by Kaitlyn Hoyt
I let my eyes travel over Colton’s long wavy hair down to his broad shoulders. Even wearing a t-shirt, I can see the defined muscles in his back leading down to a tight narrow waist. With his arms crossed, I can see the bulge from his flexed biceps—the same biceps that were just wrapped around me.
When I hear Tom mention that he’ll come back later, I tear my eyes away from Colton. I need something to distract myself. I grab the wet towel from the bed and hang it on the towel rack in the bathroom. “Ryanne,” Colton calls. I start to walk out of the bathroom, but the room starts to spin around me. Grabbing onto the edge of the doorway, I try to keep myself upright. I gasp as the air is pulled from my lungs. “Ryanne, what’s wrong?” Colton asks as he rushes toward me. I gasp as the air is pulled from my lungs.
My body starts to shake. I fall to my knees. “He’s…He’s p-p-ulling me b…ack again.” I manage to get out. I try to move, but my whole body begins violently shaking and I fall forward into Colton’s arms. He picks me up and carries me across the room. I feel myself being placed on the bed, but I’m not longer in the bedroom anymore. I’m drifting between two places.
I’m being pulled in so many different directions, and everything spins around me. It feels like I’m thrown around the inside of a tornado. The motion is disorienting and makes me feel sick. I don’t know where I’m going to be spit out, but I know that Dravin is definitely involved. Instead of gently waking up in a new environment, I’m thrown down in the middle of a cell again. I hit the hard cement floor and roll into the wall. My body instantly aches when I come to a stop. Grimacing, I move onto my back and try to sit up.
“That could have been much smoother,” I mumble when I sit up and look around the room. I immediately tense when I spot Dravin in the corner.
“Yes, it could have been,” he says.
“What do you want, Dravin?” I ask him as I push myself up. His tall frame is leaning against the door with his arms crossed against his chest, looking too smug for his own good. Magic? I let out a relieved breath when I feel the familiar tingle of my magic in the air around me. Does Dravin know that I can use my magic here?
“You know what I want, Ryanne. I need your magic.”
“You want my magic. You don’t need it,” I correct him.
“Still as verbal as ever, I see,” he says as he pushes away from the door and walks toward me. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you that it would go much better for you if you would cooperate.”
“I’m not really a stickler for listening. I’m kind of a rebel when it comes to that. I like to do my own thing. Being predictable is lame,” I tell him. “Maybe you should make a note of that.” I throw a shield around me as I recognize the look of concentration on Dravin’s face. I smile as his concentration turns to confusion. “You’re going to have to do more than that if you want to get my magic.”
“How is that possible?” he asks me.
“You’re not the only one getting stronger,” I say as I take a step toward him. “Now, I would suggest telling me how to get back because I’m starting to get mad.” I call some magic to me. Not enough to do any damage, but enough to let Dravin know that I can use it here.
His eyes widen, but he doesn’t say anything. “Interesting,” he says as he walks in a slow circle around me. “Do you know why I became a Gadramick?” he asks me, changing the subject.
“Because you’re too cool to be nice?” I guess. Dravin stops in front of me.
“My parents were mages,” he starts. I mumble a Duh. Dravin glares at me, but continues, “They preached about how mages should work with humans. We should be equal. No one should be more powerful than another. We’re supposed to work together. All bullshit, I tell you.”
“What happened to them?”
“You want to know what happened to them?”
“Yes, that’s kind of why I asked the question.”
“They were murdered right in front of me by humans when I was five years old. Humans murdered mages because they were too weak to fight back. They had powers and could have easily overpowered their attackers, but did they fight back? No, because they thought humans and mages were equals.”
“We should be equals, Dravin. Just because a few people...”
“You don’t get it at all. We’re stronger and smarter than they are. We’re all around better people. We have powers for a reason. We’re supposed to be rulers. They need to know we won’t tolerate their actions. We won’t tolerate their insolence and stupidity.”
“Ok, let me get this straight,” I say as I step toward him. “Because your parents were murdered by humans you think that all mages should rule over humans?”
“That’s what I just said.”
“You murdered people. Does that mean that the family members of those you’ve killed should rule over you?”
“You’re missing the point. We have powers. They don’t. We should rule. They shouldn’t. It comes down to who has the most assets. Right now, those with money are the ones that rule. They control everything. We have magic. Money is nothing compared to our magic. We should be ahead of them in society.”
“We’re not in a caste system, Dravin! We shouldn’t be ahead of anyone. Maybe you could rule if you would put your magic to good use. Do you really want to rule over people who hate you? I’d rather have a few loyal followers than hundreds of those who hate me. I mean really? Have you ever heard about Julius Caesar’s assassination?”
Dravin moves quickly and grabs me around the neck. Apparently sometime during our conversation, I dropped my shield. Pushing me backward, he slams me against the back wall and lifts me slightly off the ground. The tips of my toes are the only thing touching the cement. I try to suck in oxygen, but his hands are cutting off my air supply.
“Let me set something straight, Ryanne. My patience with you is running very thin. At first, I thought you were cute. Short little mage with attitude. It was new, interesting even, but I’m over it. You’re going to cooperate or you will die. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it.” Dravin releases my neck and drops me to the ground. I fall on my knees and put my arms out to try and lessen the blow. I hear a pop and pain shoots up my left wrist—the same wrist the Phillip recently broke. Oh, now I’m pissed. I breathe in deeply before pushing off with my right hand and standing up.
“Dravin, you really don’t know who you’re messing with,” I say as I brush dirt off my clothing with my unbroken hand. My knees and elbows are throbbing, but I ignore the pain and face him.
“Since I was able to get you here that means your little spell is no longer protecting you. I’m going to call your farther and bring him in. If you don’t fight, I’ll make sure it doesn’t hurt that much.”
“You really think I’m not going to fight?” I say as I call my magic to me. Instead of waiting for my magic to build up, it instantly comes to me. I imagine a ball of energy similar to what I threw at Colin earlier today. When Dravin sees the energy forming between my hands, his eyes widen and he steps backward. I smile at him as he reaches for the doorknob. “I told you, you really don’t know who you’re messing with,” I say as I throw the ball of energy. He ducks but it still hits him in the shoulder. He grunts and falls to the ground.
With his concentration elsewhere, I close my eyes and think about my room with Colton. I call more magic to me. I want to go back, I whisper.
My body starts vibrating. My knees give out and I fall to the ground. Instead of hitting the hard cement flooring, I start free-falling. Darkness moves around me, but I feel a slight breeze. I squeeze my eyes shut and wait for the movement to stop.
I can tell the instant I land back in my own body. I struggle to catch my breath. My throat, arms, and knees are all throbbing. Everyone, and I mean everyone, is in the room, watching me. I slowly sit up and turn toward Logan. Waving him over, I move so that I’m sitting on the edge of the bed. Without saying anything, Logan knows what I’m asking him to do.
The bones in my wrist snap back
together, and I don’t even gasp this time which surprises me. The pulsating pain in my knees and throat fade. Logan steps away from me. I stand up and look at everyone in the room. “I need to redo the protective enchantment.”
“That’s it? No explanation?” Emma asks.
“Dravin was able to call me back which means that he can get to any of you too. I need to strengthen the enchantment.”
“Ryanne, what happened?” Colton asks. He stops in front of me, blocking me from everyone else. I place my hand on his cheek. He leans into my touch and wraps his large hand over top of mine.
“Nothing really,” I say. “But I need to strengthen the enchantment now. I think I can put it over all of us and the house at the same time. It should be easier since I won’t really be pushing any magic out. I’ll just be telling it what to do.”
Colton groans, but steps out of the way. His inner turmoil hits me. He’s upset that Dravin got to me and angry that I got hurt. Soon after, his relief hits me. He’s relieved I was able to get away without any serious injuries, and he’s confused as to why I won’t tell him what happened. He knows I won’t reveal anything until I do the enchantment. “Thank you,” I whisper to him.
Without looking at anyone, I close my eyes and feel the magic around me. “Magic come forth, I call you to me, protect our home from danger so evil cannot see,” I start as the magic moves through the room, hitting every available surface, covering everything with magic—hiding the home from danger. I envision the magic coating everyone in here too. I see myself holding each of their hands as I say the spell like I did in the past. The magic flows into them. As I continue with the spell, I hear a couple loud intakes of breath. They can feel my magic covering them…protecting them. “I call you to me during this time of need to protect those within from anger and greed; protect our home from danger so evil cannot see.”
When I finish the spell, I open my eyes back up and look around the room. Everyone is watching me curiously. Mixtures of awe and confusion flood into me. I mix the emotions with my magic and push them out. If I keep everything in my body, I’ll start to tire out again.
Colton walks up to me. “Are you okay? Are you tired?”
“I’m fine, Colton. You worry too much,” I tell him. I turn toward everyone else. “Do you feel any different? Did it work?”
“Yeah, I could feel your magic surrounding me,” Chris answers. “It was amazing.”
“Good, now that that’s settled…what’s new?” I say as I sit down on the edge of the bed.
“Ryanne…” Colton starts.
“Ugh, fine,” I say as I turn and look at him. “I don’t see why you want to know everything. Nothing really happened.”
“Humor me.”
“I was thrown into another cell in Dravin’s compound. I really need to work on my entrances. They’re not as smooth as I would like them to be. We talked. I insulted. You know how it goes with him. He tried to use his voodoo mind thing on me, but I threw a shield up around me. Oh, I could use my magic there. He didn’t know that I could use my magic. Apparently, there was a spell on that room to stop magic use, but I broke through it. He…um, he told me about how his parents were murdered in front of him by humans. His parents were good mages, but their death caused Dravin to oppose the idea of humans and mages working together. He wants revenge, so he basically formed the Gadramicks to get it.”
“How is that any different from what he’s doing now?” Colton asks.
“Well, when I asked him that, he choked me, so it’s not any different. He just doesn’t want to think of it like that.” Colton clenches his fist, and his appearance starts to fade. I jump up off the bed and walk over to him. “Hey, hey, hey. Listen to me.” I grab his chin and force him to look down at me. “When he let go of me, I hit him with a ball of energy. He fell to the ground injured, and I came back. I hurt him worse than he hurt me. It wasn’t that bad. I’m okay now.” I hate watching Colton struggle with his power. I know that he goes invisible whenever he gets upset or angry. I don’t know what specifically causes it, but it takes him a while to come back. He flickers once more and then sighs loudly. Hugging me to him, he buries his face in my neck.
“I’m going to kill him if I see him again,” he whispers to me.
I pull back and look up at him. “Then, I think we better train.”
Chapter Ten
“Okay, here’s another question. In an epic battle of magic, which wizard would come out victorious: Gandalf or Dumbledore?” Logan asks.
“Gandalf,” I say without giving it a second thought.
“Dumbledore,” Chris replies. We both turn and glare at each other. We’ve been arguing like this all night.
“How can you think that Dumbledore would win in a battle against Gandalf?” I ask.
“How can you think that Gandalf would win against Dumbledore?”
“There would be no competition. Gandalf is a beast. Dumbledore would run away scared at the sight of the Gandalf. When Gandalf died, he found a way to come back. Can Dumbledore say the same thing?”
“How about we say that it’s a tie. Both wizards are equally as awesome as the other,” Logan says. We stare at Logan for a couple of seconds before turning back to glare at each other. Honestly, I like both of them, but arguing with Chris is pretty fun. “Okay, how about this one, Smeagol vs. Yoda?”
“Yoda,” I say at the same time as Chris says Smeagol.
“Guys, this could go on all night. Ryanne’s the prophecy girl, so her picks win,” Incendia says. “Sorry Chris.” I stick my tongue out at Chris and high five Incendia.
“Just because she’s the prophecy girl doesn’t mean that she should win all the time. I’m just as awesome on a less magical level,” Chris retorts.
“You’ll have to do a whole lot more to reach my level of awesomeness, Chris,” I tell him. I lean against the back of the couch. Colton leans over and wraps his arm around my shoulder. I smile up at him before turning back to Chris. Colton’s amusement briefly hits me before I push it back out.
“You must have to brush your teeth a lot to clean your mouth of all the crap you’re spewing,” Chris says.
“Ouch, Chris. That hurt,” I tell him.
Colin, Tom, and Mr. and Mrs. Howick walk into the entertainment room. Tom turns toward Colton and nods. What’s going on? Colton turns and tightens his grip around me, but returns his attention to the TV. “What was that about?” I whisper to him.
Colton looks down at me and feigns confusion. “What are you talking about?”
I narrow my eyes at him, but let him off for now. I’ll investigate later. Curling into his shoulder, I watch the movie on the screen. I don’t recognize this movie or any of the actors in it. When I see someone get shot in their head, I turn and bury my face into Colton’s shoulder. I’m okay with action sequences, but I hate gore. Colton pulls me closer to him and kisses my temple.
“She loves superhero stuff, but hates violence?”
“I hate all the blood and gore,” I mumble against the fabric of Colton’s shirt. When I hear the shooting stop, I look at the TV. Nothing’s happening right now. I angle myself toward it and watch again.
Thirty minutes later, the lead actor in the movie is driving in a car with his wife, arguing. They have a green light, so he starts driving. She turns toward him in the car to yell at him again, but screams when she sees the headlights of a large truck coming toward them. The screen starts moving in slow motion. My mind flashes back to a year ago when I was in a similar situation. The scar on my stomach starts to tingle, and in the back of my mind, I can see the truck moving toward us—the bright headlights blinding me. I watch as my mom turns and looks at me then turns the wheel. The world around me spins and blurs together as the car flips and metal and glass debris rain in.
“I’m…umm…going to go do…something,” I say as I push away from Colton and rush out of the room. I can’t watch that movie anymore. Running into the hallway, I turn to the left. I don’t know what I’m d
oing, but I can’t stay in that room surrounded by everyone. I expected Colton to follow me, so I’m surprised when I turn around and see Chris standing outside of the door.
“It’s not uncommon to relive an experience when you witness something that triggers a specific memory.”
“How did you know that’s why I ran out of the room?”
Chris walks toward me. “I was there, Ryanne. I saw the accident. I saw all the damage.” He pauses and looks down the hallway. “My mom was killed in a car accident too. I was thinking about her when I saw that scene, so I knew you would be reliving what happened to you as well. Your experience is much more recent than mine.” I lean back against the wall and watch as Chris stops in front of me. “I’m sorry about your mother, Ryanne. There was nothing we could do to help her.”
I lean forward and hug Chris. “I know. It’s just hard.” I feel Chris’s arms wrap around my back. “I was supposed to die in that accident. I have to live with the fact that my mom sacrificed herself because she loved me. I used to be so mad at her. I still want to be mad at her, but I’m not,” I bunch my hands in the fabric of his shirt.
“Mothers always think about their children before themselves. It’s a maternal thing,” he says. “It shows that they love you. Someday, you’ll appreciate what she did for you.”
“I’ve talked with her,” I say as I lean backward and look up at him. “I’ve talked with my mom. She helped me get over some of my problems. She told me that she was proud of me and wouldn’t change a thing.” He nods and brushes some of the tears off of my cheeks. I wasn’t aware I had been crying.
“You okay?” he asks. I nod and try to smile. I know it comes out as more of a grimace. Chris looks over at me toward the door and steps away. I know that Colton is standing there, but I reach forward and grab Chris’s arm. He stops and looks down at me again.
“I’m sorry about your mom, Chris.” He nods and walks back into the entertainment room, patting Colton’s shoulder as he passes. Colton starts walking toward me. Instead of letting him walk the whole way, I meet him halfway. Wrapping my arms around his waist, I envelope myself in his familiar scent.