean over half of this dimension
went. They all had a sketch of Stella; it wouldn’t have been hard
for him to figure out that something was wrong.”
“Is it over now?” I asked, wanting Mercury
to be behind us.
“We still have two days left – if the orbit
signifies the end of the trail,” Landen said with a sigh.
I sat up slowly, pulled my knees to me, and
tried to imagine how much harder it could get in the next
forty-eight hours. Landen sat up, concerned by my changing
emotions. I turned and slowly looked at him through liquid panes of
tears.
“I have to tell you something,” I
whispered.
Landen’s perfect blue eyes searched my face,
afraid of what I might say. “I’ve been keeping something from you,”
I said, looking away. He moved in front of me so I’d have to look
him in the eye.
“Olivia and Clarissa found a picture of me
and Drake in the remains of my old house, and Aora told me I had
past lives with Drake,” I said in a tearful voice, afraid, so
afraid he was going to be angry with me.
Landen pulled me to him and held me a close
as he could, then rocked me back and forth; I felt him sending an
immense amount of love through me.
“You’re not mad?” I asked, regaining my
composure.
“I already knew,” he said, leaning back to
look me in the eyes.
“How?”
“Willow, our souls are one; there’s nothing
that we could keep from one another. I knew the moment your eyes
landed on that photo...I don’t care. We can’t change what once was;
we only have now.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you knew?” I asked,
feeling the relief.
“If it ever divided us, I would have. I knew
you needed time to take it all in.”
I looked deep in his eyes, and guilt hit me
like a ton of bricks. I had all but seduced Drake to keep myself
and Stella alive, and now I’d rather die than tell Landen that I
had.
“I don’t care, Willow. I don’t care what
happened. You never left me; your guilt is uncalled for,” Landen
whispered.
“You’re being too nice. I’d kill you if you
did what I did - and I wouldn’t care who you were trying to
protect,” I said, turning to look away from him.
Landen put his hands on either side of my
face and kissed me softly. As he pulled away, he smiled, and his
hands fell to my shoulders and down my arms. “These lips...these
arms...they never left this room. You didn’t do anything but stay
alive.”
As I let myself fall into his eyes, he
hesitated for a moment, then said, “Perodine told me about Drake’s
touch.” His eyebrows furrowed as he searched carefully over my
face. “At first I was jealous, then I was thankful. I hoped that he
was man enough to take your pain away until I found you.”
I pulled him close to me, kissing him and
taking in his peace; there was nothing left to divide us. The peace
in our room seemed to intensify, and we felt people, a lot of
people. Landen looked to the doorway that led to the balcony; it
was daylight here now. I nudged toward the bathroom.
Landen looked back at me and smiled. “I
think we have company,” he said, nodding toward the bathroom, I
went quickly, knowing my body had not left this room in days. I
showered hastily. Landen opened the bathroom door, and I saw that
he had changed; he was now dressed in his travel clothes.
“You’re not going to believe this,” he said
with a sense of admiration.
He took my hand and pulled me through the
bedroom to the doors that led to our balcony, then looked back at
me and smiled before he opened them. The sun beamed across my face,
and I closed my eyes for a second, taking in its warmth; a flood of
peace came over me.
“
Look, Willow,”
Landen thought.
I opened my eyes and stepped onto the porch
with Landen. Surrounding our house was a mass of people; their
Auras seemed to combine into an elaborate sea of colors, as
beautiful as the heavens that we’d see when we meditated. The
significance of that realization settled in my soul, reminding me
that we’re all connected and truly never alone.
Applause erupted as we stepped out
side-by-side, and a smile spread across my face as I felt their
peaceful energy flow through me. Landen pulled me close to him and
kissed me for all of them to see, and the applause intensified, the
energy they put off rushing through us.
Landen walked to the edge of the balcony
with his arm around me. My eyes searched below, looking for our
family; I could feel them...they were here somewhere. We waited
patiently for the crowd to grow calm. Minutes later, when the
applause lessened, Landen tried to speak over the crowd.
“I cannot thank all of you enough. You left
your families and hindered your desire to search for the one that
completes you - to help me find my soul.”
The crowd cheered again, and Landen smiled
at me as he waited for them to settle again. “Willow is home, and
she’s stronger now than she ever was. I want to tell you that it’s
over for now, but our true challenge has yet to come. There are
billions of people in Esterious that have never felt the peace we
bask in every day, and Willow and I have chosen to help them
remember the love their soul was made with. I won’t ask any of you
to fight our battles, but if any one of you feels called to help,
we’ll teach you everything we know and proudly stand at your side,”
he said charismatically to the crowd. They cheered abundantly in
response.