BlackMoon Beginnings (28 page)

“You!” Emma says and points angrily at
Colton. I grab her extended hand and silently demand that she stop.
He can’t know.

“Me?” Colton is clearly confused, but there
is no way I am going to inform him of what is going on.

“Would you train with me today, Liam? I could
really use a good beating right now,” I ask. I really do want to
fight someone who won’t hold back.

“I’ll train with you, but I’m not going to
hit you,” Liam says.

“Ugh, Fine. I’ll just go attack some dead
trees. Making things explode works all the same.” I mumble while
walking outside.

“What’s wrong with her?” asks Colton.

Emma snaps at him, “Wouldn’t you like to
know!” and storms after me.

“Actually I would…”

Once outside, I walk to the edge of the yard
and start searching for all the fallen tree limbs. Extending some
magic, I bring all the logs into one giant pile. I can hear the
sound of metal clanging in the background, signaling that the
others have already started training. Colton is working with Logan
today while Emma and David are sparring. Liam is standing behind me
a ways, not training like the others. He’s most likely keeping an
eye on me to make sure I don’t do anything too rash. Natasha is
standing on the stairs, eyes fixated on Colton. That spurs on my
anger even more.

When my wood pile is about waist high, I step
back a couple of feet and narrow my eyes. Concentrating, I gather
more energy than I usually do. The magic inside me is bubbling to
the surface waiting for my command to be released. I look around to
make sure no one is really close to me. Imagining the pile of wood
as Natasha, I thrust out all the magic, taking out my anger and
hurt on it. The magic floats through the air before it hits the
target.

The force of the magic causes the pile to
explode and he energy flies back towards me. When the force hits my
body, I am sent flying backwards, similar to what happened when I
hit the rock with lightning. I free fall through the air before
landing a couple feet from my original destination. Once on the
ground, I roll a few times before finally coming to a stop.

“That felt nice.” I mumble to myself.

I actually mean it too. It did feel good. The
landing could have been a little softer, but besides that, I am
fine and feel a little better now that I have taken some anger out
on an inanimate object, but I still want to hit something. This new
me surprises me. I’ve never wanted to take my anger out on a person
before. Liam runs over to me and tries to help me up. Yanking my
arm away, I thank him, but politely tell him that I can manage on
my own. “Are you okay? You’re bleeding.”

Logan and Colton rush over to us. “Ryanne,
are you okay?” Colton asks.

“Just peachy.” My words are laced with
sarcasm. He flinches at my tone and takes a step back.

Logan reaches out and touches my cheek, “Here
let me help you.”

I move away from his hand. “Leave it.” I turn
back to Liam, “Will you please beat me up now? That wasn’t nearly
as satisfying as I wanted it to be.” I say, indicating to the
destroyed pile of wood.

“I told you already, I’ll spar with you, but
I won’t just attack you.” I give him my most menacing stare, which
he gladly returns.

When I realize that he isn’t going to relent,
I exhale. “Fine, I’ll take what I can get.”

An hour later, I am lying on my back on the
ground, panting. Liam wouldn’t hit me just because, but he was able
to get a few kicks in. I, however, got more in on him. I know that
he took it slightly easier on me, but he’s still a very good
sparring partner though. I’m surprisingly not as angry as I was
coming outside. I am still upset, but I don’t want to make Natasha
explode like the pile of wood earlier anymore.

Accepting Liam’s offered hand, I let him pull
me up. When I am standing up, he pulls me close, “How are you
feeling?” He whispers in my ear.

“I’ll be fine.” A broken heart does heal. It
just takes time. I think…I don’t have a whole lot of experience in
this field for comparison.

Liam looks at something over my head as
Claire opens the backdoor and yells, “Dinner’s ready.”

I walk with Liam into the kitchen. When I see
Natasha sitting at the table beside Colton, I lose my appetite.
Turning towards Claire, I said, “Thank you for making dinner, but
I’m not really that hungry right now. I’m just going to go take a
shower.”

I take longer than usual in the shower,
hoping that by the time I get out, dinner will be over. I even blow
dry my hair afterwards, trying to waste more time. I grab a pair of
yoga shorts and layer Emma’s white zipped sweatshirt over a black
cami. Besides a couple of scratches on my face, from the wood, I am
actually pleased with my reflection. I’ve kept my curves, but my
muscles are becoming more toned. All this training is actually
doing something. I’m not as self-conscious about my body as I used
to be.

Walking down the stairs, I realize how sore
my feet are. I feel like I have just run a marathon. Looking over
the stairs banister, I see into the living room. Emma is standing
beside the couch, talking to Logan, laughing at something he said,
while David and Liam talk on the couch. Colton is sitting in a
chair, alone. Natasha doesn’t seem to be here anymore.

I walk up beside Liam, closer to Colton than
I would have liked. David starts smiling and nods. He thanks Liam
and jumps up. Walking briskly across the room, he interrupts Emma
and Logan’s conversation. Emma is staring at him, a puzzled
expression on her face. Seeing something that the rest of us can’t,
Logan starts backing away. David pauses briefly in front of Emma,
before pulling her towards him. She smiles up at him right as he
bends down and kisses her. She wraps her arms around his neck, as
his arms snake around her waist, pulling her even closer.

I look down at Liam, “Finally.” I can’t help
but smile, I am happy for my friends. I know more about the
situation than they do, but it is still exciting. They are meant to
be together.

I step over Liam’s feet and plop down on the
couch next to him. He smiles at me, “He wouldn’t stop talking about
her, so I told him that I heard her mention to you that she really
liked him to try and get him to finally act.”

“Did you actually hear her say that?”

“Nope,” he smiles wider and leans back,
wrapping an arm around my shoulder.

“If I tell you something, will you promise to
not tell anyone?” Leaning closer to him, I whisper in his ear, “I
had a vision about them. They’re going to get married one day.” I
move back and look for his reaction.

“Was that why you kept smiling that one day?”
I nod in affirmation. It feels good to share that with someone.

“Hey lovebirds,” Logan says as he sits on the
coffee table in front of me. He glances between me and Liam.
Winking at me, he continues, “Will you let me heal those cuts now?”
I purse my lips, pondering his question, and slowly nod. He reaches
over and touches my face. It is easy for him to heal shallow cuts,
so it only takes a couple of seconds. He backs away and looks at
me, eyes moving to various spots on my face, examining his work. He
leans back the rest of way and grabs my leg, placing it in his lap.
“What are you doing?”

“Well I was going to give you a foot massage…
but if you’d rather I not…”

“How did you know that my feet were sore?”
Smiling, he ignores my question and starts massaging my foot. His
thumb is pressing to the arch of my foot, moving in a circular
motion. It feels heavenly. I close my eyes and lean back. I can
hear Emma giggling in the corner of the room.

After a couple of minutes, Logan lowers my
right foot and grabs the left one. I open my eyes and find Colton
staring at me. I quickly divert my eyes. I don’t need to be
reminded of the kiss. I glance to the other side of the room and
see Emma sitting in David’s lap, whispering to him. Both of them
are smiling, lost in their little bubble. Logan releases my other
foot. “Any better?”

“Yes, thank you.” I lean forward and gave him
a small kiss on his cheek. I push myself off the couch and start
walking towards the kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the
fridge, when I run straight into someone’s chest. I scream and then
jump back.

“Larkin, you’ve got to stop doing that to me.
My heart can’t take it.” I reach out and place a hand over my
chest, where my heart is.

“So I make your heart race, huh?” His eyes
travel down the length of my body, “My, your clothes are tight.” I
hear a couple of growls behind me. I am apparently surrounded by a
bunch of dogs based on the sound. I cross my arms over my chest and
then realize that that probably isn’t a good idea and place them at
my side.

“What do you want Larkin?”

“You have two days. He’ll find you at sundown
on Wednesday.”

I nod. I knew this was coming. “What should
we do?”

“Find as many people as you can. He’s
bringing about fifty trained fighters with him. He’s determined to
get you back. You’ll need way more people to help you.”

“Okay, anything else?”

“He has a lot of people with telekinesis.
He’s not going to fight fair. So tell your people to use whatever
magic they have to try and gain an advantage. Also, once the
fighting starts don’t go back inside the house. Take anything you
absolutely have to keep and put it in a car and park that car a
ways down the road.” I nod and look behind me to see if everyone is
paying attention. I turn back around when I hear Larkin start to
speak again. He isn’t looking at me, but at everyone behind me. I
step out of the way.

“Adam will be coming with him. You have to
keep an eye on Ryanne at all times. He has an unhealthy obsession
with her.” I hear a clap of thunder outside. I couldn’t even
control that one. I just get so angry whenever I hear Adam’s name.
Everyone turns to look at me, so I walk to the refrigerator to grab
that bottle of water. When I come back into the room, Larkin is
gone.

“Okay, we have time to prepare. We have all
Tuesday and the majority of Wednesday,” says Liam.

Logan stands up. “I’ll go talk to Tom and see
if he can start calling people.”

I try to open the water bottle, but my hand
keeps slipping from the condensation on the outside. Liam grabs the
bottle from me and twists the cap. It opens right away for him.
“Thanks.” I take a sip and then speak up.“We can avoid all of
this.”

Colton starts shaking his head. “You are not
going to hand yourself over to him.”

“Why? It’d be so much easier. They won’t kill
me. They want to use me! We wouldn’t have to call anyone. No one
would get hurt because of me. I could protect you all!” To me, it
sounds like a very good idea—one person in exchange for the safety
of the many.

“We don’t need your protection, Ryanne. We
want to protect you. They are coming for you, not us. Do you know
what it’d do to us if something happened to you? You’re our family
now too.” He whispers while leaning towards me.

“Do you think I’d be able to live with myself
if anything happened to any of you guys? Dravin won’t stop at
hurting any of you to get to me. I’d be cutting out the middle and
going straight to the conclusion.” My voice is getting louder and
I’m on the verge of yelling now.

“Ryanne, promise me you won’t go on some
self-sacrificing mission.” I remain silent, my eyes focused on the
ground. “
Ryanne
. Please.” I can’t promise that. Even if I
don’t go in with that mind-set, I know it will probably come to
that.

Standing up, I say, “I’m going to go to bed.
I’ll see you all in the morning.”

I wake up the next morning, after a dreamless
night of sleep. Despite the situation, I feel really good. I’m
fully awake, it’s sunny outside, and for some reason I’m happy. I
push the Colton situation to the back of my mind; I have bigger
things to focus on. I look across the room and see that Emma is
still sleeping. Quietly, I get out of bed get dressed. I walk down
to the kitchen and find almost everyone sitting around the
table.

I grab a bottle of water and lean against the
back of a chair, wanting to join in on whatever is going on. “Eat
something, Ryanne.” Liam walks up behind me and places a hand on my
back.

“I’m not hungry.”

“You didn’t eat dinner last night. Eat a
muffin at least.” He pushes a basket full of muffins towards me. I
scoff, but grab a muffin. Sticking my tongue out at him, I break
off a piece and eat it. I try to keep my annoyed expression, but
seeing Liam struggle to keep a smile down brightens my mood even
further.

Tom is pacing around the kitchen, talking on
the phone. “Yeah, members of the Gadramicks are going to attack the
house tomorrow. She’s had a vision. Yes, yes. It’s her. She’s very
powerful. We haven’t even cracked the surface of her abilities. She
needs protection. Dravin has already captured her once and we can’t
let that happen again.” Tom pauses to listen to what the person on
the line in saying. I look around the room. Liam and Colton are
both watching me to see how I react. I keep a blank expression and
continue listening to Tom’s conversation.

“No. No. We expect about fifty members. Yes.
Thank you. Tomorrow.” He ends the call and looks at the table. “The
Wilson’s are going to come and help. They are excited to meet you,
Ryanne. That makes a little more than thirty people right now.”

I grimace. I’m horrible at meeting new people
and I’m really awkward in new situations. Liam and Colton laugh at
my expression. Wait? Colton laughed. He isn’t ignoring me anymore?
I look over at him and see him looking back at me, smiling. I
wonder what changed. I open my mouth to ask him, when Natasha runs
into the room. “Mommy and Daddy can’t come, but Conner said he
would. Natalie and I have to stay with Madison. Daddy won’t let me
fight.” She stands behind Colton’s chair and places an arm on his
shoulder. I pull my eyes away from him and bring my attention back
to Tom.