Embody by Jamie Magee Page A

and break the
bad news,” I said grudgingly.
    Landen let out a breath. “They’ll
understand. We’ll make it up to them,” he promised.
    I nodded and got up slowly, working out my
excuse in my head before I called her.
    Olivia proved to be more understanding than
I’d given her credit for; Chrispin seemed to take it harder. He
missed being around Landen and Marc all the time.
    We packed an overnight bag and a change of
clothes for the next day, then closed up the house. We took
Landen’s jeep; Brady’s house was a good walk from here, and we were
getting tired.
    As the headlights of the jeep flashed across
the field, I felt a shock come over Landen. I looked up to see what
he was looking at and saw a ghostly image of a young girl on her
knees, crying.
    “Who is she?” I asked.
    “I don’t know,” Landen said, turning the
jeep slowly around to flash the lights on the girl again. She
didn’t look up when the lights landed on her. I felt her
overwhelming sorrow. I opened the door and walked cautiously to her
side. The young woman was small and frail, and her skin was as pale
as winter. She was dressed in a long black coat, like the ones they
wore in Esterious.
    Landen stepped protectively in front of me.
“Are you alright?” he asked the girl. She didn’t acknowledge us.
Landen reached his arm out to touch her, and I reached up and held
him back.
    “I think she’s an image,” I whispered.
    Landen looked back at me. “I can’t see
images.”
    “You don’t know that. Why would you not have
that gift of mine? I have two of yours,” I said, circling the
woman.
    Feeling a pull of energy begin to reach for
me, I looked at Landen and saw that he could feel it, too. She was
an image; I couldn’t see or hear anything around her.
    “Then this could be a trap; it’s obvious
that she’s from Esterious,” Landen cautioned.
    I shook my head no. “He can’t reach us here.
She’s calling for us; those people are connected to us,” I said,
sure of myself.
    Landen reached for my hand. “Don’t let go of
me - no matter what happens,” he said sternly.
    At the same time, we reached for the girl.
Suddenly, we were taken to a small room. It looked a lot like
Patrick’s room; everything was simple, basic gray. The girl was on
her knees, crying and looking up at a dark gray sky. I could feel
someone else here. I looked across the
    room and saw another young girl asleep on a
narrow couch. She was so beautiful; her long dark hair framed
perfect features. I looked back to the girl that we were trying to
help; she looked so frail. Landen had been focusing on her, pushing
calm and peace through her. I focused and began to help him calm
her. The girl’s sobs began to slow, then she looked around the room
through Landen and me, and her eyes landed on the sleeping
girl.
    “She’s my baby sister. I’m all she has. Come
for her; she needs to be taken care of,” the young woman whispered
into the room.
    Landen looked at me, then back to the girl
on the couch. Both of us were in shock. Was she talking to
us? We pushed as much peace and calm as we could through her,
but it wasn’t until we focused on love that her tears stopped. The
woman nodded blankly into the room. We let go and found ourselves
back in the field, standing in the gleam of the vacant
headlights.
    “I’ve never had an image talk to me before;
it was like she knew we were there,” I said to Landen as I watched
his eyes replay what we’d just seen.
    “I’m sure there are rumors of you; we did
manage to put a Willow tree in center court,” Landen said, pulling
me slowly back to the Jeep. We climbed in and stared at the empty
head lights.
    “They’re not praying to us or anything, are
they? We are not gods,” I said, breaking the silence.
    “No...they believe in one God. They think
Donalt talks to him and that they’re being punished because they’re
not worthy. I think she just attracted us,” Landen said, looking at
me to see my take on his