by Kaitlyn Hoyt
“I don’t see this going well,” Liam says with a laugh as Ryanne and Emma disappear into the store.
“Nope, not at all.” A couple minutes later, Ryanne storms out of the store and grabs my arm, pulling me in the opposite direction, mumbling something about a stubborn girl and stupid pink stuff. I look behind me and see David and Liam laughing at me. I face forward right as Ryanne pulls me into Hot Topic.
She lets go of my arm and grabs a couple of random t-shirts. It looks like a couple Harry Potter, the Big Bang Theory, Mario Kart, and some comic book characters are in her stack of shirts. She walks over to me and hands them to me. “Here, can we go now?” A sales attendant who heard her, motions for us to follow him. I’m paying for the shirts when Emma walks into the store carrying a pink striped bag.
With an exaggerated groan, she says, “More t-shirts? For goodness sakes girl.”
“I told you I wasn’t going to wear anything pink and that I have no reason to dress up, so yes. More t-shirts.” She sticks her tongue out at Emma. The man checking us out laughs at Ryanne’s response to her and gives me that look. I smile at him and grab the bag with Ryanne’s clothes. These girls are crazy, but there’s nothing we would change about them. With the Hot Topic bag in one hand and Ryanne’s fingers interlocked between mine in the other, we walk out of the store.
Emma turns to Ryanne. “Since I knew your size, I took the liberty of picking out some things for you. You’re just going to have to deal with what I bought you from Victoria’s Secret, since you refused to pick anything out yourself. Don’t worry, there’s nothing pink.” Emma emphasizes the word pink. Then, she rolls her eyes and runs up to walk beside David. Ryanne continues walking but glares at the back of Emma’s head the rest of the time.
*****
Standing inside Dick’s Sporting Goods, David, Liam, and Colton are looking for some clothes while Emma and I look for some extra work-out outfits. They remain close enough that they can keep an eye on us. “Colton’s going to have a permanent scowl on his face if he keeps that up.”
“Why is he scowling?” I glance across the store and do see that he has an upset expression on his face. Emma rolls her eyes for the millionth time today and ignores my question.
“Are you done?” She looks down at the clothes in my hand. I didn’t look for much, but I nod anyway. I just want to leave the mall and go back to the house. David and Colton stop talking the closer we get to them.
They’re hot. I wonder if they’re with those guys. I look around for who’s thinking that and find a sales attendant watching us.
“You guys done?” David asks us as Emma walks over to him, and he wraps an arm around her. One down. That leaves the small one. A little on the short side but curvy. I can deal with that. I cough in an attempt to hide my embarrassment. I can feel a blush rising again with each step he takes closer to us. Colton looks at me strangely as I look around for something to become suddenly interested in.
“Can I help you guys find anything?” the sales attendant asks when he stops in front of us. He looks around at all the guys but stops at me. Looks better up close. Hello. I stare at the ground, waiting for him to leave.
Colton looks between me and the guy, before stepping forward and placing an arm around my shoulder and pulling me closer to him. “We’re fine. Thanks.” His words are polite, but his tone isn’t. I watch his thoughts play out as realization hits him. I knew she’d be taken. Time to go.
“Well, if you need anything, don’t be afraid to ask.” He walks away, but keeps glancing over his shoulder at us. Colton doesn’t move his arm until the guy is out of his sight.
“Can we leave soon? Please? I’m tired of hearing all these guys’ thoughts and all the girls thinking I’m a lesbian because I’m surrounded by hot guys.” They all laugh at the comment but agree that it’s time to leave.
As we’re heading out, David spots a music store and asks if I’m ok to go in. One last stop is fine. Colton and Liam walk over to the rock section to flip through the CD’s while David and Emma walk over to the movies. I walk to the back to look at the posters. I flip through a couple of boy bands, before I stop and look at a poster of the Beatles. I’m looking at that poster when I hear his thoughts again. Ahh, there she is.
I turn around and see the man entering the store. He’s been following us all day. I’m sure it’s him. Every time I turned around, I found him close by, appearing busy. When the image of him removing my clothes pops up in my mind, I gasp, turn around, and walk up to Colton. “Put your arm around me,” I demand.
He listens without questioning me. He steps up behind me, creating a cage around me and the aisle of CDs in front of me. I pretend to be interested in the music selection in front of me. He continues to flip through the CDs, before he leans over and whispers in my ear. His breath against my skin gives me goose bumps.
“Not that I’m complaining, but what’s this about?” When I see an image of myself lying in the man’s bed, I turn around and bury my face in Colton’s shoulder. His arm tightens around my waist, and I hear him tell Liam, “I think it’s time to go. Go get David and Emma.” He starts walking toward the exit, not releasing me from his hold. We get to the car and wait for the others to show up. I collapse in the seat, relieved that some of the weight from the thoughts is gone.
Emma closes her door, and David starts the car and pulls out before anyone questions me. “So what was that about, Ryanne?” She asks me. I lift my head from my lap and look at her.
“There was a man in there that kept following us. I’d spotted him a couple times today. His thoughts were…well let’s just say they weren’t PG rated, and it was starting to creep me out.” Leaning forward again, I drop my head back onto my lap. My head is pounding. That was too much. There were too many people around…too many thoughts infiltrated my mind at once. It was too hard to control. I handled it pretty well all things considered, but my body is starting to react to my efforts. I close my eyes and try to tune out all the sounds around me.
I must have fallen asleep because when I open my eyes again, I see the high beams of the ceiling in the living room.
“No, I already checked. She’s fine. Her body is just tired from blocking everyone’s thoughts all day. It takes a lot of energy to push all those thoughts into the back of her mind, so she can’t hear them anymore,” Logan says. I sit up and look around. Everyone is sitting in the kitchen.
I walk into the room and sit down beside Liam. “I told you I didn’t like shopping,” I say when everyone stares at me. Emma and David laugh at my response, but Liam and Colton don’t react at all.
Logan walks over to me, places a hand on my shoulder, and closes his eyes. I can tell that he is checking to make sure that I am not experiencing any other side effects. “I’m fine, Logan.” He heals my headache; a headache I wasn’t aware I had until it was gone.
When he removes his hands, he looks angry. “That…that...” I know he saw what that man was thinking about me.
“Logan, don’t. Please.” Colton and Liam look at Logan, wanting to ask what is going on. I shake my head and silently plead with him. I know that if the guys find out what that man was thinking, they will overreact.
“Why didn’t you say anything earlier?” he asks me. I glance around the room and see everyone watching us.
“Logan, please stop.”
“You of all people know that some people will act on their thoughts, especially thoughts like that.” Colton’s jaw tightens. He starts clenching and unclenching his fists.
“Look, why don’t we go and train?” I look over at Liam and smile, silently thanking him for the subject change. He winks at me. Colton jumps up from the table and leaves the room before anyone can say anything.
“Training sounds like a great idea,” says David.
Chapter Six
Colton
I grab a sword and walk to the backyard. I am hoping that Bragden will spar with me today. I need to release some of this anger, and I know that he will
fight me back. Sitting on the hardened grass, I try not to let my mind wander too much. I need to remain focused. I am stretching out my muscles when everyone walks out of the house. Since I’m alone, I don’t have to suppress the groan that comes out when I see Ryanne smiling up at Liam, laughing at something he said. Her work-out outfits are way too tight for my liking. The fact that everyone can see her dressed like that…I want to push her behind my back and yell at anyone who tries to look at her.
Everyone walks over to where I am sitting and creates a circle, stretching. Ryanne is the most flexible one out of all of us. She sits down and reaches for her foot, resting her head on her knee. She then does the same on the other leg. She moves back a little and does the splits before moving forward, basically laying flat on the ground, stretching her legs and back.
“That’s disturbing. No one should be able to do that,” David says while attempting a similar move. David has trouble sitting Indian style, so stretching is almost comical with him.
She looks up and smiles at him. “You’re just jealous.” When she sees him, she starts laughing. “You really should try yoga, man.” Her laugh is infectious. I can’t help but smile with her. I look over and see Emma watching me. She smirks but doesn’t say anything. I know that she’ll try to start meddling, but I’m not ready to tell Ryanne yet. I’ll have to talk with Emma later. She’s not known for keeping secrets, and her sharing a room with Ryanne isn’t going to make it any easier.
Her smile widens when I narrow my eyes at her. Ryanne glances between the two of us, wondering what is going on. Crap. She’ll definitely ask about that later. She turns toward Liam and asks him to spar with her. He nods, and they walk to the opposite end of the yard. She doesn’t spar with Emma anymore because they are too evenly matched. None of the opponents she’s been up against so far have been similar to her size. I lean toward Emma when Ryanne is out of earshot. “Don’t say anything to her.”
“Why not? Come on, Colton. You know everything will be so much easier when you tell her.”
“I’m not ready to tell her yet, and I know that she’s not ready to hear it. Please don’t say anything. Don’t drop any hints and stop looking at me like that. She knows that something is going on. She already thinks I’m keeping things from her.”
“Because you are keeping something from her. You’re just lucky that she can’t read your mind. If she reads it from my mind, it’s not my fault.” She gets up and walks over to David.
I look toward Bragden, and he nods at me, understanding my need to spar with someone who will fight back just as hard. We start sparring like normal. After the first couple of punches and kicks are thrown, we start to pick up the speed and intensity of the moves. Neither one of us can infuse magic into our hits like Ryanne can, but they still hurt. When she hits you, it hurts like hell. I’d been on the receiving end of some of the hits and they leave a nasty bruise if Logan doesn’t heal them.
I glance over at Ryanne and see her sparring with Liam. He got a punch in on her shoulder, but she retaliated with a kick that knocked him to the ground. I would have laughed at that if Bragden didn’t punch me in the gut. “You need to pay attention. She’s fine. Liam’s not going to hurt her.”
“I know. I know.” I duck one of his kicks. “It just bothers me that she always,” I punch him in the shoulder and bring up my arm to block his arm, “takes everything so lightly. She doesn’t care that she,” I jump back, “is always putting herself in more danger than necessary.” Bragden stops sparring with me and glances over at Ryanne.
“You know why she does it.” I watch as they stop sparring, and Liam says something to her. She is breathing heavily but nods. When she turns her concentration towards the trees, a bunch of dead branches start coming toward her, and she creates a large pile in the center of the grass. I notice that David, Logan, and Emma have stopped what they are doing and are now watching to see what she is going to do as well. When the pile is big enough, she turns and looks at him, waiting for further instructions. He says something and points toward the house. She starts backing up. Liam takes a couple of steps to the side and nods at her.
*****
“I want to try something new with you,” Liam says after he stopped sparring with me.
“Ok, what is it?” I ask a little skeptically, while trying to calm my frantic breathing.
“I want to see if you are able to call magic to you while you are sparring. Not just into your limps. Can you create a large pile of wood for me?” I nod and turn my attention to the forest in front of me. I close my eyes and push my magic out, picturing dead branches of wood creating a large pile in front of me.
“Now what?”
“Ok, now I want you to go stand near the house and get a running start. Halfway there, I want you to do some of those flip things that you can do.”
I giggle at his expression. “Flip things?”
“You know what I mean. While you are flipping, I want to see if you can call magic to you and strike lightning into that pile of wood when you stop.”
“Is that all?” He glares at me. “Ok. Flip. Concentrate. Strike. Got it.”
I start to back up, getting closer to the house. I take a couple of deep breaths and concentrate on creating lightning. Liam takes a few steps back and nods at me. With one more intake of air, I start to run forward. After a couple of steps, I do a double full twist while visualizing lightning striking the wood. Flipping on grass is more difficult than doing it in a gym, since the ground is uneven and not spring loaded. I stop flipping halfway to the woodpile and push out the magic. I’ve only ever put a shield around myself before, but seeing the amount of magic going toward the wood, I use the last of my energy to create a large enough shield to protect everyone in the yard.
Colton
I turn toward Bragden and ask, “What is she doing?”
“I’m sure we are about to find out.” Running toward the wood, Ryanne jumps into the air and flips before twisting her body a couple of times. When she lands back on the ground, she turns around and doubles over. The large pile explodes; wood catapults in all directions. Bragden and I fall to the ground to avoid being hit when the wood seems to hit an invisible barrier. Bragden looks over at me confused. Shrugging because I have no idea what actually happened either, I look across the yard at Ryanne and see her standing there with her eyes closed, her face furrowed in concentration.
When all the pieces of wood stop raining down, Ryanne collapses. Bragden and I jump up and run toward her. Liam beats us to it since he is closer. Before Liam gets to her, she starts to move.
He helps her sit up. “Are you ok?”
She smiles up at Liam. Bragden and I make it over to her, right as she says, “It worked.”
“What was that?” David asks when they reach her.
Logan pushes through everyone. “Are you hurt?”
She looks around at all of us, looking for something. “None of you got hit with any flying pieces of wood?” We all shake our heads. Liam removes his hand from her back. Pushing off the ground, she attempts to get up.
Logan stops her. “Maybe you should stay seated for a little bit.” She brushes him off. Liam stands up and reaches a hand down to help her up. She takes it and sways as she stands.
“I didn’t think that would work. I’ve never created a shield that big before. I didn’t think I made it big enough to cover everyone.” Her smile gets wider. A shield? She created a shield?
“You created a shield?” I ask.
“Is that why the wood just stopped moving toward us?” Emma asks with wide eyes.
“Yeah, I just pushed a lot of magic out right after the lightning. I pictured this wall between us and the wood. I did it once while I was in the dream world with Liam. I didn’t know if it would work here, but I tried it anyway. I didn’t want anyone getting hurt because of me.”
“I’ll admit, when I first thought of that, I thought it would take a couple of tries for it to work. I’m really impressed that you were a
ble to do that on the first try,” Liam says and then turns to everyone else. “I didn’t tell her anything about a shield. I didn’t know she could do that.” I look toward Ryanne and notice her swaying. I take a couple of steps toward her.
“Ryanne, are you ok?” I touch her arm, trying to get her to look at me, but she is staring at the ground, blinking rapidly.
“I’m a little dizzy,” she says right as her legs give out, and she collapses again. I reach out at the last second and catch her before she hits her head on the ground.
“Logan, can you tell me if she’s in a vision or not?” I ask him.
“I’m not sure if I’ll know if she’s in a vision or not, but I can see if anything else is wrong with her.” He crouches down next to us and puts his hands on both sides of her face and closes his eyes.
He shakes his head before he opens his eyes. “She’s not in a vision.” He looks down at her. “She just used too much magic. She would have been fine if she didn’t put up such a large shield to protect us. Her body just couldn’t handle pushing that much magic out yet.” I look down at her and see her eyes are closed and mouth slightly open. I pick her up, cradling her against my chest.
“I think she’s done training for now. I’ll go put her in her bed.” Tom is sitting in the kitchen when I walk in carrying Ryanne. He stands up when he sees her in my arms.
“What happened?”
“Logan or Liam will be able to explain when they finish cleaning up outside. I’m going to put her in her bed. I’ll be back.”
I walk past Tom and walk up the stairs. Entering Ryanne’s room, I walk over to her bed, the one closest to the window, and carefully put Ryanne down on it. I take off her shoes and socks before pulling the comforter over her. Her head rolls to the side. I lean forward and place a small kiss on her forehead. One of these days, I’ll get to do that when she is actually conscious and aware of me doing it.
One day, I hope.
