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  “Willow told you she would see you in this life. She would have warned you not to do that if she didn’t want them there,” he said, clearly concerned that I was now wavering on whether we would leave or not.

  “Maybe you saw my day too fast. All Willow was worried about then was assuring me that loving her friend was not a sin. She didn’t mention anyone beyond us, not even Madison -- and call me crazy, but I think I would have mentioned a twin if I were her.”

  Aden furrowed his eyebrows as he gazed into his memory. “She did say the path she saw for her future could change. I don’t think Madison is a sacrifice.”

  “That’s reassuring. Why?” I uttered with little enthusiasm.

  “I think you’re just too deep into this and you haven’t had time to see this from an outside perspective.”

  “What I am not seeing, Aden?” I asked, knowing I was too tired to put it all together.

  “Willow told you she loved two. She told you that in this life everyone would be together. Bianca has two boys. What if they are both her lovers, the ones she loved across time? What if Madison was the one that they loved in a different life? That would explain why she’s dreaming about that guy.”

  “You think Madison is that prince’s soul mate? That right now Willow loves them both and I’m about to bring a hammer and destroy that love triangle? I don’t see how that makes Madison any less of a sacrifice; sounds to me like all this talk that Madison has about not wanting to love anyone until she finds herself or that she doesn’t want to be anyone’s second choice is her way of saying she wants nothing to do with any of that.”

  “Listen, Madison says those things about being in love because she thinks it will blind her the way it’s blinded you.”

  “I’m not blind. How do you know that? I’m her best friend. If that were true, I would know that already.”

  A frustrated smile revealed his dimples as a gasp escaped him. “Why do you think she does all that research she does? Why do you think she tells you not to worry about Silas or Draven? She does that because she thinks -- and I agree with her -- that you’re so focused on saving Draven that you aren’t fighting what we’re meant to.”

  “It’s not worth fighting for if I don’t have Draven.”

  “That’s Madison’s point. Draven is your weakness, and you’re his; if we can see that, then so can this thing we’re fighting. Madison just doesn’t want to be pulled into that. She wants to be clear headed, end this, and then fall in love.”

  “How do you even know that? Are you assuming? I’ll tell you like I told her, you cannot choose who or when you fall in love.”

  He tilted his head as his eyes fell into mine. “Who do you think gave her all those books she read? I did. Madison and I may butt heads, but we’re both clear headed, and we do our best to make sure that you and Draven stay that way.”

  I looked away from him. “Aden, I think she loves Britain.”

  “No. She doesn’t. He’s not good enough for her.”

  I looked back at him to see anger engulfed in his eyes. “And how do you know this prince will be? Have you seen the place he rules?”

  “I have, and I don’t know that he’ll be good enough for her either, but I know if she loved Britain that she wouldn’t be leaving with us. That she would be spending all of her time trying to help him, but she’s not doing that; she’s using him as a guide, a guide to figure out Draven for you.”

  “Yeah, well, you may have given her a few books, maybe even had a few chats with her, but I’m her best friend. She may not be in love with him right now, but she’s falling for him. If all of this hadn’t happened, if we weren’t leaving, she would fall for him.”

  “But we are. One way or another, we will leave. There are no coincidences; we are leaving now because she’s not supposed to love him.”

  “You’re just saying that because you hate him. How am I going to tell her to leave and not tell her that when she see’s Willow that she’ll be looking into a freaking mirror, that somewhere down the line, she’ll see that boy in her dreams?”

  “She saw him today in The Realm, and she still wants to leave.” He argued.

  “I couldn't even see him clearly in there; and besides that, we were a little distracted.”

  “Right, the demon.”

  “Maybe Draven’s right. We should just stay here and find them in The Realm. After that, then we can figure out if we even need to go.”

  “We’ve tried all afternoon. No luck.”

  “You guys went back.”

  He nodded once. “I always knew The Realm was more complex than what meets the eye, but I never imagined it was this bad.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked as my eyes grew wide.

  “We have come so close to them, at least Draven has, but when he finds them, they’re asleep or the world around them collapses. We’ve even seen them fighting each other on the horizon, but when we got too close they vanished.”

  “They were fighting? Should we even be trying to save both of them?”

  He sighed. “We all agree that it’s an illusion. You know just as well as I do that The Realm brings your fears to life with a simple thought. I’m more than sure that Bianca is toying with their hidden fears.”

  “So they’re asleep inside a nightmare? I wonder how deep they are.” I mused.

  “I think they’re slipping, but Draven thinks he’s getting through to them.”

  “Why does he think that?”

  “Because he got them to repeat the lyrics ‘an angel fallen a devil has risen, our fate is calling.’ When they hear that song, they almost wake up, but then something pulls them deeper. It’s almost like they want to be there, like they want this war to end in The Realm.”

  “That wouldn't be a bad thing,” I said, seeing how I would play this the same way if I had the choice.

  “If they knew what they were doing, but I don’t think they do. If they did, they would be changing the world around them, using their minds as a weapon, but they’re not; they just play into what’s around them. They’re basically facing a test like what Draven went through, but only it’s in slow motion, and I don’t know what lives they lived before or what bad things they could have done, but I know that what they’re seeing is in some way a reflection of that.”

  “A reflection?”

  He nodded. “They get too upset for it not to have been real at some point.”

  “If they are being tested, does that mean they’re Escorts?”

  “Maybe, or maybe the darkness is just toying with their minds.”

  This was not good. Not good at all. “Either way, they aren’t going to come back the same; Draven didn’t,” I said as I perceived the endless battle before us.

  “That’s why I want to wake them up there. What’s weird is that earlier I saw one of them act out the life of the other.”

  “How can you know that for sure?”

  “The names they called themselves. It was like they were switching places, but I don’t know what they would gain from that, or even what Bianca could.”

  I tried to weigh all of the reasons anyone would want to switch places with another. I couldn't find a reason to be hopeful. Even if they were doing that to themselves, it was something they shouldn't toy with. They needed to live out the lives they were born into. “The longer she’s alone with them, the worse off they are. I want to go back with you guys, like now.”

  “I think we need to find their bodies; if we can see our way there from their perspective, then we could wake them up in The Realm, ensure that Landen is Landen and the other guy is the other guy. The only way we can do that is if we leave. So, you’ve got some convincing to do. Draven still wants to send you and the girls and stay behind.”

  “Alright,” I said, turning to walk in.

  Aden reached for my arm. “I really am sorry I accused you of that. I just feel torn. I love you both, and...and if he loses you...then I lose you.”

  “He’s not,” I said, reachi
ng to squeeze his arm. “I love both of you, and I’m not going anywhere.” I handed him my keys. “Our bags are in the car. I can’t go home.”

  His eyes filled with grief, and I turned to walk away.

  Inside, I found Grayson and Monroe sitting at the table in the nook. They were staring at each other, and I could only imagine what was playing in their minds. I tried to focus on them, but Nana broke my concentration.

  “How come every time I see you, I have to make you eat?” she asked.

  I blinked and noticed her and Evan sitting around the island that centers the kitchen.

  “Where’s Draven?”

  As soon as the question left my lips, I heard a guitar scream out above me.

  “Working out his thoughts,” Evan said just before he took a sip of his coffee.

  Nana had gotten up and was getting a bowl down. “I’ll eat; I promise. I just want to talk to him first.”

  “Sit down,” she said over her shoulder.

  I took in a deep breath and gritted my teeth as I walked over and took a seat by Evan. I didn’t feel like arguing with Nana after the day I’d had, and besides, she was right: I hadn’t eaten that day; maybe that was why I was getting tired so early.

  “Where’s Austin?” I asked. Right as I said that, he walked in the kitchen.

  He looked at Evan and shook his head. “I don’t know what to tell you; that kid has a few issues,” Austin said, glancing at Grayson and Monroe, neither of whom bothered to look up. I leaned back in my stool to see the lights from the TV in the den flashing across the wall in the entry hall. I was sure then that Austin had been trying to talk to Winston. More than likely Winston never stopped gaming during that time.

  “Tell me about it,” Evan said as he took another sip of his coffee.

  Austin took a seat next to me as Nana sat a bowl of soup and some toast in front of me.

  “I need to call Wes, thank him for telling you to come to me first,” I said as I took a sip of my soup and glanced at Austin.

  “He knows you’re grateful -- and distracted,” Austin said, trying to reassure me. “Truth is, I already knew I was going to come to you. Seems you made quiet an impression when you went to my house.”

  I smiled slightly as I took a few more sips of my soup, then something struck me as odd. “Austin, why didn’t you tell me Madison could be Willow’s twin? Your soul mate thought she was her.”

  He smiled faintly as he reached for the cup of coffee Nana had brought him. “Sometimes I think I travel too much.” He took a sip of his coffee. “Landen didn’t bring Willow home until late August. I was gone, so I wasn’t at their celebration, and when Willow was in trouble and we were searching for her in Esterious, we were looking for a different body, the one her soul was trapped in, so I didn’t know what she looked like then either.”

  I almost choked on my soup. Once I coughed my way through that, I glanced from Nana to Evan to see if that struck them as odd, which it didn’t. Aden walked in at that moment. He sat our bags down along the kitchen wall, then nodded before he walked toward to the living room.

  “A different body.” I said locking eyes with Austin.

  He nodded and smiled. “I told you they were powerful. They can move their soul to any place into anyone. They do that to help, but it didn’t work out the way they wanted to then. Actually, it was a near tragedy. After that was over, I headed out to check on the people I had led to different dimensions. I didn’t see Willow face to face until three days ago, and when I did, at first I thought somehow you guys were there.” Regret washed over his face. “I could tell Landen’s attention was divided. He listened to me but then told me he had to go. We said our goodbyes, and as I walked away he came out of the house again and asked a few more questions about you guys, what you could do, why I thought we needed to meet. It was obvious he was terrified to meet you, and honestly I didn’t know how he would react if I told him Madison looked like Willow. Right when I went to tell him, he saw his brother Brady leaving the dimension and told me he had to figure out what was going on and that he would catch up with me in a few days.”

  “Was he terrified to meet us because of the darkness we are?” I asked, only to get a dirty look from both Nana and Evan.

  “Sorry,” I mumbled as I took another sip of my soup. I knew as soon as it was gone that I would be free to talk to Draven, and from the sound of the aggressive guitar, I knew he wasn’t working out anything; he was blowing off steam, rage.

  Austin shook his head no. “He was worried that he would bring darkness to you. He said that whatever you were fighting could not be as dark as what he was, and he didn’t want to make your life worse, or come here and bring what he was fighting to this world.”

  “Did you tell him everything, though? How could it be worse?”

  “Well, in my defense, I told him everything I knew then. I didn’t know about The Realm or any test Draven faced.”

  At that moment, Evan pushed his stool back. “I’m going to get some rest. Wake me if something happens.”

  I looked down at my empty bowl. I may have struggled with who Draven had become, but it would be easy for me to say that Evan had the hardest time with all of this. He was terrified for his son, and he would do anything to take his place.

  I looked up at Nana. “Did I eat enough?”

  “Not really, but there is no sense in making you wait any longer; that sounds aggressive,” she said as she glanced at the ceiling.

  I could tell it bothered Austin that Evan was upset by what he said. “You didn’t say anything wrong. We’re just on edge.”

  “I know. I should have come back sooner,” he said, looking down at his coffee.

  “It wouldn't have stopped it. Chara may be a beautiful place, but The Realm would have still pulled him in, tested him.”

  “Maybe so, but if I had come back, he would have opened his eyes in Chara, not a place that was full of shadows and darkness.”

  “You know,” I said, glancing at Nana and then back to him. “We like it. The reason we fought about going before was because we were afraid we wouldn't be able to help our shadows there. Because you waited, because fate led you on a different path, we have saved over ten thousand souls. Don’t regret that for second. We don’t.”

  A smiled beamed across Austin’s face, and across Nana’s.

  “Spoken like a true citizen of Chara,” he said as his eyes met mine.

  I pushed back from the counter as I mumbled, “Hopefully.”

  As I walked by the living room, I glanced in and saw Winston gaming and Aden trying to get his attention. I wanted to avoid Winston at every cost; he was less than happy with me in The Realm.

  I ran up the stairs and down the hall. When I reached the studio, I found Draven at the window, playing as he stared at my house. I hesitated for a second, then walked over and tapped him on the shoulder. He finished the chord he was playing, then let his hands rest, but he didn’t look at me.

  “Either I have gotten really bad at playing, or your dad is mad at me,” he said as he stared out the window. I followed his gaze to see that the lights in my house remained off.

  “He’s been keeping his distance. I think he’s doing that so we would be ready to leave now.”

  Draven furrowed his eyebrows. “Something doesn’t seem right.”

  “What is right, Draven? It’s time for us to go.”

  As he looked down at me, his eyes expanded to black instantly. I didn’t hide anything. I let him see everything. I wanted him to know what I knew now. I wanted him to know that even though I had a past with Silas that was so heart wrenching it would cause any sane girl to question her heart today, I didn’t question mine. I fell for him. I died for him. I would do it again.

  A few moments later, his eyes returned to the alluring green I loved so much. “Why would your mom say goodbye like that? Send Kara away?”

  “Is that what you want to ask me? Talk to me about?”

  He pulled his guitar off him and set it
in the stand, then placed his hands on my hips and leaned his forehead against mine. “I can’t change what’s happened. I’m just trying to change what could happen.”

  “There’s nothing we can’t handle if we’re together.”

  “I need you to go to a safe place,” he whispered, tightly closing his eyes as if he were in pain.

  I reached for his face and beckoned his eyes to open with my fingertips. “We can argue about this all night, Draven. It’s all of us or none of us.”

  He swallowed the dark emotions he was clearly fighting, opened his eyes, and said, “You don’t find it odd that your dad isn’t around right now? That your mom told you goodbye? What do they know? What are they fighting to protect you from?”

  I thought of my parents, the light my mother was, the darkness my father was. How impossible they must have thought their love was. I knew no matter what, I would prevail where my mother failed, that I would find a way to diminish The Realm, stop it from calling the boy I loved into its cold darkness. I would stop it from testing any soul, and that war began right here, in Draven’s arms. I had to find a way to convince him that I had no regrets. That somehow we were all meant to be in this moment with the people in our lives.

  “They know that our fate is here. You were right about being connected to these people by past lives...Draven, we are meant to meet them. All of us have a chosen fate, and it’s time to face it.”

  He pulled in a deep breath as his eyes fell into mine. “Why did you do it? Why did you fall?”

  I knew him well enough to know that in his complex mind, he was questioning if I fell for him simply because Willow had told me I would. Knowing him, he thought I fell for him simply out of loyalty to who Willow was then. “Because I love you,” I promised. “I could only fall if I truly loved you.”

  His lips threatened a smile, but one never came. “You didn’t have to fall to save me. I was already saved.”

  “Did you hear what Willow said? I could only fall if I loved you, if that was what the universe or God wanted. Please don’t question something that clear, because if you question that, we’ll never be able face the unknown, we won’t be able to save souls. We have to trust ourselves. You have to trust yourself. I know I don’t understand these auras you see or the pull you crave, but I do know that you are stronger than you think you are.”