Blakeshire (14 page)

“I don’t know. But I know it all connects. I have this gut feeling that I have to go back to my beginning.”

“Like, first life?”

“Yeah, maybe. It has to do with that palace. The saltwater, the ink, the octopus. All of it. Can you start to dig into that? Like maybe talk to that Alamos dude and see what he remembers or figure out why anyone would die that way, if there is water in that palace, if it has salt in it.”

“Should I be writing this down?”

“That is just the start. I think something jacked me up the first time I died and caused all of this strife. I just don’t know what.”

“You have been around these people too long—first death?”

“Whatever, Mr. ‘A wall was knocked down in my head.’”

“Yeah, but wait, chill for a second—you think you lived and died in Esterious?”

“You think you lived and died in Italy, so what if I died in a different dimension?” I gripped his arm. “Listen. It is no secret that something sinister wants Drake and Willow to be together, but I think that started long before a few months ago, before this life. I think they set him up to cross her path.”

He sighed as he closed his eyes. “Maddie.”

“Don’t ‘Maddie’ me.”

“Yeah, I’m going to ‘Maddie’ you. You’re looking for a reason that he quote-un-quote cheated on you in a past life and was fooled in this one. Who cares? It doesn’t matter. Move forward.”

“Look, I know you think that I’m being jealous or vindictive, but I’m not. I think they did this to us, and the only way to stop them is to figure out what they did. It plays into something bigger, like massive. Li
ke New World Order kinda stuff.”

“Who is ‘they’? Charlie and Draven already have the weapon that will end Xavier, or at least a plan to get to that point. Landen and Willow have more than halfway found a way to kill that Donalt jerk. I really think you are just exhausted. You need sleep. Sleep without wicked dreams.”

“I slept for, like, twenty-four hours. That is not it. I told you I had my own. And you know what? If I’m right, you might have your own, too.”

“My own what?”

“Evil Master Escort to end.”

That made him laugh, but once he saw that I was not amused, he ceased his laughter. “I’m all for fair, Maddie, but I’m not raising my hand to have my very own evil to kill. At some point, I would like to have a normal life.”

“Nothing will ever be normal about our lives. And like it or not, you are haunted by something. You don’t want to help me, that’s cool. I get it. But what if or when we figure out mine—figure out how they all connect—we figure out how to beat this.”

“Last time I talked to you, you told me we had to go our separate ways. Now look, see how your mind is messing with you?”

“I still think that. But you know what? You are still here. And if you are here, I’m putting you to work. So either go figure out that stuff or go and figure out why every time a female gets anywhere near you, the air fills with needles. Oh, and while a violin plays in the air why you sleep.”

He turned white as a ghost. “You hear that, too?”

“Not now, but I did before. That is jacked up. You’re haunted.”

“Not haunted,” he muttered as I felt grief emerge in his emotions.

My eyes moved rapidly across his image. “You’re grieving.”

As soon as I said that, I saw a flash of light out of the corner of my eye. Aden jumped back, seeing it, too.

“It stopped,” he said with an ache in his voice.

“Why are you grieving?” I asked, knowing he had no reason to feel that way. Even when I focused on him and saw the flashes of his perception, I couldn’t find a reason for that deep, horrid emotion.

“Just feel…empty.”

I glanced away. “I’m not pushing you away. You know that, right? I only said what I said because I really think that we have our own battles.”

“Maybe so, but mine is still blind to me. I’m not getting in the middle of another fight with Charlie and Draven. So like I said, you’re stuck with me for now.”

A sly smile crept to the corners of my lips. “Does that mean you are going to be my little detective today?”

“One condition.”

I glanced back at him, feeling how serious he was. “Drake mentioned his plans for today. I didn’t think much about it because I had my doubts he could convince you to go anywhere with him.” Sorrow filled his green eyes.

“Should I be worried?”

“No. Listen, he is looking for balance or something that he can declare real. When he told me where he wanted to take you, I tried to talk him out of it—I didn’t tell him why I was against it because the last thing either of you need is a reason to walk away. Just…see what he wants to show you, and not what your mind wants to show you.”

“You do like him.”

“I like that he can and will protect you from whatever this hell is that is chasing us but…Maddie, that boy is broken. I really don’t think there is another soul on this planet that can reach him. He is waiting for you to vanish. Prove him wrong.”

I stared at Aden, letting him see my deepest fears, something he had often picked up on long before Charlie and Draven had. “Britain fooled me. I don’t ever want to play that part again.”

“He didn’t fool you. You never let him in. You’ve let Drake in.”

I narrowed my stare on him.

“Don’t look at me like that. You have never taken a boy home. You took him home days after you met him.”

“I was proving a point.”

“To who? You? Every day, you tried to prove points to Britain, and I doubt he ever stepped foot in your house. No one is going to rag you for hooking up with Drake or tell you that you should or shouldn’t. I just don’t want you to let your head get in the way.”

“My head is always in the way. I have to stop mentioning Willow around him.”

“Agreed.”

I punched him in the arm. “He said we were going to be at the palace tonight. I’ll meet up with you there.”

“I’ll catch you tomorrow.”

“So you do have plans?”

“Nope, you do,” he said as he pushed me off his bed. “Out. I want to get up.”

Feeling accomplished, I went to leave. Right when I reached the door, I heard a name whispered in my ear. One that I had heard before.

“Aden,” I said as I stopped at the door and glanced over my shoulder.

“Yep.”

“I think you need to spend some time around Phoenix.”

“Who?”

“He’s a friend of Landen’s.”

“Does he know any of this you asked me to look into?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“You lost me.”

“I don’t know,” I said as I reached for the door. “Maybe he knows something about violins.”

I lingered for a second, letting him see my perception, hear that name whispered to me just now in a girl’s voice.

Aden’s eyes grew wide for an instant. I closed the door before he had a chance to tell me I was pushing him away or something.

As soon as I did that, I felt something or someone embrace me briefly, warmly.

“He’s stubborn,” I muttered into the thin air around me. “You are going to have to play a little louder.”

I shook my head and made my way to Olivia’s room, feeling a little foolish for giving out advice on how to get through to my cousin to an invisible entity.

Butterflies were engaged in that thing that they do in my core. I had no idea where I was heading.

Chapter Nine

~Madison~

I felt like such a girl. After I found a coat in Olivia’s closet, I rushed to my room and ran a brush through my hair, added a little mascara, eyeliner, and perfume. I changed my top three times, looking for something warm but not suffocating; kinda revealing, but not too revealing. A tight long sleeve T-shirt was what I settled on. I figured that I had to look kind of basic simply because if Drake was planning on taking me to some other dimension beyond his own, there were bound to be social rules I would have to adhere to. Knowing that all the travelers usually wore black made me feel confident about the choice I made.

I pulled on Olivia’s black pea coat and fastened the large silver buttons, pulled up the collar a bit, and took in a breath. If I still had fear, I’m sure anxiety would have halted me there, but instead I was just nervous; more excited than nervous, but still a bit jittery all the same.

I found Drake on the front porch, leaning against one of the large columns. Now he was wearing a long black coat that somehow managed to make him look even more powerful. He sensed me before I ever opened the door. When he turned to face me, I saw a long, dark purple scarf in his hand. I’d loved that shade for as long as I could remember, and he was the reason why; I always saw that particular hue in his aura.

“I was starting to wonder if you fell back asleep,” he quipped.

“Talking to Aden.”

His eyes questioned me. “About?”

“Dreams and such.”

“Dreams that you will not tell me about?”

“He could see them.”

He held in a grin that made me question once more if somehow Draven had taught him to see.

“What?”

“Nothing,” he said as he stepped closer and wrapped the scarf around me, tucking it beneath my collar. That was when I noticed he had one on, too, only his was on the inside of his jacket.

“Is this like a uniform or something?”

“Sort of,” he said with a shy smile “Shall we?”

I took his hand and stepped off the porch with him. The passages to the string—the white, glowing path that connected all the dimensions—were all over this dimension, but there was one that was very close to Olivia’s house; it was only one hilltop away.

I didn’t bother to fill the silence with meaningless words. That was never my style anyway, and I was sure if I tried I would sound like a fool.

Drake guided me over the hill and then right through the wave that danced on thin air.

Do you want to hear something odd? A friend of mine named Austin was the one that had managed to connect
my friends and me with the idea of other dimensions. The one who allowed us to think we could escape the darkness around us.

Austin is from Chara. He’s a traveler, a person who guides others from dimension to dimension. He stu
mbled across us a few years ago. When he figured out that it didn’t really shock us that he appeared out of nowhere, and that we were not your ordinary teens, he told us of other worlds. He instantly wanted to bring us to Chara, but time and circumstance never seemed to line up the right way. Austin tried to prepare us for what we would see or endure when we eventually would travel with him.

I remember feeling how mesmerized Aden and the others were with seeing the gateways to the passage, that wave that divides the air. The sensation was different for me. I was scared. Scared because I knew, deep inside, those passages would link me to my dreams one day. For me, it was easier to want than have. If I wanted it, the best of my life was still before me; once I had it, I’d have to fight to keep it.

Drake gripped my hand tighter once the white glow surrounded us. Now that I wasn’t seeing vibrant auras, this experience was all new once again. I could still see the shades of light that led to various other worlds, but white dominated the glow around us.

“I would ask you if you were afraid, but I assume fear is still absent to you,” he said as he glanced at me.

The string had this illuminating glow that seemed to absorb the gaze of its passengers, but the light was not powerful enough to lighten his dark eyes; instead, they glistened. The allure that resided in his gaze was magnified—which pretty much blew my mind. They were already too much to handle at times.

“You make it hard to focus on any dark emotion.”

That glint in his eyes filled with astonishment. Apparently, his bluntness made me face my dark emotions, and mine made him believe there was reason to feel positive ones. He brought my hand to his lips and let them linger there for a moment. I felt fire burn through my soul and a deep anticipation clench my core.

“I feared it the first time I was in here,” he murmured as we began to walk.

“You? Afraid?” I teased.

I thought he would smile with that phrase, but his expression turned morbid, cold. “Donalt held a knife to my mother’s neck and demanded that my father teach me the paths. He told him if he ran, if he chose not to bring me back, he would kill my mot
her slowly, ensure that she bled out for days.”

I felt a sickness settle in my throat as rage encased my soul. That ghost better hope that Willow finds a way to end him before I get my hands on him
. Because I can guarantee that she will have more mercy than I would.

“He brought you back,” I supplied, trying to focus on the one solid father figure he did have.

“And when he did, when he was alone with my mother, she scorned him for hours, didn’t speak to him for weeks. She wanted him to run, but he couldn’t.”

“Because he loved her.”

“More than anything,” he said as pride absorbed his emotions.

I knew it was a good thing that he was getting this out in the open. To keep him on this track, I had to find a way to show him some positive aspects. “Where did he take you the first time in here?”

“A special place,” he said as the grin I was searching for emerged on the corners of his lips. I love his subtle smile simply because you never really knew what he was thinking when it emerged. Walking mystery. That was what this boy was.

“At least you got to spend time with him outside of Esterious.”

“When I was younger, it was fun; as I got older, we fought,” he answered as grief and anger took over the pride in his emotions.

If we pushed through this, would he be better for it?

“About?”

“Where I wanted to go. I could see all of the passages, but two were brighter than the others. He always wanted me to go
to the less bright of the two. Donalt convinced me that he was purposely keeping me away from the girl that was in my thoughts.”

I smirked, realizing he had avoided saying the name of that girl.

“I’m sure you asked him why and he gave you a solid answer.”

He didn’t answer for a moment or two. I glanced up at him, could see flashes of the conversations he and his father had, but not enough to answer my question.

“He told me that sometimes the obvious path is not the right one, that the vague passage I could see held an intense past of mine. That my roots were in that past, that no matter how damaged or twisted my life ever became that I could return to my roots and heal, grow in a different direction.”

“Did he take you to Chara?”

“No,” was his only response.

“Which one was I behind?” That was a bold question that stated that in some way I believed he was mine.

“Both,” he boldly stated as that emotion I was calling love emerged.

I had no response to that. After a few more minutes, I decided to push the father point some more.

“Your dad must have been a good teacher. I know when I was first digging in your head, I saw you in here alone when you were young.”

“Digging, huh?”

A sly smile invaded my image. “Don’t act like you don’t know I did that. You already admitted to testing me by playing a part.”

He nodded once. “Why are you pushing the conversation to my father?”

“A few reasons.”

“Listening.”

“Well, for one you thanked me for allowing you to talk about him.”

“And another?”

“I’m trying to get you past the bubble.”

“The what?” he said as a disbelieving grin spread across his face.

“You know the bubble.”

“You’ve lost me, Madison Marie.”

“It’s like a bubble of fear. Say you’re wigged out about something, like a speech or something. You fret over it, think about it a thousand times, imagine how horrible it is going to be, have a few freak outs, then the time comes and there is this bubble of energy—this wall standing between who you are and who you will be once the next moments are over. It’s terrifying because you can’t see past it. Everything that you have thought or done for days has been focused on that point. In your mind, it is everything; it will make or break you. As soon as you step past that bubble and find yourself in the moment and the question of fight or flight is null and void, you have no choice but to do your thing—and when it’s over, when the adrenaline is settling into your system, you feel a numb sensation. One that leads you to believe that you were a fool to fear it in the first place because not only were you meant to say what you had to say or do what you had to do, but you knew it so well that a natural instinct took over and you rocked the hell out of that moment.”

He stopped in the string and gazed down at me with absolute wonder in his eyes. “Has anyone ever told you how beautiful your mind is?”

“No one that matters,” I said with a blush.

“Do I matter?”

I felt myself turn crimson as the scent of roses wafted around us. “More than you know.” I playfully glared at him. “Stop deflecting. You have a bubble.”

“I have more than one,” he murmured as he carefully leaned down and let his lips just barely tease mine.

“You’re trying to distract me,” I said as I reached up and laced my fingers through his thick, dark hair. With a natural ease, his lips met mine. I stayed constantly aware of every part of him, but when our flesh met, even in the briefest of moments, that awareness was amplified. I knew when he held his breath, when his body tensed, how much power he put behind his lips, his tongue. We spoke a thousand words with each fluttering touch. I moved my lips against his, feeling sensual power meet mine, feeling him relax into me. There was something so indescribably erotic about how we melted into one another. You’d think we were old lovers that knew each other’s bodies better than our own. Not that we were raw, fresh, that every moment like this stopped time in some way.

As our kiss broke, his eyes fell into mine. “Distracting you? I see myself more as an opportunist,” he said as his hands moved down the sides of my body. When I sighed with that movement, a secret smile lingered on his lips.

Matching his play, my hands reached for his chest and slid down his body, stopping just before they reached his belt. When I felt him tense, I matched that secret smile.

His hands clasped mine with a slight hiss. “Birthday girl, we are never going to make it back to my palace if we don’t stop teasing one another.”

“I don’t tease, Drake. I say what I mean and mean what I say.”

He lifted a brow as doubt flashed over his eyes.

“When I’m not hurt, that is.”

Rapidly, those eyes moved across my stare. “What did you dream? Why is pain absent from your eyes now?”

“I honestly don’t know. But I know that as wild as my thoughts were, it would have taken more than a dream to quell them. I understand where you are coming from, I really do.” My eyes searched his as I tried to understand my own mind and soul. “I think what takes the pain away is that you respect the emotions I have. You’re a man about it. You don’t call them foolish. You’re not afraid of my mind. That tells me we are going to figure this out.”

His hands cradled my face as he moved his body against mine. “You’re a queen. You were born with the heart and mind of a queen. Passion vibrates through you. You think and feel deeply, and more often than not, think of yourself last. The only thing I have to figure out is how to prove to you that I was born to be your king.” His lips brushed against mine. “We’ve been tested. It may seem as if we failed, but I know it only made us stronger. That when we get past this wall o
f emotions, we will be invincible…I never meant to hurt you.”

I could only nod and lean in to him as his arms went around me. Moment by moment, the anger and jealousy I’d had was fading—but I knew, just as he did, that those emotions were just waiting for one reason to erupt. One shred of doubt.

We walked past the dark gray shades that I knew led to his dimension. A few others were passing through the passages. Each of them was from Chara, but they still slightly bowed to us as they passed by us.

We were approaching a haze that was a deep purple with what looked like diamonds moving across that shade.

“Ready?” he asked. I offered a simple nod as he pulled me through.

You never really knew what to expect when they pulled you through these passages. I had found myself in cellars by generators, in fields, inside the palace. My understanding of the passages was that at some point, or even currently, a large source of energy paved the path. Also that in theory everyone should be able to see these said passages, but only a select few do.