BlackMoon Beginnings (13 page)

He puts his hand up in front of me for a high
five. I slap his hand, laughing. He hands me a bottle of water and
I greedily drink half of it. I put my hand on my waist, finally
able to breathe at a normal rate again.

Colton still hasn’t said anything yet, so I
look down at him. He’s staring up at me, eyes wide and a slight
awed smile on his face. He blinks quickly and looks away. “Well, I
don’t think we really have to worry about you losing in an attack.
Just do some of those flips. You’ll shock anyone enough to get the
upper hand.” He smiles at me, “I lost all train of thought when I
saw you coming towards me, flipping through the air. Of course,
they all came back when you kicked me in the stomach. That hurt, by
the way.”

I smile sheepishly at him, “Sorry.”

“Were you reading their minds at all during
that?” Tom asks.

I look at him, my eyes widening. “No, I
forgot that I could to that!” Of course, I can’t read Colton’s
mind, but it would have been helpful against David.

“Well, I think it is safe to call it a day.
Good job, kid.”

“Thanks.” Tom exits the room and I turn
toward Colton and David again. Both of them are rubbing their
chests where I had kicked them. I smile remembering what David told
me. Hmm, maybe good things do come in small packages.

I pause and listen as someone else’s thoughts
come to me.
Somebody help me. Oh gosh, he’s going to find
me.

“Someone is in the woods and needs help.” I
hear a loud boom in the distance. A gunshot? “I can hear her
thoughts, we have to go.” I say, already running out of the door. I
reach the stairs before I hear footsteps behind me, telling me that
the guys are following. We hear the sound of a door banging shut
and then loud voices sound in the kitchen.

“David, call Logan. We need a healer.” Still
running towards the kitchen, David pulls out his cell phone and
calls Logan, telling him we need urgent help.

I get into the kitchen first. Colton is right
behind me. Tom and Claire are both carrying a girl into the room.
Her torso is covered in blood and her breathing is very weak.
What happened to her?
I’m about to ask Claire when my
stomach starts tingling. Suddenly, dark spots invade my vision and
the room around me begins to spin. I can feel my body falling
backwards as I’m sucked into my first vision while awake. Someone’s
arms wrap around me and cushion my fall as a scene starts playing
out before my eyes.

He’s going to kill me. I just know it. I
don’t have the information he needs and now he is going to kill me
for it.

I discreetly look around for a way out of
this situation. We are walking through a dense forest. I’m
surrounded by trees. Nothing but trees. I hear the sound of water
flowing in the distance. Dravin isn’t the one carrying me, but I
know he is close.

I pretend to be limp. They didn’t bother
tying me; they thought I passed out from the pain of their
torturing. I know they are going to get rid of me, for I am no
longer any use to them. They are probably going to throw me into
the stream and watch me sink, laughing manically. Ok, they probably
aren’t going to be laughing, but the evil guys always did that in
the movies.

They kept asking me, “Where’s the girl? The
girl from the prophecy? I know you know her.” I have no idea who
this girl is, but they didn’t believe me. Dravin would beat me
until I was knocked unconscious. After attempting four times, over
two days, to get information out of me, they finally got it through
their thick skulls that I had no idea what they were talking about.
I knew of the prophecy, but that was the extent of it.

The man carrying me isn’t being gentle. Why
would he be? He’s about to kill me. My body keeps banging against
his chest every time he steps on uneven ground. He is squeezing my
arms and legs too tight, cutting off the circulation. The sound of
the water gets louder, telling me we are close. If I am going to do
anything, it has to be soon.

Stopping, the man says, “Where’s Dravin,
shouldn’t he be here by now?”

“
I don’t know. Let’s wait and see he if
comes soon. If not, we’ll dispose of her ourselves.”

It is now or never. I reach up and punch the
man in the nose. Shocked, he drops me to the ground. I jump up and
kick him between the legs before running off in the opposite
direction. I can hear the man groaning in pain behind me.

“
Don’t just stand there! Go after her!” he
yells.

I hear heavy footsteps following me, twigs
breaking beneath his feet. He is gaining on me. I am too weak to
continue at this pace for too long. I divert from a path and
persist, dodging trees and low-lying branches in the process. I
keep up this pace for a while, ignoring the throbbing in my arms
and legs from the vigorous movement. Thinking that I lost him, I
slow down. I take this time to catch my breath. I’m still hurting
from their attacks.

A few minutes later, I hear his heavy
footsteps again. Somebody help me. Oh gosh, he’s going to find me.
I frantically search for somewhere to hide, but there is nothing.
I’m out in the open, without energy to defend myself and nowhere to
hide.

He breaks through the tree-line and smiles at
me. I watch as he brings his right arm out and points a gun at me.
A gun? Gadramicks usually only use swords. I don’t have time to
think. The sound of a gun firing echoes throughout the forest, as
pain shoots across my abdomen. I fly backwards before landing on my
back in the middle of the trail. I try to keep my eyes open, but
it’s too difficult. Everything in my body starts to slow down: my
breathing, my heart rate, and I start losing feeling in my limbs.
Time even seems to slow. I feel someone grab onto me and try to
drag me back. Someone else runs past me towards the man with the
gun and knocks it out of his hands. He kicks the man in the head,
knocking him unconscious. Before the man even falls to the ground,
he turns around and comes towards me, helping the other person pick
me up and carry me away.

I come back into my own body and see Claire,
Tom, and another man leaning over the girl on the ground. I am
leaning against Colton and David is staring at me, with a worried
expression on his face. I try to ask him what happened, but a
blinding pain shoots across my stomach. I reach down and place a
hand on my stomach where the pain is. My shirt is moist. I draw my
hand back and see that it is covered in blood.

My blood.

I can’t breathe. I look up and see David
staring at my abdomen in shock. I let out a weakened cry as my legs
give out beneath me and I start falling. Colton tries to reach out
and stop me, but we both fall to the ground.

“Logan, we need you!” David yells, bending
down and sitting beside me. Colton is trying to talk to me and calm
me down. I can see his mouth moving, but I can’t hear anything.

“Apply pressure to the wound, I’ll be there
in a minute,” Logan replies. Colton lays my body flat on the floor,
as David reaches over and puts his hands flat on my stomach, trying
to slow the bleeding. I can’t get any air into my lungs. It is like
trying to blow up a balloon that has a hole it in. I feel my body
start to convulse; the pain is excruciating.

Darkness is slowly creeping into my vision. I
can barely see anyone standing over me. Someone is shouting, but
the ringing in my ears is louder than them. I can feel someone
reach out and brush loose strands of hair from my face. The hands
pressing onto my stomach are removed and a numbing feeling spreads
through my body. I stop fighting and start drifting away, losing
consciousness.

“Are you sure she’s alright?” Colton asks,
“She’s been out for a while.”

“She’s fine, Colton. Stop worrying. She has
to rest to regain her energy,” Claire explains—her voice further
away.

“She’s the prophecy girl that they are always
talking about? I thought she would look different,” says an unknown
female voice. I hear two angry growls in the room “Hey, hey. Down
boys. I didn’t mean that as a bad thing. I just thought she would
be…I don’t know, taller or something. She looks so small. So
fragile.”

My stomach is throbbing, but the pain isn’t
as unbearable anymore. I can hear everything around me, but I can’t
get my body to respond. I want to tell everyone that I am fine…or
going to be fine.

“Don’t underestimate her,” Tom says.

“How come I woke up so much faster than she
is?”

There is a moment of silence, before Claire
speaks up, “I think that going into a vision for the first time,
depleted a lot of her energy. I’m guessing she experienced the
vision through your point of view and that’s why she sustained the
same injury. I think it was just too much for her body to handle at
once. She just learned that she was a mage a couple days ago, she
hasn’t quite learned how to control everything yet.”

I feel my finger twitch. I wait a few more
seconds until full functioning is restored. I turn my head and
groan inwardly.

“Ryanne, can you hear me?” I haven’t opened
my eyes yet. I can feel everyone looking at me. Extra thoughts
creep into my mind.
She’s the one they are looking for. I can’t
believe it. She’s the girl from the prophecy. Look at those guys
pining over her. The shorter one is cute. I hope she’s okay. I need
her to wake up so I can check everything to make sure there are no
other injuries.
I reach up and grab my head, trying to push
them back.

“Guys back up. She can hear your thoughts,”
says David. He sounds like he is right beside me. I hear people
shuffling and the thoughts quiet. They are still there, but it
doesn’t feel like anyone is screaming at me anymore. I push the
thoughts back and lock them with the others. It takes a little
longer to accomplish this time; my body is so exhausted.

When I am left with my own thoughts, I slowly
open my eyes. David and Colton are sitting down at my side. When I
turn and look at them, they both give me small smiles. I feel my
long bangs fall down on my forehead.

“Hey guys. How long was I out?” I
whisper.

Colton reaches out and tucks my hair behind
my ear, “About four hours.”

“Oh.” I try to sit up, but my body won’t have
it. Grunting in pain, I decide to lie back down.

“Guys, move out of the way, I need to take a
look at her.”

A man walked towards me and bends down where
David and Colton just were. “I take it you’re Logan.”

Smiling, he says, “Yeah, I’m Logan and you’re
the famous Ryanne. I wish we were meeting under different
circumstances though.” I try to smile at him, but I’m sure it looks
more like a grimace.

“Where does it hurt?”

“Just my stomach.”

He lifts up my bloodstained shirt and
examines my abdomen, putting slight pressure on it, looking for
sensitive spots. Nodding to himself, he pulls my shirt back down
and grabs my wrist, checking my pulse. Then, he gently takes a hold
of my chin, moving my head and looking me in both eyes.

“Everything appears to be fine now,” he says
to no one in particular. Looking directly at me, he says, “I think
you just need to rest some more. Do you think you can walk?”

He puts his hand under my head and helps push
me into a seated position. I shake my head. If he wasn’t holding me
up, I know that I would fall back. I’m too weak to do anything, but
sleep for the next month straight.

“Colton, do you think you’ll be able to carry
her to her room?”

“Yeah.” Colton comes over to me, “Put your
left arm around my neck.” I listen and he wraps his arm around my
back and the other under my knees. Cradling me against his chest,
he lifts me in his arms and begins walking towards the stairs.

“Thank you, Logan,” I call out.

“You’re welcome.”

I rest my head against his chest, losing my
battle to stay awake. I must have drifted off as he carried me to
my room, because I jolt awake when he is placing me down on the
bed. He apologizes quietly, telling me to go back to sleep. I close
my eyes again and feel the blanket being pulled up around me. A
hand brushes the hair out of my face and someone leans down and
kisses my cheek.

Then I fall back asleep.

I dream of Liam. I am lying in the field
where I first met him. I just listen to life happening all around
me. I can hear the crickets and birds communicating. The soft wind
caresses my face, blowing strands of hair into my eyes. The leaves
of the trees are brushing against each other in the breeze,
creating soft whispers that ride the gentle gusts of wind. The
sunlight warms my skin as I lean back and close my eyes, pointing
my face towards the sky.

“You’re actually sleeping this time.” I know
who is speaking to me before I even open my eyes. I feel someone
come and lie down next to me. I blink, allowing my eyes to adjust
to the light, before turning and facing him.

“Hey, Liam. Nice to see you too.”

“I see you’re wearing my necklace.” I look
down at his necklace.

“Oh, you can have it back if you want it.” I
reach down and am about to take it off, when his hand stops me.

Holding onto my arm, he says, “No, it looks
better on you.” I smile at him and let go of it.

“We’re not going to be attacked this time,
are we?” I ask.

“No, I don’t think so. This isn’t the same
place as last time, just similar.” He replies honestly, “So, why
are you here exactly? You only enter here if you’re in a very deep
sleep.”

“I got shot.”

“You what?”

“Before I elaborate, can I ask you
something?” I turn my body so I am facing him. I am lying on my
side, my head resting on my palm.

He turns and mimics my movements, “Sure.”

“Are you real? Or are you a figment of my
imagination?”