August came up behind us, and the applause
grew louder. He hugged me tightly and smiled up at Landen.
“I’ll divide them into smaller groups and
send them into town so the others can begin to teach them. Your
help is needed downstairs,” he said to us.
I looked at Landen and felt my stomach drop;
through all the peace, I could feel the deep sorrow of one:
Marc.
“Stella,” I said, breathlessly rushing back
into the house and down the stairs; Landen was right behind me.
Lying on the couch in my living room was
Stella’s body; I could feel everyone I loved around me, but I could
only see her. Marc was caressing the hair out of her face, and his
eyes looked like glass as he tried to hold back his tears.
I walked slowly to her and knelt down. I
thought I was keeping her safe, alive - but the truth was
she
was sustaining
me
. Her eyes were closed, and she
was still, too still. I placed my hands on her face.
“Stella,” I whispered, “he came for
you...your dreams came true...we are truly home now.”
Unable to hold back his tears anymore, Marc
buried his head in the couch next to Stella. Landen tried to calm
him down, but his sorrow was too deep.
“Willow,” I heard my father say.
I turned slowly and saw him standing in
front of my entire family. “She’s trapped inside. Her soul and body
are strong, but she just can’t make them agree long enough to
wake,” he said in a soft tone.
I looked back at Stella, closed my eyes for
a second, and cleared my head. As I stepped out of my body, I heard
a gasp come from the room, and Landen rushed to my body to guard it
from being moved. Stella’s energy was as bright as the sun; yet, it
lingered against her skin. I gently lay down and joined her.
I didn’t open my eyes and bring her body to
life the way I’d expected to; instead, I found myself next to
Stella’s soul in darkness.
“Stella,” I whispered. “It’s Willow.” I felt
her joy and peace strengthen.
“Are we home?” Stella asked.
“We are. Can you wake for me?” I asked,
moving my energy closer to her soul.
“I don’t have the strength; I feel so
heavy.”
“Do you remember what they did to you?”
“All I remember is trying to get back to
you, then I felt a pull, and all of my energy left me.”
“Did they say anything?”
“Everyone was yelling. I can’t remember what
they were saying.”
“Stella, I’ll find your energy - or I’ll
find the words to break this spell you’re under. I promise.”
“Willow, you came the way Evelyn said you
would...thank you,” Stella said as her mind filled with the memory
of Evelyn.
“She knew that you belonged to this family,
and I was happy to fill the space between her and Marc,” I said as
calmly as I could.
“Can Marc come to me the way you have? It
wouldn’t be so bad if he was close. I can hear him; I know I’m
hurting him.”
“You’re not hurting him; he just thinks he’s
going to lose you - and we both know that’s not going to
happen.”
I felt her peace. “I can’t let go of a life
I’ve yet to live,” Stella whispered.
“I’m going to teach Marc how to come in
here,” I said, trying to convince us both.
“You know, if you hadn’t been taken by
Drake, I never would have been on those docks; I’d be in a laundry
house under the street, and I don’t know how I ever would have
found Marc. You weaved us to one another, and we’ll never be able
to repay you for such a beautiful gift. Loving him forever is worth
the wait I endured.”
I reached my energy all around her and tried
to give her patience, not knowing how difficult it would be to
teach Marc to calm his mind. I opened my eyes and found myself back
in my body; Landen was holding me tight.
“
We have to teach Marc; she wants him,
and they need to join until we can figure this out,”
I
thought.
Landen looked down and smiled, glad to see
me back. He kissed my forehead, then looked over to Chrispin and
Dane and nodded toward Marc. Chrispin walked over and put his hands
on his brother’s shoulders.
“Come on, man; we need to teach you,”
Chrispin said.
Marc moved his shoulders away, angry at
himself for waiting so long to find Stella. I knelt down next to
Marc and put my hands on his face, forcing him to look at me.
“Marc, I just promised Stella that I’d teach you how to go to her.
She can feel you, and she thinks she’s hurting you. You need to go
to her until I can figure this out.”
Marc’s dark eyes seemed to lighten a little.
“Then you teach me,” he said in a harsh whisper.
I nodded and stood, and he followed me.
Everyone parted out of our way. I took Marc’s hand and pulled him
to the front door, to the porch. The crowd around our house had
dispersed, and in the distance I could see a few of them broken
into small groups across the hilltops; they were silent as they
cleared their minds. Our family wanted to follow us, but Landen
held them back, and they all stood silently watching from the
windows. I kicked off my shoes and looked back at Marc. He followed
my wordless instructions and pushed off his shoes. I then sat in
the green grass in front of my house, and Marc sat silently in
front of me.
“I don’t think I’m strong enough to do
this,” Marc said, looking me in the eyes; the pain I saw in them
took my breath away as Drake’s sorrowful eyes came to mind...I
suppose I did hurt him again - just as he predicted.
I pushed Drake’s image away and stared into
Marc’s eyes. “You’re as strong as you think you are, now listen to
me. I need you to close your eyes and let it all go, turn off every
thought. You’re going to feel yourself slowly connect to something
bigger than all of us; give into that pull, release yourself. You
need to see yourself outside of your body, and when you find
yourself there, walk into the house and lay gently into Stella. You
won’t be able to see her, but you’ll feel her soul.”
“Can I pull her out?”
“They’ve taken her energy, but Landen and I
will find it. All I need you to do is love her - and wait.”
Marc nodded, and I put both my hands on him
and sent as much peace and calm as I could. He closed his eyes and
breathed out; he was so tense. It wasn’t just Stella; it was the
loss of his father, seeing his mother, losing her over and over
again to Drake. I looked up to Landen, and he followed my wordless
request, stepped off the porch, and placed his hands on Marc’s
shoulders. Libby and Preston opened the front door of our house and
walked to Marc. Libby stood on one side and Preston on the other,
and they touched him as well. All of us pushed a numbing calm into
Marc. For a moment, confusion coursed through me and Landen; we had
no idea that Libby or Preston had the power to change emotions. Our
focus then came back, though, and we all gave Marc the peace he
needed. Our Auras turned into a stunning pure light so bright that
I felt the eyes of the world on us.
Moments later, Marc appeared behind Landen,
looking in awe at the heavens. He then took ownership of the peace
we’d given him, smiled at us, turned, and walked into the
house.
“We’ll watch him,” Preston said, sitting
down next to Marc’s body, protecting anything from moving him.
Landen and I followed Marc back into the
house, and everyone parted and made room for his soul to pass. When
he reached Stella, he did as I’d told him and gently laid down. His
soul vanished inside of Stella, and the thin yellow line that
outlined her skin grew as Marc’s energy found hers.
Chapter Seventeen
As Marc settled his energy inside of Stella,
I turned to see my family. The love in the room immersed me, and
everyone embraced me tightly, welcoming me back to the place I
where belonged. My grandfather Karsten and grandmother Nyla had
made their way to town in order to help August find a place to
stay, as well as prepare food for all of our guests. The rest of us
wandered out onto the front porch.
I paced back and forth, lost in my thoughts.
I had to help Stella; I had to help them all. I felt like I’d been
trapped in hell itself and had selfishly left so many behind.
Ashten stood in front of us all. “We need to
come up with a plan. This time, no one is disappearing in the
middle of the night; we’re all going to go,” he said, looking
across at us all.
My eyes fell to Olivia. She was sitting next
to Chrispin on one of the couches. She’d dreamed of the moment we’d
soon face, and I took comfort in her calm.
“What do we have to do? Go and get another
page or something? Do we have to wait until tomorrow?” Brady asked,
eager to get to the action.
Felicity smiled proudly up at him. She was
holding little Allie, whose eyes seemed to follow the conversation
as it moved from person to person. I still couldn’t fathom how an
infant could focus so clearly.
Preston, who was still guarding Marc’s
meditating body, stood and made his way to the porch. Everyone
looked to him, and he smiled at me, then at Landen. “Perodine will
help you,” he said confidently.
I looked up at Landen, then pulled his hand
for us to go to the string to find Perodine.
Ashten stepped in front of us, blocking our
path. “I don’t think it’s wise for you to charge into a dimension
that’s held you both captive for the last few days.”
“I have to help Stella,” I argued, looking
back at Landen.
Preston pulled at Ashten’s hand to get his
attention. “They don’t have to go to my old house; she’ll be at the
gate that leads to the waterfall as the moon rises,” he said.
We knew what gate he was speaking of; it was
the one we’d passed through to rescue Olivia, the one through which
we’d carried Preston home.
“Then we’ll all go,” Ashten said, looking
first at me and Landen, then to Clarissa, Chrispin, and Brady.
I locked my teeth, struggling with the
anticipation. I didn’t want to wait for the moon to rise, and I
didn’t want to wait for a stupid planet to orbit - I wanted it
fixed now. Landen pulled his arms around me, sending as much
patience as he could through me.
“So what do we do until then?” Dane asked,
just as eager as I was.
I looked at Olivia, then to Dane. “We were
told to teach the two of you first, so you’d be able help us teach.
Whoever wants to help us is going to have to be able to move
through people, to show them what they should feel every moment of
life,” I said as a surge of déjà vu came through me.
Rose cleared her throat and walked to my
side. “I’ve told all of you that the children of this dimension
that have reached the age of six have developed gifts that cannot
be explained. They’ll be able to help you.”
“I don’t want children in that dimension,” I
said, looking at Rose, then to everyone else.
“If they want to go, you won’t be able to
stop them; they can use their minds in ways that cannot be
explained,” Rose said, searching my eyes for understanding.
I moved my eyes from her to Preston, then to
Libby, who was still sitting next to Marc’s body. Suddenly, I felt
the gaze of innocents, and I looked to Allie; her eyes were locked
with mine, and she smiled a smile that was beyond her age. I felt
the hair on my arms rise; everyone did.
“Do you want us to teach them?” Preston
asked me and Landen.
We nodded, giving him our permission. He
then stepped off the porch and walked to Libby, who stood and
smiled as they walked hand in hand down the driveway.
My mother came to my side, hugged me
tightly, and whispered to me, “Never be afraid of your purpose. I
love you.”
I hugged her back, and she smiled, then
followed Libby. Aubrey was right behind her..
I walked over to where Felicity was sitting
and sat down, still captured by Allie’s attention. Felicity smiled
at me, and I gently reached for Allie and laid her on my chest,
feeling her unconditional love.
Landen stared at me, then looked at Brady
and the others. “We need to practice; I don’t want anyone to get
hurt this time. Drake has had control of his energy longer than all
of us combined. If he tries to move us, we need to be able to stop
him.”
They all nodded. Landen then walked to me
and kissed me softly before making his way to the side yard. Brady,
Dane, Chrispin, and our fathers followed him, leaving Olivia and
Clarissa with me and Felicity. I leaned back and caressed Allie’s
back as she drifted to sleep in my arms.
“Are you OK, Willow?” Clarissa asked as she
sat across from me.
Olivia took a seat next to her. I drew an
uneasy breath.
“I lost myself, I lost Landen, and I made a
mistake that I’m sure to pay for one day,” I said. As the words
left my lips, flashes of each time I kissed Drake came to me - and
I felt sick as I remembered longing for him when he was absent. I
was weak; if I were as strong as Esterious thought I was, I never
would have lost my touch with reality so easily.
“You’re being too hard on yourself,” Olivia
said in a cracked voice.
I looked down, knowing I wasn’t being
hard enough
on myself.
“Did you ever give your heart to Drake?”
Felicity asked.
I looked at her like she was a fool. “I
can’t give him something that I don’t own; it’s always been
Landen’s.” My words were almost angry - not with them, with
myself.
Clarissa looked at me as if she could feel
my pain. “Willow, the flesh is nothing; the soul is who we are, and
Landen knows that. Put this behind you before it hinders you.” Her
words were comforting, and I nodded to give them peace - but guilt
still seeped through my veins.
“Have you been meditating?” I asked them,
looking at Felicity. “Do you know how?”
“We’ve been looking for you day and night,”
Olivia answered. “And after what I saw in that dimension, I’ll
stand at your side until those people are released. I’ve never seen
or read anything so dark.”