Vindicate

by Jamie Magee

  “I keep forgetting you can do that,” I mumbled as I stood.

  She followed my lead as she stared defensively at me. “Those images you used to help. How did you make them appear?”

  “I didn’t; they just did. Landen and I think it was because I found people who were feeling the emotion I was.”

  “Power of attraction,” she m uttered. “Never anyone you knew?”

  “A few. My friends when they were hurt. Stella’s sister; Stella is Marc’s soul mate.”

  “You need to open that door if you are going to see.”

  “Easier said than done,” I mumbled .

  “Seeing is a different dimension of mediation. Instead of letting the t houghts of your mind bubble up you lis ten to the thoughts of others. Your imagination creates the rest . I f you have any doubt you can do this – any at all , then you will not be able to. I t’s as simple as that.”

  A ghostly smile danced across my expression. Determination swelled in my soul. “I have no doubt that I will go to where Landen is.”

  “Good.” She murmured as her eyes rapidly moved across my aura.

  At that moment, Marc walked in the door. He had changed into another suit, and at first glance my eyes grew wide and I found myself holding my breath.

  “I keep getting that reaction,” he said as his dark eyes moved from me to Madison.

  “I can’t believe how one suit can change a man,” I said with a smirk.

  “Mom and I are going to the chapel for our daily mourning,” he said as he sighed. “She wanted to check on you first.” He locked his jaw before he went on. “Is that wise?” he asked raising one eyebrow.

  I glanced at Madison. “Madison can feel emotions as well as I can. A t least I think she can. She won’t upset anyone. Not on purpose.”

  Marc captured her gaze and smiled slightly. “Sorry if I startled you before.”

  Madison’s emerald green eyes glassed over as a chill waved across her body. I could only imagine the emotions she was trying to control. “Just a lot .” She uttered. “Bad day,” she couldn’t hold his gaze any longer. She let her eyes move to the doorway, looking for a fast escape. No doubt there.

  He nodded. “Tell me about it.”

  Marc looked back at me. “Stella saw your struggle with this seei ng thing in the looking glass. She look ed forward and found the answer. Perodine is getti ng what she needs to help you. That should save you some time.”

  “How far did she see forward?” I asked, peaking with hope.

  “She has not found our victory yet, but thanks to her and your new friend Draven I’m still alive.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Draven was right. That meeting was a trap. The moment Draven said that, Stella saw my cours e change in the looking glass. She saw me di scovering three more traitors. When I declared that priest as a traitor, two more confessed to conspiring and begged for mercy.” Concern consumed his dark eyes. “They’re everywhere, Willow. There is not one honest person in that court.”

  “There is one,” Madison said under her breath .

  When she realized she said that allowed she nervously looked between me and Marc then said, “Drake. I mean y ou.” her skin blushed as she eyed the doorway once more.

  Marc’s eyes seemed to sparkle as he bowed slightly to her. “So many wise women surrounding me now. I like that,” he said as he glanced over his shoulder.

  “Stella saw your fate change?” I asked Marc , wanting to unders tand what Stella was becoming. What that looking glass had to do with any of this.

  Marc nodded as he looked back at me. “She told me she is in awe of how the simplest decisio n or thought can change so much. The excitement – awakening in her eyes is breathtaking.”

  Beth stepped into the room at that moment. She was wearing one of the royal black gowns that would place her in another era if I were in my home dimension. Beth ignored both Marc and me and seized Madison ’s stare .

  I focused on Beth’s emotion, looking for any spike. A ny sign of rec ognition. Beth always believed she would see the heart of her son in the woman he was meant to love. She’d seen it inside o f Stella, and inside of Olivia. Yet, right now her emotion remained calm. I was sure that long, deep argument I just had wit h Madison was all for nothing. Bet h didn’t see it.

  “Madison, this is my mother, Beth.” Marc said.

  Madison bowed as if she were introduced to royalty. “It is a pleasure to meet you,” she said humbly.

  “The pleasure is mine,” Beth replied.

  There was an odd silence, and the anxiety in the room built.

  “Excuse me,” Madison said quietly. “I need to find my friends.”

  Beth reached for Madison’s arm as she passed her by. They locked eyes, and I felt a modest emotion, followed by hope, rise inside of Beth.

  Madison looked down. “He is coming ho me. I ’ll bring him home.”

  Beth smiled, and Madison swiftly walked away.

  Once I knew she was far enough to hear us, I looked at Beth. “Well?”

  She stared back at me for countless seconds. “Yes and no.”

  “And that means?” I asked.

  She stepped closer to me and reached her hand for my shou lder. “Willow . Let it be . You will find them.”

  “I know that. She’s the one, though.” I whispered.

  “Learn from her. Let h er learn from you .”

  “You sound like Preston,” I muttered , looking down.

  “I will never b e as wise as my son…” She glanced up at Marc. “All of my sons have a purpose beyond my imagination…” She looked b ack at me. “Just bring him back.”

  “I will,” I promised as my eyes met hers.

  Marc held his arm out for his mother, and I watched as he escorted her to the stairway. I hesitated before I walked back to the others. I let the conversation with Madison rush through my mind. Not the argument about Drake, but everything else. I wondered for a moment why my images had not come as often as they once had. I wondered if I rea lly was just running in circles. I f someho w I was missing the big picture. I wondered if there was someo ne else out there waiting on me. Needing me . I f I needed them. Did I bring all of this on myself?

  I walked through the study, knowing the hallway on the other side of it was the fastest way to get back to where I’d left Landen and Drake’s bodies. When I stepped in the room, I saw Olivia pacing back and forth with an open book. At first glance, that didn’t seem odd to me . Gr owing up, her head was always in a book. Lost in another world. Honestly, I can’t recall seeing her read a single thing since we had been here. I felt her excitement and curiosity, and it made me smile.

  “Now that is the Olivia I grew up with,” I said as I walked to her side. She jumped at the sound of my voice. “Though I did assume you would be trying t o figure out this seeing thing so you could follow me into The Realm. Must be a good book.”

  “I am following you. Perodine is going to help us,” Olivia said as she marked the page she was on.

  “How is that?” I asked curiously.

  “With one of her little spells . Something about energy colliding so you could see where you are going. That there was no way for Draven to teach you how to see.”

  “Well, that’s a bit negative. I’m a fast learner . Especially if it gets me to where I need to go.” I knew none of them were meaning to hurt my feelings, but this had to be one of the longest, hardest days of my life. I felt like no one understood me, or trusted me. Well, no one but Draven.

  “I think that’s the pro blem,” Olivia said, raising her eyebrow s .

  “What?”

  “Apparently, grasping auras – energy – moving into souls – bodies came too fast for you. Because it came so fast, you never learned the fundamentals of it, and without that, you cannot get this seeing thing as instan tly as we all know you want to. Stella said your impatie nce would cause another storm. Possible flooding. As soon as Perodine decided to help you another way,” Olivia raised he
r hands slightly in the air and tilted her head with a fake playful smile, “then the sun came out.”

  “Are you mocking me?” I said as I playfully squinted my eyes.

  “No,” she said with a wink. “If you can see where t his place is, you can go there. Perodine is going to make it where you can see it.”

  “Why couldn’t we have just done that before?”

  “Because. You have to see it first . Draven has seen it. She is going to do one of her wit chy spells and pull his energy along with Landen and Drake’s together so you can see it . Move there. It will also ensure we all go to the same place at the same time.”

  “Witchy?” I repeated , trying not to laugh. Perodine was definitely in tune with the energy of the world, but I wouldn’t call her a Witch.

  Olivia smirked . “I didn’t call her that . Your little Madison friend did . And Perodine didn’t argue. A pparently , Perodine has been looking a little harder for your ‘twin’ than she let on.”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked as I tried to judge her with every insight I owned.

  Olivia shrugged her shoulders. “Something about dreams Madison was having . Then there was some woman that stopped Madison and Charlie on the street yesterday and told her that she had a message for her – that the most powerful Witch was seeking her to satisfy the goddess of Mother Nature.”

  The absurdity of that statement made laughter erupt from me. I held my mouth to block the guilt for feeling that emotion. “Are you serious?”

  Olivia grinned. “You know she has been a round for a few million years. I’m sure she has picked up a t hing or two in the way of magic.” He r smile faded as her gaze drifted over me. “Charlie said the woman was as serious as she cou ld be. It scared them at first, but now that they a re here, know what you can do. Know that you’re not some goddess loo king for a sacrifice, they’re good with it.”

  “Well, what do you know. Willow Haywood was right all along. I do have a twin.” I meant it as tease, but it sounded harsher than that.

  “Willow.”

  I held my hand up to stop her. “I know . Ju st sayin’.”

  “Willow, seriously, don’t put all of your hope on one girl. I don’t think she is ready for any of this. I’m not sure the others are either.”

  “They’re more ready than you think they are.” I said with a smirk. “They think deep.”

  “Thinking and doing are two different things. They are at opposite ends of the spectrum from you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  She pursed her lips as she gathered her words, her argument. “They have more of a dark edge than you. They have spent their life with ghosts . Some good, most of them bad. All the y want to do is save the dead, and you’re trying to save the living.”

  “Right. We need them .”

  “Maybe. But still. I n this l ife, they may be the same age a year or so younger, but on the big scale, well, we all know you and Lan den have lived millions – over four .”

  “They need us . We have been through what they’re going through.”

  “But you don’t remember it. I think they do.”

  “Think, or know?”

  She grimaced. “I had the pleasure of speaking with Grayson, Monroe’s ol dest brother. According to him after some test Draven had a few weeks ago, he can recall them all, and apparently there is this guy named Silas th at is tempting Charlie’s heart. The only way he could even get her to conceive that she had loved him befo re was showing her past lives. None of them seemed thr illed with that enlightenment. They are in the middle of something big, and we just added to it.”

  “What about Madison?”

  “Well, apparently she shields herself pretty well from Grayson. He didn’t know how much she knew or remembered, but he was sure that a guy named Britain has been sort of jogging her memory.”

  Jogging ? More like a marathon. “Sounds to me like whatever memories they have are one-sided. It would be like Drake only showing me our lives together – omitting Landen or even Dane.”

  “That is what I am saying. They’re young, and they h aven’t grasped that yet. They’re dealing not only with the emotions of being as young as they are in this life, but those same uncertain emotions they had in other lives.”

  I was only halfway listening to her; I kept hearing Madison’s words in my head, seeing her reaction when I called her out on Britain. “Something tells me love triang les are not their focus,” I muttered as I thought over Madison’s point of view on falling in love. “What about Aden ? Where is he in this?” I asked.

  “Honestly ? In my opinion he is the only quote unquote sane one. Very calm energy around him.”

  “Good .” I said, crossing my arms. “And what about our little orphans that my evil angel seems to admire so much?”

  Olivia moved her head slowly from side to side as her eyes reflected the awe she was feeling. “I think that little one – Monroe, is just like Libby and Preston. There is a story there . One that I’m not sure I want to know.”

  “Has she said anything since then?”

  “They’re gone.”

  “What?!”

  “August was with Stella when we came back. She told him everything tha t happened. The ghost. What that little girl said. We took them to Chara; we had to, Charlie and Madison insisted.”

  “Is that safe ? I mean, will it hurt them because they were not brought by someone that loved them?” I asked with a panic. Prepared to go and save them from any harm at this instant.

  “No,” Olivia said, looking down. “Libby and Preston asked for them to come. They already knew, Willow, they knew you would find them, and they love everyone.”

  I let out a gasp as I told myself that I was not alone in this. That I could trust my family to help those kids. “That younger one, though, the one named Winston I’m not sure I trust him; I don ’t think the others do either. The older brother Grayson, I like. His emotion toward Monroe reminds me of how I feel about Libby.”

  “I think Winston jus t needs a mom, and we both know that between your mom and Landen’s mom, that role will be filled. Not to mention Rose and Felicity.”

  I tilted my head faintly to silently tell her I agreed with here on that last point. “I just don’t think all the suns hine and peace is their style. I see them more in a place like this,” I mused .

  “You may be right, but we don’t need that right now, not until we get Landen and Drake back.”

  “Agreed,” I said as I focused my senses. I had no idea where everyone was. This was the first trial that had come where our entire family was locked in one place, trying to figure it out. “Where is Dane anyway? Clarissa?”

  “Still in Infante .”

  “We need to send someone to tell them we found the song . Those kids.”

  “They know.”

  “Then why are they not here?”

  “This Escort thing . What Draven calls himself, that Bianca girl is, has them both intrigued. I think Dane is trying to figure out ho w he was manipulated so easily. Trying to understand if he was evil in another life. Clarissa said he is worried that he was one and doesn’t know it.”

  “That’s insane. Why does he care? He needs to come back.” I argued wondering if I had time to find him before I went into The Realm.

  Olivia turned her head from side to side as she bit her bottom lip. “Let it be, Willow. Let them chase whatever they want. For all you know, what th ey learn now may help you later. I f these so called Escorts are real they’re nothing to toy with.”

  I furrowed my eyebrows as I tried to read between her words. I knew there was more to what Clarissa and Dane were up to. I hadn’t had a chance to even talk to Dane about what he remembered. Where he was while his body was in motion. I decided to trust Olivia’s vag ue explanation and worry about it once I’d faced what was in front of me.

  “Obviously, they are. Do I need to remind you who I’m hunting?”

  “Hunting ? A s in killing? I thought August g
ave you his speech on rising above that?”

  “How did you know?”

  “Stella. Willow, I think i f you take your anger in there i t’s going to do more harm than good.”

  “I’m human, Olivia, and I’m furious. I’m beyond that emotion. I can’t even begin to explain to you how mad I am. If you th ink I am going to go into that Realm and walk up to that girl and give her some kind of counseling – tell her that she is loved in spite of her evil – you have another thing coming.”

  Olivia opened the book in her hand and turned to a marked page, then read: “The irony of man is that we refuse to forgive. We refuse because we feel that act condones evil. That it places us in agreement with the wrongs done to us, but when we refuse to forg ive we disrupt the balance of good and evil that rest s in every soul. By not forgiving evil, we become more evil….”

  I let out a frustrated sigh. “Who wrote that?” I asked, not really interested in the answer.

  “My father.”

  “Seriously?” I asked as I looked more cl osely at the book in her hand. The leather was weak, the pages slightly yellow. It almost looked like a journal, but the pages were typed.

  “When I was looking for that song, I went to storage. I knew my mom was a music fanatic and thought maybe it was a song sh e had heard when she was alive. I t was a farfetched idea because obviously that song has a modern edge, but still. When I was there, I found a few of their journal s , their writings, which were stored with their office stuff. This is one of them . My father’s thesis on modern myths.”

  Olivia’s parents were brilliant people. Her mother was a historian. Her field of expertise was on Southern history, but she held a vast knowledge of all history. Her father was a history professor - he did teach some classes on American history, but his passion was much deeper than that. I remember listening to him tell us stories about the Indians, the Greeks, the Orient…most kids are told storie s about Cinderella, but Olivia and whoever was at her house were told myths of other times. Ones that held meaning beyond the surface. I remember Olivia and I acting out the stories when we were playing. How we would fall into the role of past myths and let them consume us.

  What I admired most about Olivia’s parents – what I know my parents admired, especially my father, was how open they were. They never pushed their point of view on anyo ne, especially their daughter. They always told Olivia, eve n me, to learn. Learn everything, then decide where to let our beliefs lie. In others words, believe what you want – not because you were told, but because you truly believe it. The world was robbed the night they died. Olivia was robbed.