by Kaitlyn Hoyt
Though I haven’t seen her face, I know that’s Ryanne. I’d recognize her anywhere. A column of fire surrounds us all, separating us from the Gadramicks. Incendia nods at me as I bend down and pull David off my soulmate. Larkin grunts and crawls toward us.
“Ryanne?” I ask. She groans, but doesn’t open her eyes. Above her right eyebrow is a giant bruise. A cut on her hairline is causing blood to drip down her face. I push her wild hair out of her face. She looks so tired.
“Logan!” I shout. She needs healed before she loses consciousness. Logan pushes past everyone and falls to the ground at her side.
“What happened?” I ask Larkin as Logan places his hands on her face.
“I don’t know,” he says while grasping for air, having difficulty getting any oxygen into his lungs. “She called me and I transported to her and…I don’t know. She was free-falling. I grabbed her and transported back here as soon as possible. She would have been killed instantly if she hadn’t called me,” he says as he watches her.
Ryanne gasps and rolls to the side coughing. I lean forward and grab her chin, making her look toward me. When she sees me, she jumps up and hugs me tightly around the neck. I wrap my arms around her back. “What happened?” I whisper. I can feel everyone watching us, but I don’t care.
Ryanne pulls back and stands up, shaking her head. “Stop the fire, Incendia.”
“Ryanne,” I start.
“I have to stop him, Colton. That psycho threw me off a cliff,” she mumbles as she shoots water toward the wall of fire, creating a doorway large enough for her. Without looking at anyone again, she walks through. The fire descends back down the second she’s out of sight. Logan turns and heals Larkin while everyone else just stands around, confused as to what we all just saw.
“What the heck just happened?” Emma asks.
Thunder rolls in the distance. “He just angered an already angry girl,” Logan says as he steps away from Larkin. Kyril reaches down to help Larkin stand.
“Do you think this is going to be over soon?” David asks. We all glare at him. “What? I’m hungry. I forgot to eat before we came here.
“How do you forget to eat?” Emma playfully hits his shoulder. “You’re always thinking about food.”
“Incendia, drop the fire,” I say. She shrugs and smiles.
“I’m not the one doing this,” she says as she looks up toward Bragden. We all turn and look at him shocked. I didn’t think he was strong enough yet to do this. He hasn’t been training for that long.
“You needed time to heal Ryanne…”
“Thank you,” I tell him. “Now drop the fire.”
The fire around us disappears, and through the fighting, I watch as Ryanne walks up to Vincent. He looks down at her for a second before nodding and grabbing onto her wrist. Both of them disappear without saying a single word to anyone else. “Where is she going?” I ask Larkin.
“Back to Zahtri.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
He threw me off a cliff. Off a freaking cliff. Like really? All I wanted was a fair fight, but no, he had to throw me off a cliff while I was basically unconscious.
Vincent drops me down in the middle of the cliff edge where we were last time, but Zahtri is nowhere to be seen. I spin around in circles looking for him. “Is he supposed to be here?” Vincent asks me.
“Yeah,” I point to the cliff edge. “He just threw me off of that.” I look behind me. Oh no. “Take me back. Take me back!” I yell. Vincent doesn’t even question me. He places a hand on my shoulder and transports me back to the area behind the compound. I knew it.
Zahtri is way too cocky for his own good. He is talking to Dravin while standing on the opposite side of the platform. Landing on it, I look behind me and see everyone fighting. Colton, Liam, and Natalie are all fighting together. Bragden and Incendia are together while David and Emma are helping Logan and Lily fight. Larkin and Kyril are tag-teaming it—still creating chaos around them. Travis is fighting with a smaller girl with his parents right behind him.
Zahtri stops smiling when he sees me standing there. “You just don’t know when to stop do you?” he yells as he starts walking toward me.
“Go,” I whisper to Vincent.
“Ryanne,” he says.
“Thank you for helping me, Vincent, but I need you to go.” When he doesn’t move, I say, “Go or I will make you leave.” Vincent looks down at me for a moment before he blinks away. I don’t know where he went, but I’m glad he listened. Though I don’t know him, I don’t want anything to happen to him.
Love and anger crashes into me. Instantly, I recognize it as Colton’s. I put a shield up behind me as I turn around.
Colton is still standing with Liam and Natalie, but he’s looking at me. I want nothing more than to go over to him and forget about everything happening around me, but I can’t. I can’t ignore it anymore. This is happening. This is real. Right here, right now, I have to fight. I have to fight for Colton. I have to fight for our life together. I have to fight. Without him.
I place my hand over my heart and nod at him. I can’t go to him and I hope he doesn’t come to me. This could very well be the end for me, and I need Colton to know I love him. Colton mimics my stance and nods back to me. He understands. I take a deep breath and turn around, quite possibly facing my imminent death.
Zahtri is waiting patiently at the edge of my shield. I don’t do anything and neither does he. We just stand there. I can see Dravin moving around us. I want to stop him, but I know I’m not the one destined to stop him. That privilege belongs to Liam and Colton.
“I see you survived the fall,” Zahtri says.
“I used my resources,” I tell him.
“Interesting.”
“What are we doing here, Zahtri? We need to stop this once and for all. No more games. Just us. No one else needs to become involved.”
“I thought I was stopping this when I dropped you off the cliff’s edge,” Zahtri tells me with a blank expression.
“It takes a little more than that to get rid of me, Zahtri. I’m pretty stubborn.”
“I’ve noticed.”
I can hear all of the fighting going on behind me, but I refuse to turn around. I’ve surrounded myself with a shield, so I shouldn’t have any surprise attacks from behind. I can’t read Zahtri’s mind because he’s put up a mental shield to block me. I’ve surrounded my thoughts with magic, so he shouldn’t be able to read mine either. I want to end this fair and square.
“How is this going to go?” Zahtri asks me. I try to keep a neutral expression on my face despite the surprise. I have no idea. I wasn’t expecting him to ask me that.
“How do you think this should go?” I ask him. Zahtri starts pacing the area in front of my shield. I watch him moving back and forth. He’s going to attempt something, but I don’t know what.
“I think you should drop that shield of yours, Ryanne, before I make you drop it myself. Then, we’re going to fight. Since you’re so adamant on fighting me, I’ll give you that much, but I’m not a fair fighter, darling. You better be prepared.”
I take a step forward. My shield pushes against Zahtri, so he takes a step back. I continue moving toward him. I want to distance us from the rest of the fighting. I know I’ll have to bring out all of my magic, and I don’t want anyone to get hurt because of it. No one but Zahtri, that is.
“It’s a good thing I don’t plan on fighting fairly either then,” I say.
I drop the shield.
Colton
I let my invisibility take over as Ryanne turns around and faces Zahtri again. I can’t see her, but I know that she is talking to him. What is she saying? Since she’s standing on the platform and Zahtri is on the ground below, they are almost the same height. I groan as I focus on the Gadramicks in front of me.
Liam won’t leave Natalie’s side since she almost died. I can see Jedrek fighting Gadramicks to the side. A ball of fire shoots past me. I look to my right and see Incendia fighting
a Gadramick. Bragden is fighting off two, so he can’t make it over to her. The Gadramick fighting her knocks her to the ground. I can see the anger radiating off of Bragden as he attempts to stop the Gadramicks in front of him. His eyes flicker over to Incendia, but he can’t actually make it over to her. His arms lighten as flames erupt from his skin and ignite his body. He’s literally on fire.
I punch the man in the jaw in front of me and make my way over to her. For being on the ground, Incendia is holding her own pretty well, but I can tell she needs help. When Bragden is able to stop those Gadramicks, more start fighting him.
I rush behind the man and pull him off of Incendia. Gasping for breath, she slowly pushes herself up. Since he is confused about the invisible force that moved him, it is easy to knock him out. Incendia stands, places her hands on her hips, and thanks me.
“This needs to stop,” she says. Bragden is finally able to finish off the two Gadramicks that were fighting him and runs over to Incendia. He pulls her against his chest and apologizes to her. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t get to you.”
“Hey, hey. It’s fine. Colton helped me,” she says. Bragden nods in my direction, thanking me.
“You’re welcome.” Bragden helped Liam save Ryanne when she was kidnapped the first time. That moment feels like so long ago even though it was only a few months ago. Helping him with Incendia is the least I can do. I turn and look back up at Ryanne. Now she’s talking to him. Since her shield is still up, Zahtri is taking small steps away.
I hear a girl scream behind me. I turn around expecting to see Lily or Emma, but instead I see Logan falling to the ground while a Gadramick pulls a sword out of his side. Lily is the one who screamed. I move away from Bragden and Incendia and make my way over to him
Logan can’t die. I can’t lose another family member. I knock down any Gadramicks in my way as I move through the crowds. Lily is crouched down beside him, tears falling down her face. Logan is trying not to let his pain obvious, but we all know what is going on.
The sword Logan was hit with was infused with dark magic. He won’t be able to heal himself. “What do we do?” Lily frantically asks when I fall to the ground beside him. She grabs Logan’s hands and makes him look toward her. “Logan, what do we do?” she asks quietly. James and Travis move around us, fighting off any Gadramicks who try to come close.
My eyes scan the crowd around us, but I don’t see Jedrek anymore.
Logan looks at her with unshed tears in his eyes and shakes his head. There’s nothing that can be done.
“Logan, you can’t leave us,” I tell him. “Ryanne will never forgive you if you leave us,” I try to joke, but I know that it falls short. “I won’t forgive you.”
Lily chokes on her tears as Logan turns toward her. “Lily, if you accept Logan you may be able to heal him,” James shouts from behind her. Lily whips around and looks at him.
“What?”
“If you accept him, you may be able to heal him,” he repeats.
“Lily, he’s telling you Logan is your soulmate.” Logan gasps, and his eyes roll into the back of his head. He’s still breathing but it is very shallow.
“How?”
“Do you believe that he’s your soulmate?” I ask her. She looks up at me and then brings her attention back to Logan. I already know the answer. She wouldn’t be acting this way if she didn’t already feel something for him. They’ve been inseparable this week. Whether they were arguing or joking with each other, they were still together.
“I don’t deserve someone like him, Colton” she says. “I’ve not done anything to deserve him.”
“But you could see yourself falling in love with him, don’t you?” Lily wipes the tears away from her eyes. I can tell that she’s thinking about everything. Her brown eyes look toward me and she nods. I motion for her to come toward me.
Another ring of fire forms around us, separating us from the fighting.
Lily rushes to my side. “What do I do?”
“You have to fully accept Logan for who he is,” Logan’s body shudders once before going completely still. Lily gasps and more tears fall down her face. “It won’t work if you don’t accept him.”
Lily leans down and rests her head on Logan’s still chest. She fists her hands into the fabric of his shirt. I know all of this is very sudden, but if it is meant to be, everything will work out in the end. I clench my hands to keep from showing how upset this is making me. Death is never easy to see, but this is Logan. We basically grew up together. He’s as much of a brother to me as David is. Lily needs me to remain calm right now.
I can hear her whispering something, but I can’t hear the words. Her body tenses over his and she shoots up and looks at me, scared. “His heart stopped beating.”
“Lily, you have to heal him now,” I tell her. If she can’t do this…I can’t think like that.
“I don’t know how. I don’t know what to do.”
“Let the mage inside you take over, Lily,” I say. “You know exactly what to do.”
“What if it doesn’t work?” she whispers. “I don’t have a lot of magic in me. I don’t even have a power.”
“You never know unless you try.”
Lily nods and leans toward Logan again. She gasps as her hands move toward Logan’s wound. She’s kneeling in the blood that is seeping out of his wound, but she doesn’t care. A few months ago, I never would have believed that Logan and Lily were soulmates. My cousin and the cheerleader? It wouldn’t have made sense.
Lily was this stuck-up girl, while Logan is one of the most caring people I know. They are complete opposite, but since Lily’s near death experience, I’ve found out that everything I thought about her was a lie. She’s not from a rich home like she made everyone in school believe. She’s not this heartless cheerleader like everyone thought. There’s so much more to her. People are capable of creating a false exterior, so no one gets to know the true person underneath. She was afraid of what the truth could bring her. I’m so glad Ryanne was able to help her that day, because despite neither Logan or Lily admitting their feelings for each other, I can see the change in both of them. I’ve never seen Logan light up the way he does when Lily’s around and she seems genuinely happy when near him.
“Nothing is happening,” Lily cries. The wound isn’t healing. “Logan, you can’t leave me!” she shouts at him.
She doesn’t remove her hands from the wound, but she leans down again and sobs onto his chest. I reach forward and attempt to calm her, but I know there’s nothing I can do.
I’m about to shout for Bragden or Incendia to drop the shield when Lily gasps and jumps back. “What’s going on?” she looks back toward me. I recognize the look on her face.
“You’re healing him,” I tell her. Logan’s wound is starting to close. Lily moves closer to him and presses harder on the wound. The black liquid from the dark magic starts oozing out of the wound, but Lily doesn’t move. She continues to put pressure on the wound. Once the last of the black liquid is pushed out of Logan’s body, the wound begins to glow.
I try to keep my elation to myself. Logan is going to be fine. I’m not losing another family member today. Logan’s body convulses once and then he starts breathing again. I lean back. I’ll give them time once he becomes conscious again.
Logan is going to be fine. Oh, thank God. I don’t know how I would able to tell Ryanne that. I wouldn’t have to tell her. She’d know. A few seconds later, he gasps and opens his eyes. Like Ryanne did, he starts coughing and rolls to his side as he attempts to sit up. I stand up and walk to the edge of the fire barrier. I don’t know if it’ll burn me to touch, but I don’t really want to find out.
Logan opens his eyes and looks up at Lily. Without saying anything he pulls her down to him. I turn around giving them some privacy.
“Colton,” Logan says as he pushes himself up. I turn around at the sound of his voice. “Thank you.” I don’t need to say anything, so I just nod. He understands. Logan has done so much
for all of us recently; we wouldn’t be here without him. I reach out and help him stand up. He’s not in any condition to fight, there’s no way to avoid it. Lily stands at his side, slightly awkward, waiting for his reaction again. When he’s standing, he reaches out and pulls her to him, hugging her. “Thank you,” he whispers into her hair.
“Bragden, drop the fire,” I yell.
The fire around us disappears. Lily has her arms wrapped around Logan’s waist, helping him stand upright.
I turn toward James and Travis. “Can you help her get him off the field?”
“I can fight,” Logan announces. Lily and I turn and glare at him.
“You cannot fight, Logan,” Lily says.
“At least take a little time to heal yourself. If you feel well enough to fight afterwards then you can.”
“Colton, I need to fight.”
“And I need you to keep yourself alive, Logan. Don’t do anything stupid.”
Jedrek appears out of the thick of the chaos and stops in front of us. “I need a few of you to come with me,” he says.
“What?” I ask.
“There are some humans locked up in the compound that Dravin was running tests on.” He pulls a key from his pocket and hands Logan a key. “If you go inside and take a left at the end of the first hall there is an unmarked door. Use the key on that door. It’ll lead you to the basement where you’ll find five or six humans. Release them.”
“There are humans here…alive?” Incendia asks.
“Yes, and I don’t think I’ll be around for much longer, so someone has to rescue them while I try and save those who have gotten hurt with their weapons.”
Logan and Lily grab the key and start heading for the compound. Travis agrees to go with them. Bragden, Incendia, and James will continue to fight. Bragden throws up another wall of fire to allow for Logan, Lily, and Travis to get into the compound without anyone attempting to stop them.