“Think about it, Charlie. If what I just told you is true, then that means that Draven is technically one of these escorts - dark people.”
I looked at her like she was insane as I pulled into a parking spot on a side street that led to the studio we were going to. I wasn’t going in until I knew more, and she knew that.
“He’s been at your side your entire life, and never once - not once - has he ever had a power over you. You were the one with the power – the power to make him fight his darkness, to set free the souls that were meant to give him power…you…Charlie Myers subdued the power.”
“I think you’ve seriously misjudged mine and Draven’s relationship. He’s always been in control. With a glance, he can make my heart race, my body flush. He has a way of making me fall into his voice and forget my argument….he…he takes my breath away.”
Madison balled her fist in frustration. “Charlie, listen. If this is true, and Draven is what Britain is – that’s powerful…and you were able to convince him to forget his nature and live a life for good – to go against his own kind. Do you not see how powerful that is? How amazingly powerful your energy is?”
“How come what you’re saying isn’t making me feel any better? How come I feel like this is a bad thing?”
Madison looked down, hiding her eyes from me. “It can be. We just have to hope that Draven never forgets who he is – that he doesn’t submit to what’s calling him. Because if he does,” her eyes met mine, “there’s no telling what he could be cable of. You’ve given power…more power than you could ever imagine, more than your mom gave your dad.”
My eyes grew wide, and my body tensed. “My mom?!”
Madison’s serious expression fell, and sympathy filled her face. I knew she regretted letting that last part slip. My mom was always a touchy subject – both of my parents were – and putting them in the middle of what I was going through was almost more than I could take.
“Your power, the reason you can see like us, has nothing to do with your dad. She can see, Charlie; your dad didn’t teach her how to – she always could…just like you.”
I shook my head as angry tears glassed over my eyes. I slammed my palms against the steering wheel. I was furious at my mother. My entire life, she had not only kept me in a glass box but hidden who she really was from me. I’d barely managed to overcome the fact that not only could she always hear my father’s music, but she saw him…she knew all along and said nothing – making me feel like what I could do, the curse that allowed me to hear the sinister pleas of the darkness, was abnormal. Now, after all of this, Madison was telling me that she was just like me...just like me...that she could have made every moment in my life easier just by telling me that? Making me feel somewhat normal?!
“I don’t understand,” I said, as a pain in my heart took my breath way. “How do you know?”
Madison let out a quiet sigh. “I asked Nana…she never said a word…she just let me see her. I saw your mom telling her that she was at war with herself because she knew your dad was dangerous, that he could end who she was without even trying – make her forget, be blind – and how she feared that meant she’d lose Kara. Your mom was sick with guilt because, even though life as she knew it could end, she couldn’t stop herself. She was utterly in love with your father, and blindness seemed like a far less sacrifice than not having him in her life.”
“What are you saying - that my dad was meant to blind her like an escort? I thought you just said that people like us couldn’t be blinded? That we were the power?”
“Charlie, there is no book, myth, or even an old wise tale that could tell us what we really are or what we can do; we’re learning every day. At that time, your mom had no idea that she was powerful enough to love your dad and stay aware. Their love was so strong that it brought darkness and light to a standstill.”
“Is that what Evan meant when he said that my mom could make my dad forget? Is that why all of you think I stop this darkness from overtaking Draven?”
“Yeah..I mean, it was hard for your dad because the more he refused that dream world and power that was calling him, the more fierce it became. It was as if the darkness knew that with your mom at his side, your dad could have control over both realms - and that evil couldn’t allow him to forfeit that power and submit to the light…a life of peace.”
“He lost his battle…those nightmares caused his death…I don’t know…I don’t know what to do.”
Madison reached her arm around me, and I leaned into her. I just wanted to crawl in a hole and forget who I was, what was happening all around me. It was a lie…everything I was ever told was a lie – a lie that was right in front of me every day. Why – why would she not tell me?
“I think the fact that your gifts – the way you see, the way your mom sees – are a testimony that the light is where the true power is.”
“How do you know a part of what my dad is – isn’t inside me? That I couldn’t be just as dangerous?”
“Your dad is within you…I think that’s why you see it all…the bad, the good, the emotion – every part of a life. You can see more clearly than any one of us.”
“This just doesn’t make any sense…how is Draven dark? Was his mom dark? If she was dark, how was my mom friends with her?”
“She was bright…I thought about how the bloodline didn’t make any sense, how it didn’t flow with what I’d found about escorts, and I all I can’t think is that either Draven is a young soul…that this darkness is about to tempt him for the first time...or…or he’s an old soul that’s fought this battle and won. He never submitted, so, when he lives again - he has no memory of his past lives – he’s given to another family.”
I leaned away from her and looked at her like she was insane. “Are you hearing what you’re saying? Past lives? Old soul – young soul?! I think you’re letting your imagination run wild; this is getting out of control.”
“I know it sounds crazy…but honestly, Charlie, what about us isn’t crazy?”
My eyes left hers and slowly searched the street around us; the sun was out, but there were still shadows…they were silent. I remember noticing that it was quiet when I stepped in my garage, but I think I thought that was because Madison had already helped the ones around us. The last time I heard them was last night, when I told them to give me time…I’d never been able to keep them silent this long – and quite frankly, the silence was terrifying.
“Why is it quiet?” I whispered.
Madison swallowed harshly. “Calm before the storm. I know it sounds crazy, but…I think I miss them.”
My eyes met hers. “When was the last time you heard them?”
“On my way to your house last night…they stopped without a warning and haven’t been back since.”
“I told them to be quiet, but that was long before you could have heard them stop.”
“They’ve gone somewhere. Someone or something has their attention…or power.”
My shoulders fell as I leaned back into my seat. It felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders. I couldn’t think; I couldn’t move.
“Come on, we’re late,” Madison said quietly.
“No…I’m not going in. I need to think.”
“Charlie, this could help us.”
“Then you figure it out. I’m not going in.” My tone was final, yet weak.
“Alright,” Madison said as she reached for the door handle. “Mom is meeting me here, and we’re eating at the diner – are you still not coming to that?”
I shook my head no against the seat.
“Where are you going?”
“Nowhere...here…maybe a walk. I don’t want to go home…I need to think.”
“K,” she mumbled as she crawled out of the front seat.
I don’t know how long I sat there, staring into thin air. I wanted to call my mom right then and get her to confess every secret to me, but I couldn’t find the courage. I thought about using the new aspect of seeing that Draven had taught me and just appear in her office, show my power and demand she confess - but I was too scared to try it. I reached down and fumbled with my bracelet, I turning it so I could see the tiny rock and thinking about going home and getting my dad to tell me everything, but I couldn’t find the will…I didn’t want to think of him as a dark person…I didn’t want to think of Draven as a dark person. I felt myself falling apart, crumbling right when I needed to be strong.
I reached for my phone and scrolled through the names until I found Draven’s. Right now, I wanted to be held; I wanted someone to tell me we’d make it out of this - even if that was a lie.
Just as I began to text, something odd happened….calm….an addicting calm spilled over me. In a grateful daze, my eyes raised to the street, and just in front of my car I saw the source of that calm. My lips slightly smiled as I stared into Silas’s honey hazel eyes.
Chapter Nine
I let my phone fall from my hands and slowly got out of my car. Silas smiled slightly, then turned and began to walk away. With each step he took, I felt the calm around me grow weaker. I didn’t want that to happen; I wanted to feel that peace, so I began to follow him.
As I walked, I studied every part of him. He was tall, lean, yet strong. His dark jeans were loose, and his button up black shirt was playing the part of a light jacket as it remained un-tucked. He wasn’t anything like Draven or Britain. Draven’s style always reflected the musician in him – the edge to his sprit – and Britain always looked like a wealthy businessman, even when he was dressed down…but Silas, he didn’t fall anywhere near them…he had his own style, one that was comfortable…certain.
I never walked faster to catch up with him. I kept my distance as I followed him. It was as if we were both blending into a fall day on the streets of Salem. He never looked over his shoulder to see if I was behind him as he passed another block, leading me out of the common traffic of town.
I tried to focus on him, ask the simple question of who he was, how he knew me, but I couldn’t see him. When that happened with Britain – when he blocked me or only showed me a mirror image of myself - it scared me, but it didn’t with Silas. It was like I knew he was safe – almost a guardian.
I followed him for another block, then he crossed the street. I hesitated; he was walking into one of the town’s historic graveyards. It was on the south side of one of the oldest churches. I knew every part of this town from my childhood here. I’d even been to church there, but I’d never once stepped into that graveyard. A graveyard is the one place that a girl who can hear the whispers of the damned avoids.
The further away Silas got from me, the more anxious I became. I took in a deep breath and crossed the street to follow him. I thought at the very least that I’d hear my shadows again – Madison wasn’t crazy for saying she missed them…I missed them, too. They were the one thing in this world that gave me purpose. If you took away the aspect of saving the lost souls from me, there would be nothing left beyond a girl who loved music and had no idea what she wanted to do with her life – I didn’t want to be that girl. I wanted to save the lost sprits with the music I loved. I wanted to leave this world brighter than how I found it.
The wide, black rod iron gate was slightly ajar. I passed through it, then weaved around the headstones that were over six feet high. I glanced at the years and the names as I passed the almost gothic stones that seemed too close to one another. I could feel an odd, old energy surrounding me…I knew the ground I was walking on had seen more tears that I could imagine…the echoes of an historic past were so silent, I could hear it screaming at me.
I couldn’t see Silas in front of me anymore; the stones were blocking him. I blindly followed the calm I felt and let it guide me in his direction. On edge of the graveyard, just before the path that led into the back of the church, there was a gazebo. Vines covered every part of it, and flowers that only bloomed in the shadows were among these vines. Inside, I could see Silas sitting on a long swing. I held his gaze as I climbed the three steps leading to him. In my mind, I kept asking the simple question, Who are you?, over and over, finding no answers. He wasn’t letting me see him.
“Interesting place. Why are you here?” I said quietly, breaking his gaze and looking around at the solitude I found myself in.
“Do you want to be alone with me?” he asked in a tender tone. I looked back at him to find his eyes cascading across my face.
“I want to understand you...”
“Yes or no?” he asked as he leaned forward and let his elbows rest on his knees.
“Yes,” I whispered, feeling the guilt behind that request. I think for the first time in my life, no one knew where I was; there wasn’t someone who I was supposed to stay close to. My glass box had fallen, and I wasn’t afraid to step out of it.
“Have you been here before?” he asked.
I glanced back at the graveyard behind me, my silence answered his question.
“Then this place is not in your memory, and no one can find us here…we are alone…well, as alone as I can ask you to be right now.”
“Who are you?” I asked as I stepped closer to him.
He glanced to his side, asking me to sit by him. Normally, I would have been sarcastic or rude, maybe even have purposely ignored that silent request - but I didn’t feel like I needed to hide behind that with him. I walked gradually to his side and sat down.
“Silas,” he said as he looked to his side at me.