by Kaitlyn Hoyt
David points to the middle one. I nod and focus my attention on the middle trunk. I picture the tree slowly lifting off the ground and moving toward the house. The tree slows down the closer it gets to the house before being gently placed on the ground, parallel to the wall.
I push a small amount of magic toward it, making sure that it doesn’t get out of control and damage the house. I don’t know how much David is using. David is actually telekinetic while my magic just listens to what I ask it to do. I don’t think there’s really a term for my powers. The tree starts vibrating before it slowly lifts off the ground. I mentally grab another glowing strand of magic and push it out. The tree starts to float toward the house. When it gets closer, I start pulling my magic back, and its progression slows. When it is right up against the house, I pull back all my magic. The tree still hovers above the ground. David must have pulled his magic back a couple seconds later because it falls to the ground.
“One down, two more to go. You good?” he asks me. I nod and point to the one on the left. We repeat the same process until both of the tree trunks are resting against the house.
I turn to find Colton when the world starts spinning. The colors around me blur together. I stand still for a couple of seconds waiting for the vertigo to stop. Blinking rapidly, everything calms and I feel perfectly fine again. I glance around me to make sure that no one is watching me. No one seems to notice anything wrong with me, so I get to work on picking up the remaining branches without magic. Soon after that, everyone else joins in.
“How are you feeling?” Colton asks me while bending down to grab a large branch.
“I’m good,” I say. He gives me a look that says I don’t believe you. “Ok, I’m a little lightheaded and dizzy, but I don’t understand why. I’ve used more magic than that before and not felt like this,” I admit while I keep picking up the twigs that litter the yard.
“Maybe you should go sit down for a little bit,” Colton suggests.
“No, I’m fine. I’m sure the feeling will go away soon.” I throw the twigs I’d collected into the pile against the house and walk back to pick more up.
"Ryanne," Colton says, but I shake my head at him. I'm not going to go inside and sit down while everyone stays out here. This was my idea to begin with.
Soon we are done with the backyard and walk over toward the beach. I can feel Colton’s eyes on me the whole time. The debris on the beach is smaller than that in the backyard. It doesn’t need any magic to move. The guys get to work, while Emma, Natalie, and I stand back and only pick up the really small stuff. While crouching down in the sand, another dizzy spell comes, and I have to place my hands on the ground to steady myself. Shaking my head, I slowly stand up and the feeling passes.
I look around. Good, no one saw that. Colton is talking to Liam. Both of them keep glancing over at me, but neither come over. Colton knows something is wrong and is probably trying to see if Liam feels anything off. I don’t think Liam would feel anything though. He seems to only feel the physical injuries I get.
“Ryanne?” I turn in their general direction of the voice but can’t see anyone. I see lights. Bright fluorescent lights. Everything around me starts to blur. I slam my eyes shut, trying to stop the spinning. Someone is yelling, but I can’t tell who. It sounds like I am underwater—everything is muffled and running together. I feel myself start to fall as I am plunged into darkness.
Colton
“You sure you don’t feel anything? She’s been acting off. She told me earlier that she felt dizzy but that it would go away.” I glance over to Ryanne and watch as she drops some sticks into the pile. She walks back over to Emma and Natalie who are just standing off to the side, pretending like they are working.
“I don’t feel anything, but she does look like she’s not feeling well,” Liam replies.
“She doesn’t like feeling weak, so I know she won’t tell me anything unless it gets really bad,” I say. Liam is watching the girls. I glance over there again and meet a pair of beautiful hazel eyes. When she catches me looking, she looks away. Something is definitely up.
“What’s going on?” Liam stands up and starts to walk toward the girls.
Emma is standing in front of Ryanne, waving her hand in front of her face, but Ryanne isn’t responding. She closes her eyes and starts to sway. I stand up and run over to her. Emma reaches forward and grabs Ryanne but can’t support her sudden weight, and both girls fall to the ground. I make it over to them and pull Ryanne off of Emma. Her eyes are closed, and she isn’t moving. I reach down and pick her up, brushing the sand off of her. “What happened?” I ask Emma. David makes his way over to us and helps Emma stand up.
“I don’t know. I asked her a question, and she didn’t answer. She turned her head in my direction, but she didn’t look at me. All of the sudden, she started swaying and then fell. I’m pretty sure she’s not in a vision though. This was different. It wasn't as sudden as her visions have been recently,” she says. “I don’t know what happened, but something was off. It was as if something was pulling her away from here.”
The rest of the guys make their way over to us. We’ve already finished cleaning up, so I carry Ryanne inside. Laying her down gently on the couch, I push her hair back and turn toward Liam. She still hasn’t moved. “I knew something was up. She told me she felt dizzy but that it wasn’t from using her magic. She’d used more magic before and didn’t act like that. I should have known.” What’s happening to her? Is she unconscious? Is she seeing a vision?
Something is telling me that this isn’t a vision. This is different. Emma was right about that. I can feel my anger rising. If I don’t get control soon, I’ll go invisible. What if Dravin and Adam have her? What the hell is she going through right now? Natalie must have gotten a read on my anger because she walks up to me and grabs my forearm. Instantly, I feel calmer. I am still angry, but it is manageable now. “Thanks.”
She nods and steps back a little. I glance back at the couch. Nothing has changed. If it weren’t for her breathing, I’d think…No, I can’t think like that. She is going to be okay, isn’t she?
Thirty minutes later, she is still in the same position. I am starting to get worried again. Pacing the back of the room, I keep an eye on her, waiting for any sign of change. I look over toward Liam, who is rubbing his arm absentmindedly. “Liam.” He looks over at me. I glance down at his arm. He curses and stands up, looking toward Ryanne. There’s no change.
“Something’s happening, isn’t it?” Emma asks. She is just as worried as Liam and I are. Liam gasps and touches his stomach. Natalie keeps glancing between Liam and Ryanne. Liam doubles over, holding onto his stomach. Ryanne still isn’t moving. Natalie walks over to Liam and crouches down next to him, trying to calm him. He grunts, which shows how much Ryanne is going through. He only feels a fraction of what she is experiencing. I walk over to the couch and sit down next to her, lifting her head and placing it in my lap. Logan moves closer, so when Ryanne wakes up, he can heal her. Her head moves slightly in my lap.
“She’s going to wake up soon,” I say. She groans and opens her eyes. Covering her mouth, she jumps away from me. She pushes past Logan and runs out of the living room. I hear the sound of a door slamming open and then retching sounds. I push past everyone and round the corner, walking into the small bathroom.
Ryanne is sitting on the tiled floor throwing up in the toilet. I crouch behind her and grab her hair, pulling it away from her face. Emma walks in holding a wet washcloth and a bottle of water. When I move her hair from her face, I see a giant bruise under her eye. She is visibly shaking as she gets sick again. I don’t know what to do. I look around for Logan. He pushes past everyone and reaches under her sweatshirt. He grabs her stomach and starts healing her. She leans forward and throws up again. What is going on?
“Ryanne, what’s happening? I’m right here.” I rub her back as she starts dry heaving. There is nothing left in her stomach to throw up. She leans against her arm and st
arts breathing heavily. I hear the sound of bones popping back into place, and she cries out, arching her back. Logan falls backward and gasps as he finishes healing her.
Ryanne is still breathing heavily, but she isn’t getting sick anymore. She shakily pushes herself away from the toilet and flees out of the room, running up the stairs. I start to go after her, but Logan stops me. He looks toward Emma. She nods and leaves the room. “What happened?” I ask him as I reach down to help him stand up.
He accepts my help and starts shaking his head. He leaves the room and slowly walks back into the living room. “Make her some toast or something. She needs to eat when she comes back down,” he orders. Natalie rushes into the kitchen to make it.
Logan sits down on the couch and exhales loudly. He drops his face into his hands. All of us turn towards him, waiting for his explanation, but he remains silent. Hearing a sound behind me, I look up the stairs and see Emma helping Ryanne walk down. She’s is gripping the hand rails, appearing too weak to move. I walk up the last remaining stairs and pick her up. She doesn’t even protest. I carry her over to the couch and sit down with her in my lap. I’m not going to let her go. I don’t care what she says or how much her stubborn little self tries to fight me on this; I’m not letting her go. Natalie walks back into the living room with the toast and hands it to Ryanne, who just stares at the plate. I take the plate from Natalie and thank her. “Ryanne eat this.”
She shakes her head. “I can’t eat anything.” I try not to outwardly sigh when I hear how weak her voice sounds.
“Ryanne, you just threw up all the food you had in your body. Eat this.” When she glances up at me, I see how scared she is. What did she see? I glance over at Logan again, and he is still sitting with his head resting in his hands. Liam is back in the chair. He doesn’t look much better.
“Will someone please explain what happened?” I ask. I look down at Ryanne, who is shaking her head, nibbling on a piece of toast.
“Dravin found another way to get to her,” Logan says.
“What?” I yell. Ryanne jumps, and I apologize before turning back toward Logan. “How?”
“They have a dream-walker too. I don’t know how, but he was able to knock Ryanne out from inside Dravin’s compound.”
“Can you do that, Liam?” Emma asks.
“I don’t know. Never tried.”
Ryanne is staring down at the plate, no longer trying to eat. She’d only eaten half of the first piece. “Keep eating,” I tell her quietly. She doesn’t look very good. She turns around and looks at Logan. She places the toast on the armrest and crawls off my lap over to him. He’s not looking at her and doesn’t turn toward her when she moves. Reaching forward, Ryanne grabs onto his hands and closes her eyes.
“Ryanne, you don’t you don’t have enough energy for that,” he says as he tries to pull his arms away, but Ryanne keeps a firm grip on him. I watch as the dark circles under his eyes disappear. She is giving him some of her magic to help him heal faster. “You shouldn’t have done that,” he says when she finishes.
She crawls back onto my lap. Instead of grabbing the toast, she curls up and leans back against my chest. “You’re welcome,” she says while yawning. Closing her eyes, she instantly falls asleep. I look back toward Logan; he’ll have to explain everything now.
Emma sits down in the chair with David and asks Logan, “What the heck happened? When I walked upstairs, she was sitting on the floor in the bathroom brushing her teeth because she couldn’t hold herself up, even after you healed her. I had to hold her up because she kept swaying.”
I wrap my arms around her. It is times like this when I realize how small she actually is. Curled up in this position, she fits in my lap perfectly. Despite this tough demeanor she gives herself, she is very breakable, and I am constantly being reminded of it.
“I don’t really know what happened. She was knocked unconscious and suddenly she was standing inside of Dravin’s compound. He ran forward and grabbed her neck, lifting her off the ground. He poured some liquid down her throat, coercing her to swallow. I’m pretty sure it was the truth serum. This time he gave her way too much. Her body couldn’t handle it. She fell to the ground and just started screaming.” Logan’s shaking his head. I know that he doesn’t like seeing this stuff. He especially doesn’t like having to restate everything afterwards.
“He kept asking what her powers were. He still needs to know the extent of her magic. He knows some of it from Natasha but not everything. Ryanne kept…screaming. She couldn’t speak, and when she didn’t answer his questions, he attacked her. I’m glad she was wearing that sweatshirt. One, because it softened some of the blows, and two, because you couldn’t see the extent of her injuries. She eventually passed out from the pain and that’s how she woke up. Her body rejected the truth serum which was why she threw up.”
I don’t realize that I am holding her so hard until she groans and starts to move. I loosen my grip around her, and she settles down and curls closer to me. What am I going to do with her? I can’t be with her 24/7, but I’ll sure as hell try. There’s no way I’m letting her out of my sight from now on. I look around the room. Tom is leaning against the wall; he seems to be lost in his thoughts. David and Emma are both staring at Ryanne. Bragden keeps glancing between Ryanne and Liam. Liam is back in the chair he was in earlier. Now, he is the one with his head resting in his hands. Natalie is sitting on the floor at his feet. She keeps looking up at him, and her eyes tell us that she wants to help. Larkin is pacing in the back of the room.
“Liam, are you alright?” I ask him.
“Yeah, I just don’t feel very good.”
“Like you don’t feel good or Ryanne doesn’t feel good?”
“I think it’s her, but I don’t know for sure. It’s hard to tell sometimes.”
I reach down and feel her forehead. She's burning up. “I’m pretty sure she has a fever.”
“I’ll be right back,” Larkin says as he transports out of the room.
Chapter Ten
Colton
“Where’s he going?” Emma asks.
“Who knows?” I say. No one really knows what Larkin does. He does what he wants, when he wants, and how he wants. I glance down at Ryanne again. Her usually fair skin looks even paler than usual, but her cheeks are bright red. I sweep her long hair over her shoulder, out of her face. She sighs when my hand grazes her neck. I can get a reaction out of her even when she is sleeping.
“I wonder what she saw in that vision,” Natalie says. Oh yeah, I forgot that she went into a vision when I touched her earlier. Obviously she saw something pleasant for once because she tried really hard to hide her smile. I think that it has something to do with us because when she looked at me, her smile got bigger. Can’t she ever get a break? She goes from being happy one moment to in pain the next. “I bet it had something to do with you, Colton,” Emma says.
I look over at Emma and David. The only time Ryanne had smiled like that was after the vision she had of them getting married. She still hasn’t told me about that vision. Liam mentioned it to me once. I haven’t told anyone, and Ryanne doesn’t know that I know about it. I hope that she saw something like that. I’ll ask her about it when she wakes up, and we are alone.
“I don’t know, but I’m glad she finally saw something good,” I whisper.
“This just means that we have to keep an even closer eye on her,” Tom says. I nod for I had already come to that conclusion. They are able to get to her way too easily. I feel movement on the couch beside me. I look over, and Olive is sitting there, watching.
“She’s going to be okay, Olive,” I tell her, but I can tell my voice isn’t very convincing. I can’t read her mind like Ryanne can, so I don’t know if she is saying anything back to me. Ryanne starts shaking again. I look down at her right as her eyes open. She groans and jumps off of me, running shakily back to the bathroom. I get up and follow her there, pulling her hair back as she empties the contents of her stomach again. I
hate that there is nothing I can do to help her. I keep her hair out of the way and rub her back, trying to calm her.
Emma walks into the bathroom and places a bottle of water, Ryanne’s toothbrush and toothpaste, and some mouthwash on the counter. She grimaces at Ryanne and then leaves. None of us like seeing her like this. She starts coughing, but doesn’t get sick again. Resting her head on her arms, she takes a couple deep breathes.
Slowly standing up, she grabs the water and swirls it around her mouth. Spitting the water out, she grabs her toothbrush and starts brushing her teeth again. I walk behind her and let her lean back against me. I can tell that she is very weak. When she starts to sway, I wrap an arm around her waist to steady her. “I’m sorry you keep seeing me like that,” she whispers hoarsely.
“Ryanne, I’ll always be here to help you, no matter what.” She leans back fully against me. I support her weight easily. I know she won’t ask me, so I bend down and pick her up. I can tell that she is still pretty shaky and probably won’t make it back to the living room on her own. Cradling her against me, I walk back into the living room. I would take her upstairs, so she can rest, but I need to stay with her for now, and I still have some questions. “Thank you,” she mumbles. I sit down on the couch and place her back onto my lap.
Bending down, I kiss her forehead and tell her, “You don’t ever have to thank me, Ry.” She sighs and curls back up, leaning against my chest, closing her eyes again. A couple seconds later, she is asleep. I glance over at Logan.
“There’s nothing I can do. I healed everything I could.” I already know that, but I don’t like that she is still sick. I lean back and let Ryanne sleep. No one says anything, but I can tell everyone is worried.