BlackMoon Beginnings (17 page)

“So, are you ready to tell us now?” I’m not
sure which one spoke to me, but I don’t care. They’re all
crazy.

“No,” I grunt. My voice cracks at the end as
I try to speak.

“Stubborn, insolent, little girl!” Someone
kicks me in the stomach, sending me backwards and when my body hits
the wall again, the air is knocked out of my lungs. Based on the
intense pain, I think he broke a couple of ribs. I roll onto my
back, trying to catch my breath again.

“We’ll be back.” I hear their footsteps leave
the room and the door is bolted shut again. Warm tears start
falling down my face as I let the grimness of my situation sink in.
I may never get out of here. I wish that I would pass again. At
least, I can’t feel the pain that way, but my body will have
nothing to do with it. I lay on the concrete floor for hours,
before my body finally gives in and I fall asleep.

I wake up and find myself still lying on the
concrete floor in the cell. I try to sit up, but am too weak. I
haven’t had anything to eat for days now. I’d wake up and find
small bottles of water in my cell. They give me enough to keep me
alive, but nothing more. I don’t even react when I hear the sound
of the door opening for the third time.

The handsome man, who I assume is the
infamous Dravin, sits on the ground beside me. “My patience with
you is running out.” He reaches out and touches my swollen cheek. I
flinch away from his touch, but he forcibly grabs my chin and jerks
my head closer to him. Aggressively opening my mouth, he pours a
vial of clear liquid down my throat, placing his hand over my
mouth, coercing me to swallow.

“What I just gave you was a truth serum. Now,
I’m going to ask you again. Who were you staying with?”

I turn toward him and give him the most
menacing look I can muster. “Why do you want to know?”

“Why do you think I want to know?” I know
what he will do if he ever finds out about them. He will use them
against me in an attempt to make me do whatever the heck he wants
to me to do. “Now, tell me where they are! Where are the mages that
are helping you?” he yells.

The serum is starting to go into effect. I
can feel the liquid moving throughout my body; the majority of it
coating my vocal chords. My mouth is urging me to reveal
everything, but my mind is screaming at me to remain silent. He
asks the question many more times. Each time I don’t reply, he
beats me, kicking me in the stomach, legs, and arms, while punching
and slapping my face. My left eye is almost swollen shut. I can
barely see him anymore.

Each hit pushes my body one step closer to
telling everything. But I keep picturing Claire laughing, Colton
and David smiling, and Tom giving me a hug. I can’t do anything
that would put them in harm’s way. Thinking about them makes me
stronger.

Dravin is getting frustrated. He hits the
ground beside my head. I jerk my body away from him out of fright.
My whole body aches from the torture, but I don’t want him to know
how much pain I am in. I’m not going to give him that
satisfaction.

“Thomas, go get the new recruit.” Thomas
walks out of the room and down the hall. Dravin slaps me across the
face one last time, splitting my lip. I can feel the blood drip
down my chin and neck. He growls and gets up, walking out of the
door. I close my eyes and wait for this new recruit to arrive.
There isn’t anything that he can do that could be worse than what
I’ve already endured.

Shortly after they leave, I hear the door
open, but refuse to open my eyes. From the ground, I can hear the
sound of footsteps stopping right beside me and the sound of
clothes rustling together as someone sits next to me.

“Interesting predicament you’re in here.” I
tense. I recognize the voice—the voice that had haunted my dreams.
The one that had terrorized me through high school.

I open my eyes and stare angrily at Adam.
Using all of the strength I have left, I try to scoot back, but can
barely move. He looks at me and smiles wickedly. I struggle harder
to get away from him. He crawls closer to me and punches me in the
stomach, knocking me on my side. Rolling me onto my back, he
straddles me, inhibiting movement.

“Why don’t we finish what we started last
summer, eh?” I struggle harder, but freeze when I see the dagger in
his hand. He reaches down and unzips my sweat shirt and pushing one
side off of my shoulder. I gasp as he presses the dagger to the
side of my neck, applying slight pressure and dragging it down to
the edge of my shoulder. Blood oozes out of the wound and drips
down my back. He pins my hands above my head with one hand and
bends down, trailing kisses down the cut.

Reaching the end of the cut, he moves away
from my neck and looks at me. His face is covered in blood. My
blood. I want to throw up. It is repulsive. I feel tears start
running down my face again and I start screaming, trying to get out
from under him.

“Now, now. Calm down, Ryanne.” When my
struggling increases, he says. “Fine. I didn’t want to have to do
this. I’d rather see your reaction, but either way will be fine
with me.” He brings his hands up and grabs me around the neck,
cutting off my oxygen supply. I try scratching his arms to get him
to loosen his grip, but it causes him to squeeze harder. I continue
grasping at his arms until I feel mine go limp. My eyes roll into
the back of my head.

I can still hear everything around me and
feel the pain running through my body, but can’t move or see.
Adam’s laughter echoes around me. I hear the sound of the cell door
being thrown open and Adam’s body weight is thrown off of me.
Grunts and the sound of punches being thrown echo through the room.
Then it gets quiet.

I am quickly losing consciousness. Strong
arms reach under me and lift me up.

“I’ve got her! Bragden, clear the exit.”

I feel someone’s arms around me, cradling my
limp body against his chest. He is jogging, trying not to jostle my
body too much. In the distance I hear the sound of running water.
The closer we get to the stream, the more I come back into
awareness. I can feel all the injuries on my body. Every movement
sends another wave of pain through me.

Coming to a stop, near what I assume is a
small creek, I feel myself being lowered to the ground. I hear what
sounds like fabric being ripped and then something cold and wet is
placed on my face. I gasp at the sudden coldness and jerk away.
Opening my eyes, I try to reach out and hit whoever is near me,
wanting to get as far away from everyone as I can. I roll over,
ignoring the pain that shoots through my stomach and arms, and
attempt to crawl away. It is a pitiful attempt, but an attempt
nonetheless. Arms come around my waist and roll me over.

“Ryanne, Ryanne! Calm down. I’m trying to
help you.” I try batting the person away. Steady arms pin my arms
above my head. I turn to see who is holding me down and gasp in
surprise—a pair of mysterious gray eyes stare down at me.

“Liam?” I croak. I can feel more tears
getting ready to spill out of the corners of my eyes. Tears of
happiness.

“Yes, now please stop fighting me. I want to
wash some of the blood off your face.”

He walks back over to the stream and pushes
the cloth back under the water, rewetting it. He crouches down
beside me and starts wiping the blood from under my nose and mouth,
cleaning off my chin and neck as well. His face gets angrier and
angrier as he looks me over and finds more injuries.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t get to you earlier,”
he whispers.

“You found me though and at a perfect time.”
I shudder at the memory; he clenches his fists and grinds he his
teeth together.

“If I ever see him again….I’m going to….”

“Hey, jump in line buddy.”

He caresses my forehead, brushing some hair
that had fallen into my eyes away from my face. “Are you able to
walk?”

“No, I’m too weak. I used all energy to try
and get away from you earlier.” He reaches down and lifts me up
again. I snuggle into his chest, my eyelids feeling heavy.

“I’m going to pick up the pace. It’ll take
all day to get back. I’m sorry if this hurts.” He starts running.
It
did
hurt. My head keeps swinging to the side, increasing
the intensity of my headache. The movement causes the cut on my
neck to rip open and start bleeding again. I don’t say anything to
Liam though. The sooner we get back, the better. I can endure the
pain until then.

I must have fallen asleep, or passed out,
because the next thing I know people are screaming my name; their
thoughts just as loud.

“Oh my gosh, Ryanne!”
She’s back!

“What did they do to her?”
She looks
horrible. I can’t believe anyone would do that to someone.

“Someone go get Logan!”
I’m going to kill
whoever did that. I should have stayed beside her.

“Everyone move, clear off the couch.”
Dravin. She was gone longer than me. I can’t imagine what they
did to her. She looks so much worse than I did.

I groan and slowly open my eyes, surveying
the room around me. My left eye is still swollen shut, so I can’t
see too much. I am back at Claire’s. Everyone is in the room,
except Tom and Logan. Liam is walking over to the couch in the
living room, where Claire told him to put me, and gently lays me
down.

Once I am out of his arms, Colton jerks him
away from me and slams him into the wall, “Who are you?” he
yells—his face turning red; the veins in his neck bulging.

Claire turns towards him, “He just saved
Ryanne and returned her to us and you’re going to berate him?” Liam
just stares at him, shocked that he is being questioned.

Colton, using more force than necessary,
pushes him back into the wall again, “Name!”

“Liam. I’m Liam.”

“Liam? Like
the
Liam?” I can tell that
Colton doesn’t believe him. Without loosening his grip, he asks,
“What does Ryanne have of yours?”

“My pendant necklace. The flamed pendant
necklace.”

I whisper, though barely audible, “Colton,
leave him alone. He saved…me.” Because my throat is so dry, talking
scratches it, making me cough uncontrollably. The movement of my
stomach hurts my ribs, causing me to cry out in pain.

“Where is Logan?” I hear David ask
frantically.

“I’m here! I’m here!” Logan and Tom run into
the room. “Where is she?” Everyone who is standing around the couch
moves out of the way. “Oh,” he says when he finally sees me. My
coughing fit has finally subsided. He walks quickly over to the
couch, “Hey sweetheart.” He is trying to lighten the mood in the
room, since everyone is so tense.

I try to smile back at him, but it feels more
like a grimace. He reaches his hands out over my torso and closes
his eyes, concentrating. I look towards Colton, who is standing
behind the couch looking at me. I can’t form any words, but he
understands what I am asking.

“He’s seeing everything that they did to you.
He needs to know where the worse injuries are.” I close my eyes and
start shaking my head, trying to move away. I don’t want anyone to
see what I went through. I don’t want them to know.

“Someone go get a bottle of water. She has a
concussion, three broken ribs, many bumps, cuts, and bruises; she’s
malnourished and dehydrated. Oh…” He shakes his head, mumblings
obscenities to himself. His hands start glowing and he places them
over my ribs. I feel the bones pop back into place. I arch my back
and gasp in surprise. It hurts momentarily, but then the pain
subsides. He moves his hands and places them around my face. The
headache I had fades away and I am finally able to think straight.
I feel the swelling on my face go down and the cut on my lip
heal.

After a couple minutes, the only thing left
that needs healed is the long cut from my neck to my shoulder from
Adam. I am still laying flat on my back on the couch, but now I’m
able to move. Logan moves so that he is closer to my head. He
reaches out and slowly moves my jacket off my shoulder.

Colton exhales sharply when he sees the cut,
“Who did that?”

Logan and Liam speak at the same time,
“Adam.”

“What?” yells David.
I really should have
hit him harder.

“Adam was there?” asks Colton.

“Yes, I’ll explain everything later, after
she’s healed and rested,” says Logan. I feel my skin pulling itself
together, stitching closed. He moves his hands away and grabs the
bottle of water that Emma had gotten and hands it to me.

He reaches behind me and helps me sit up.
“Take small sips.” I nod, slowly sipping the water and savoring
every drop.
She looks exhausted. She’s lost so much
weight.

Everyone is staring at me, waiting for my
reaction to everything. David is in the back of the room pacing.
Colton and Liam are standing against the back wall with menacing
expressions. Claire and Emma look upset; their eyes on the verge of
tears. I can feel my headache starting to return. I close my eyes
and put all my remaining energy into locking their thoughts away.
Turning the mental lock, I open my eyes again. Logan looks very
tired; there are dark shadows under his beautiful blue eyes. It
must have taken a lot of energy to heal me.

“Logan, I…”

“Ryanne, don’t. You may be the one that can
read minds, but I know what you are thinking. I would give up my
powers to lessen any bit of the pain you just experienced.”

Tears glisten in my eyes. Again. “Thank you
so much. I don’t know how….” I choke up and can’t finish my
sentence. I stand up, a little unsteady on my feet. Logan reaches
out and engulfs me in his arms. The tears start flowing out of my
eyes and I can’t stop them. All of the pain I had endured comes
rushing out, as I sob into his shoulder.

He holds onto me until the sound of my
sobbing dwindles. He rubs my back and slowly leans back, silently
asking me if I am going to be okay. I nod up at him and step out of
his embrace. He places his hands on either side of my face, wiping
my tears away with his thumbs, before leaning down and kissing my
forehead.