Reaching Retribution (The Prophesized Series) (4 page)

Everyone continue
s to stare at me. They all expected me to sit down and rest for the next couple days. I promised my mom that I’d try to get over my insecurities and I’m trying to. I don’t think I’m strong enough yet to accomplish this task, but I can feel my magic coursing through my veins. I can feel the power flowing through me, and every day, my magic grows. Every day, I’m getting stronger. I’m getting closer and closer to the mage I need to be, but I know I’m not going to become that mage by sitting down and resting for days. I need to move. I need to do something purposeful. I need to start accepting my responsibilities and do what needs to be done.

“Oh, and I need to put the protective enchantment on you, Incendia,” I tell her.

Still no one talks. I know what they want to know. “You want to know what happened to me while I was…dead?”

They
all nod. Taking a deep breath, I look up toward the ceiling and begin, “I woke up in this hotel room alone. You guys were gone and everything looked perfect. Claire came and told me that I wasn’t supposed to have died and that there was a way to get back, but she couldn’t tell me anything. I left the hotel. Pretended to see some tumbleweed. Ran into Lily. Walked away from Lily. She caught up to me. Told me how she died. I forgave her. She forgave her step-dad. Poof, she’s alive. I walked to the cemetery. Cried. Boo-hoo. Tears. The whole she-bang. Then I promised to overcome some insecurities and viola, here I am.” I rush through the explanation because I don’t want everyone to dwell on it for too long. I don’t want to have to explain anything in more detail. I’m not ready for that yet. “You guys good?”

They all continue to stare at me. Thankfully, I feel the familiar pull of my magic. Since everyone
is sitting and I am standing, I know that there is no way anyone will catch me. I close my eyes and fall to the ground, going into a vision before I feel the physical pain of landing on the floor.

Insecurities? What insecurities could be so bad that she would have to overcome them in death? I’ll have to ask her about it later. Ryanne bites her lip and looks around the room, waiting for everyone’s reply. She spoke really fast, so I’m sure everyone is trying to catch up with her words. They all look surprised. I know that Ry left out a lot of information. She doesn’t want to tell us everything.

She sighs and opens her mouth to speak again, but freezes. “Travis,” I warn as Ryanne starts to sway. There’s no way I can make it across the room fast enough to catch her. As she starts to fall, Travis jumps forward and catches her right before she hits the ground.

“Dadgumit. That was a close one,” he says as he sits up, adjusting Ryanne on his lap. “Does she always just fall like that?”

“She didn’t use to. When she first got her magic, she would have enough time to warn us before sh
e fell. Now, it just happens so suddenly that she’s unable to say anything,” I explain.

Tom moves forward.
“She’s right though. We do need to get a move on. We’re sitting ducks right now. Ryanne’s enchantment seems to be working since Dravin wasn’t able to detect the magic in her, but we can’t just rely on that. We can’t stay in one place for too long. We attract too much attention as it is.”

“Can we discuss on this when she wakes up?” I suggest.

“Colton’s right. She could be seeing something that changes everything,” Liam says.

“I’m
not,” Ryanne mumbles as she sits up. Travis helps her. Ryanne turns around and thanks him.

“What did you see?”
I ask.

Ignoring me, she turns and looks at Larkin. I hate when she does that. She knows that it annoys me. I see the small smile she’s trying to hide. Stubborn girl. “Come on, Larkin. We gotta go.”

“Go where?” he asks when Ryanne stops in front of him.

“You’re not going anywhere,” I tell her. Still ignoring me, she puts a hand out to help Larkin up. Lar
kin grabs onto her extended hand and stands. She leans up and whispers the location in Larkin’s ear. He looks over her head at me, but grabs onto her arm and transports them out of the room.

“He does it because he knows it annoys
you, Colton,” Emma says.

“Wouldn’t you get an
noyed if you just saw your soulmate die? Claire told me not to let her out of my sight because she’s in danger, and I can’t even do that.”

“She’s not in danger, Colton. She knows what she is doing…usually. She didn’t look like she was hiding anything too serious. I think she didn’t
tell you because she knows you’ll make her stay here. I know she doesn’t like upsetting you, so she wouldn’t do it on purpose,” Emma says.

“We were
n’t given the visions. She’s the only one that sees what’s going on outside of this room. She’s the only one that can change anything,” Kyril says, “and Larkin just likes making you mad, so he goes along with it.”

“Well he needs to stop doing that,” I say. Leaning back against the bed, I try to remai
n calm while I wait for my soulmate to come back.

Larkin transports b
ack into the room holding an unconscious girl in his arms. She has bruises all over her body and her head is wrapped up in gauze. “Lily?”

“Ryanne said
she needed our help,” Larkin explains as he places her down on the bed and transports back out of the room. We all turn and look at the girl who’s completely out lying on the bed. Logan tentatively stands up and walks over to her.

“Am I supposed to heal her?”

“Yes,” Ryanne says when she and Larkin reappear. “We’ll need her.”

“She’s a human
.”

“Not completely,” Ryanne says as Logan begins to heal her.

“What do you mean?” I ask her.

“Like me, Lily’s real dad left when she was a baby, so she never knew him. However, her real dad was a mage, s
o Lily is half mage. She has magic in her.”

“How do you know that?” I ask her.

“She’s right,” Incendia confirms. “She does have some magic in her. I don’t think she’s come into her powers though. It’s not very dominant yet.”

Logan reaches down and
places his hands on either side of Lily’s face, focusing on her head injury. I walk over to Ryanne and pull her away from Larkin. “I need to talk to you,” I whisper to her.

She grimaces and shakes her head
. “I’m good. I think I’ll just stay here.” I start pulling her toward the door, “Colton, you know I can stop you.”

“But you’re not going to,” I tell her as I open the door and pull her into the hallway.

“How do you know that?” she asks as she leans back against the door.

“Why do you do that?” I ask her instead of answering. “Why won’t you just talk to me? Tell me what’s going on instead of leaving like that? I just lost you, Ryanne. You were dead! I can’t watch you just leave like that without knowing where you’re going. Do you know what it does to me?”

Ryanne bites her lip and looks up at me. “Because…” Because? That’s all she can give me. No explanation. No reason. Just because?

“Because why?”

“Because I want to protect you,” she whispers.

This girl. Shaking my head,
I step forward and place my hands on her cheeks, framing her face. “I need to be able to protect you too, Ryanne. Claire told me to stay with you because you’re in danger. I
have
to protect you. Don’t you understand? My mind wanders every time you disappear. I can’t stop the images that flood through my head. I watch you die over and over again. Thousands of different ways. I don’t know if I’ll ever see you again. I’ve watched the life drain from your eyes twice. I’ve seen come close to death countless times.” She bites her lip harder, trying to stop the quivering. I brush my thumb across her bottom lip. She sighs and looks back up at me. “What’s going on, Ry? What are you not telling me?”

Ryanne opens her mouth to speak, but a teenage boy exits
his hotel room and walks down the hallway. She watches the guy as he moves past. “Get a room,” he mutters.

“We already have one, but thanks for the suggestion,” Ryanne politely tells him. I lean forward to hide my smile in her neck. When I can’t hear his footsteps
anymore, I lean back and look at Ryanne again. “Please Colton, give me some time.”

Her voice shakes at the end. I don’t want to wait, but I know that it’ll
be hard to force it out of her. I’ll give her some time, but I can also be pretty persuasive when I need to be.

Standing tall, Ryanne only comes up to my mid-chest.
With my arms on either side of the door beside her head, I realize just how small she actually is. Why does it have to be her? I lean down and kiss her forehead, enveloping myself in her warm, floral scent. Sighing, Ryanne steps forward and wraps her arms around my waist, resting her head on my chest.

“Everything is going to get worse before it gets better, Colton. When the time comes, y
ou’re going to be needed somewhere else. I’m not going to be beside you, because I’m needed elsewhere. You just have to trust me. Sometimes, I know what I’m doing. Sometimes, I just make it up as I go—like Jack Sparrow. He usually gets out of sticky situations. Think of me as Captain Jack. Trust I have a plan even when I don’t.”

“You want me to think of you as
Johnny Depp dressed as a pirate?” I ask. “I happen to find you much more attractive.”

“I don’t know.
Johnny Depp is pretty hot,” she says as she smiles up at me. I lean back and cross my arms. As Ryanne’s eyes slowly move down to my chest, a slight blush rises in her cheeks. What is she thinking about? Clearing her throat, she looks up at me. “Please trust me, Colton.”

“
I’ll try to trust your fake winging-it plans, but if you get yourself killed again, I’ll…” she raises her eyebrows, waiting for the end of my threat.

The door she was leaning against opens
, and Ryanne falls backward into Travis before I can finish it. He reaches out and catches her as she starts falling. “We’re going to leave here soon. You guys should get ready.” He looks down at Ryanne. “I’ve only known you for a day sunshine yet you keep falling for me. What is it? My incredibly handsome face? Southern charm?” Travis pauses for a moment before saying, “It’s the belt buckle, isn’t it?” Ryanne opens her mouth to reply, but doesn’t say anything. He does manage to get a blush out of her. He laughs at her reaction and steps to the side, letting her pass. Ryanne looks at me and starts giggling as she walks back into the room.

*****

“So tell me about this next family? Who did Dravin kill
, and will they want to cause me harm because of it?” I ask.

“No, you won’t have to defend yourself or Colton against these folks. They’re friendly enough, but they are
neutral right now. They don’t want to be a part of the battle. Mr. and Mrs. Prowler used to work for Dravin, but they left before he started all of this ‘Stop Ryanne,’ stuff, so you’ll just have to persuade them to come to our side,” James explains.

“Do they know about the prophecy?” I ask.

James nods. I figured as much, but it didn’t hurt to ask. “Ryanne, everyone knows about the prophecy,” Emma says as she finishes packing her suitcase.

“I didn’t know about it,” I retort.

“Because you weren’t born a mage, honey. You were a human for eighteen years.” My eyes follow James as he leaves the room before I turn back to Emma.

“I’m still a human, Emma. It’s
not like being a mage makes us aliens or anything. We’re technically still human. We all share the same characteristics. We all have dreams, goals, and drives. We all laugh, fall in love, and experience grief. The only thing that makes us different is that we have magic. We have powers that can be used to help said individuals.”

“
Look, sweetie, I love you, but I’m not the one who needs hear the speech. I’m already on your side,” Emma leans forward and kisses me on the cheek and walks out of the room, laughing at my shocked reaction.

“
Come on,” Colton says as he throws my duffle bag over his shoulder pulls me out of the room too. I never unpacked, so it didn’t take long to get everything ready.

“I can carry that.” I try to grab my bag from him
, but he holds it above my head, laughing. They always have to pull the short card.

“
Nope, I got it,” he says as he closes the hotel room and starts walking down the hallway. I run after him and jump onto his back, wrapping my legs around his waist and arms around his neck.

“Well then mister, you can carry me too,” I say as I kiss the back of his neck. Colton laughs, but carries me through the lobby. We g
et a few strange looks from the concierges, but I don’t care. Tom laughs when he sees us, but no one says anything.

“Hey, what happened to
the man with the dagger?” I ask Colton as he puts our bags into the back of the car.

“He’s been taken care of,” he
answers cryptically. I catch his glance toward Bragden, but I’m not completely sure what the look means.

“Oh.”
I don’t think I really want to know what happened to him. Colton stops outside of the door, “Unless you want me to sit in your lap, this is your stop.”

I jump down and wait for him to get into the car.
Before I step in, Tom comes up to me and wraps his arms around me, pulling me to him. “It’s good to have you back, Ryanne. Please be a little more careful though.” His chest rumbles as he speaks. I wrap my arms around his waist and promise him that I’ll try. With that he releases me, and I crawl into the car.

Since we have
two more people, Emma and I are back to sitting in laps. Colton pulls me onto his as Tom starts the car. Lily is sitting in the back, between Incendia and Logan. “You okay?” I ask her. She seems a little scared, but hasn’t complained or questioned anything.