by Kaitlyn Hoyt
“Is it really that bad? Like that song?”
“I don’t know.” I take a deep breath, so I can continue running while I talk. “It’s just frustrating knowing that so many people depend on me. I don’t know what to do.” Inhale. Exhale. “I feel like I’m being pulled in all these different directions, and I know that I have to keep on fighting, but sometimes I don’t want to. I feel like everyone knows what needs to be done but me. I’m so lost.” I stop running to try and catch my breath.
Liam stops and joins me but doesn’t say anything. That’s one of the things I love about Liam. He knows when to say something and when I just need to talk everything out. Nothing he could say would make me feel any better, but it feels good to just tell someone—to finally get it off my chest. He lets me catch my breath, before turning to me and smiling.
“I’ll race you back.”
“That’s three miles.”
“I know.” He takes off, leaving me behind. He knows I can’t turn down a challenge. I start to follow him, keeping an even pace, but he remains in the lead the entire way. When I see the house up the road, I start to pick up my pace. Since Liam ran faster the entire way, he is starting to tire. I kept a much slower pace so I could use my last burst of energy at the end. I speed past him and run up the driveway. With a smile, I look over my shoulder at him and stick my tongue out as I open the door to the house and patiently wait for him to enter.
“You won that one…I’ll give you that,” Liam says when he enters the house. At least I’m not the only one having trouble breathing. Liam is just as out of breath as I am. I slowly walk into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water out of the fridge and bring one back for Liam. He thanks me and gulps down half of it right away.
“I see you lasted longer than I did,” Bragden says.
Liam takes a deep breath and turns toward his brother. “She beat me. She ran a whole extra mile, and she beat me.”
Emma walks into the room followed by David, Colton, and Logan. “How long did you run for? Based on how heavy you two are breathing and the amount of sweat dripping off of Liam’s head, I’m assuming you went pretty far.”
“About six miles. We raced back the last three.” I walk over to the couch and lean against the back end. “Are you going to train?” I ask to no one in particular.
“Yeah, but you should rest,” Logan suggests.
I take another sip of water. “No, I need to continue working with my magic. I don’t want to lose control like I did the other day.” I glance over at Larkin to see if he will train with me. He nods at me and gestures for me to follow him outside.
Colton
“So, Ryanne seems a little better.” I glance over and watch as Larkin tells her something. Ryanne will listen and then attempt to do whatever he asked. Usually she can accomplish it, but from where I am standing, I can tell she is getting frustrated at this task. She has her hands outstretched in front of her, facing each other, with her eyes closed. Her face is scrunched up in that expression she gets when she’s concentrating really hard on something. I watch as a translucent blue ball begins to form between her hands.
“I think she just needed to take a step back from everything and take a slight breather. She would have continued running if I hadn’t challenged her to run back. She can’t turn down a challenge,” Liam says.
At a closer look, the object forming between her hands looks like a ball of water. She takes a couple steps backward, and with a mischievous smile on her face, she turns to Larkin.
“No…don’t do it!” Larkin yells. Ryanne throws the ball of water toward Larkin when he turns to run away. He tries to duck, but it hits him in the middle of his face. She laughs and spins around to run in the opposite direction. He shakes his head, but I can see his shoulders moving from his laughter. He transports right behind her and grabs her around the stomach. She screams as he starts tickling her. Despite the fact that I still don’t like Larkin, I’m glad that someone is able to make her laugh.
Tom calls for us from the porch, telling us that we should finish up soon. I look toward him and see him smiling slightly at the sight of Ryanne. Everyone stops sparring and starts making their way inside. I get inside first, followed my Liam; Ryanne and Larkin enter last. Emma starts cracking up when she sees Larkin, who’s standing in the middle of the kitchen with water dripping off of him.
“You think this is funny?” Emma tries to stop laughing but can’t manage it. Larkin transports behind her and hugs her, effectively getting her wet. She screams and tries to squirm away from him but only manages to get herself wetter. Ryanne walks past everyone and goes upstairs. Larkin lets go of Emma and takes a step back.
Emma puts her hands on her hips and pouts at Larkin. He blows her a kiss and transports out of the room when he sees the look that David is giving him.
“I really need a power that can go against those two. They are always picking on me.” She leaves the room and heads upstairs. The stairs creak under her feet as she ascends.
Tom, who is standing near the sink, looking out the window, turns to us. “Ryanne seems better.”
Liam shrugs. “I think she just needs to do something. She needs to release some anger in non-magical ways. She could have continued running earlier, but in a way, I made her turn around. She doesn’t like sitting around here doing nothing. That may have been fine before, but a lot has happened recently.”
“That’s understandable. I never understood how you guys could just sit around and watch movies all day anyway.” David and I laugh. That is an old argument with Tom. He is always telling us that watching a movie every now and then is fine, but every day? He thinks we are crazy.
The doorbell rings. Tom answers the door and comes back with three large pizza boxes. “One’s cheese for Ryanne and Emma. The other two are for everyone else. Dig in.”
Chapter Eighteen
I am waiting in the bedroom for Emma to finish her shower. I don’t want to go downstairs by myself. I know that everyone is worried about me, but I feel fine now. The run today really helped. I feel more energized than I have in a long time. Emma comes out of the bathroom dressed and drying her hair with a towel. I’ve rubbed off on her a little. She doesn’t spend much time on her hair anymore.
“So Ryanne…you and Colton…?” She crawls onto my bed and stares at me, expectantly. I knew that she would ask me about him eventually. She’s knows more than she’s letting on. It’s only a matter of time before she tells me. Emma’s not very good with secrets.
“There’s not a Colton and me.”
“And why not?”
“Because…I don’t know. I can’t let there be. I need to keep him safe. That vision was horrible, Emma. I can’t let it play out.”
“What about what he wants?” Emma asks me. “I know about the kiss.”
“How do you know about that?”
“Colton told me.”
“He told you?”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Why would he tell everyone about that? Did he think it was bad? “Nevermind. He doesn’t want to be with me, Emma. He wants to keep me safe. He needs me to help make sure everyone makes it out of this alive.”
“Ryanne…”
“I can’t let anything happen between us. I need to focus on changing the vision. I can’t put you all into any more danger. That kiss shouldn’t have happened, and I have to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
I get off the bed and start to go downstairs. “Can you at least tell me if it was good?”
I stop in the hallway and glance down the stairs. I can hear the guys’ voices but can’t see anyone which means that they are in the kitchen. “It was amazing,” I whisper honestly while I turn and walk down to the kitchen.
Everyone is in the kitchen, eating pizza when Emma and I walk in. There is a box placed off to the side for Emma and me. I grab a piece, and Emma grabs two. I sit between Liam and Larkin.
“This will be more fun with you, Ryanne.” Emma starts giggl
ing. “Oh, get your head out of the gutter. Elevator Shenanigans: Part II. The Speed Round,” Logan says.
“Did you just come up with that title?” I ask him.
“Yes, thought of it literally a second before I said it out loud. Pretty good, I know.” He smiles at me. “OK, the first person to say umm loses. Since this is a speed round, you can’t take long pauses to think either.”
“Are we just saying funny things to do in an elevator?”
“Yep. I’ll go first.” Logan is awesome. He knows that if I sit silently for any length of time, I’ll get lost in my thoughts. He’s trying to keep me distracted. “Shave.”
“Do yoga.”
“Start a sing-along.”
“Enforce a group hug.”
“Meow.”
“Challenge people to duels.” We go back and forth like this for five full minutes, neither one of us giving up. Everyone is watching us in fascination. Our answers start to get more and more random. Logan and I are trying to get the other to laugh, which would be considered a pause between answers.
“Tell everyone that comes into the elevator that this is your first time flying,” I say.
“Announce that you’re not wearing any underwear.”
“Put your ear up against the walls, and pretend that you can hear voices.”
“Yell ‘you’re fired!’ to every person that enters the elevator.”
“Every time someone leaves, say ‘Live long and prosper.’”
“Nice,” David mutters.
“Ask everyone what floor they need and push the wrong button,” Logan says.
“Place a square on the floor with tape and yell “Get out of my space!” to every person that touches the tape.” Oh my gosh, this is getting hard.
“Start stripping.”
“Stand holding the door open, and say that you’re waiting for a friend. After a while, move out of the way and let the doors close. Turn to the side, where no one is standing and say, Hey friend. How are you today?” Logan smiles at the suggestion but continues.
Goodness gracious, Logan. Take a breath or something.
“Do the hokey-pokey.”
“Pull out a couple of Barbie dolls from your purse and walk up to a man, holding a Ken doll. Ask him to be your Ken. If he refuses, take the heads off all the dolls and throw them at him while screaming, ‘I’m a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world.’ And then walk out of the elevator crying dramatically.” Logan just stares at me. Long pause. “Ha!” I jump up and point at him. “I win!” His smile widens.
“I can’t believe you thought of that,” David says. I plop back down in the chair and pretend that I am wiping sweat off my forehead.
“That went on for a long time.”
“Yeah, it went on for seven minutes and twenty-one seconds,” Larkin says while waving his phone. “I timed it.”
“That actually happened to me when I was younger. I had a crush on the little boy who lived next door to me, and I asked him to play Ken, but he said no because it was a stupid girl toy. So, I took the head off the doll and threw it at him. It hit him in the middle of the forehead. I ran away crying, and that afternoon his mom came over to my house and made me apologize to him because I left a bruise on the middle of his head. I made the song part up though.”
“Did you really?”
“Yeah, my mom was cracking up when they left. It was hilarious. She gave me ice cream for making a little boy cry.” I smile as I remember my mom. Thinking about her doesn’t make me upset anymore. Now, I cherish the memories I have with her. She made me who I am today, and I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for her.
“Ryanne?”
I blink rapidly. I turn toward the sound of the voice and notice everyone staring at me again. My cheeks instantly redden. “Huh?”
Emma laughs. “I knew you weren’t listening. I asked if you were done eating.”
I look down at my plate. I’ve barely eaten the piece of pizza, but I’m not really hungry. “Yeah, I’m done.”
“Ryanne, at least eat that pizza. You ran six miles earlier. You need to eat something,” demands Liam.
“Yes, mom.” I pick up the cold pizza and take a small bite out of it. I slowly chew it, trying not to make a face as I swallow. I hate cold pizza, but the microwave is on the other side of the kitchen, and I really don’t want to get up. Laziness at its finest.
Colton reaches across the table and grabs my plate. Shaking his head, he places the plate in the microwave. Leaning against the counter, he crosses his arms and looks at me, smirking. “Was that so hard?”
“Well, it’s a lot easier if someone else does it for you.” I mumble a thank you when he places the newly heated plate in front of me. His hand brushes against my shoulder as he walks out of kitchen and into the living room to sit with Logan and Bragden.
“That doesn’t look like a guy who doesn’t want you,” Emma whispers loudly to me.
I finish eating the pizza. “I’m not having this conversation right now, Emma.”
Liam turns to me. “What is she talking about?”
“Ryanne has herself convinced that—” Emma starts.
“Emma, stop!” I say to her. She pauses before turning back to Liam. All the heads in the living room whip around and look at us. She’s not going to stop?
I don’t want to do this…
“She’s convinced that Co—” I call my magic to me and make it rain above her again. She jumps up and shrieks.
“I just took a shower, Ryanne!”
“I don’t tell you this stuff so you can tell it to everyone else,” I say to her. “Some things I say need to stay just between us.”
“Ugh, ok. I understand. I forgive you for making it rain on me…again. Now, I’m going to go change into some dry clothes.” She stomps up the stairs dramatically and loudly closes our bedroom door.
I pick up my plate and put it in the sink. I’ll do the dishes in the morning. I walk into the living room and sit down on the couch, avoiding everyone’s eyes because I know they’re on me.
“So…Ryanne…what was that about?” Logan asks.
“Nothing.” Believable answer, Ryanne. That’s the way to make them stop asking questions.
“You don’t make it rain on someone over nothing.”
“People should start doing that more often then, so it doesn’t look as suspicious when I do it.” No one says anything after that. Emma comes downstairs a couple minutes later in dry clothing though her hair is still a little wet.
She smiles at me as if to say that she isn’t mad. I smirk at her and rest my head on Liam’s shoulder and watch the movie with everyone. Liam moves his arm and wraps it around me. I curl into his side, taking comfort in him, and glance over at Colton. I know that I shouldn’t, but I can’t help myself. He’s staring at the screen, but his body seems very tense, and his jaw is tight. He keeps clenching and unclenching his hands. I open my mouth to ask him what is wrong when someone’s thoughts enter my mind.
So tired. So hungry. I sit up and look around. It’s dark. I hate the dark.
“Ryanne, what are you doing?” Liam asks me as I get up. I open the front door and stand on the porch. Whoever is thinking these thoughts has to be nearby. The cold night air brushes against my exposed skin, but I don’t see or hear anything. I walk back inside. So tired. Scared. If it’s not out front…I walk toward the backdoor. I know what everyone must be thinking: Ryanne’s finally lost it.
I step on the small deck and look around. Oh, someone’s coming. Should I be scared?
“You don’t have to be scared. I won’t hurt you.”
“Who are you talking to?” Emma asks.
“I don’t know. I can hear someone’s thoughts.” I whip around when I hear something move behind me. She doesn’t look scary.
“You just walked outside after hearing someone’s thoughts?” Colton asks me.
“Something about these thoughts are different.” I continue looking around. They’re so big.
Big?
That means that whatever is thinking this is small. I get down on my hands and knees and look on the deck floor. The only hiding place is the small lawn chair in the right corner. I crawl over there and look under the chair and find a pair of reflective blue eyes looking at me. She sees me.
“Hey. I won’t hurt you. Can you come out here?” I coo. I tap the deck flooring trying to get this animal to come toward me. “It’s not dark inside.”
“What the heck is going on?” Emma states. I ignore her and continue to talk to whoever or whatever is underneath the chair. What if they hurt me?
“No one here is going to hurt you. I promise.” Meow. The animal under the chair is obviously a cat. I push myself up onto my knees. “Is anyone allergic to cats?” Everyone shakes their heads. I bend back down. “Here kitty kitty kitty.”
“She can read a cat’s mind too?” David asks with disbelief lacing his words.
The cat under the chair starts to move toward me, slowly. It doesn’t know whether or not it should trust me. In the end, its desire to get out of the darkness and find some food wins. When the cat gets close enough to me, I reach out and pick it up. It’s much smaller than I thought it would be. “It’s ok. We’re going to help you.”
Carrying the cat, I walk past everyone and into the kitchen. I carefully hold onto it in one arm and search through the cabinets. Giving up, I turn around, “Does anyone know what to feed a cat?”
I like chicken.
I glance down at the cat and then back to everyone else. “She…are you a girl?” Yes. “She said that she likes chicken.”
Liam walks over to the fridge and gets out some chicken. He starts cooking it for me. I can always count on him while everyone else believes I’m crazy.
“You can read her thoughts?” Colton asks me.
“Apparently, otherwise I think I’m losing it.”
I glance down at the cat in my arms and realize that she isn’t even old enough to be considered a cat. I place her on the ground and see how small she actually is. She’s no larger than my hand. So many people. I sit down on the ground next to her.
