by Kaitlyn Hoyt
I WAKE UP FROM A dreamless sleep, my body feeling rejuvenated. Smiling, I stretch and exhale sleepily. I quickly change out of my wrinkled clothes into a pair of white shorts and a blue tank top that Claire had left for me. I’ll have to thank her later for them. I skip down the hallway and slowly descend the stairs, proud that I am finally figuring out my way around the house. As I get closer to the kitchen, I slow when I hear voices.
“So, Colton…I saw how you looked at Ryanne yesterday. This is same girl you told me about last time, right? She’s pretty cute.” I recognize the voice as Tom’s.
“Yes, it’s the same girl, but nothing is going on. We’re friends.” He stops talking, and I hear him sigh. “I admit that I used to have feelings for her before I knew her. But now those feelings are gone. Purely platonic. She’s not really my type anyway.” So now that he knows me, he doesn’t have feelings for me anymore? That’s what every girl wants to hear.
I hear David scoff, and Tom replies, “Whatever you say, Colton.”
“I feel bad for her. I’m just trying to help boost her confidence.” It feels like my heart is free falling, plummeting into my stomach at his words. There goes my good mood. I walk back to the bottom of the stairs and make a noise, giving them a signal that I am coming. It also gives me time to compose myself. I knew that someone like him would never be interested in someone like me. He is gorgeous and I am…well, not. He would not have given me the time of day if I weren’t this prophecy girl.
I enter the room and am greeted by three sets of smiles. “Good morning, Ryanne. How’d you sleep last night?”
I turn toward Tom, plastering on a smile that I know doesn’t reach my eyes. “I slept fine. No nightmares at least. You?”
Colton and David both look at me as if they know something is wrong. Tom’s smile falters a little at my nightmares comment. So, they explained everything to him and Claire. “Pretty good, thanks for asking.”
David turns toward me. “Are you hungry, Ryanne? Help yourself.”
I walk toward the fruit basket on the counter in the corner. I grab a gala apple and bite into it. The room descends into an awkward silence.
Swallowing, I say, “If I’m extending my stay here, I can go back to Jane’s.”
“Why would you think that?” asks David.
At the same time, Colton replies, “You will not. You saw what happened last time you went back there! You almost got killed.”
I shy away from him, because his tone scares me. “I don’t know. I don’t want to impose on you guys. And he wasn’t going to kill me. I heard his thoughts.”
“So, you’d rather get raped than stay here?” he yells.
I step toward him defiantly, placing my hands on my hips, and say in my sternest voice, “I’d rather stay where I’m wanted.” I turn to walk out of the room. Stopping in the doorway, I turn around and stare straight at Colton. “And I don’t need your help boosting my confidence.” His face pales with realization. Satisfied and angry, I storm out of the room.
Back in my room, I sit on the edge of the bed, wishing that I had grabbed my notebook. It’s still sitting on the couch in the living room. Frustrated, I start pacing. Just when I think I have finally met people who could actually care about me, I find out it is all an act. I am just a means to end their war, nothing more. I’m only the prophecy girl.
Once a freak, always a freak.
Caught up in my thoughts, I don’t hear my door open. When I turn back around to pace to the other side of room, I freeze. Colton is standing in my doorway, and when he sees me looking at him, he steps into the room, “Ryanne…”
“Please don’t, Colton. I’ve heard enough.”
He walks over to my bed, and sits on the edge. “I didn’t mean it.”
“I doubt that.”
“Ryanne, if you had been reading my thoughts, you’d know that I didn’t mean it. I was tired of everyone grilling me about you.” He places his head in his hands, not looking at me.
I walk up to him and lean against the bedpost. “Well, for some reason, I can’t read your thoughts.” I pause, and look around the room, before continuing. “I haven’t had any friends in a really long time, and just when I think that I might have some, you say that you’re only being nice to me because you feel bad for me. You think that’s a confidence booster? It’s not. I don’t want your pity, Colton.”
He drops his hands and turns toward me. “You really think that I want to be your friend because I pity you? God, Ryanne, you are oblivious.”
“What?”
He gets up from the bed and stops in front of me, looking down at me. I don’t know what he means by that. Shaking his head and running his hand through his hair, he says, “Nothing. Just please believe me. I didn’t mean anything I said. I’m very sorry. I don’t want you mad at me.”
I look up at him and study his expression. Reluctantly, I agree. He looks very upset at the prospect that I might remain mad at him. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t have stayed mad at him for too long. “I forgive you,” I whisper.
He puts a finger under my chin, and tilts my head up. Leaning down, he kisses my forehead. His lips linger on my skin for a couple seconds before he steps away from me. My skin tingles where his lips touched. Trying to keep a blush hidden, I turn and watch him as he brushes past me toward the door.
“The rest of us are going to train today. Do you want to join?” I nod my head, not trusting myself to speak. When he closes the door, I walk to the closet, and get out an outfit similar to the one I wore yesterday, though in a different color. This shirt is a pale green, bringing out the green specks in my eyes. I loosely braid my hair back, and then put it that into a messy bun.
I walk into the training room and notice that everything is already set up, but no one is here. Tom comes into the room and says, “Today, I want you to take what you learned yesterday, and try to stop the boys’ attack.”
“Whose attack?” Tom ignores me and walks backwards, smiling at me as he goes.
He’s up to something.
I see David run out of the corner of the room, and head straight for me. Oh, I get it now. I get into a stance, and wait for David to reach me. When I see that he isn’t going to slow down, I move out of the way. He runs past me, and then stops, turning to face me. He reaches out and tries to swing at me. I duck and swing my legs out, trying to knock him off balance. He anticipates my move and grabs my leg, pulling me toward him. I let him pull me, and then I swing my arm out, and hit him in the gut. He doubles over, trying to catch his breath, and loosens his grip on my other leg. I jerk back and jump up, preparing myself for another attack.
I have an idea, and just hope that I can accomplish it. David straightens up and smirks at me, before slowly walking toward me again. I stand my ground and wait until he gets close. He spins around, swinging his leg out, and hits the back of my calves. I fly backwards and land on the hard mat. Despite the pain, this gives me the momentum I need. I reach my hands back behind me, and swing me feet out, kicking him in the chest. As he falls backward, I kick my feet up and over my head, before straightening up and facing David, who is still lying on the ground.
“David. Out.” I hear Tom call.
I don’t have much time to prepare, before I hear the sound of someone landing behind me. I turn around just in time to see a fist coming straight for my face. I duck at the last second and kick my foot out, connecting with Colton’s shins. He staggers backwards, but remains standing. Eesh, this totally isn’t a fair fight. He swings another punch toward me, so I put my arm up like I learned yesterday to block the attack. I wince as his arm connects with mine. That is going to leave a bruise. I swing my foot up to kick him in the face, but he grabs my leg and throws me across the room. I twist my body, so I can land on my feet. Ten years of gymnastics is proving to be useful.
I decide to try and incorporate more of the moves I have learned. It’s been over a year, so I hope I’m not too rusty. I get a running start and jump, bringing my
hands forward and over my head, connecting with the mat, giving myself enough momentum to swing my feet up. I’m able to flip twice before coming to a stop in front of Colton. He stares at me surprised, giving me enough time to swing around and kick him in the gut, similar to what I just did to David. When he falls to the ground, I jump on top of him, placing my knees on both side of his thighs, and hold down his arms. I know that he is strong enough to push me off, but he doesn’t.
I am already breathing heavily, but when I see him staring back at me in wonder, I have more trouble getting air into my lungs. Thankfully, I’m not sweating as bad as I was yesterday. My heart, which is already racing from the exercise, starts beating faster. On the other side of the room, I hear someone clapping. Drawing my eyes away from Colton’s, I see David and Tom walking toward us. I look back at Colton briefly, and find him smiling at me. Blushing, I push myself off of him, and offer my hand to help him stand up.
David runs toward us, wraps his arms around my waist, and swings me in a circle. Placing me down, he says, “Where the heck did you learn how to do that?”
Trying to catch my breath still, I smile up at him and explain, “I was in gymnastics for ten years. I didn’t know I could still do any of that. It was a gamble, but it worked.”
Tom puts a hand on my shoulder. “That went way better than I thought it would. No offense, but I thought that the guys were going to annihilate you.” He looks toward both David and Colton and says, “But it turns out, she beat you.” He smiles mockingly and continues, “You got beat by a girl—a girl way smaller than you.”
He puts his hand up in front of me for a high five. I slap his hand, laughing. He hands me a bottle of water, and I greedily drink half of it. I put my hand on my waist, finally able to breathe at a normal rate again.
Colton still hasn’t said anything yet, so I look over at him. He’s staring up at me, eyes wide, and a slightly awed smile on his face. He blinks quickly and looks away. “Well, I don’t think we really have to worry about you losing in an attack. Just do some of those flips. You’ll shock anyone enough to get the upper hand.” He smiles at me. “I lost all train of thought when I saw you coming toward me, flipping through the air. Of course, they all came back when you kicked me in the stomach. That hurt, by the way.”
I smile sheepishly at him. “Sorry.”
“Were you reading their minds at all during that?” Tom asks.
I look at him, my eyes widening. “No, I forgot that I could do that!” Of course, I can’t read Colton’s mind, but it would have been helpful against David.
“Well, I think it is safe to call it a day. Good job, kid.”
“Thanks.” Tom exits the room, and I turn toward Colton and David again. Both of them are rubbing their chests where I had kicked them. I smile, remembering what David told me. Hmm, maybe good things do come in small packages.
I pause and listen, as someone else’s thoughts come to me. Somebody help me. Oh gosh, he’s going to find me.
“Someone is in the woods and needs help.” I hear a loud boom in the distance. A gunshot? “I can hear her thoughts. We have to go,” I say, already running out of the door. I reach the stairs before I hear footsteps behind me, telling me that the guys are following. We hear the sound of a door banging shut, and then loud voices sound in the kitchen.
“David, call Logan. We need a healer.” Still running toward the kitchen, David pulls out his cell phone and calls Logan, telling him we need urgent help.
I get into the kitchen first. Colton is right behind me. Tom and Claire are both carrying a girl into the room. Her torso is covered in blood, and her breathing is very weak. What happened to her? I’m about to ask Claire when my stomach starts tingling. Suddenly, dark spots invade my vision and the room around me begins to spin. I can feel my body falling backwards as I’m sucked into my first vision while awake. Someone’s arms wrap around me, and cushion my fall, as a scene starts playing out before my eyes.
