Free Vital by Jamie Magee

other. I mean, I’ve seen couples fight in the world I grew up in, but I’ve never seen my parents fight like this before. Before today, I’d reasoned that those couples weren’t meant to be, that they weren’t soul mates; now I didn’t know what to think.
    “She may have to go to him,” I admitted quietly, knowing how solid Dane’s intent was not to come here.
    The emotion in the room shifted to sadness; none of us knew how to fix this problem for them.
    August cleared his throat. “I was telling Landen and Willow about the conversation I had with your father at your home when you were just a girl. You remember me from that day, right?”
    Stella nodded and smiled warmly, and August returned her smile. “That day, your father told me how his bloodline cared for something called a looking glass...did he ever speak to you about it? Is there anything from your memories as a child that could help me understand what he was saying?” he asked her.
    She smiled and raised the book in her hands to show August. “Thanks to Willow, I can not only tell you, I can show you.”
    Landen and August looked at me curiously.
    “I...um...well, even though I’d lost my memory, I still had my insights. A boy wanted this book for himself, and I just implied that he return what was Stella’s to her,” I explained, bringing them up to speed.
    “Wait,” August said, grinning. “Are you telling me that because of you, we have this book?”
    I shook my head no, not seeing that my role deserved the excitement that August had at that moment.
    “Yes,” Stella exclaimed, smiling. “This was pulled from the rubble of that storm by that boy; he would have kept it for himself if not for you. It’s the only thing I have from my life back then.”
    August’s excitement rose. “What’s in the book?” he asked, reaching for it.
    Stella gladly handed it to him. August carefully opened the small black book, and as he turned the frail pages, he found each of them wordless. He looked up at Stella for some kind of answer.
    “There are words,” she said, scooting closer to August. She took his finger and touched the top right section of one page, then the bottom left section of the next. She then turned the page and placed his finger in the center.
    “In the language of the blind,” August murmured breathlessly. At that moment, he was completely captivated by Stella.
    “Would you like to hear the story of how it came to be?” she asked.
    We all stared at her, eager to hear every word she uttered.
    “OK,” she breathed. “Tyless, the first engineer in my bloodline, was blind. His blindness was the reason he was chosen in first place. Donalt told him that if he built the glass for him, he’d grant him any wish he desired. Tyless was one of the purest souls that’s ever walked this earth. Some say the reason he was so pure was because he was linked to Guardian,” Stella explained.
    I looked at Landen and smiled; I would argue that his soul was the purest above anyone else’s. He reached his hand out for mine, and I held it tightly in my lap.
    “How was he linked – by family?” August asked.
    “No,” Stella said, shaking her head. I could tell she was struggling to find a way to explain this family story to us. “He dreamed of Guardian before he was born. He said he could see every life before him, and he proved his point when he predicted that by age six, he would be in the care of Perodine. No one ever understood how or why our family was given such a precious gift. We felt honored, to say the least,” Stella said, smiling into Landen’s waiting eyes.
    August nodded, telling her to go on.
    “Because Tyless had dreamed of Guardian’s life, he knew that Donalt’s intentions were demonic, that Donalt was building the looking glass for his control - and that he planned to mesmerize the heart of his daughter, the heart that gave Guardian power. At that time, Donalt thought that his daughter’s loyal heart would honor his