BlackMoon Beginnings (22 page)

Claire thinks it over and begins nodding as
well. “That sounds like a good idea. We can go up there first thing
tomorrow morning. Just pack essentials and clothing. I have means
to get more stuff later. Go now. Be ready early in the morning.”
Everyone leaves the room, but I linger behind.

“Claire, can I ask you a favor?”

“Anything.”

“Well, I don’t know if Jane will be home
anytime soon, but do you think that you can put one of your
enchantments around her house? I don’t want anything to happen to
her because of me.”

“Of course. That’s actually a good idea. I’ll
go do it now.”

“Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome. Now go get packed. I’ll see
you in the morning.” I leave the room and walk back to mine slowly,
giving myself enough time to think about this situation. Claire is
willing to uproot her family because someone is looking for me. It
doesn’t make sense. How did I go from barely having anything in my
life, to having so many people care for me? It’s a little
overwhelming at times, but in a good way. I’ve never had a big
family before. It was always just me and my mom. Now I have so many
people who want to make sure I’m safe.

Once inside my room, I throw open the closet.
I start to search for a duffel bag or small suitcase to use, but
there is nothing. I hear a small knock and turn around to find
David standing in the doorway, holding a small suitcase. “I thought
you might need one.”

“Thank you.” Turning to the dresser, I start
throwing random pieces of clothing into the suitcase. I don’t look
at what I grab—because that worked so well before.

“So, umm…Ryanne, can I ask you
something?”

“Yeah, of course. What’s up?”

“Have you talked to Emma recently?”

I turn around and cross my arms across my
chest and smile at him. “Yes, why?”

“Well…I umm… she...” He is running his hand
across the back of his neck and looking at everything in the room
except for me. A small blush is creeping onto his cheeks. I know
what he wants to ask me, but it’s amusing to see how uncomfortable
this conversation is making him.

Walking over to David, I touch his cheek to
make him look at me. “You didn’t hear it from me, but I think your
chances are pretty good with her.” Relief floods his eyes and he
pulls his lips back into a small smile.

“Really?” I nod. “Thank you, Ryanne.”

“Remember, I didn’t say anything to you.” I
playfully push him out of my room. “Now go, I have to finish
packing.”

I grab the rest of my clothes and shove them
inside the suitcase. Hopefully, Claire will be able to get
everything that I didn’t bring or maybe I can borrow from Emma. I
lay out an outfit for morning and decide to go to sleep.

I turn the bedroom light off and crawl into
bed. This will be my last night in this home. I can hear voices
down the hallway, so I know the others are still awake. I roll onto
my side and bury myself into the blankets, letting their warmth
surround me.

Adam invades my dreams.

At 5:00 a.m. the next morning, I hear someone
knocking on my door again. “Ryanne, rise and shine. We’re going to
try and leave in an hour,” Tom says. I feel like I haven’t slept at
all. All night I would wake up when I saw Adam coming towards
me.

Moaning, I roll over and stretch. I slowly
get out of bed and take a quick shower: washing and conditioning my
hair and shaving my legs. I am not going to spend too much time,
since I’ll be in a car for a couple of hours anyways. Throwing on a
pair of jean shorts and a large t-shirt, I walk over and make the
bed, cleaning up any simple messes that I made. Satisfied with the
condition of the room, I bring my suitcase downstairs and grab a
muffin off the counter. Claire and Emma are already downstairs,
waiting for everyone else.

“How come the girls are always ready before
the boys are?” Emma asks. “What did they do all last night? They
were all awake when I went to bed.”

“Who knows, but if you want to bring your
suitcase out to Tom, he’ll pack it in the car for you Ryanne,” says
Claire. I grab my suitcase and walk to the garage. Tom is standing
at the back end of a freakishly large vehicle; its shiny black
exterior looks brand new.

“I have another suitcase for you.”

“Are any of the boys ready?”

I shake my head. “They were still packing
when I came downstairs.”

I go back into the kitchen and sit down at
the table. Laying my head down on its cold surface and letting my
hair fan around my face, I close my eyes and wait for someone to
wake me up and tell me that it is time to go.

“Is she okay?” asks Colton. I would have
replied, but my body just doesn’t want to cooperate. I’m
comfortable drifting between consciousness and sleep.

“She’s been dreaming about Adam. I’ve been
trying to block out his images, but I can’t stop all of them.”

David must have walked into the room because
he asks, “Why hasn’t she said anything to anyone? They are just
dreams right? Not visions?”

“She doesn’t want anyone to worry about her.
But yeah, I’m positive they are just dreams.”

Someone is nudging me. “Ryanne, it’s time to
go.” I open my eyes and see Claire standing over me. I am still a
little out of it, so she grabs my arms and guides me to the garage.
Everyone is standing outside of the vehicle.

“Emma and Ryanne, you two will have to sit in
the back, because the seats are smaller. One of the guys will join
you two,” Tom says. I blindly walk to the car, following Emma. I
take a seat in the back, to the left of her, in the middle, and
lean my head against the headrest of the seat directly in front of
me. Someone sits down in the seat to my left, but I don’t move to
see who it is.

Hitting a bump in the road, my head bangs
against the headrest, jerking me awake. I quickly look around the
car. Emma is asleep and leaning her head against the window. Tom is
driving while Claire reads in the passenger seat. David and Logan
are talking amongst themselves. Colton is also asleep in the seat
beside Logan. I can only see his profile. His expression is
relaxed. His long, dark eyelashes are fanning across his cheekbones
and his mouth in raised in a slight smirk. He looks younger when
asleep. To my left, sits Liam. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little tired.”
Rubbing my eyes, I blink a couple more times, trying to become more
awake. “Are we almost there?”

“I think we’ll be there in about thirty
minutes.” Nodding, I lean back against the back of my seat and
close my eyes again. I breathe in deeply and let sleep come over me
again.

“Ryanne. Ryanne. We’re here,” someone
whispers to me. “Ryanne. Wake up. We’re here.” I open my eyes and
see…a neck? Lifting my eyes, I see that it’s Liam’s neck. I must
have fallen asleep leaning against his shoulder. I sit up further,
but don’t make an effort to move much more. Everyone else is still
sitting in the car.

Tom turns around from the driver’s seat. “Ok,
we’re here. I’m going to get out with Claire, and check the
perimeter, while she puts up the enchantments. Stay in the
car.”

I bring my attention back to my surroundings.
Looking down, I realize that I am practically sitting in Liam’s
lap. I’m not sure how I accomplished that considering I’m still
buckled. “Oh my gosh, I’m sorry.” I readjust myself in my seat. The
corner of Liam’s mouth raises a little, giving off the impression
that he wants to smile, but doesn’t.

A couple of minutes later, Tom comes back and
gives us the okay that it is safe to leave the car. Surrounded by
large trees, is a luxury log cabin. The lower level is surrounded
by a stone exterior, but the upper levels have a dark timber frame.
Large bay windows encompass a sizable portion of each level, with
dark olive green trim. Light earth tone shingles line the roof,
creating an earthy appearance.

Following Tom, we all walk into the cabin.
The first thing I see is an expansive open area. Walking through
the door, the living room is off to the right with a large curved
staircase on the left, leading to the second floor. I can see the
railing and partially down the hallway on that floor. The living
room has a floor to ceiling length fireplace made of stones. The
wood walls give the room a darker feeling, but the windows and
subtle illumination creates a cozy atmosphere.

“I’ll go get the suitcases. Why don’t you
guys show the girls around? Oh, and Liam too.”

David deepens his voice and says, “If you’ll
follow me, I’ll be your cabin tour guide for the day.” With a
sweeping hand motion, he starts walking backwards. “Through here is
the kitchen area. Large bay windows are built into all three walls,
giving a scenic view of the outdoor landscape. This lovely room is
a great space to prepare meals, grab a snack, sit and read a book,
or start a food fight—just make sure Claire never finds out.”

The room is beautiful. I love the large
windows that surround it. They let in a ton of light and the dark
green landscape outside is breath-taking. I can’t image what it
would look like to be here in the fall when all the leaves are
starting to change colors.

Apparently it’s time to go, because Emma
links her arm through mine and all but drags me out of the room to
follow everyone else. My eyelids are beginning to feel heavy again
and my feet feel like they are made of bricks. Walking back into
the living room area, we take the stairs to the second floor. “This
floor is where all the bedrooms are. There is also an entertainment
room similar to our previous arrangements. There are enough rooms,
all similarly furnished, for almost everyone to have their own
room. However, two will have to share.”

“We will.” Emma volunteers us.

“Excellent, we can gawk at the rooms later.
If you continue to follow me, we’ll go to another set of stairs
leading to the attic.” Walking single file up the small narrow
staircase, we enter into another room. Colton and Logan can barely
stand upright with the low ceilings. Liam and David can stand
upright but have to be careful not to make any sudden movements. I
have no problem. Three of the four walls in this room are made
entirely of windows. The other is a large mirror. I walk over to
the window and look out at the scenery.

“We used to come up here and train when David
and I were little,” whispers Colton.

“This house is beautiful.”

“You should see it in the winter time when
the fireplace is going. Frost webs on all the windows and icicles
hang off all the tree branches. I like to come up here and watch
the snow fall. It’s so peaceful.”

“That sounds amazing. I love being this close
to nature.”

“I do too,” he says. I tear my eyes from the
tree line and gaze up at him. He places a hand on my shoulder,
“Come on. Everyone already left.”

What? I look around the room and see that we
are the only two people still here. I let him grab my hand and
guide me out of the room and back downstairs to get our suitcases.
Grabbing both of them, he walks back up the second floor.

“Your room is here with Emma. Everyone else
is a little down the hall.” I nod and walk into the room and find
Emma already unpacking.

“So what were you and Colton talking about? I
saw you two chatting by the window as I was leaving.” Emma grins at
me, fishing for any juicy details.

“It wasn’t like that. We were just talking
about how this place looks in the winter time. It sounds
beautiful,” I say as I walk over to the unoccupied bag and place my
bag on it.

“Whatever.” She shakes her head and continues
putting her clothing in the small closet off to the side. We both
share a bathroom and the closet. “Hey, are you okay? You seem a
little out of it today.”

“I think I’m fine.” Shaking my head, I try to
distract myself. I can’t fall asleep again.

“You think you’re fine?”

“Yeah, I don’t know. I’ve been really tired
lately. I feel really sluggish. It’s hard for me to stand up right
now.” She’s now looking at me like a concerned parent. “Never mind.
Come on, let’s go find the guys. See if they want to do something.”
I slowly walk past her out of the room and down the hallway towards
the other voices.

“Ryanne. Are you sure you don’t want to just
lie down or something?” Emma calls after me, chasing me down the
hallway.

“What’s wrong with Ryanne?” David says as he
stops in front of me.

“Nothing is wrong with me. Emma’s just
paranoid.”

Colton walks out of his room and stops at my
side, placing an arm over my shoulder. I ignore the butterflies in
my stomach that flutter every time he touches me. “Who’s
paranoid?”

“Oh goodness, I’m going to go find Claire.”
I’m surrounded by a bunch of worry warts. I can feel their eyes on
me as I walk away, but I don’t stop or turn around. I walk down the
stairs to the kitchen and find Tom and Claire in their usual
positions: Claire baking something and Tom sitting at the table
reading.

“Claire, do you know of any way to get rid of
exhaustion? I can’t seem to wake up fully. I just want to go back
to sleep, but I know everyone will start to worry about me if I
do.”

“No dear, I’m sorry. I can make you some
coffee or something, if you don’t want to go to sleep. I think that
sleeping would be your best option at this point though.” I crinkle
my nose at the prospect of drinking coffee. I hate coffee, but if
it will help right now I’ll drink it.

“Sure, coffee sounds great.” I walk over and
sit down next to Tom. He smiles at me, but doesn’t say anything. I
look out the window and watch the squirrels in the yard, running up
the base of the trees. There are a couple of small birds pecking at
the ground. It’s so peaceful outside. None of them have to worry
about someone chasing after them or bringing an end to a war. They
just have to gather food and survive. Their biggest worry is
whether or not they can make it across the street without being hit
by a car.
Suicidal animals
.