by Kaitlyn Hoyt
A CLOCK IS TICKING IN the background. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. The room is silent. No one is moving, but I can feel others around me. I try to breathe in, but this proves to be a bad idea. Liquid shoots to the back of my throat, suffocating me. Rolling over, I cough up all the blood in my mouth.
When I open my eyes, I see Colton first. His cheeks are wet from tears. Logan is on the other side of me, staring at Colton. Claire is standing at the back door, chanting still as she tries to block their magical attacks.
“How?” I whisper. I’m covered in blood so I know I didn’t imagine being stabbed. “I know I died.”
Colton looks at Logan. I think he shakes his head, but it was so subtle, I can’t be sure. “I’m not sure how. You were gone,” Logan says.
Planting my palms flat on the cool tiles, I attempt to push myself into a seated position. I make it halfway before I realize I’m not strong enough. Logan reaches back and helps me up. I try to bite down the pain, but I end up grimacing with each movement I make. I know that Colton and Logan both see my reaction. The wound may be closed, but an ache is still there. Logan is looking at me like he’s amazed that I’m alive. The guys aren’t telling me everything, but I’m in no condition to question them. Logan hands me a bottle of water to rinse the remaining blood out of my mouth.
Larkin blinks in behind Logan. He glances down at me and frowns when he sees my appearance. “You guys have to get out of here. The house is going to blow up in less than thirty seconds.” He leaves as quickly as he came. I look toward the backdoor to alert Claire, but she’s gone.
Colton and Logan jump up and reach down to help me. I try to walk, but I’m still weak and can barely stand on my own. Instead of running out the backdoor and back into the fighting, Colton drags me toward the front door. Logan reaches it first, and throws it open. Pausing in the doorway, he waits for us. Colton reaches down and picks me up, carrying me the rest of the way.
Running out the front door, both guys jump off the front porch and onto the grass. After a few steps, Logan drops to the ground and covers his head. Colton falls to the ground, covering my body with his as the sound of an explosion rings out behind us. Wood splinters, glass shards, and the smell of smoke and fire fill the air. Colton’s body tenses above me as debris falls and litters the ground around us. I close my eyes and pull Colton closer, waiting for it to stop raining fragments of the destroyed cabin. If I had enough energy, I would have tried to send out some magic to knock the debris in other directions, but doing that would probably cause me to lose consciousness, and we don’t know if this is over yet.
After what feels like forever, the explosion starts to die down. The splintering sound of wood crackling from fire can be heard, but no large fragments are falling anymore. Only small pieces of debris are floating to the ground.
“Colton? Logan?” Tom shouts from the backyard, clearly distressed. “Ryanne?”
Logan responds to his call. “We’re out front!”
Colton pushes himself up onto his elbows, wincing at the effort. His body is perched over me and his green eyes stare into mine. “Are you okay?” Technically, I’m not okay. I’m really weak, but I’m alive.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Logan start to sit up. Tom and the others round the corner and run toward us. Colton pushes up further; his arms holding his body weight above me. David and Bragden stop at Logan and help him up. Tom reaches down and helps Colton stand up. When Colton is up, Liam bends down to help me. Colton whispers to him, “Be careful with her, she’s very weak.”
Liam sucks in a breath, clamping his lips shut when he gets a good look at me. I’m sure I look as bad as I feel. I have to lean against him to remain standing. He wraps an arm around my waist to support my weight.
David walks over to me. “My god, Ryanne. You’re covered in blood.”
“What happened? One second you were there and the next time I looked, you guys were gone,” asks Liam.
“I got stabbed. I don’t really remember anything after Larkin showed up and stabbed Thomas. I died, I know I did, and then I woke up on the kitchen floor,” I whisper, my voice sounding far away.
Liam’s arm tightens around my stomach. I gasp as pain shoots through my abdomen. “Liam, loosen your grip. You’re hurting her,” Colton says through clenched teeth.
Liam loosens his hold, and looks between Colton and Logan. “I don’t understand. That’s not possible. You can’t bring someone back to life, unless…” he trails off. Colton is rubbing the back of his neck; his gaze cast down to the ground as he kicks a piece of garbage in the grass. Logan shakes his head at Liam.
I arch my head back and look at Liam. “Unless what?”
Shaking his head, he answers me, “Nothing. It’s impossible.”
“Wait, where did everyone go? Where are all the Gadramicks?”
Emma walks toward me. She’s covered in dirt with a small scratch across her right cheek. Besides looking tired, she seems to be fine. “We don’t know. They scattered when the house exploded. They all just ran back into the woods.”
“That easily?” Colton looks extremely shocked. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“I’m just telling you what I saw,” Emma says. She steps back into David’s embrace. He pulls her toward her and kisses her on the temple. Emma smiles and leans into his arms. I glance over at Colton. His hands are linked together resting on the top of his head. Turning around, he examines what’s left of the house.
“Oh my gosh, Colton, your back…” I try to walk over to him, but my legs won’t listen. The back of his shirt is completely shredded. It looks like a cat used his back as a scratching post. Blood is oozing out of the deep scratches, and pooling in the fabric that is left.
“It’s not as bad as it looks, Ryanne. I’m fine.” He turns back to me. It’s obvious that he is in pain, but he won’t admit it. “Don’t worry about me. I wasn’t the one just stabbed.”
I scan the crowd and recognize most of the faces. It looks like everyone is there. I turn back to ask Tom what we are to do now, when I realize that something is wrong. I do a double take of the crowd. “Tom, where’s Claire?”
“She’s not with you guys?”
I look behind him at the burning rubble of the house. NO! I let out a wail as my body collapses in Liam’s arms.
Currently a student at Ball State University, Kaitlyn Hoyt is pursuing her passion for writing while working towards a Wildlife Biology and Conservation degree. Vegetarian. Proud tree-hugger. Lover of comic book movies. Avid reader. She has an unhealthy obsession for the soothing music of Josh Groban. She discovered her love for writing during the summer of 2012 and hasn’t stopped writing since!
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