Emanate: Insight Series ((Insight) Web of Hearts and Souls) Read Online Free PDF Page A

would blindly risk his family, his world, for the sake of heritage was a fool.
    A boy that had no doubt, a boy that was looking to stake a claim and rage war on darkness made those decrees Brady wants me to honor. That boy, or rather myself, was a fool. Darkness is within us all. I want to heal, not destroy. Why that concept is so hard for my family to grasp , I will never understand.
    What ticked me off more than anything was that it only took one decision to change your entire life—the life of an entire world.

 
    Chapter Two
    ~ Willow ~
     
    I hesitated before I opened my eyes. I wasn’t over the urge to seize my emotions, even though it had been a day or so since all emotion had involuntary been suppressed. Just before that seize, I was in misery. All too aware.
    When I fell asleep last night , I said a silent prayer that the heavens would grant me at least one more day in this blissful ‘time out.’ I liked the peace, the sense of normality. I didn’t like that more than likely a malevolent force had stripped me, but nevertheless I wanted this reprieve to last just a little bit longer. If I had my way, I would never feel pain like that again.
    Nothing. I couldn’ t feel anyone next to me. If I really focused, I thought I did feel someone resting close. Landen…where is Landen? My eyes flew open, finding myself at home. I didn’t fall asleep here. I was sure of that, and as far as I knew, Landen and I had planned to stay away for a few more days, at least that was what I told him I wanted to do.
    The other night started to rush through my thoughts. The Realm, walking through that fire, Donalt—Justus rising from the dead.
    Right after that , Landen and I had gone back to our little romantic getaway on the top of that mountain peak.
    I simply let the silence of my mind take over. I smiled and laughed when I thought he was asking for that emotion. I did what I could to let him know I was at peace and not concerned over my loss. I knew him well enough to know that I was not convincing, well enough to know that he was preparing for a war that I to this day could not clearly understand.
    I knew he was awake when I fi nally drifted into empty dreams last night.
    Now that I think about it , I never met him in my dreams last night, which was a first. He must have stayed awake. I swear I told him a thousand times that I was fine. Not damaged, but at peace. He didn’t see it that way. He wanted to know who took my energy and how. He must have carried me home. Why? Where is he?
    Grudgingly , I pulled myself up, feeling as if I had just recovered from a wicked flu or something. I was back on the front lines again, and I wanted nothing more than to disappear for a little while longer.
    The bed was still made. I was lying on top of it with a quilt carefully placed over me. I saw a note on my bedside table and reached for it.
    Justus is in the guest room. They left him here because they think we are the only ones strong enough to control him. Leave him be. I’ll be back in a little bit…Love you.
    I was getting really sick of him leaving me behind like that. It made me feel weak.
    After a shower and getting ready for the day , I discovered I was all alone—well, except for the dead man in the downstairs guest room.
    I must have stared at that door for at least an hour before I decided to make a pot of coffee and warm up a bagel, then dared to introduce myself to Justus.
    I h ad only seen Justus briefly the other night. I really was having a hard time understanding how he rose from the grave not looking a day older than when they laid him there. Why he seemed so violent. I mean, I know, who wouldn’t be ticked off about being murdered? But still. He’d looked nothing less than lethal as he charged Alamos. Hard to believe my dad used to run with him in his younger years. Out of our dads, Ashten seemed to be the most aggressive, and all he ever really did was grunt and give scornful glances. Livingston was a peacemaker,