Descending Darkness (The Prophesized #3) (15 page)

“What was that about?” Liam asks me.

I turn toward the stairs and watch as a very wet Colton comes down, shaking his head at me with each step. “He tickled me.” I call wind to me and dry him off. When I pull my magic back, Colton turns toward me, giving me that coy smile. I scoot closer to Liam on the couch as Colton makes his way over to me. When I can’t go any farther, I throw up a shield around me.

“I won’t tickle you,” Colton says.

“Do you promise?”

“Yes, I promise I won’t tickle you.” He is standing at the edge of the couch, staring down at me waiting for me to pull my magic back.

“Do you pinky promise?”

“How can I pinky promise you if you have a shield up?” he asks me. Hmm, good question. My soulmate is smart.

“Do you metaphorically pinky promise?” I ask. David and Bragden start laughing at me. “You can never be too safe!”

“I metaphorically pinky promise that I won’t tickle you,” he says.

“Because I told you, I have eighteen years to make up for. You can’t get me back during this time. It’s a rule.”

“Who made up these rules?”

“I did. That makes it official. Ryanne official. It doesn’t get much higher than that.” I point at David. “No short jokes!”

“Are you reading my mind?” questions David.

“No, I just know you.” I turn back to Colton.

“Ryanne, I’m not going to tickle you,” he tells me through a smile. I slowly pull the shield back and let him sit beside me. He keeps his hands out where I can see them as he sits down. I eye him suspiciously before I scoot closer to him again. Colton wraps his arm around me and pulls me into his side. I smile up at him as I rest my head on his chest.

“Aww, I want that,” Natalie says and looks toward Emma. Emma smiles and nods while watching Colton and I. Why are they watching us?

“Want what?” I ask Natalie.

“What you guys have. That playful but completely serious relationship you two share. I’ve never had a relationship like that.” Conner scoffs when she mentions her previous relationships.

“What’s wrong, Conner?” I ask him.

“He’s angry about my last relationship,” Natalie answers for him.

“If that’s what you call it,” Conner says under his breath.

“What happened?” Emma asks. I can tell that Natalie is uncomfortable with the direction this conversation has turned.

“He…um…he hit me, a couple times actually. I tried to break up with him after the first time, but he threatened me. Conner and my dad had to threaten him before he finally left me alone.”

I look over at Liam. He is clenching his fists against his leg. Natalie won’t see it from where she is sitting, but I can see it. “Oh my gosh. I’m sorry, Natalie.”

“Oh, it’s fine. It happened a while ago.”

“We’re not very good when it comes to guys, are we?” Emma asks. Natalie and I both turn and look at her. “Well, I was cheated on, Natalie was abused, and Ryanne got attacked by the same guy who is now working with Dravin.”

“Hmm, I bet it’s a mage thing,” Natalie says jokingly. I am about to tell her that I wasn’t a mage when it happened, but I feel the pull again, and everything goes black.

Colton

No girl should go through what any of these girls have already gone through. They were all treated poorly by men before, and they don’t deserve that. No one does. I am glad that Ryanne has these two as her friends. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Ryanne open her mouth to say something but then tenses in my arms; her words left unspoken.

“You okay?” I ask her as she starts falling forward.

I tighten my grip around her shoulder and prop her back against me. Her head falls to the side. I try moving her into a more comfortable position, but her head just rolls back. The room is silent because we all know what is happening. There is nothing we can do. We just have to wait—wait and see what this vision brings.

A couple minutes later, Ryanne gasps and sits up. She looks around the room and jumps up. “What time is it?”

David looks at his watch. “Almost 9:00, why?”

She jumps over my legs and runs up the stairs. What did she see? I stand up and am about to head upstairs when she comes back downstairs, hopping on one foot as she tries to put her shoe on. “Larkin, I need you to take me to Jane’s. Like right now!” Larkin stands up and walks over to her. “Then, I need you to come back here and get Colton and Liam.”

“What’s going on?” I ask her, but she ignores my question.

“Larkin,” she jumps in place, “I need to go now!” Larkin reaches out and grabs her arm and transports her out of the room. Liam and I get up and grab our shoes. I finish tying mine when Larkin transports back into the room.

“Bragden and Logan, get ready. We need more people,” he says.

“You just left her there?” I yell. Larkin ignores my question and grabs Liam and me. We are transported to Jane’s house. I’d only been here one other time, but this time is different. I can hear yelling in the backyard. Liam and I run around the house as Larkin transports away again.

Ryanne is standing in the middle of the yard, fighting off two men. There is already one guy lying on the ground. I can tell that she is using her magic because every time she touches one of the guys, they grunt in pain. I run toward the guy at her back, swing back and punch him right in the jaw— the way that Tom taught me when I was younger. His eyes roll into the back of his head, and I let him fall to the ground.

“What’s going on?” I ask her as she elbows the man in the stomach. He grunts and tries to punch her. She ducks and swings her leg out and kicks him the neck. As he falls, Liam walks behind him and hits the pressure point in his neck, knocking him unconscious.

“In less than a minute around ten guys are going to come out of the trees and start attacking. They’re here to kill Jane and Ross.” She looks toward the house. “Dravin decided that she is a target again. He’s trying to get me to react.” She turns around and faces the forest.

On cue, men start piling out.

She pushes her magic out and creates a giant shield. The men run straight into it and immediately fall back. If we weren’t about to fight all of them, I might have found that comical. “I’ll keep this up until Larkin comes back. I can’t keep it up for too long, especially if they start fighting it.”

All at once, the men start pushing themselves back up. Together, they begin pounding on the invisible barrier, and Ryanne grimaces and staggers back a little from the force. I reach out to steady her. She is going to tire out too quickly if she has to keep this up for long.

“We’re here!” Larkin says. I turn around and find everyone coming into the backyard. Liam curses when he sees Natalie walking beside Emma. He looks over to his brother. Without actually speaking, his brother knows what he is asking. Bragden walks over and stands beside Natalie.

“I can’t hold it much longer!” Ryanne shouts.

“Drop the shield, Ryanne,” I tell her. I move her behind me as she drops the shield. Instantly, all the men run toward us. She takes a couple steps forward, so she is beside me.

“I’m beside you, Colton. Not behind you. We’re in this together,” she says while watching the men come forward. I can feel her magic moving around us. As Liam and I take a defensive stance, she continues to stare. I glance over at her as she leans forward a little. The first row of men all gasp and fall. Ryanne smiles slightly and gets into position. David and Logan stop beside Liam and me.

Ryanne runs straight for the man in the middle and does an aerial cartwheel. He stops dead in his tracks, stunned. She lands in front of him and swings her leg up, kicking him in the jaw. He falls to the ground. She then turns to her left and starts attacking the next man. Wow, that is hot.

David hits me in the arm, breaking me out of my trance right as a man stops in front of me. I deflect his blow and start fighting him. I am able to easily defeat him. I turn to the next guy. Liam is fighting alongside Ryanne, but she seems to be holding her own. She’s taken out the most people.

The man she is fighting falls to the ground. She scans the area, looking for someone. Her eyes look past me and narrow. I look behind me and see Adam leaning against a tree, smiling at her. She takes off running toward him. “Ryanne, don’t!” I shout at her as she runs past me. All the guys that try to grab her as she runs past fall to the ground shocked by the amount of magic she is pushing out.

While I’m not paying attention, the man punches me in the stomach. I grunt in pain but quickly recover. Liam makes his way over to me and hits this guy’s pressure point as well. He crumples to the ground. I thank him and look toward Ryanne, who is already fighting with Adam. From here, it doesn’t look like Adam is fighting back. He seems to be only deflecting her hits.

Thunder rumbles in the distance and dark clouds start forming above us. I hear a scream behind me as I see Natalie, Emma, and Bragden slowly being surrounded. Liam keeps looking between the two. The protector in him needs to help Ryanne, but his feelings for Natalie make him want to go to her. I make the decision for him. I push him toward Ryanne, and I move toward Natalie. I want to be the one to help my soulmate, but I know that Liam has to be the one to do it.

I push through everyone and start fighting with the guy trying to fight Natalie. For only having a few training sessions, she is holding up pretty well. Punching him in the jaw, I push him to the side and start fighting with the guy Emma is trying to fend off. I hear a scream behind me and turn around. Ryanne is lying on her back with Adam standing over her. His mouth is moving, but I can’t tell what he’s saying. Without looking, I punch the man I am fighting.

I’m starting to get mad. No one’s going to hurt my girl anymore. Natalie reaches forward and grabs onto my forearm, keeping me from going to her and calming me at the same time. Feeling a few drops of water hit my skin, I glance up at the sky and watch as raindrops slowly cascade down. Ryanne leans backward and puts her hands over her head and kicks up into a standing position. That’s my girl. She laughs at Adam and thrusts her foot onto his. When he doubles over, she elbows him in the stomach and spins around, raising her leg. The side of her foot connects with his chest. Adam staggers backward but doesn’t fall. She shakes her head and thrusts magic toward him. He flies backward into a tree and falls to the ground, unconscious. Liam finally makes his way over to her.

Grabbing onto her arm, he says something to her. She nods and turns to face another man who is running toward her. Liam pushes her behind him, but Ryanne jumps back in front of him and points her hand out, palm facing forward. A lightning bolt shoots out of it and hits the man in the chest. He touches the area and falls to the ground, gasping for air.

“STOP!” she yells, trying to make her voice audible over the downpour. We’re all soaked by this point. I hear the sound of a back door opening. Turning around, I see a very frightened couple standing in the doorway. A couple of men start running toward her again, so she pushes more magic out. When her magic connects with the men, they fall to the ground. “Go. NOW!” She’s not even trying to hold in her anger at this point.

“Ryanne?” a feminine voice asks. Ryanne looks at the woman standing the doorway and shakes her head at her. No one has moved. They seem confused by the turn of events and frightened by her magic. Another pang of thunder resonates and a bolt of lightning strikes the ground in front of Ryanne, illuminating the angered expression on her face. Her hair is flying around her vehemently as the wind intensifies even more.

“Now,” she furiously whispers to the men.

They all turn around and slowly start walking out of the yard, grabbing all the unconscious men littering the ground as they go. She pushes more magic toward them. The last couple of men fall to the ground, but when she takes a step toward them, they scramble up and run into the woods. Her body begins to shake as another round of thunder shakes the earth. Ryanne falls to her knees and grabs her head; she’s starting to lose control. Natalie pushes past me and runs for Ryanne.

She pushes Liam out of the way and grabs onto Ryanne’s arms. The storm stops. All that is left is a steady drizzle. Ryanne takes a deep breath and stops shaking. I bend down next to her and pull her to me. I can still feel the magic emanating from her, but it isn’t dangerous anymore.

“Ryanne, are you okay?” She buries her face into my chest. I push her wet hair from her face and pull her back. She’s staring up at me through frightened eyes. She has a bruise forming on her cheek. Besides some shallow cuts and small bruises, she came out mostly unscathed.

“Ryanne, what’s going on?” The feminine voice asks again. I’m assuming that this is Jane. Ryanne slowly stands up and walks away from me, toward the woman.

“Jane, I can explain,” she whispers. Jane takes a step back. Ryanne bites her lip when she moves away from her out of fright. Ross wraps his arm around her and pulls her to his side protectively.

“Ryanne, what were those men doing in our yard?” Ross asks. “And…how?”

“Can I come inside? I don’t want to stay out here anymore. I promise to explain everything,” she says. “I’m not going to hurt you guys.” I don’t know if she is reading their minds or if they look scared. They are standing too far away for me to read their facial expressions. Ross starts shaking his head, but Jane stops him. She nods and motions for Ryanne to follow them into the house.

“Larkin, can you take everyone back?” He nods and walks over to Emma and Natalie. Ryanne looks between Liam and I. “Liam, will you stay?” I understand why she asked him, but it still hurt that I can’t be the one to help her with this. Liam is her protector, and he’s the only other person that Jane knows. I walk backward and stand near my brother and Logan.

Ryanne walks up the steps of the back porch. As she walks through the doorway, she turns around and looks at me. She touches her chest, where her heart is, and mouths
sorry
to me. I touch my chest over my heart and nod at her. I understand what she is doing.

Larkin transports back, grabs Bragden, and leaves again. I stare at the door as Ryanne slowly closes it and walks into the house, leaving me behind. I grab onto the back of my neck and look toward the sky. It isn’t raining anymore, but it is cloudy. I exhale and have to concentrate really hard to keep visible. Larkin appears in front of me. He places a hand on Logan’s shoulder and transports him back to the house. A couple seconds later, he is back. Reaching for Conner, he leaves again.

David pats my shoulder, “She’s going to be okay, Colton.” Larkin transports back and stands between David and me. Placing a hand on both of our shoulders, he closes his eyes and concentrates on transporting us away.

Twenty minutes later, we are all dry and back downstairs. Larkin is sitting on the couch where Liam usually sits. He looks like he could fall over at any given moment. He has used a lot of magic in such a short period of time. I can’t sit still, so I take to pacing the floor behind the couch.

“Colton, she’s going to be fine. She’ll call if she needs any help. Quit worrying,” Emma says.

“I don’t think she has to worry about not being that girl from the vision,” Logan says. “We saw a little bit of her tonight.”

“That’s what I’m worried about,” I whisper.

“Why are you worried about that?” asks Natalie.

“I’m afraid that…I don’t know. She’s strong, I know that. And she can handle what’s being thrown at her but to what extent? You can only go through so much before you crack. She’s not invincible. She does have her kryptonite.”