Descending Darkness (The Prophesized #3) (13 page)

“She’s staying with our parents. I talked to her the other day actually. She said that next time she sees you, she wants to play dolls.”

“It’s a date,” I tell him. I do miss her. She seems pretty cool for a youngin’. After a couple seconds of silence, I lean toward Conner. “So what were you talking to Liam about?” I smile at him, giving him my angelic look, hoping that he’ll trust me enough to tell me. I’ve pretty much mastered the puppy dog eyes. I know that I’m being nosy, but I
am
a girl. I am entitled to being nosy every once in a while.

“You know something, don’t you?” Conner asks me.

“Know something about what?”

“I know what you’re doing.”

“And what am I doing?”

“You’re trying to get information out of me without actually giving anything away,” Conner says.

“I don’t think I’m smart enough to think of something like that,” I tell him. “I think you’re reading too much into things.”

“If you’re going to get any information, though there isn’t any, you’ll have to go through Liam.”

“Ugh, you suck,” I tell him but smile sweetly at him. Contradictions are my specialty. I stand up to walk back into the living room, when I feel the pull of my visions. I open my mouth to warn someone, but I’m already falling.

Running through the forest, I look back and see the men chasing after me. I open my mind and try to read their thoughts, but there are too many of them. My steps falter as I try to get control again. I push them back and focus entirely on running without tripping. I enter into a clearing and stop. This place looks familiar, but why?

Realization dawns on me. This is the place where I’d been attacked by the gorgoths before…in the dream world with Liam. How did I get here? I start running again but stop when I see the man standing in front of me. I turn to the right: another man. Left: another. I’m completely surrounded. I spin in a circle, counting the men as I turn. Nine to one. That’s not fair at all. The man directly across from me smiles and takes a step forward. The rest of them spread out to cover the open area.

I take a couple steps backward as he moves closer to me. I can’t go too far because the other men are circling around me. He jumps for me and slams into a shield that I put up. “Did you think I’d go easily? Give me a break. Have you guys not learned anything?”

I run toward him and drop the shield. Doing an aerial cartwheel, I call my magic into my limbs and stop in front of him. Easily, I reach out and kick him in the jaw, knocking him unconscious. He falls limply to the ground. I step over his body on the ground and spin in a circle, arms outstretched. “Who’s next?” I challenge.

All the guys start running for me at once. I call my magic to me and push it under me. When the wind picks up, I jump in the air and fly above everyone. All the men slam into each other, grunting in pain as they realize what I’d done. I flip a couple times in the air before landing in the grass behind them.

Slowly all the men, minus the still unconscious one, get up and face me. “Oops,” I say as I pretend to study my nails. “You really should pay more attention to where you’re going.”

Making another group effort, they all start running toward me again…and run straight into my shield. When they all fall to the ground, I walk toward the ones in front of me, keeping eye contact with every step I take. I stop in front of the biggest guy and watch as he stands up. I make sure it is obvious when I look at what he is wearing as he growls at me. “Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Black is definitely not your color.” He grunts and punches the shield. It doesn’t budge. “I’d go for more earth tones if I were you.”

I walk along the shield and stop at another man. “You’d think after all this time Dravin would have trained his men a little better, or how about this idea, come after me himself. Come on, is he really that scared of me?” I stare at the man. “Do I look scary to you?” He doesn’t say anything.

I wasn’t expecting him to.

I take a couple steps backward, drop the shield, and throw my hands out again. “I’m really getting tired of these pointless confrontations. Come on, boys. Do your best.”

Two men charge at me. I wait until they get closer to me before I react. The first man swings his arm back to try and punch me. Easy. I duck, and he ends up punching the man behind me. He grabs his nose as blood starts to gush from it. That looks like it hurt. I lean back and kick my leg out, connecting with his chest. Since I am calling magic to me, the man stumbles backward. I flip around and punch the other man in the gut. When he doubles over I hit him in the jaw, knocking him out.

Turning around, I give my attention back to the other man. He punches me in the shoulder, causing me to stagger backward. Ouch. This only spurs on my anger, so I stop toying with him. Jumping a couple feet in the air, with the help of my magic, I bring my elbow down on his neck. Before he can even retaliate, his eyes roll into the back of his head, and he also falls to the ground unconscious.

I face the other men. They are still standing in a line. I quickly count them. There are six left. Not too bad. I point my finger at the one on the end and motion him forward. He looks to the man on his left, who just shrugs his shoulders and looks back toward me. He takes a hesitant step toward me. I walk the rest of the way to him and push my magic back. “Ok, I’ll fight fair now.”

He runs forward, and I stand my ground until he is right in front of me. I take a step to the right, and he runs past me. Do they honestly think I’m just going to let them barrel into me? Idiots. Stopping, he turns around and moves toward me again. I hear the man behind me, but I decide to play dumb. When he swings out to punch me, I duck and take a step backward, letting the other man grab me. Oh, these guys really are dumb. “Gotcha,” he whispers in my ear.

“Ooh, the big bad guy caught the wittle girl. I’m shaking in my boots,” I retort. He starts pulling me backward. Does he really think that I’ll just let him cart me off like this? Where does Dravin get these guys? I lift my right foot and back-kick him in the shins. When he hisses in pain and loosens his grip on me, I swing my head back and whack him in the face. He throws me to the ground, so I jump around and throw my magic at him. His back slams into a large tree, and he falls to the ground and doesn’t get back up.

The five remaining guys are now looking at me wearily. I call my magic to me and visualize lightning bolts shooting outwards and hitting them. I slowly raise my hands as the magic builds up. Thrusting it outwards, I watch as bolts shoot out and hit the men. Four of them fall to the ground. They aren’t dead...just stunned. I don’t want to kill anyone, just send a warning.

The one that I didn’t hit looks to be the youngest of all of them. He looks close to my age. I slowly walk over to him. He stands his ground, but I can tell that he is scared. I did just take out eight guys on my own. He stares at me as I stop in front of him. I call magic into my finger and lightly touch him on the chest. “Boo.” His eyes widen when he feels my magic, and he quickly turns around and flees.

I brush the dirt off my clothes and start walking out of the clearing, smiling as I make my way into the darkness of the forest.

Opening my eyes, I find myself lying on my back on the couch in the living room with everyone sitting around me waiting for me to wake up. I brush my hair out of my face as I push myself into a seated position. “Wow, I’m kind of scary,” I say. My statement is met by a bunch of confused stares. Moving the collar of my shirt, I check for the bruise. Yep, it’s there. Despite the pain, I smile and start laughing.

“What the heck did you see?” Emma asks me as Logan reaches out and starts healing me. I don’t know if he will see the whole vision or just the part where the guy hit me on the shoulder. I shake my head. Did I really do that?

Logan holds onto my shoulder even after the bruise is healed which tells me that he is seeing the whole vision. When he opens his eyes, he looks at me and laughs. “Holy crap, girl.”

“I know. I don’t know what got into me, but I was freaking scary in a totally awesome way, right?”

“Will someone please explain what happened in that vision?” Emma asks again. I start explaining the vision to everyone. When I leave out details, Logan adds them in.

“So you took on nine guys by yourself?” Liam asks me. I can tell that he doesn’t like that he wasn’t able to help. He is my protector after all, and he hasn’t been given many opportunities to…protect.

“Well, technically I only took on eight guys. I scared the last one away.”

“Where were we?” I turn toward Colton. He seems upset that I fought all the guys alone too.

“I don’t know. I don’t even know how I got there. The vision started as I was running away from them. Maybe you guys were fighting off others. Maybe I was the only one there. I don’t know.” I turn toward Liam. “It was the same field where we were attacked by the gorgoths. I think that might mean that Valdus will become involved again.” Livid expressions cross both Bragden’s and Liam’s expressions. “Look, despite being attacked, this is a good sign. I’m able to successfully defend myself. I only got hit once!”

“Ryanne, you were just—” I stop listening to what Liam is saying. Something isn’t adding up. Besides the gorgoths, I’ve seen that field recently. I’ve seen something very similar to that before…but where?

I turn toward Logan. “Did that look like the same field from the other vision I had where I was attacked by Adam and Dravin? I was wearing the same outfit.”

“Hmm, Well…yeah, I actually think it was the same location. What does that mean?”

“It means that either I did something or Dravin did something to change that vision.” I look down at the carpet. The vision changed. “It means I could stand a chance.”

Colton

I can understand why she’d be happy that she is able to successfully fight nine of Dravin’s men, but why did she have to? Why was she alone? Where was I? Liam? I have so many questions after hearing about this vision. Something changed, but what? I can tell that Liam is just as confused as I am.

Ryanne stares at the floor with a small smile on her face. I can tell that she is thinking. I just hope that this vision doesn’t make her think that she’s invincible. I can’t stand the thought of losing her again. She starts shaking her head. Laughing dryly, she says to Logan, “Who am I kidding? I’ll never be that girl. I’m not that fearless. Dravin’s proven it countless times…” She bites her lip, and her eyes water a little.

“Ryanne, that’s not—”

“Can we just go train now?” she quietly asks me. I nod and put my hand out. She grabs onto my hand and lets me guide her upstairs. I pull her into our room, and she closes the door. Leaning back against it, she crosses her arms and looks down at the floor. Her lip quivers a little.

I walk over to her and tilt her chin up, so I can look into her eyes. She keeps her eyes down. “Ryanne, what’s wrong?”

She doesn’t respond. I walk backward and sit down on the edge of the bed, so I am closer to her eyelevel. I pull her so that she is standing between my knees and tilt her chin, so she is looking at me. With a sigh, she tells me, “I can’t do this. I can’t be that girl. I can’t do what everyone expects me to do. I’m not the prophecy girl, Colton. It’s not me.”

“Ry, you’re—”

“Colton, I’m scared all the time. I’m scared that I’m going to wake up one morning and find out that I imagined everything. I’m scared that something or someone is going to come and take you away from me. I’m scared that Dravin’s going to capture me again. I’m scared that this is all one freaking dream, and I’m scared that I’m going to screw up and let everyone down. I’ve been given way too many chances,” she pauses.

Silent tears start to fall down her cheeks. I cup her face and wipe the tears away. “The girl in that vision was completely fearless. She wasn’t scared that they were going to capture her. For crying out loud, she was calling them dumb and complaining that it was too easy. I wouldn’t do that. I get the crap beat out of me every time I see Dravin. There’s no way I can be that girl in the vision even if I wanted to be,” her voice cracks at the end. “I’m afraid that something is going to happen to me, and I won’t get to have the life I saw in the other vision.”

I pull her to me and hug her. She sighs and bunches her hands into the fabric of my t-shirt. “Ryanne, you’re the most fearless person I know. You go into these situations thinking about others and that makes you stronger than Dravin. You can accomplish anything you put your mind to, as cliché as that sounds. I’m scared too. I’m scared that something is going to happen to you. I’m scared that you’re going to be taken away from me, and there will be nothing I can do. I won’t be able to control what I do if that happens. I need you here beside me. We can work on this together.”

She leans back and looks at me. She has stopped crying, but her face is red from it. I stop rubbing her back and reach up to wipe the last of the tears away. “Really?”

“Yes, and I’ve seen you appear fearless. When you were at Dravin’s, you were acting just like the girl in the vision. Though, I didn’t like it, it showed how strong you are. You weren’t afraid of him. You
can
do this. I, along with everyone downstairs, will be right beside you to help in any way that we can.” She slowly nods and reaches up to rub her eyes. When she looks back at me, the skin under her eyes is red, but she looks adorable. Her eyes are brighter than usual; the green flecks in them shining brightly.

“Thank you, Colton,” she whispers as she steps away from me and goes over to grab her training clothes. My eyes follow her as she gathers everything and walks into the bathroom to change. I don’t look away until she closes the door. I push myself over to the dresser and grab my training clothes. I quickly get dressed and wait for her to finish.

Ryanne opens the bathroom door, but she doesn’t walk out immediately. I can hear her moving around in the bathroom. She walks out of the bathroom as she is tying her hair up in a ponytail. Even pulled back, her hair falls down to her mid-back. My eyes slowly move from her eyes to the rest of her. I really do need to get her other work-out clothes. These reveal way too much. They cling to her like a second skin, and she has no idea the effect she has on everyone.