BlackMoon Beginnings (19 page)

Emma and I share a glance before cracking up.
It feels good to laugh. I’ve missed these guys.

I walk over to the chair that Tom usually
sits in, aware of everyone watching me. “I’m fine guys.” No one
moves. “Really, I’m okay. What movie are we going to watch?”

“Well, since you are so interested in Thor,
how about that?”

Everyone is waiting for my response. I know
that they just want to make sure that I am doing fine. I don’t want
them to feel obligated to do something that they wouldn’t have done
before. “I know what you are doing. You don’t have to do all of
this stuff for me. I’m fine. I mean it. Watch whatever movie you
guys want to.”

David looks around at everyone else, “So,
Thor it is?” They all nod. With a dramatic sigh, I snuggle into the
chair and get comfortable, while Colton gets up and puts the movie
in.

An hour into the movie, my neck starts to get
stiff. Sitting up, I look around and notice how engrossed everyone
is in the film. Eyes wide at the screen, they look as if they had
never seen this film before. I thought everyone had seen this.

“Liam, can I speak with you for a moment?” I
don’t wait for a response. I get out the chair and walk into the
hallway, hoping that he will follow. A couple seconds later, he
appears.

“What’s going on?”

“What happened to Bragden and who is he? I
remember you saying his name in Dravin’s compound, but I never saw
him.”

“Bragden is my older brother. He stayed to
make sure that we got out okay. I’ve contacted him and he got away.
Nothing happened to him, don’t worry.”

“You have a brother? Why did he stay behind?
He could have come with us.”

“He had to make sure that no one followed us
for a little while. He was giving us enough time to get away. We
didn’t want you to get captured again. It would have been worse the
second time.”

Goosebumps cover my arms thinking about it.
“Where is he now?”

“Back home, near Rockwood.”

“So he is okay? Nothing happened to him?”

“Ryanne,” Liam grabs my shoulders and forces
me to look at him. “Nothing happened to Bragden. He’s back home. He
escaped without any harm.” He is safe. Nothing happened to him
because of me.

Liam starts to walk back into the room.
“Wait,” I grab his wrist and pull him back towards me, “Do you want
to go back? I mean I don’t want you to, but I don’t want you to
feel forced to stay here if you don’t want to. You have a family
and they probably want you back with them…I just…”

“Ryanne, you’re rambling again,” I stop
talking and look up at him. “I don’t want to go back. I know what
the dreams are trying to tell me now. I’m meant to be here,
protecting you.” He grabs my wrist and starts pulling me back into
the room.

“Actually, I think that I’m going to go talk
to Claire and Tom really quick. I’ll be back in a minute.” Liam
looks at me for a few moments before nodding and letting go of my
arm. Turning around, I walk downstairs to find them. I don’t know
what I want to say to them, but I don’t want to go back into the
entertainment room for some reason. Something is dragging me down
the stairs.

When I enter the kitchen, I find Tom sitting
at the table reading the newspaper and Claire dicing some
fruit.

“Can I help you?” I ask. Claire smiles at me
and hands me a cutting board and small strips of pineapple to dice.
I chop them in silence for a little bit. It’s refreshing. No one is
watching to see if I am going to break down at any second or
suddenly pass out. No one is expecting me to act a certain way or
do a certain thing at that moment.

“Can I ask you something, Claire?”

“Sure, dear, what is it?”

“I’ve been thinking about this since I’ve
been back here. While I was in that compound, I tried to open my
mind and listen to what everyone was thinking, but I couldn’t. I
kept trying, but nothing worked. There wasn’t a single thought. Is
it possible for others to block their thoughts from me? I don’t
know about the weather, since I couldn’t see out any windows, but I
don’t think that power worked either.”

“They can’t block their thoughts from you
specifically, but there is magic that can block you from reading
their minds. It’s very complicated though. They have to have a very
powerful mage, but if you were perfectly healthy, you probably
would have been able to overcome the blocks. That’s probably why
they didn’t feed you anything. They didn’t want you to regain your
strength.

“As for the weather, I think it was the same
thing. Magic. We thought that we would be able to find you based on
the weather, but nothing happened out of the ordinary. We searched
for three days before I got a feeling that we should stop looking.
The boys,” Claire smiles and looks at me. “They didn’t like that.
They argued with me for a whole day, before they listened. They
would have continued searching forever probably, if I didn’t stop
them. My intuition told me that you were going to be brought back
to us soon.”

“Oh. I guess that makes sense. Do you think
that there is any way to train me to use my powers more? I don’t
really know what I am capable of yet.” If she doesn’t agree, I know
that I will just practice on my own. However, Claire’s presence
will make it easier. She knows more about this magical stuff than I
do. I want to be able to protect those around me with my magic if I
have to.

“Of course, I would love to.”

“Thank you, Claire.”

“There’s no need to thank me, darling. I want
to help.” Smiling, I go back to chopping up the pineapple. I wonder
if Claire knows that pineapple is my favorite fruit. She probably
does. I can’t help but eat a couple of the pieces before putting
into the larger fruit bowl. Hearing the sound of a chair scraping
back, I turn around and see Tom standing up.

“I can’t listen to this anymore. Claire and
her classical music.” He flips the radio station until finding a
song he likes: “Out of my Head” by Theory of Dead Man. I smile
gratefully towards him and start bobbing to the music. Once the
chorus comes along, I can’t contain it anymore. I put the knife
down gently on the cutting board and turn to face Tom. Jumping in
front of him, I start singing and dancing enthusiastically. He
laughs at me for a couple of seconds, before standing up and
dancing with me. He twirls me around the room a couple of times and
dips me on the instrumental bridges. The dancing doesn’t go along
with the song, but I don’t care. I am having fun.

The song stops and I jump up and give Tom a
giant hug. “Thank you for the dance.” Hearing the sound of clapping
behind me, I tense. Turning slowly, I see everyone standing in the
doorway smiling widely at me. Even Claire has stopped what she was
doing and is watching. Blushing, I ask, “How long have you guys
been there?”

David laughs, “Long enough.”

“Oh gosh.” I cover my face. No one was
supposed to see that.

“How come you never told us you could dance?”
asks Emma. “I love dancing!”

“Don’t be embarrassed, Ryanne. It’s nice to
see you smiling and having a good time again,” Logan says. “You’ve
got some moves old man,” he tells Tom.

Ignoring the rest of their conversation, I go
back over to the chopping board and finish cutting up the pineapple
Claire had originally given me. I can feel everyone’s eyes on me
the entire time.

“So, Claire, do you want to start now?”

Twenty minutes later, everyone is outside in
the back yard. Claire has put another enchantment up to make sure
no one can find us here. Logan, David, Colton, Liam, and Emma are
all sitting on a fallen tree to the side and Tom and Claire are
standing in front of me. I have to squint to see everyone because
of the sun. I don’t really want to have an audience while I try to
see what I am capable of. I don’t know what is going to happen and
I don’t want to hurt anyone.

“Since you’re a little weak still, we won’t
do too much today, Ryanne. I think that we should work with the
weather first. We know the least about that ability. I want to see
if you are able to change the weather without getting upset. Think
about the weather before a storm. The dark clouds are rolling in.
You can hear the thunder in the distance. Birds are flying away.
The world gets quiet and dark. Think about the way the Earth smells
before a storm comes. Concentrate.”

I close my eyes and think about everything
she just said. I think about how I feel during those times. Storms
are mysterious. No one knows for sure what they are going to bring.
They can be loud and booming with lighting striking the earth and
thunder clapping every few minutes. They could bring little rain
with heat lightning or they could bring the threat of tornadoes.
Afterwards, the earth is calm and everything goes back to normal.
Greenery regrows and people work together to bring back order.

I think of the clouds rolling in and the
thunder. The way lighting looks against the darkened sky. No rain.
Even on a warm summer day, the wind that brings a storm always
feels different, cooler.

Just when I am about to give up, I feel a
shift in the wind. The breeze blows my hair in front of my face.
The heat dwindles and cool air moves in. I concentrate harder on
the weather. The darkness that comes with a summer storm. The
ominous bluish gray coloring in the sky. Everything.

“It’s working, Ryanne. Open your eyes.” When
I open my eyes, I no longer have to squint to see. The sun isn’t
out anymore. In its place are tenebrous clouds. Everything that I
had just visualized is here exactly as I envision it.

“I did that?” I whisper to myself. I still
can’t believe that I’m able to do any of these things; that magic
actually exists.

The wind starts picking up more.
Concentrating hard, I think about the sunshine—about how it feels
to just sit outside during the spring. Not too hot; not too cold. I
think about the way the light reflects off everything, brightening
the world around me; the sounds of birds chirping, bees buzzing,
and animals scurrying through the trees.

The wind starts to die down. The cool air
disappears, while the heat reappears. Through my eyelids, I see the
light return. The sun warms my chilled skin, inviting me to open my
eyes again. Everything is like it was when we first came outside.
Without my permission, a smile escapes.

“Good job! It looks like you are able to
control the weather whenever. It just takes more concentration.
However, it’s stronger when you’re emotions are brought into play,
I think.”

“How about we see if she can do anything
else? I have a feeling that there is more to her powers,” says
Tom.

“Sure, umm, David, come here,” Claire calls.
David gets up from the log and walks towards Claire. “I want you to
see if Ryanne can move things with her mind like you can.” I forgot
that David was telekinetic. I’ve never seen him use his powers.

As if he could read my mind, he explains, “I
don’t use my powers often, because I don’t want to get too used to
them. I want to live like everyone else. It’s easier that way, but
they do come in handy sometimes.” I understand that. I’m doing the
same thing with the mind-reading. It’s easier to not read
everyone’s mind.

He stops beside me and folds his arms across
his chest and looks around the yard for a little bit. Seeming to
find what he’s looking for, he turns towards me.

“Ok, Ryanne, I want you to look at that tree
branch lying off to the side over there,” He points across the yard
to a small branch. “Do you see it? I want you to try and bring it
towards us, slowly. In your mind, picture what you want to happen.
I find it easier than trying to say what you want. Picture it. Feel
the power running through your body. Try to grab onto a strand of
that energy and harness it. Bring it to the front and force it out.
Push your energy towards the branch and mentally grab onto it.”

I don’t close my eyes this time. I just stare
at the branch, willing it come to me. I don’t have to try very
hard. After the first couple of seconds, the branch starts
vibrating on the ground—like a cell phone does when placed on a
hard surface. I can feel the energy and power running through my
body. It feels like I am in a massage chair. When you first sit
down in a massage chair, the feeling isn’t exactly pleasant, but
your body adjusts to it and you start to feel relaxed. This magic
is the same way. At first, it feels like pins and needles spreading
throughout my body, but the more I start to use it, the more my
body gets accustomed to it and I welcome it.

Mentally, I begin to search for another
strand of energy. It is harder to find a single strand. It is like
searching for the end of a ball of string after throwing it
around—everything gets tangled together in an unruly mass. Finally
finding the end, I grasp onto it and pull, separating it from the
rest. Thrusting it forward, it slithers towards the branch.

The branch lifts in the air, but won’t move
towards me. It’s hovering a few feet off of the ground. I search
for another wave of energy and push it forward, sending it towards
the branch with more momentum than the previous one. When the
energy hits the branch, it begins to hurtle towards me.

I scream and feel a hand on my arm, pulling
me to the ground. I land with a thud on my stomach. David falls
beside me as the branch crashes to the ground behind us. I look
behind me and see the skid marks in the grass from the branch. That
would have hurt.

“Are you okay?” David asks while helping me
stand up.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I’m a little winded, but
overall, I’m fine. “Sorry about that. I realized that I pushed too
much energy at it a little too late.”

“Don’t apologize. Do you realize how long it
took me to get anything to come towards me? I started off with a
salt shaker, which was way smaller than that branch, and that took
a lot of energy. You did it in less than a minute.”