by Kaitlyn Hoyt
“You’re lucky I like you,” she whispers as I rest my hands on her hips. The anger slowly fades from her face as a new expression takes over. She reaches forward and pushes my hair to the side. “You need a haircut.”
I slowly move my hand up her arm, grabbing the strands of hair falling past her elbows. “Don’t cut your hair,” I tell her.
“I was actually thinking about shaving my head. Long hair is kind of a hassle,” she says as she takes another small step. Her eyes flicker down to my mouth as she leans forward slightly.
“Don’t,” I tell her. She looks up in my eyes and smiles. Stepping away from me, she walks across the room and grabs the television remote. Stubborn girl. Giggling, she turns the TV on. I continue staring at her. “That’s just mean,” I tell her. She sits down on the bed, crosses her legs, flips through the channels, and gives me her innocent smile. “You said don’t when I was about to kiss you.”
I sigh and lean back against the bed, lying down beside her. I open my arms and let her scoot over. She regards me warily, but comes closer. I wrap my arms around her and pull her against my chest. She turns on her side and continues flipping through the channels.
I can tell by her steady breathing that she’ll fall asleep soon. The hand with the remote falls against the side of the bed limply. With a sigh, Ryanne curls into my side. She’s already asleep. I take the remote from her and turn the television volume down.
Thirty minutes later, there’s a knock on the door. I glance down at Ryanne. She’s lying on my arm, so I can’t get up. “Come in,” I whisper yell, hoping that whoever is on the other side of the door will hear me.
The door opens slowly and Tom enters. “The pizza’s here if you guys are hungry,” he trails off when he sees Ryanne sleeping. “Since she’s sleeping, I’ll put some aside for the two of you.”
“Thanks Tom,” I say.
“Is she alright? On the surface, she seems fine, but she’s pretty good at hiding her feelings when she doesn’t want attention.”
“She’s fine until multiple people get angry or upset, I think. She can’t push all those feelings back. She starts experiencing them. She’s worried that she’s going to explode under all the emotions streaming into her.”
“We’ll see if Natalie can help her get a better handle on it.”
“Thank you for everything.”
He nods, understanding the meaning behind my words. Tom has basically dropped everything to help us. He originally came to us to help David and me train Ryanne. When Claire died, he attempted to fulfill her guardian-like role. Tom keeps everything and everyone in check. He tries to keep us out of danger. Ryanne loves Tom like a father; I can see that every time she looks at him, and I know that he looks at her like a daughter as well. We’re a large family now.
Ryanne rolls over and opens her eyes. Seeing Tom in the room, she slowly sits up. “What’s going on?” she sleepily mumbles.
“The pizza’s here if you’re hungry.”
“Colton’s hungry,” Ryanne announces as she crawls over to the edge of the bed. “Come on, big guy. Let’s go fill that tummy of yours,” she says as she holds her hand out for me.
Tom laughs. “You’re never going to be able to hide anything from her, Colton. She’ll always be a step ahead of you.”
“Yep, so don’t try anything,” Ryanne says as she pulls me out of the room.
“I am hungry,” I tell Tom as we pass him. Ryanne walks out into the middle of the hallway and then stops.
Looking up at me, she says, “I actually have no idea how to get to the kitchen.” I turn around and look at Tom. I don’t know where the kitchen is either.
Tom laughs as he walks past both of us. “Follow me. I’ll be your tour guide for the night.”
Chapter Six
“So, Ryanne. I hear that you can be pretty scary when you get worked up,” Colin says.
“I don’t know who you’re hearing these stories from,” I say as Emma shoots her hands up into the air, “but I’m not scary. Do you really think some 5’3” girl could be all that scary?”
“Oh, she totally can be. Go after someone she loves and you won’t know what hit you. When Dravin sent men to go after Jane and Ross, Ryanne totally…”
“Just don’t go after someone I love,” I warn as I smile sweetly and bite into my slice of pizza. Colin shakes his head at me, obviously amused. I hear everyone else try to hide their laughter.
“Anything else I should know?” Colin asks.
“She’s too stubborn for death,” Bragden says.
“How did you find that out?” he asks me.
“Well, you die twice, come close a couple other times, and live to tell the tale,” I say as I take another bite.
“Oh, well you know those Hobbits were a little stubborn, so that doesn’t really surprise me.” I turn and glare at Colin. It’d be so easy to blast him with some magic, but he’s letting us stay in his home, so I refrain myself.
“Whoa, I totally know that look,” Bragden says. “You’re walking on a thin line, Colin. She won’t be able to hold back for too much longer.”
“I’m curious to see what will happen if I egg her on,” Colin says while looking at me.
“With all these emotions running through me, I don’t really think you want to know,” I say as I finish the pizza. Colin continues to watch me, but doesn’t say anything. Shaking his head, he gives his attention back to everyone else.
“Well, if you guys are bored, there’s a pool, a game room, an entertainment room. There’s a music room upstairs also. I hear a couple of you are musically gifted,” Colin says as he looks at me. “Just rest tonight. We’ll start training tomorrow.”
“Ryanne, you have to play something for us,” Emma states.
I start shaking my head. “I’m not really feeling it right now,” I say as I get up and place my plate in the sink. I look back behind me at Colin, who’s shaking his head.
“I have someone who does that, Ryanne. Come sit back down,” he says.
“Fine,” I shuffle back to the table. I was hoping to waste more time than that.
“Please. Please. Please,” Emma begs. “Travis, Incendia, Colin, Lily, and Mr. and Mrs. Howick have never heard you sing before.”
“And I’d kind of like it to stay that way,” I say.
“Girl,” Emma sits up and stares at me, “I may not have any magic, but I can be very persuasive when I need to be. You know of what I’m capable of.”
“You wouldn’t,” I say as I stand up and face Emma.
“Oh, I would.”
“Fine, where is this music room?” I’d rather not find out what Emma has in mind. She can be plenty creative when something doesn’t go how she wants it to.
When I move to take a step, the room starts spinning. Without warning anyone, I fall into another vision.
I’m standing in the middle of an unfamiliar room in Dravin’s compound. There is a large wooden desk in the middle of the floor, cluttered with stacks of paper. Random medical supplies are scattered throughout the room. A stethoscope is strewn across the back of a chair, and a roll of gaze is located on the window sill. A box of Band-Aids is spilled on the floor, and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide is lying on a small coffee table—also cluttered with more paper. This room is a complete mess.
It’s obvious that they can’t see me, because I’m literally standing right beside Dravin.
“I’m doing the best I can here,” Dr. Arden says. “Extracting magic without harming the individual is a complicated process. I know I said I was prepared to do it before, but I won’t risk harming her. It’s not perfect yet. It has to be perfect.”
“You will do it when I find her whether you are ready or not. I won’t risk her getting away again.”
“I will not risk killing my daughter because of you. I’ve seen what you’ve done to her already. I will not stand for any more. You need me Dravin, but if you harm another hair on her, I’ll quit. If I knew that Maureen was pregnant, I never
would have walked away and you know that.”
“Maureen is dead, so get over that. We have a blood promise, Jedrek. I keep you alive. You help me. You can’t quit. You’re stuck here. Do you really want the Fates to come after you? The fact that the girl from the prophecy happens to be your daughter is just a random turn of events. It’s a coincidence. It doesn’t change anything. I saved your life. You owe me. If you have to repay that debt with your daughter’s life, then so be it. You WILL find a way to give me her magic. It’d be a shame to waste such a pretty thing, but if I have to kill her to get her powers, I will. There’s NOTHING you can do about it. Is that clear?”
Jedrek Arden stands up and glares at Dravin. I take a step back even though I know neither of them can see me, but Jedrek looks very menacing. With wide large brown eyes and flared nostrils, he says, “I will not let you kill Ryanne. End of story.”
“Not the end, my friend.” Dravin says as he turns to leave the room. “We’re just now getting to the rising action. The climax is coming. Ryanne’s a threat. If you can’t extract her magic, I’ll just kill her, and that’s certainly not the ending you want. It’s your choice,” Dravin’s threat lingers heavy in the air after he has left the room.
Jedrek stares at the empty doorway for a few moments before he jumps up, pushes all the paper off his desk, and starts pacing the room as the sheets rain down around him. Stopping in front of the brick wall, he brings his arm back and punches the wall. I wince and move toward him. He clenches his fist and then slowly opens his hand, revealing a long jagged scar running along his palm. He turns around and leans back against the wall. I take a small step toward him.
There’s so much emotion in his expression. His dark eyes are widened and glistening with memories while his nostrils are flared, and his mouth is set in a straight line. He seems very conflicted. With a sigh, he turns and looks directly at me. “I’m so sorry, Ryanne,” he whispers.
“You can see me?”I ask.
“I don’t know if you can hear me, but I’ll find a way out of this. I won’t let him hurt you again,” he says quietly. He can’t see me, but he knows I’m listening. “I promise, I’ll do something. I’m so sorry about all of this.”
I open my eyes and look around the room. Groaning, I sit up. My head is throbbing. I actually landed on the hard floor this time. Colton is sitting right beside me. “What? You couldn’t catch me?” I tease him.
“I’m sorry,” he says as he helps me stand up. I sway a little and lean back against Colton’s chest. Whoa, the room is spinning. I feel hands wrap around my forearm as the dizziness fades. I blink the room back into focus and meet a pair of worried blue eyes. “Thank you,” I tell Logan.
“What did you see?” he asks me.
I step away from Colton and sit back down in the chair. “I saw Dravin and…Dr. Arden talking. I think the conversation already happened through.”
“What were they talking about?” Tom asks.
“Me,” I whisper. I explain the vision to everyone in full detail. I don’t leave out any information. I’m not sure of the significance of it all, so I need those with mage information to help me.
“The Fates are after Jedrek?” Tom asks.
“What does that mean exactly?”
Colin turns toward me and explains, “It means that Jedrek is supposed to be dead. Dravin knew that he’d need Jedrek at some point, so he made him promise his life to him. A blood promise is permanent. You can’t break them without dying.”
“When Dravin left the room, he said ‘I’m so sorry, Ryanne.’ At first, I thought Dr. Arden could see me, but I know he couldn’t. He promised that he’d find a way out of this, and he wouldn’t let Dravin hurt me again.”
“You can’t start to feel something for him, Ry. There’s a chance that something could happen to him in the upcoming days,” Colton says.
“You didn’t see the look in his eyes, Colton. I’ve only ever seen that look in your eyes before,” I tell him. “He doesn’t want to work for Dravin, but he literally doesn’t have a choice.”
“Let’s not think about that now. We’ll worry about that later. We can try to come up with a way to save him, but with the blood promise, it’s tricky. It sounds like Dravin was the one who initiated it. As long as Dravin lives, Jedrek lives. If Dravin dies, so does Jedrek.”
“Does that work both ways?” I ask.
“No, if anything happens to Jedrek it won’t affect Dravin.”
“Why would he agree to a blood promise then?”
“He’s supposed to be dead, Ryanne, but he’s not. It was his time to die, but he turned away from death and found a plan B,” Colin explains. “People will do anything to fight death. Immortality is very sought after.”
“No one can live forever.”
“That means nothing. If you could live past your expiration date, wouldn’t you try?”
“I’ve died twice, Colin. I am living past my expiration date.”
“No, you’re not. You obviously weren’t meant to die those times, otherwise you wouldn’t be here. You’re soulmate saved you once. You only get one healing. You were given a second chance because it wasn’t your time to die. You still have time. Jedrek doesn’t. That’s why it’s hard. His blood promise with Dravin is the only thing keeping him alive right now. If he wasn’t tied to Dravin, the Fates would find him.”
“What are the Fates exactly?” I ask.
“That’s a lesson for another night. It’s a long and complicated story,” Colin says as he stands up. “Now, weren’t you going to sing for us?”
Chapter Seven
“I’m really tired of everyone making me sing all the time. I was perfectly fine being a closet shower singer,” I mumble as Colton pulls me into our room.
“You have a beautiful voice, Ry. Why don’t you like letting others hear it?”
“Because it makes people to look at me more, Colton. I’m already the freak with too much magic. I don’t need to be the freak with too much magic who can also sing.”
“I happen to like that freak,” Colton says as he sits down on the bed. I try to walk past him, but he grabs me around the waist and pulls me onto his lap. I laugh as he starts tickling me and squirm to get away.
“Stop,” I gasp between laughs. “Please,” I whine. Colton stops tickling me. When I’m no longer being threatened, I turn around and look up at him. Standing so I’m facing him, I look straight in the eyes and just watch him for a few seconds. Because he’s sitting, we’re now the same height. I step forward a little and push his hair out of his eyes. His love for me cascades into my body with each movement, and I feel my smile slowly fall. I inhale deeply and push his emotions into the back of my mind. It’s easier to control when there’s only one person in the room with me. I lean forward and gently kiss him.
Colton moves his hands to my hips and lightly pulls me forward. I let him guide me. He removes his right hand from my hip and places it at the base of my neck. When I feel his hand move through my hair, I sigh and melt into him. Colton uses that to deepen the kiss. Running my hands up his chest, I wrap them around his neck and step closer to him. His racing heart matches mine. He moves the hand from my hips to the small of my back and hugs me to him. I can’t help but shiver at the movement.
I push against his chest, forcing him to lean backward. Pulling me with him, he lies down on the bed and slowly moves backward without breaking the kiss. I feel his hands brush against the bare skin of my back, but he doesn’t move them any higher or lower. I brush my tongue against his lower lip. Colton groans and pulls back.
He slowly moves me backward and sits up. I end up straddling him. “What’s wrong?” I ask him.
“You’re acting on my emotions,” he says.
“No, I’m not,” I say as I lean forward and kiss him again. He kisses me back, but ends up pushing me away again. “Colton,” I groan.
He chuckles and brushes a strand of hair away from my eyes. “You’re so beautiful, Ryanne,” he whispers as he le
ans forward. “And I want you, I really do.” His lips brush against mine when he talks, sending chills through my body. “But I know you wouldn’t be doing this if you weren’t acting on my emotions. It’s very difficult to restrain myself, babe.”
“Then don’t,” I tell him as I gently bite his bottom lip while lightly tracing the muscles on his abdomen. I can feel his heart racing against my chest. This spurs me on. Fisting the end of his shirt, I slowly pull up the fabric. He lifts his arms and lets me pull the shirt over his head. Colton leans forward and kisses me again. I press myself flush against his bare chest. His hand slowly caresses up my back. When he reaches the edge of my bra, he pulls back.
“Ryanne,” he groans, “you’re killing me here. I’m trying to be a gentleman, and you’re seriously testing my boundaries.”
I sit back and pout. “You’re too much of a gentleman, Colton. It’s annoying sometimes,” I sarcastically tell him.
Colton gently places his large hands on my cheeks and pulls me toward him. Kissing my forehead, he whispers, “When the time is right, you’ll know. You’ll feel it in here,” he points to my heart, “not in here.” He lightly taps me on the forehead.
“Isn’t it supposed to be the girl who does the rejecting?” I say as I crawl off of Colton. “Real confidence booster, you are, Colton.” I plop down on the bed next to him and lean back against the pillow. He turns on his stomach and faces me.
“Ryanne, will you tell me what happened to you while…”
“While I was dead?” I finish. He nods and moves closer to me—his concern and curiosity obvious in his expression. I bite my lip and watch him. His emotions continue to flow into me. He’s worried that I had to do something that will affect me later on. He wants to protect me and is concerned that I’m going to act out. I sigh and look toward the ceiling, debating on whether or not to tell him everything.
Lily’s story isn’t mine to tell, so I bypass that and go straight to what he wants to hear. “After helping Lily, I went to my mother’s grave. I cried on her grave and then she made an appearance. She told me that if I wanted to go back, I had to express my feelings. I started to vent to her, but she told me that I wouldn’t get back that way. So I dug deeper. I…”