BlackMoon Beginnings

by Kaitlyn Hoyt

  “RYANNE! RYANNE!” I RAPIDLY BLINK back into the present. I am lying on the floor in the middle of the hallway with everyone surrounding me.

  “What time is it?” I ask, attempting to sit up. Everyone looks at me like I have grown three heads. “What time is it?!” I yell. This is important. It could mean the difference between life and death.

  “It’s 8:44, why?” Ignoring their question, I jump up, and push past them, running the rest of the way down the hall, and catapulting down the stairs.

  “Ryanne, what’s going on?” They follow me downstairs, their footsteps echoing mine. I run through the living room. Tom bolts up with a puzzled expression. I enter into the kitchen right as the man materializes behind Claire. Not slowing down, I run straight into him, knocking both of us onto the ground. The dagger flies across the floor, and stops moving, lying precariously on the ground to my right. Without thinking, I grab the handle, and whack him in the jaw with it. Adding some magical energy to it, I am able to knock him out.

  “He’ll be able to blink out of here when he wakes up,” I say. Everyone is standing in the entryway to the kitchen, bewildered and confused. Claire is staring at the man, mouth hanging open. Logan and Tom grab the man off of the floor, and tie him to a chair.

  “What the hell just happened?” yells Tom, looking around the room, his eyes landing on me.

  “I had a vision. I saw him standing in the backyard talking to someone, and then he blinked into the kitchen, and stabbed Claire. Logan wasn’t able to get downstairs in time, and she died in your arms.” I turn and look at Claire. “I couldn’t let you die.”

  Claire gets tears in her eyes, and runs toward me, wrapping me in her arms. She’s already a motherly figure in my life. Jane acts like she wants to be my friend, not a parental figure. Claire has been able to help me when I have been utterly confused about what was going on with me. She helped, and continues to help, me come to understand my magic, and how to harness some of my powers. I can’t lose another parental figure. Those men were after her because of me. They want to get rid of her, so she can’t protect me anymore. “Thank you for saving my life, Ryanne.”

  “There’s no need to thank me.”

  She lets go of me and steps away. “Yes, there is.”

  “What do we do with him?” Emma points toward the unconscious man tied to one of the kitchen chairs.

  “Well, we’ll need to question him. See why he was going to kill Claire. We have to wait until he is conscious though. It shouldn’t take too long for him to wake up.”

  “Umm, I knocked him out with magic too. I knew I wouldn’t be able to knock him out with just the dagger handle, so I drew some magic into it.” Tom looks surprised.

  “I wasn’t aware that you could bring magic into a non-magical object. I’ve never heard of anyone who was able to do that.”

  I shrug. “I can try to read his mind though.”

  Tom’s eyes widen. “That’s an excellent idea.”

  “Now, wait a second,” says Colton. “We don’t know what is going to be running through his mind. She’s already seen and been through enough lately. Is that really the best suggestion we have?” He places his hand down my on shoulder as he looks at Tom.

  Turning around, I address him myself. “There’s nothing else we can do, Colton.” I reach out and put my hand on his arm. He glances down at it, before meeting my eyes again. “Thank you for thinking about me, but this is the best option. I’ll be fine.”

  He takes a step forward. Why does he have to do that? I have to crane my neck back to look at him because he’s so much taller than me. “I’m just tired of seeing you get hurt. Why does it always have to be you?”

  “Because I’m the prophecy girl, remember?” I give him a sad smile. He opens his mouth like he wants to say something else, but realizing that everyone is looking at us, he closes it again. Running his hand through his hair, he clears his throat and steps back. I feel the heat wash over my cheeks as I divert my gaze to the ground.

  Speaking to no one, I say, “I’m going to try and go into his mind, not just read his thoughts. That way I’ll see whom he is working with, and what exactly he was supposed to accomplish tonight. Claire, do you think you can try to strengthen those enchantments you had up? The person he was with got away. We don’t need him attacking also.”

  Claire nods, and walks out of the room. I turn toward the unconscious man. Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes and focus on breaking through the barricade in his mind. Someone spent a lot of time putting it up so no one could access his thoughts and memories. I feel my body swaying, and a pair of arms wraps around me to keep me upright, but I don’t let it lessen my concentration. I search until I find a small crack in its exterior. I push all my energy into the crevice until it caves in, breaking down the mental barrier. The second the barrier ruptures, images and voices swarm around me.

  I see him growing up. He hit his growth spurt before everyone else, so kids picked on him because he looked different. He was beaten up at school. He came into his powers when he was nineteen. He could think of anywhere and travel there. I saw Dravin approach him one night, telling him that he could be extraordinary if he joined him, which he did. He wanted to feel like he belonged somewhere.

  Those images leave, and are replaced with Dravin standing in front of a large crowd. “There’s a girl who will be born to non-magical parents who plans on killing us all. She’s ruthless and determined to put an end to us Gadramicks. She doesn’t think that we should work with humans, and feels that we should remain hidden. We know that we are superior to those measly humans, but she wants to let them continue to rule. Find out who she is, and bring her to me!”

  Next, I see him walking stealthily through a dilapidated building. He is searching for someone with another man. Quietly walking up the stairs, he sees old pictures lining the walls—a family smiling in each one. Walking into a bedroom, he finds the family from the photographs. The man behind him rushes forward, and stabs the father quickly. The woman and child start screaming at the violent act. He moves on and stabs the woman. “Larkin, grab the girl.” The girl is crying when he reaches for her, but doesn’t fight. She’s too weak. They go back to the compound, and lock her up, thinking she was the girl from the prophecy. When they found out that she was just a human, they killed her.

  He is sitting on the bed in a small room when he hears someone knock on the door. Opening it, he finds Thomas standing there. “We found her,” he says and walks away.

  “They weren’t supposed to find her so soon.” Slamming the door, he walks into the middle of the room. Running his hand through his hair, he starts pacing and muttering under his breath. He walks over to the desk in the corner, and knocks all of the books onto the floor. Angrily, he picks up a large stack of papers, and throws them across the room, watching as the papers slowly float to the floor in disarray.

  I see him walking down a long cemented hallway. He stops in front of a door with a frown on his face. He is standing outside the cell I was being kept in. I am lying unconscious on the ground with blood running down my face, and nose from their last attempt to get information out of me. Thomas walks up beside him, smiling at his handiwork. “Is it necessary to torture her that much? She’s so small.”

  Thomas turns to him. “Don’t let that fool you. She’s stronger than she looks, and someone needs to break her. She’s going to be the end of all of us.”

  He’s standing in a darkened room, candles providing the only source of light. Eerie shadows dance across every surface. Larkin has his back to Dravin, with his shoulders hunched and eyes downcast.

  “Do we really have to kill the woman? Can’t I just find a way to get the girl back?”

  “No, Larkin. Killing Claire will make Ryanne upset. People do stupid things when they are upset. She’ll react violently toward Gadramicks. Because of that, we’ll finally be able to convince everyone that she really does need to be stopped. We can get her back here in no time. Without Claire in the pic
ture, we’ll be able to find her. She won’t be surrounded by those stupid spells.”

  Larkin is standing outside our house, talking with Thomas. “I don’t need to tell you how important this is. We need the girl. For some reason, Dravin thinks you are the only one capable of doing this. However, if you can’t do it, don’t bother coming back. If you think what we did to her was bad, you’ll be in for a surprise.”

  I’ve seen enough. I push out of his mind, and am thrust back into my own. My body is limp. Colton has his arms wrapped around my waist, leaning me against him. I straighten my legs and support my weight, taking a small step away from him.

  “Thanks for catching me. His name is Larkin. He is working for Dravin, but I don’t think he wants to be. Dravin got to him right when he came into his powers, promising that he could help him. He is telling his followers that I plan on killing all of them. He says that I am ‘ruthless and determined to put an end to us.’” I put air quotes around what Dravin said.

  “He didn’t want them to find me. He seemed genuinely upset when Thomas told him that they captured me. He even asked them if it was necessary to torture me as much. Oh, he was obeying Dravin’s orders tonight. Dravin told him that killing Claire would cause me to act out, proving that I needed to be stopped. He also knows about the enchantments, so killing Claire would make it easier for them capture me. He didn’t want to do it, but they threatened him.” I think that’s about it. I hope that I’m not forgetting anything.

  “You’re trying to tell me that he’s a good, bad guy?” asks Emma.

  “I’m saying that he doesn’t like what they are doing. He didn’t want to kill Claire.”

  “But he was going to,” says David. I nod. I can’t defend Larkin any more than that. He didn’t want to do what they were forcing him to, but he didn’t really have a choice. They would have killed him if he didn’t.

  Larkin starts groaning in the chair. “What are we going to do about him?” asks Colton.

  “I don’t know,” says Tom.

  He starts moving again. I take a tentative step toward him, but Colton reaches out and pulls me back. “We don’t know what he’s going to do.”

  He opens his eyes, starts struggling for a second, and then stops. His eyes sweep the room before landing on me. He is younger than I initially thought. He appears to be a little older than Logan. I start squirming under his gaze, and step back until I hit Colton’s chest. I don’t like how he is looking at me like I am some prized possession that he wants to hoard. “How did you know I was coming?”

  “I had a vision.” His gaze never wavers.

  “Why are you staring at her?” demands Logan.

  “She’s the girl from the prophecy. The one that is going to save us all.”

  Save us all?

  “I thought Dravin said that she was going to kill everyone.” Logan looks at me, questioning my earlier response. That’s what Dravin is telling them.

  “She’s going to save us from Dravin.”

  I step toward him. “You don’t believe in what Dravin is saying?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “I discovered who you were long before Dravin. When I first saw you, you were in the park, and a little girl was lost. She was cold and crying because she was lost and alone. You gave her your jacket, and helped her find her mom. A killer wouldn’t have done that. I knew you weren’t what Dravin was telling everyone you were.”

  “That happened over Christmas break. I didn’t even know I had powers then.”

  “You hadn’t come into you powers yet, but the magic was still in you. I could see the magic inside of you. It surrounds your aura.”

  “My aura?”

  “I can read people, so to say. I see colors, but mainly I get descriptive words about people. I can tell that you’re afraid. You don’t want to let everyone down. You’re strong, but you feel weak. You’re meant to be a leader, but you still need someone to help you lead. You want to trust me, but you think that everyone will be disappointed if you do. You look for the good in people, and always end up getting hurt. You love everyone in this room, and would rather put your life in danger than see them harmed. You’re afraid to open yourself up to others, because everyone that you have opened yourself up to before is gone. You-”

  “That’s enough.” I don’t like that he can tell so much about me based on my aura.

  “He’s going to come back for you. It’s not safe here. Even with the enchantments, they know you are near.” He stops looking at me and turns to Claire. “I’m sorry I tried to kill you. I didn’t want to.” They would have killed me if I didn’t. They’re going to kill me now.

  “Larkin, why didn’t you ever leave? I’ve seen your thoughts. You haven’t wanted to be there for a while.”

  “I couldn’t. You know what they would have done to me. I’ve seen so many people die. I’ve been beaten so many times because I tried to stop them from hurting others. I tried to make them stop hurting you.”

  “I know. I saw your memory.”

  “You motivated me to do something. I just didn’t have a plan on how to do it. You didn’t reveal any information about these people when you were being beaten. I’ve never seen anyone who was able to fight a truth serum. It was amazing. When that boy came in and got you,” He looks toward Liam. “I knew that I didn’t want to be around Dravin anymore. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He is polluting everyone’s mind. He thinks that he should rule over humans, not live with them.”

  I look to Tom. “I think we should let him go. He’s not going to harm us.”

  “He was going to kill Claire!”

  “But he didn’t.”

  “Because you tackled him, and knocked him unconscious.”

  “Tom, those ropes aren’t containing him. He could have blinked out of here at any point, or killed us, but he hasn’t.”

  “This is the motivation I need. You guys aren’t safe here. Go somewhere else. Anywhere else. Don’t tell me where. Don’t tell anyone where. I’ll be able to sense you sooner or later. You have a lot of magic in you, Ryanne. I can work with you. I’ll keep Dravin off your trail for a while.”

  The room is silent as Tom thinks.

  “I think we should let him go,” Claire says, as she continues to look between Larkin and me.

  “You do? Even after he tried to kill you?” asks David.

  “Yes, Ryanne trusts him. So, I’m going to trust him. I know that he could have left at any point since he woke up. Those ropes wouldn’t be able to hold back anyone with his ability. He could have harmed us, but he didn’t.” David nods, seeming to understand what Claire is saying. Tom and David share a look before they both untie him.

  Larkin stands up, and walks toward me. I want to let him go free, but something about him makes me a little uncomfortable. I back up toward Colton again, trusting his presence more. He continues to walk toward me, until he is standing just inches in front of me. I have to tilt my head up fully to see him.

  “He’ll come after you again. He won’t stop. You need to find somewhere safe to go. Don’t. Underestimate. Him.”