by Kaitlyn Hoyt
Colton moves closer to me and places his hand under my chin and turns my head toward him. He genuinely wants to help. “I admitted that I didn’t feel like I was strong enough to stop this war,” I say.
“And?” I watch Colton. “I know there is more than that Ry. You can trust me.”
“I admitted that I didn’t feel like I was good enough for you,” I whisper. Colton sits up and gawks at me. I push myself up. “I was able to come back by admitting that I thought I could be strong enough someday and that maybe one day I’d be the girl that you need—that I'd be someone worthy of your love.”
“Ryanne, you’re crazy,” Colton whispers as he pulls me to him. I stare at him. I just admitted all that, and he calls me crazy? “You’re already strong enough, and you’re way too good for me. Don’t think you’re not good enough for me. Ever.”
I roll over so that I’m looking up at him. “I can’t help it. You just too…perfect. A guy like you would never give me the time of day in the real world.”
“Ryanne, were you not listening when I told you that I want to be stuck with you. I wanted to get to know you before the magic and before all of this happened. I saw you. You may not see it, but you’re perfect, Ry. I feel like I’ve waited my whole life for you. I know that I’m only nineteen, but I’ve never felt as complete as I do with you. Now I feel like I have a purpose in life. I’m here to make you happy. I want to wake up every morning and see your beautiful face. I want to wipe the tears from your eyes and beat the crap out of the person that made you cry.” I scoff as he continues. “I want to keep you safe and always cherish you. I want you to know that my love for you is true. If I have to spend my whole life trying to prove that to you, I will, because you’re worth forever. Ryanne, you wouldn’t be my soulmate if we weren’t perfect for one another. You’re literally my perfect match, and I’m yours. You need to get that through that beautiful, thick skull of yours,” he says as he taps me on the nose.
I stare up into his green eyes—the same eyes looking down at me, waiting for me to speak. I lean forward and gently kiss him. Nothing I can say will top what he just said, so I pour all my love into this kiss, hoping he’ll understand. I can’t tell him that I’ll change right away. Someday, I’ll be good enough; today is not that day. Colton wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me to him. Leaning back, he kisses my forehead and rests his chin on top of my head. I lightly kiss him on the neck. “One day, I’ll make you believe it, babe,” he whispers to me. “One day, I’ll prove it to you.”
“I love you, Colton,” I say as I curl into his side and close my eyes.
“Love you too, Ry,” Colton tightens his grip around me. “Go to sleep.”
While Colton is in the shower, I sit on the bed with Olive. I really haven’t gotten to spend much time with her lately and that makes me feel like a horrible pet owner.
Comfy bed. I smile as she rolls onto her back and looks at me, waiting for me to pet her stomach. I move over onto my stomach and start petting her.
“Things have gotten crazy around here,” I start to explain to her.
I know. Kyril nice.
That actually makes me laugh. Olive has taken a liking to Kyril, and he doesn’t seem to mind spending time with her. It’s quite adorable actually.
“And he’s cute.” I smile at her. Her only response is to start purring. “I’m sorry,” I whisper after a few seconds. “I’m glad that everyone has been so nice to you.”
It okay. She rolls over and walks over to me. Rubbing against my arm, she tells me that she understands.
“I feel really bad. I haven’t gotten to spend much time with you. I’ve been so wrapped up in everything that’s going on that I’ve neglected you. I really am sorry.”
Don’t apologize. She sits down in front of me and stares at me with her big blue eyes.
“Hey Olive,” Colton says as he walks out of the bathroom, fully dressed, and running a towel through his hair. Hanging the towel on the metal rack on the door, he plops down on the bed beside me and reaches over to pet Olive. “How are my two favorite girls this morning?”
Olive loves Colton. When I first told her Colton’s name, Olive told me he was cute and instantly liked him. Closing her eyes, Olive leans slightly forward, without moving from her spot, and starts purring as he pets her.
“She’s definitely good,” I answer for her. With a low chuckle, Colton leans back and gives me a quick kiss on the temple, but doesn’t get up like I thought he was going to. Instead, he wraps his arm around my waist and scoots me closer to him.
Aww, why’d he stop? Olive whines as I roll onto my back and look up at Colton.
“She doesn’t like that you stopped petting her,” I tell Colton who glances away from me to Olive again.
“I’m sorry, Olive,” he tells her, “but I can’t give you too much love at once. You’ll never come back to me.” He shoots her a lazy smile and winks. If cats could blush, Olive totally would be right now. Slightly shaking, she lowers herself onto her stomach, rests her head on her paws, and looks away from Colton. I can’t help but giggle as I hear Olive’s thoughts.
No such thing as too much love. I glance up at Colton. Always come back. Those would be my exact thoughts if he was giving me that smile too. Colton’s eyes move down to me and like Olive, I divert my gaze. Hearing his laugh, I know he caught me staring at him.
“What’d she say?” he whispers to me. That gives me an idea.
“Let me see your hands.” I push myself up and turn my back to him. Colton wraps his arms around my back and places his hands on top of mine without even questioning what I am about to do. “Olive, think random things,” I tell her.
Olive starts imaging a large scratching post. I make a mental note to get her one of those sometime in the future—when everything settles down. Concentrating on my magic, I gather up strands and push them down my arms and imagine the magic flowing through my hands and into Colton’s where it moves up his arms and settles in his mind. I can feel the magic moving through and obeying me. The vibrating strands linger in my hands. Tightening my grip on Colton, I wait for his reaction. I know he’ll react when the magic enters him. When nothing happens, I continue pushing.
This may or may not work, but experimenting is the only way I’ll ever know.
Magic leave me. On command, my magic pushes out of my hands and enters Colton’s palms. Behind me, he jumps and lets out a shaky breath as the magic slides into him. He squeezes my hands, but not tight enough to hurt me. He completely trusts me even when I experiment with my magic on him.
Olive is still thinking about scratching posts, but the visual is getting blurry as she watches us. She knows that something is happening.
He okay?
“Oh my gosh,” Colton gasps in my ear and he leans forward. “I heard that.”
He hear me?
“Yes, I can hear you. Why can I hear you?” he asks. “Why can I hear her, Ryanne?” As I keep moving magic between our hands, I lean back against his chest and smile up at him. His eyes keep moving between Olive and me, slightly surprised.
“I’m sharing my magic with you,” I tell him. “I created a bridge between us and now you can understand Olive. Essentially, we’re sharing my magic right now.”
“That’s amazing.” His breath brushes against my neck and he watches Olive. He doesn’t say anything though; he just stares at her.
What? I can see Olive is slightly uncomfortable with the attention he’s giving her.
“I don’t know what to say to her now that I can understand her. It’s all so strange,” he admits.
“Speak to her like you usually would,” I say. “Don’t do anything differently. Now, you’ll just know how she responds instead of me telling you.”
“Hey Olive,” he starts.
Hi Colton. She jumps up and walks over to and steps onto my lap. Placing her paws on my chest, she looks at Colton over my shoulder.
“How are you this morning?” I love that he’s talking to
her like she is just another person.
Hungry.
“Well, we’ll have to go get you something to eat,” he tells her. Olive’s ears perk up at the mention of food.
Now?
“Do you want the food now?” he asks. Olive stares at him for a few moments and then hops off my lap and prepares to jump off the bed. “I’ll take that as a yes,” he whispers. Releasing his hands, I pick Olive up and head toward the door with Colton following after me.
“How did you know that would work?” Colton says as he opens out bedroom door and holds it open for me.
“I didn’t know that it would work, but I thought about when I transferred that vision to you before. If I was able to do that, we have to have some sort of magical connection, and since I was able to do that, I must be able to share some of my other powers with you.”
Wrapping his arm across my shoulder, Colton pulls me into his side and places a small kiss on my temple. “Thank you,” he whispers into my ear and guides us downstairs.
Olive leans her head back and glances up at me.
Thank you too.
Pulling my hair into a high ponytail, I follow Colin to the training room. Everyone else is already in there. I apparently slept in a little longer than the rest. “May I ask why you have such a big house? Not that I don’t like it, but if it’s only you and your son…”
“Why live in something so large?” he finishes. “Back in my heyday, I would let mages come into my house seeking refuge. Tom and I trained together back then and we helped train others. Because of his power, he was the best trainer I’d ever seen.”
“Tom has a power?” I ask. I don’t know why I sound so surprised. He is a mage; of course he has magic. I’ve just never seen him use any before.
“He’s never told you?”
“No…”
“I don’t think his power has a specific name, but I would call Tom a fast-teacher. If you’re learning something for the first time and you’re around him, you’ll pick it up without a problem. That’s why he’s always around when new mages need training. He’s able to push them past the beginning stages within a few hours and get them up to the level they need to be at quickly.”
“How come he never told us?” How come I never questioned that before?
“Maybe because he doesn’t want you to doubt your abilities. He can’t teach you something if you’re incapable of learning it. He may not have even used his magic on you. That’s something only he knows. He can turn that power on and off with ease.”
“Hmm…” I’m not sure if I want to know whether or not Tom used his magic on me when I first started training.
“Back to the story,” Colin says as he turns down another hallway. “We would help out troubled mages. Give them somewhere to sleep. Feed them. Help them get back on their feet. Despite what you think, there aren’t many mages out there, and we needed to make sure that our numbers didn’t dwindle. I built this large house to help those who needed it. However, no one has come by in the last couple years because you’re either a Gadramick or you’re in hiding.”
“Do mages who oppose Dravin have a name? Why are they called the Gadramick?” I ask as we start walking upstairs.
“Not that I know of. We’re just mages. Dravin took the name Gadramick because he started using dark magic. For a little while, he would use witches for their magic, but somehow his power strengthened and he no longer needed them, so witches are now in hiding too.”
“Witches exist?”
“Yeah, they have magic, but only those who dabble in dark magic are considered powerful. They don’t usually have enough magic to do any serious damage. They’re a peaceful species, so unless provoked, they’ll leave you alone. I’ve never had any problems with one before.”
“Do mages have a handbook I can read?” I ask. “There’s so much stuff that I don’t know. I feel so stupid when I ask everyone these questions, because apparently everyone already knows the answer.”
Colin stops walking and looks at me. “Ryanne, you weren’t born into this life. It was chosen for you. There’s no way you could know any of this information without asking questions. Don’t feel stupid for that. No one is going to judge you.” He points to the large wooden door in front of us. “Those people in that room care about you. A lot. That much is obvious every time one of them looks at you. Even those ex-Gadramicks. I’d never heard of a Gadramick switching sides before. I’ve heard of some leaving, but no one who knows Dravin would oppose him like that. They believe in you, Ryanne, otherwise they wouldn’t be here. You need to start believing in yourself if you want to accomplish anything here.”
“How did that transition from a you’re not stupid speech to a believe in yourself speech?”
“It was subtle, I know,” he says as he opens the door. I chuckle and follow him in the training room.
“Oh my goodness,” I say when my eyes adjust to the bright lights. Colin calls everyone to gather in the middle of the room. Colton, who is standing on the far side of the room talking to an unfamiliar man, turns in my direction and smiles at me. “Colin, do you think it’s possible for Dravin to be stopped?”
“I think it depends on what you believe. Dravin is very confident in his abilities. From what I’ve heard, you’re very strong. You need to use all those emotions swirling around in that pretty head of yours and let it strengthen your magic. That’s why you were given that new power. It’ll make you stronger if you use it in the right way. Yes, I do think it’s possible for Dravin to be stopped, but it doesn’t matter what I think. What you think is going to happen is all that matters,” Colin says as everyone crowds around us.
“That’s why you think I got this extra power? To strengthen my existing magic?”
“You’re powers are emotion based, Ryanne,” Tom says as he places a hand on my shoulder.
“Now, you have a ton of extra emotions coursing through you. If you can harness those, you could be unstoppable,” Colin tells me. “When I instigate you, I can feel your magic moving through the air. You’re powerful, but you don’t know how to use all your magic yet. You put too much effort in pushing your magic back. If you would let your magic move freely around you, I think you’d be able to train much easier.”
“I could hurt someone,” I whisper. Since everyone is around us, I know that they are listening, but Colin is only talking to me.
“You won’t hurt anyone,” he confidently states.
“And how do you know that?”
“Call it intuition,” Colin says as he winks at me. My mouth falls open. He’s talked to Claire recently.
“So what’s the plan for today?” the unfamiliar man asks.
“I was thinking that you could help Logan train Lily, Chris. Natalie and I can work with Ryanne in controlling these emotions.” Colin says. I turn and look at Chris. He must be Colin’s son. I can see some of the resemblance. They have the same dark wavy hair and light almost gold eyes. “Oh, Ryanne, this is my son Chris. Chris, this is Ryanne.”
Chris smiles at me, and I can’t help but smile back. He looks to be the same age as Bragden and Conner, which would put him in his early-mid twenties. That means that Colin is older than he looks. Standing over six feet tall, he towers over me like all other mages. His golden eyes watch me with curiosity. I realize I don’t look like a mage; he doesn’t have to be so obvious about it.
“I’m not what you expected, I know.”
“No, it’s not that. You look very familiar,” Chris says as he continues to watch me. Hmm, he actually does look familiar. Lights keep flashing before my eyes. Darkness. Sirens. I rack my brain for where I had seen him before.
“Oh my gosh,” I gasp and cover my mouth. “You’re the paramedic.”
“I helped you before?” he asks me.
I bite my lip and look down. Colton walks over to me and wraps his arm around my shoulder. “You helped me after a car accident last year.”
“Oh, yeah, I remember that now,” he says, “I’m so sor
ry.” His pity flows into me. I step back into Colton as I try to bury that emotion away. I don’t want to feel that.
“Don’t pity me, Chris. I can’t handle any more of that.” Chris nods and the pity instantly stops. He’s much better at controlling his emotions than everyone else.
Colin claps his hands, scaring everyone. “Everyone else can train together. I trust that you guys can split yourself up into groups on your own,” he says.
Tom pats Colton on the back as he stops beside him. “Yeah, they know who to train with. We’ve been doing this for a while now.”
Even though everyone starts splitting up, Colton lingers beside me. “Trust Colin,” he whispers to me. “He knows what he’s doing. He and Tom used to work together training other mages.”
“I know. He told me.” Colton looks surprised, but doesn’t comment on that. He nods and looks over my head and laughs. “You’re being summoned.”
“Come on little Hobbit. We don’t want you to end up in Mordor without any training!” Colin yells from across the training room. I shake my head and stand on my tip toes to kiss Colton on the cheek. Turning around, I skip over to Colin and Natalie, trying to act more optimistic than I feel.
“Okay, little one, unleash your magic,” Colin says. Natalie turns and stares at him with wide eyes.
“What?”
“You heard me. Unplug the stopper. Turn the lock. Rip off the band-aid. Whatever it is you have to do. Unleash your magic. You can keep it all down easily, but we’re going to work backward.”
“Liam has had to knock me out before because I can’t control the magic when I let it all out.”
“Trust me.”
I stare at him. “Everything? The thoughts? Emotions? Weather elements? All the magic?”