Reaching Retribution (The Prophesized Series)

by Kaitlyn Hoyt

  “Yes, it’s kind of my specialty. Now what are you hiding?”

  Instead of answering me an emotion I recognize crashes into me. I step back and gape at him. “No freaking way.” He turns his back to me and continues down the hallway again. I shake my head and follow him. There’s no possible way. “You can’t be serious,” I say to him as I catch up.

  “I wish I wasn’t,” he mumbles as he takes another left.

  “I don’t understand.”

  “People do crazy things when they’re in love,” he whispers to me as he picks up the pace. I have to jog to keep up with him.

  “That is no excuse. Did you even feel any bit of guilt for what you did to me?” I ask as I run in front of him and stop. He stares down at me for a couple of seconds before looking at something over my head. I look behind me and watch as a Gadramick walks past, eyes zoned in on me the entire time. Adam takes a step closer to me and glares at him, giving him a silent warning. When he’s out of hearing range, I look back up at Adam, waiting for him to respond.

  “Not at first. It was all fun and games at first,” he tells me with the shake of his head. I still don’t understand.

  “When did it stop being fun and games?”

  Adam steps around me and grabs the door handle. Opening a door, he gestures for me to go inside. I stare at him for a couple seconds, before heading toward the door. As I walk past him, he whispers. “When you told me you weren’t afraid of death.”

  I stop and stare up at him. That happened a while ago…before I healed Colton. Now that I think about it, all the confrontations after that moment with him seemed strange. He didn’t seem to fight back outside of Jane’s house—not enough to cause any damage. I didn’t hear him when I was pulled into the dream world either. I knew he was there, but wasn’t as involved as he was prior to that incident. “Well come in. Don’t just stand in the doorway,” Dravin says. I look away from Adam toward him. He’s sitting behind a desk, watching me.

  “What’s going on?” I ask him. Without saying anything to either of us, Adam turns around and leaves me alone with Dravin.

  “So impatient. Sit.”

  I heed his command. Even though I know that Dravin’s not the one in charge, I know that I’m still in trouble here. There’s two mages against a whole compound of Gadramicks. I can only push my luck so far. “What’s this about?” I ask.

  “I need to take another blood sample from you. I’d rather you cooperate with me so I don’t have to give you more dormirako.”

  “You want me to give you permission to take my blood to see if you can extract my magic?” I ask. “Are you crazy?”

  “I don’t think it’s possible for your magic to be extracted anymore, but we have to run one last test. Since we were able to find you, your enchantment is no longer up. For some reason, Zahtri wants you alive. Now, I’m not one to listen to authority, but he’s one that even I don’t want to go against.”

  “What if I say no?”

  “Then we’ll have to get creative, now won’t we?”

  I stare at Dravin. I don’t really see a way around this. Giving them some of my blood will give me a little time to come up with a plan on how to get out of here. “Fine.”

  “Really? Just like that? No arguing?”

  “I may be stubborn, Dravin, but I’m not stupid.” Dravin watches me for a moment, before calling for Adam.

  When Adam walks into the room, Dravin tells him to take me to Dr. Arden. When I don’t move, Adam grabs my elbow and pulls me out of the room. I yank my arm away the second we get out of Dravin’s office.

  “I can walk on my own. Everyone is always dragging me places when I’m fully capable of walking myself. I’m not some helpless weak girl, you know.”

  “Yeah, I know,” he says as he leads me down the halls again. I jog to keep up with him. I try to read his mind again, but he’s repeating the chant again.

  “I think I liked the jerky, aggressive, and overly cocky Adam better than this silent, brooding one.”

  “Believe me, I liked him better too.”

  “Why are you working for the Gadramicks, Adam? Honestly.” Adam stops outside of two glass doors. On the other side, people wearing white labs coats are rushing around. Everyone is holding something: a syringe, needle, stethoscope, etc. It’s obvious that they are testing something.

  Adam chooses to ignore my question. He opens the door to the lab and ushers me inside. I instantly recognize Dr. Arden in the crowd. He’s flipping through some papers attached to a clipboard. His dark curly hair is falling in his face. Adam places a hand on the small of my back and pushes me further into the room. When he clears his throat, Dr. Arden looks up from his clipboard and looks directly at Adam. His eyes quickly move from Adam and land on me.

  “She’s agreed to give you another blood sample,” Adam states.

  “You agreed?”

  “Yep. So let’s stab my arm and get this over with. I have a lovely concrete cell calling my name.”

  “You have your mother’s attitude,” Dr. Arden says while trying to hide a small smile.

  “Don’t talk about my mom. You abandoned us, doctor.” I enunciate the doctor at the end of the sentence. This man means nothing to me. I grew up without a father and there’s no way in hell I’m going to start believing that he’s it.

  Dr. Arden walks over to me, grabs my arm and gently guides me to a chair. “Always dragging me somewhere,” I mumble as I sit down. Dr. Arden lifts my shirt sleeve up and wipes some disinfectant on my arm. I grimace and focus on the wall to my left.

  “You’re squeamish at the sight of blood?” Adam asks me.

  I wince as I feel the needle pierce my skin. “The needle. Blood. The whole thing. It’s not my cup of tea.” I look at my arm and squeak when I see the blood coming out of it.

  “Don’t look at it, and it won’t be so bad,” Jedrek tells me.

  “Don’t tell me what to do.” Both he and Adam chuckle at me, but neither says anything else. I look around the room. Nothing looks too suspicious. There are a lot of blood samples in a cabinet to my right. I wonder whose blood that is.

  “Okay, you have enough. Take the needle out of me,” I demand after a few minutes.

  “You know, I don’t like doing any of this either,” Jedrek tells me as he takes the needle out. He wraps a bandage around my arm and forces me to look at him. “Some of us weren’t given a choice.”

  I stand up and look him straight in the eyes. “Except you were. You made the wrong choice when you decided to fight fate.”

  Without waiting for Adam, I walk out of the room and head down one of the hallways. I have no idea where I’m going, but I don’t want to be near him right now. I know that he’s not actually bad, but I still have a right to be angry at him. Adam runs out of the room and grabs my arm, halting my progress. I fall backward into his chest before I can steady myself.

  “If anyone sees you walking alone, they won’t hesitate to attack you. Their emotions for you run from hatred, to anger, to lust. You need to stay with me if you want to remain safe. No one will go against me.”

  “They wouldn’t know what hit them if they went against me,” I tell him.

  “That may be true, but some of the Gadramicks here are more powerful than you would guess. I wouldn’t push your luck, Ryanne.” Another surge of warm feeling hits me as Adam looks down at me. A need to protect me is written all over his face. Adam is very conflicted and I want nothing to do with it. I take a step back, creating distance between the two of us.

  “Take me back to Liam.”

  With a sigh, he turns around and starts walking in the opposite direction. Of course I went the wrong way. I follow after him, not trying to quiet my steps. I’m frustrated and I want everyone to know it.

  Adam stops in front of my cell door and looks back at me. I avoid eye contact and cross my arms, waiting for him to open it. I want to make sure Liam is safe—that they kept their promise. Adam sighs when I refuse to look at him and unlocks the cel
l door, gesturing me inside.

  Walking through the doorway, my eyes immediately land on Liam sitting against the wall with his left arm propped against his knee. His head snaps up when I enter the cell, and I let out a sigh of relief when I see he’s in the same condition he was when I left. They didn’t try anything. His eyes linger on the bandage on my right arm before flickering up to Adam in the doorway with an angered look crossing his expression. I walk over to Liam as Adam closes and locks the door behind him without saying anything to either of us.

  “What happened?” he asks me when we’re alone. He grabs my arm and looks at the bandage before looking back at me.

  “They took some more of my blood.” I sit back against the wall and close my eyes. I’m not sure how long we’ve been here. A couple hours at least, so it’s probably around mid-afternoon by now. Liam’s stomach growls loudly when he sits down next to me. “I’m sorry Liam. They’ve never given me food here before, so I wouldn’t count on it,” I tell him.

  “What’s wrong?” he asks me. I sigh and lean my head on his shoulder. Liam can always tell when something is going on with me.

  “I don’t like it. Dravin and Adam are kind of being civil…it’s creeping me out. They’re planning something and I’m going to find out what it is before it’s too late.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Colton

  “Do you think Liam will try to contact one of us?” Natalie asks me as I throw our bags in the back of the car. Shutting the trunk, I walk around to the passenger side of the vehicle and open the door, ushering her inside. She sits in the middle and turns toward me, waiting for my response.

  “I sure hope so,” I tell her as I get in. Natalie leans her head on my shoulder again and sighs. They’ve only been gone a couple of hours now, but it’s already been too long. I wrap my arm around her shoulder, attempting to comfort her. We’re the only ones who understand what the other is going through right now.

  “I’ve called everyone. They’re all meeting us in Whiteshire. We’ll formulate a plan afterwards. Everyone is contacting someone else, so we’ll have a little more than we were expecting,” Tom announces.

  “But will it be enough?” I ask.

  “I’m not sure.” I flinch as the honesty in his voice. “We’re not really sure what we’re up against right now, Colton, so we don’t know how many people we need.”

  “We’re going to get them back,” Bragden says. I’m going to do anything and everything in my power to make that statement true. They will not stay at Dravin’s compound for long.

  I sit back and stare out the window, trying to keep my mind from wandering. I can’t think about what they are experiencing there…what Ryanne could be going through again. If I do, I’ll go invisible, and I need to stay visible right now.

  The trees outside the window blur together from the movement of the car. The yellows, oranges, reds, and greens stream together as we pass. Ryanne would love this scenery for she loves the outdoors. There were many times when I caught her just staring out a window, watching the woods. At first, I thought she was daydreaming or lost in her thoughts, and while that was the case some of the time, I realize now that she was just appreciating nature.

  “How long will it take to get to Whiteshire?” I ask Tom. “I want to get this over with as soon as possible. They don’t need to be there any longer.”

  “It’ll take two hours to get there and then we’ll have to spend a couple hours coming up with a plan. We won’t be able to do anything tonight, Colton. I’m sorry.”

  I clench my first and stare out the window. Natalie grabs onto my arm and attempts to keep me calm. It’s working to keep me visible, but it doesn’t keep my mind from thinking about what is going on.

  “Colton, we’re here,” Natalie shakes me awake.

  I open my eyes and groggily try to assess my surroundings. When I see Natalie looking at me, everything comes back to me. I jump up and get out the car, and shortly after, everyone else follows. We’re parked in another high end hotel parking lot. I go to the back of the car and take my duffle bag. I see Ryanne’s duffle lying off to the side. Natalie walks up behind me and grabs her bag and Liam’s. She shrugs and walks back toward Tom. I grab Ryanne’s bag and follow her.

  “Is everyone here?” I ask him.

  “There are a lot here already. Everyone else will arrive later tonight or early tomorrow morning.”

  “So you think we’ll be able to get to them by tomorrow?” Natalie asks.

  “Let’s talk with everyone and see what they think we should do. There’s a lot at stake here. We don’t want to rush into a compound full of Gadramicks unprepared.”

  “Okay,” Natalie says dejectedly. I pull her after me as we enter the hotel lobby. Tom goes up to the front desk and gets our room keys. He called ahead of time and reserved rooms. We basically have an entire floor for all the mages and have the ballroom reserved for a couple nights. There’s plenty of space for everyone.

  “We’ll call a meeting as soon as we get settled,” Tom announces as he hands out the room keys. Since Ryanne isn’t here, I have to share a room with Logan. Lily, Natalie, and Incendia are all sharing a room together.

  Taking the elevator up to the third floor, I follow Logan slowly down the hallway. I know that I won’t be able to sleep tonight, so it doesn’t matter where I am. Logan unlocks the door and claims the bed near the window. I drop my stuff along with Ryanne’s bag on the bed and sit down on the edge.

  “We are going to find a way to get them back, man. Don’t worry. We won’t let them stay there for too long,” “Logan assures me.

  “I just wish there was a way I could find out how she is doing. To see if anything is happening to her. I don’t like not knowing what is going on and being left in the dark.”

  “Liam will find a way to contact us if something were to happen to her. You have to trust him,” Logan tells me.

  “I do trust Liam,” I tell him. “It’s Dravin and Adam that I don’t trust. And now she’s at that compound with some Zahtri person who’s stronger than both of them put together.”

  “Ryanne’s just as strong. You’ve seen what she can do, Colton. I doubt she needs us to go against him, but she can’t go against a whole compound alone which is what she needs us for. If Dravin or Zahtri wanted Ryanne dead, she would be. They’re keeping her alive for something. We have to get to her before that something occurs.”

  “Then let’s start this meeting. The sooner the better.”

  Gathering in the large Ballroom, we all help push the tables to the far end of the room. We leave the chairs out for everyone to sit in, but the tables aren’t necessary. Honestly, I doubt people will sit down anyway. We all understand what is going on. As we work, no one says anything. The only sounds coming from the room are the scraping of the metal chairs against the tiled flooring.

  I lean against one of the tables. I can’t believe this is happening. The prophecy is unraveling right before our eyes. Everything we’ve ever been told growing up is coming true. I’ve met and fallen in love with the girl that’s supposed to end all this mess. I’m more involved in this battle than I ever thought I would be. We’re all more involved in this prophecy than we ever believed we would be.

  Knowing what I am thinking about, Natalie walks over to me and squeezes my hand. I look down at her and do my best to smile. “I have a good feeling about this, Colton. We’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing,” she tells me.

  “Are you sure about that?”

  “Have a little faith. We won’t accomplish anything if we don’t have faith. Ryanne believes in this cause and I do too. They wouldn’t want us to sit here and worry about them. We have to have faith if we are ever going to see them again.”

  Hearing the truth in her words, I squeeze her hand and look around the room, watching everyone move around. Bragden and Conner are pushing the last of the tables against the wall. Logan and Lily are unstacking all the chairs, quietly talking to each other, while everyone els
e continues working on putting the chairs out.

  I walk over to Tom as people start entering the room. I see some familiar faces in the crowd: the Prowlers, Mr. Thalland, a few distant relatives that I’ve only ever seen during family get-togethers. I recognize many faces from our first fight with Dravin, but there are more that I don’t know. Tom wasn’t kidding when he said that everyone was bringing someone else. Over a hundred people enter the ballroom. There aren’t enough chairs for everyone; many mages are left standing in the back.

  This could actually work. This could be the miracle we need. Dravin won’t expect our numbers to be so high, and he definitely won’t be prepared for us to counter an attack so soon. He thinks that he still has time, so he won’t know what’s hit him until it’s too late.

  “Did you know there was going to be this many people?” I ask Tom without taking my eyes from the still growing crowd in front of me. From my peripherals, I see Tom cross his arms across his chest and shake his head.

  “I didn’t, but this could work. We’re already a step closer to rescuing them, Colton. We have the numbers. Now all we need is the plan.”

  I watch as a couple of teenage boys push through the doors and quickly scan the room. “Lucas!” Incendia shouts from across the room runs toward the doorway.

  Lucas’s smile widens when he sees Incendia rushing toward him and catches her as she runs into him. My eyes instantly find Bragden and even I can’t help but smile when I see the scowl forming on his face. I understand that feeling.

  Logan is standing near Bragden still talking to Lily. She laughs at something he says, and he smiles just seeing her reaction but his gaze shifts to the door. His smile grows at what he sees. Lily looks away from him and towards the door as well. Logan’s parents, my aunt and uncle, walk into the room and instantly look for their son. Telling Lily something, Logan starts pushing through the crowd and hugs his parents when he manages to get past everyone. Looking in Lily’s direction, I catch her watching Logan. Logan says something to his parents and both of them glance in her direction, smiling when they see her. Feeling uncomfortable with the sudden stares, Lily turns away and moves toward Emma.