Image: Web of Hearts and Souls #3 (Insight series)

By Jamie Magee

Every prediction and theory is about to be proven wrong... and the choice before Willow’s heart holds the lives of millions at stake. The question is: will she be able to see through the illusions before her and make a choice... she can live with?

Special note to the reader: This Novel is part of the “Web of Hearts and Souls,” a massive story where more than one series connect. The series can be read separately or together.

COMBINED WEB OF HEARTS AND SOULS READING ORDER: Insight, Embody, Image, Whispers of the Damned, Witness, Vital, Vindicate, Synergy, Enflame, Redefined, Rivulet, Imperial, Blakeshire, Derive, Emanate, Exaltation, Disavow, The Witches, Revolt, Scorched Souls.
*If you are a fan of Adult Paranormal Edge (Season 1&2) can be read with the Web of Hearts, before of after Exaltation--the stories share the same characters. Season 3 can be read after Scorched Souls

INSIGHT READING ORDER: Insight, Embody, Image, Vital, Vindicate, Enflame, Rivulet, Imperial, Blakeshire (Drake's Story), Emanate, Exaltation, Disavow.

SEE READING ORDER: Whispers of the Damned, Witness of a Broken Heart, Synergy of Souls, Redefined Love Affair, Derive (Aden's Beginning), A Lovers Revolt, Scorched Souls.

EDGE SERIES READING ORDER Alphas Rise, Dark Lure, Sacred Betrayal, Risen Lovers, Fall of Kings, Queens Rise, Stolen Son, Disloyal Souls, Aftermath.

We all fell hard for Twilight. We lost ourselves in the teen angst of Vampire Diaries, Fallen, and Hush, Hush. We found courage in the pages of Hunger Games, Divergent, and the Maze Runner. Our imagination was on fire inside of Mortal Instruments, Throne of Glass, and The Red Queen. We fell back into our childhoods with the likes of Cinder. And now we have the compelling, enigmatic, character driven thrill ride of the long reaching contemporary fantasy series INSIGHT.

Fans of contemporary and paranormal fantasy you cannot go wrong! Looking for ghosts? Angels? Demons & Devils? Witches? Gods? How about action and adventure wrapped around the romance of soul mates? Do you like to dive into the mystics? Science Fiction elements found in our own realm? Past lives or the zodiac? Ancient and modern civilizations? Spirituality? A setting that is contemporary, urban, and otherworldly? How do you feel about psychics? What about gothic elements? All of this and so much more is wrapped in this long reaching teen series. Insight is the foundation for not only its self titled series but also as a thread in the Web of Hearts and Souls Series, where several series intertwine to offer a mind-bending experience for the reader. If you're looking for originality and one hell of a deal this series is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jamie Magee
• Release date: Jan 13, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301423484

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Copyright © 20o9 Jamie Magee

All Rights Reserved

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the author.

Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book. This purchase allows you one legal copy for your own personal reading enjoyment on your personal computer or device. You do not have the right to resell, distribute, print or transfer this book, in whole or in part, to anyone, in any format, via methods either currently known or yet to be invented, or upload this book to a file sharing program. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.

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EDGE SERIES READING ORDER

Alphas Rise

Dark Lure

Sacred Betrayal 

Risen Lovers

Fall of Kings

Queens Rise

COMBINED WEB OF HEARTS AND SOULS READING ORDER:

Insight

Embody

Image

Whispers of the Damned

Witness

Vital

Vindicate

Synergy

Enflame

Redefined

Rivulet

Imperial

Blakeshire

Derive

Emanate

Exaltation*

Disavow

The Witches

Revolt

Scorched Souls

*If you are a fan of Adult Paranormal Edge can be read with the Web of Hearts, before of after Exaltation--the stories share the same characters.

INSIGHT READING ORDER:

Insight

Embody

Image

Vital

Vindicate

Enflame

Rivulet

Imperial

Blakeshire (Drake's Story)

Emanate

Exaltation

Disavow

SEE READING ORDER:

Whispers of the Damned 

Witness of a Broken Heart

Synergy of Souls

Redefined Love Affair 

Derive (Aden's Beginning)

A Lovers Revolt 

Scorched Souls

CONTEMPORARY NOVELS

Deploy

Disengaged

Impulsion

Friction

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

"Love is much like a wild rose, beautiful and calm, but willing to draw blood in its defense" ~ Mark Overby

Happy Birthday Amanda ~ your enthusiasm for this story is behind every word….

Chapter One

Make peace, not war. That’s what we’re told. Like most mantra’s, its easier said than done.

What we’re never told is that—invariably—war always comes before peace.

It’s been one week since we moved through the souls in the city of Delen, since Donalt lost his life…one week…you’d think in that amount of time, the message of Donalt’s death would have spread throughout the dimension of Esterious, that people would have thrown down their black cloaks and began to cheer.

Instead, the city of Delen, the largest in Esterious, is now seen as demented. The surrounding cities are in the process of building a great wall. In their ignorance, they believe that if there is a wall between them and the people of Delen, they’ll be protected.

Protected from what? My thoughts raged at them. Glaring at them did as much good as glaring at the news in my home dimension. It was politically correct to let them destroy themselves. It was my duty as a human being to live as I wished and grant them the room to do the same. Conversely, I had a fate I didn’t understand, a burning draw to appease the fear I saw in each of their eyes.

Rumors led us to believe that Drake was at the estate I’d been held at on the other side of the world. People now looked to him for direction. I could only imagine what he was telling them. We’d heard from the people in Delen that, before we came, the world was warned that only Drake Blakeshire could rule them, and not until he had the blessing of Donalt—an unmistakable sign would be given to the people. Most believe Donalt himself would appear in all his glory and grant this change of power.

The only good part about this ridiculous rumor was I knew it would take a helluva a lot of magic for Drake to fake such a ploy to get the people to turn complete to him. For now, the souls were fair game. The sad part was I didn’t want to rule them, neither did Landen. What I wanted for them was to live in freedom. August has told in various was, this was impossible for the generation before us. They had to be taught to live free.

I’d already seen the impossible. I’d felt it. I gripped the blessings of impossibility afraid they’ll vanish. The curses of the impossible haunt the dwelling of my soul.

Landen I and were sitting on the wall that surrounded the palace. The dark storm that had immersed days ago had long since diminished. The people of Delen were painting the gray stones white and planting gardens throughout the court. We could sense their intent; they thought that if they made it beautiful, Landen and I would stay there. Neither of us had stepped foot inside the palace since we ran from the roar of Donalt’s death. Landen feared that if we went in the city would see it as a promise to rule them. False hope would only work against us at this point.

In the distance, we could see the neighboring cities building their walls as fast as they could. Our first effort to hinder them was to move through the builders, encouraging them to join us. We’d managed to save just over a hundred more people, but now armed guards stood behind the workers with every intention of killing anyone who even seemed to smile.

Landen slowly reached his hand over and gently placed it on my knee, as his warm touch created slow sensual circles on my flesh I felt a numbing calm ease through my soul. I glanced to his waiting blue eyes to find him smiling at me.

You’re going to wear yourself out trying to calm me all the time, I thought.

He grinned and looked into the distance. "You know my only intent is to keep you happy," he thought, wrapping his arm around me.

What are we going to do, Landen? Wait for another planet? I complained.

One day at a time. You need to take time to appreciate what we’ve done, he answered.

It's not enough. We have so much more to do. Beyond this world, there are others…I don’t have time to be grateful.

You have to be grateful for what you have if you want to bring more things to you that will make you grateful.

Wise words…did you just make that up? I asked bleakly.

That’s the law of the universe, the law of all faith, he answered, pulling me closer to him and immersing me in a blissful vibe.

I’m grateful, I whispered.

He leaned down and gently let his lips rest on mine. Me, too, he thought.

Brady and Dane came to the base of the wall where we were sitting and looked up. They were both covered head-to-toe in ash. Our family had spent every day in Delen. Mostly we helped them build homes. We taught them how to nurture the food they could grow, how to find every need in the earth. We were teaching them to ‘fish’ as my father said. A critical step toward the end game I was after.

Are you guys ready? It’s almost dusk. Dane asked.

I looked to the West and saw the sun lowering itself into the gray clouds. Dane was like a human clock. He would always appear at my side at dusk. He never wanted me here when it was dark. The nightmares I had growing up haunted him just as much as they haunted me. Between him and Landen, I wasn’t even allowed to yawn here.

Whenever you guys want to go, Landen answered.

Everyone else already left. Let’s go, Brady said.

Landen wrapped his arms around my waist and let us fall. He’d gotten really good at using his vim to move him wherever he wanted to go. As we walked through the streets to our passage, the people all smiled and bowed their heads. Their affection always made me uncomfortable. I bowed back, it was the only way I knew to recognize the power I saw in them—a way to help them see it too.

Patrick’s home was renovated now. White wooden steps replaced the rusty staircase, there were usually flowers running across each one, leading our way. Landen had asked Patrick several times not to allow people to mark a path. The flowers remained.

The string was calm. It had been since we’d managed to dismantle the looking glass. At the start of this conflict that had become my life the wild rumor was history was repeating itself. Donalt had chosen who he wanted me to be with and all I had to do was stick with my heart. In choosing the power Perodine had given me in my first life would allow the one I was with to see the universe as he saw fit.

I really didn’t buy the rumor then, mostly because it was too simple. Real magic, the kind with a power that is downright godly couldn’t be fooled. I couldn’t make myself love someone I didn’t.

I really don’t buy the rumor at all now. Most are on my side. I think the looking glass was a distraction. I’m sure it had insane power, more than anyone would ever need. I’m also sure the disruption—storms—in the string was either on purpose, or a delightful side effect the darkness basked in. But I don’t think it was the soul reason Drake, Landen, and me were kept apart by our families then forced on a center stage by fate herself. I knew this because beyond my emotions being shredded, it was fairly easily to take the looking glass down. Donalt could’ve but every warrior he had before it and then layered the path to it with wicked magic. Instead he halfway taunted us then watched us go.

I could do nothing to counter the theory that Landen and I were fighting an ancient curse of eight beyond the sun and moon. Perodine’s word on the matter was the best evidence. The fact that the last two upsets had fallen under circumstance that matched the influence of the planet we were thought to be fighting didn’t hurt the veracity of a curse either. Pretty much, we had curse to fight, and didn’t really know why. I was linked to soul around me from lives I’d lived before. Blindly fighting karma I was terrified to cross again.

I walked in front of the others. I could sense that Brady wanted to talk to Landen. Brady, who’d always defended our right to do what we wanted to do no matter the risk had been wavering lately. He feared that each time we faced the conditions of a planet in this curse we’d risk our lives. Chara was determined to not lose their ‘first couple.’ It was an undertone I felt throbbing through the air, a vow I saw in glance passed my way.

Dane elbowed me drawing me out of my thoughts. Who’s winning, he asked.

I quirked a brow.

The morbid side or the optimist? he said with sly grin.

He knew both sides battled inside of me to the point it was hard to know where I would stand on any topic. I was usually the most surprised by the outcome.

Just can’t come down, I said with a glance back to Landen and Brady.

Dane got what I was saying. I knew he did.

There was this lecture we had to attend right before the end of senior year, it was part of a college prep. The tag line was ‘coming down.’ The point of it was to tell us that as crazy as it sounds, most don’t even know when they’re stressed. They get use to the buzz; forget how to chill at all.

They told us how our bodies would try to stop us from not find finding tranquility. We’d get tired, and instead of taking a step back—we’d reach for a kick. We’d find it in caffeine, sugar, pills, something. One addiction would become a necessary evil, then another...

Before long something would break inside. We’d need ‘medicine’ then more medicine to deal with the side effects to our ‘cure.’ The lecture tried to teach us to come down. To make it a point to listen to our body. Notice the twitch, notice the circling thoughts, and notice the misery. Instead of reaching for a quick fix we were urged to find an ‘all still.’ It was the same as meditation only it lacked the hippy rep. Basically when it gets out of control, you’re suppose to be still. Only for a minute or two—and while you are, if you think, you can only think of your end game. One you should be able to sum up in a sentence or two.

Dane glanced to me. Any bad vices?

My vice was Landen, his vibe and how ours merging made me feel.

I blushed.

Then I think you are still legit. Taking it all in better stride than most would.

Are you good? I asked him, judging what I sensed coming from him. He wanted out of his families business and the predetermined life he had. He got his wish. But now his family is worlds away. He misses them as much as he loves his new life.

Working it out. We’ll take a trip when this last gig settles a bit, when we know when the next is coming.

Right...the next round of emotional shredding.

My expression amused him. The rest of the path home he told me stories I loved to hear, ones where he was sure he made a spark inside of someone he helped that day.

We arrived home in half the time it would’ve taken when the looking glass was standing. Landen had driven his Jeep to the passage that morning because we knew we were going to August and Nyla’s for dinner, a distance way too far to walk. On our way to dinner, we drove Dane and Brady home.

Marc and Stella’s house was just before August’s. Landen slowed as we drove by. They hadn’t come out of their house since their celebration. I knew they needed time to themselves, but I was anxious to show Stella all of Chara, her new world. Anxious for her to tell me the lore of her homeland. Not as the books recorded it, but as it was heard by someone who grew up inside the fear.

I noticed that all the drapes were still pulled. I sighed and glanced at Landen who was laughing under his breath. He may have teased me about my impatience, but at times I thought it was one of the traits he loved most about me.

It won’t be too much longer, he promised.

I knew he was missing Marc, too.

Nyla was waiting for us on the porch. Somewhere in the house I could feel August. The frustration he was feeling stung the air.

He must still be trying to read the scroll, Landen thought.

When we were told that there were eight beyond the sun and the moon, we thought that each time one of the planets orbited, we’d face the trial of that planet’s influences. August wasn’t so sure of his conclusion anymore. It seemed that the time of day that we’d redeemed Delen, in Esterious, was twelve hours before Mercury had orbited. To August, as well as to all of those that were raised in Chara, that was a distance that could span a lifetime. In the stars above, with each moment that passes, the universe moves. The timing was in question, the curse wasn’t.

Nyla reached up and hugged Landen then me. I’m glad you two are here. Now maybe he’ll come out of the study.

Has he been in there all day? Landen asked.

I haven’t seen him out of there in two days. That’s why I called you this morning. He’ll come out for dinner if he knows you’re here, Nyla said, extending her arm to lead us in.

Their house was the most unique out of all of ours. Every single wall was bookshelves. From the floor to the ceiling, row after row there were books. August prided himself on having read all of them. Each book mapped out the history of all the cultures in each dimensions. August was fascinated with how similar dimensions responded to the same issues, and how differently.

We made our way to the dining room. Nyla already had dinner on the table. She left us there to go down the hall to August’s study. I felt his surprise and joy as she told him we were there. He came swiftly to greet us. Landen and I both stood and hugged him before sitting again.

You’ve been in there a while, huh? Landen said, looking over August. Any answers?

August’s smile faded. He cleared his throat before he answered, Only more questions. But I’m most certainly convinced that it’s not the orbit that compelled the trial.

Then what is it? Landen asked.

I don’t know…maybe the influences of the planet in the order of the orbit…I just know that the time between the orbit and your action was too great for it to be linked as a source, August replied.

Nyla tapped her finger on the table to get our attention. Now, now, that’s enough. After dinner, you two can lock yourself in the study with him, but right now we’re going to have a discussion without all of this anticipation of the unknown, she said, looking at all of us.

She picked up her fork and began to eat her salad. I laughed under my breath. I’d never seen her so bold, demanding. I began to eat my salad and Landen started a conversation about all the progress that had been made in Delen. Nyla seemed happy to hear about that topic.

I helped her clean the kitchen after dinner and Landen disappeared into the study. Nyla had made two trays to take to Marc’s house. I thought about taking them for her, but I didn’t trust myself to leave them there and walk away. I knew I’d knock on the door and call them out.

I shuffled through the living room, looking at all the books and wondering how it could be possible for August to recall them as individuals. There was a dark purple book just above my eye level. I reached for its tattered bind and gently turned through the pages. I didn’t recognize the language the words were written in, but every few pages had illustrations of symbols. As I turned the pages, the symbols seemed to grow more evil—I slammed the book closed and squinted my eyes, trying to block the memories of my nightmares, the weight of the demons on my chest.

I went down the hall to August’s study, letting my fingers dance across the bookshelves. At the end of the hallway, I could see Landen leaning over a table, looking at the scroll with August. I could stare at him all day, the way his dark waves fell over his pristine blue eyes, the strength in those powerful arms that I craved to hold me each moment of each day. Landen looked like a king studying his battle plans, prepared to protect his people.

Keeping my distance, I leaned in the doorway. When they looked over documents from my first life, I always felt haunted, like there was a voice from then screaming at me—my voice. I reached for the charm on my neck, a sun with a crescent moon. My thumb outlined the star that now rested behind them. This charm had seen more than I’d ever be able to recall. I felt like it was a part of me, that somehow it would unlock the past and help me face my future.

Any luck? I asked them.

Landen glanced up at me then back down. No. It’s all symbols and letters, a combination of four languages…it doesn’t make any sense, he answered, feeling frustrated as he continued to study it.

I took a deep breath and walked closer. This scroll was with our birth charts, the charts that we’d left here for our family over four million years ago. As I let my fingertips run across the edge of the scroll a familiar rush of déjà vu came over me, haunting me.

My eyes searched over the scroll with Landen and August. I didn’t recognize the script or symbols, which were of every shape, mocking man and animal, water and fire. I did notice, though, that surrounding one of the larger circles were what looked like numbers. At the top was a one, to the right and left there was a one as well. At the bottom there was a nine: 1119.

Do you know what these numbers mean? I asked.

Landen and August leaned in close enough to see the tiny numbers. August then ran his fingers around the circle. Inside it, there was an illustration of a flower. The flower was not detailed. Just a series of dots. Time had faded them. Some were darker than others. I imagined if someone didn’t have an eye for art, they would easily be dismissed as random marks.

What’s today? August asked.

Eleventh month, sixteenth day, Landen answered.

I took in a deep breath and stepped back. I’d been so lost in everything that I hadn’t remembered that my birthday was just days away—that I’d be nineteen. It seemed impossible that the year had slipped by so quickly, without warning.

My birthday is November nineteenth: 1.1.1.9, I whispered into the room.

As Landen and August both looked at me then down to the scroll again, I felt the tension rise and a heavy anxiety growing. I stared at August. He was the one who was full of dread.

What is it, August? Landen asked, knowing that it had to be more than my birthday that had him so concerned.

This circle is Venus. There are nineteen petals on the flower, nineteen stems, and nineteen dots marking the ground they’re growing in. It’s your birthday. That’s when we’ll have to deal with Venus, August declared.

Landen and