entire crew has not only heard it a million times, but they love it. The energy Draven would need has been building, waiting for him to take them over the edge, and I would bet you everything I own that Draven doesn’t know they are still expecting him to play. He never completely agreed to play it because of everything going on with him and the others.” Her eyes smiled. “And until this moment, you didn’t even know you needed Draven to play...I doubt you know what door to open.”
I tried to swallow her words. She’d been here hours and figured out what would have taken my entire family days, weeks. I glanced around at the empty room with curious eyes, slightly envying that I could not hear the secret whispers of the dead.
“What did the dead tell you? What door?”
She slightly pursed her lips. “Their message is never clear. I’m under the impression that two realities reside side by side, that this reality is sick. The dead and living have been used to feed a fierce addiction to seven deadly emotions. All of you have several ways to weaken fierce Escorts, and opening the door, letting the trapped damned fall, is one that will help you unravel this web.”
Seemed simple enough to me, besides the fact that there had to be more than one soul like Donalt that I would have to fight. Then I remembered how Phoenix told me the dead were mad at me.
“Are the dead on our side?” I whispered, as if the dead could not hear my low tone.
“They are on their side. They don’t want to help you. They want their family back.”
“What do I have to do? Go get Draven and the others?”
“That, I don’t know. The friends you lost are but one part of this. Where my grandchildren fall, where you fall, is unknown. I would suggest that you learn control over your insights so you can find the answers you seek.”
I pushed my food away, unable to take another bite. “Phoenix thinks I’m some kind of key, that I can seek images on that side, even pave a path if we all must bail. And to do that, I have to figure out how not to feel any emotions so I don’t destroy the place I’m standing in, and open a door to my images again, which I can’t do without feeling emotions—catch twenty-two. Control will not help me figure that out.”
“You can’t do anything worthwhile without emotions.”
“Who gives a Scorpio an insight balanced on emotions anyway?” I muttered disdainfully.
She laughed under her breath. “You can control this.”
“It leaks out of me, as Phoenix so poetically put it.”
That really made her laugh, which made me smile and the sun behind the windows beam.
“You’ve learned a lot in the last three months. In a past life, those insights took you a lifetime to master on their own,” she gently explained as her gaze spilled all around me. “The lessons were in place and set to be repeated, but these lessons were only learned in the lives with Landen. When he became a Phoenix, the next cycle, lesson, was never received. Now, all the insights are going to appear in this lifetime and will seem overwhelming.”
“Not overwhelming. Impossible.”
“The only impossibilities are the ones we choose to believe.” Her voice trailed, which caused me to halt my comeback.
“What?”
A second later, she answered me. “I was trying to understand how you controlled this insight you fear so much.”
“Any luck?”
“It would be easier to show you, but I don’t suppose we have time for that lesson as well.”
She was talking about seeing, and she was right. I didn’t want that lesson. Trying to look back had done nothing but bring me heartache in the recent past.
She collected my dishes. “Come,” she threw over her shoulder. She set the dishes in the sink and made her way to the door.
I wasn’t thrilled to follow her out there, not if Saige was around.
The backyard was a lavish garden of every kind of herb, flower, and plant you could imagine. Saige was nowhere in clear sight, but that
I tried to swallow her words. She’d been here hours and figured out what would have taken my entire family days, weeks. I glanced around at the empty room with curious eyes, slightly envying that I could not hear the secret whispers of the dead.
“What did the dead tell you? What door?”
She slightly pursed her lips. “Their message is never clear. I’m under the impression that two realities reside side by side, that this reality is sick. The dead and living have been used to feed a fierce addiction to seven deadly emotions. All of you have several ways to weaken fierce Escorts, and opening the door, letting the trapped damned fall, is one that will help you unravel this web.”
Seemed simple enough to me, besides the fact that there had to be more than one soul like Donalt that I would have to fight. Then I remembered how Phoenix told me the dead were mad at me.
“Are the dead on our side?” I whispered, as if the dead could not hear my low tone.
“They are on their side. They don’t want to help you. They want their family back.”
“What do I have to do? Go get Draven and the others?”
“That, I don’t know. The friends you lost are but one part of this. Where my grandchildren fall, where you fall, is unknown. I would suggest that you learn control over your insights so you can find the answers you seek.”
I pushed my food away, unable to take another bite. “Phoenix thinks I’m some kind of key, that I can seek images on that side, even pave a path if we all must bail. And to do that, I have to figure out how not to feel any emotions so I don’t destroy the place I’m standing in, and open a door to my images again, which I can’t do without feeling emotions—catch twenty-two. Control will not help me figure that out.”
“You can’t do anything worthwhile without emotions.”
“Who gives a Scorpio an insight balanced on emotions anyway?” I muttered disdainfully.
She laughed under her breath. “You can control this.”
“It leaks out of me, as Phoenix so poetically put it.”
That really made her laugh, which made me smile and the sun behind the windows beam.
“You’ve learned a lot in the last three months. In a past life, those insights took you a lifetime to master on their own,” she gently explained as her gaze spilled all around me. “The lessons were in place and set to be repeated, but these lessons were only learned in the lives with Landen. When he became a Phoenix, the next cycle, lesson, was never received. Now, all the insights are going to appear in this lifetime and will seem overwhelming.”
“Not overwhelming. Impossible.”
“The only impossibilities are the ones we choose to believe.” Her voice trailed, which caused me to halt my comeback.
“What?”
A second later, she answered me. “I was trying to understand how you controlled this insight you fear so much.”
“Any luck?”
“It would be easier to show you, but I don’t suppose we have time for that lesson as well.”
She was talking about seeing, and she was right. I didn’t want that lesson. Trying to look back had done nothing but bring me heartache in the recent past.
She collected my dishes. “Come,” she threw over her shoulder. She set the dishes in the sink and made her way to the door.
I wasn’t thrilled to follow her out there, not if Saige was around.
The backyard was a lavish garden of every kind of herb, flower, and plant you could imagine. Saige was nowhere in clear sight, but that
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