by Kaitlyn Hoyt
I put a hand on my chest and with mock gratefulness, I reply, “Oh my gosh, Emma. That’s so kind of you! Thank you so much for your help. I’m eternally grateful.” She laughs but grabs some of the dishes. We finish putting them away and walk back into the living room. Everyone is staring at Colton.
What is everyone looking at? “What’s going on? Why are you staring at Colton like you expect him to grow a second head?” I ask as I walk over to the other side of the couch and sit beside Liam.
Emma sits down on David’s lap. “Colton came into his power last night.”
“Really? What is it?” I turn and look at him. He is already watching me. With a small smile, I watch as he disappears. Gasping, I sit up straight and look around the room. No one else is surprised that he just vanished. “Where’d he go? Can he transport like Larkin?” Larkin shakes his head. “Then where’d he go?”
Right as I ask that question something pulls all my hair off of my shoulders. I scream and jump up, slamming into a barrier. Though I can’t see anything in front of me, I can hear Colton laughing. Everyone else in the room starts laughing as well. “I’m invisible, Ryanne.” Colton whispers in my ear. I shiver as his breath hits my ear. I can’t even see him, and he still makes me react like that.
He materializes right in front of me—standing so close, I have to crane my neck further than usual to see him. “That wasn’t very nice. Simply telling me would have sufficed.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” He moves away from me and sits back down on the couch with a large smile on his face. I cross my arms and return to my seat as well. Liam pats my knee, still laughing.
“It always has to be fun with you guys. Let’s scare the crap out of Ryanne. Let’s tickle her until she cries. Let’s come up with all the short jokes possible. Ha Ha. I’m surrounded by a bunch of comedians,” I mumble and lean against the armrest, ignoring everyone’s laughter at my rant. “So Colton, are you excited about it?” I ask him. He rubs the back of his neck, thinking.
“I don’t know yet.”
“You don’t know? I think it’s an awesome power. Think about all the stuff you can do.”
“Don’t you dare come into our room when we’re in the shower or changing! I may not have a power yet, but I can still kick your butt,” Emma says.
Colton scoffs at the butt kicking comment. “I wouldn’t do that. I’m not Larkin.”
“Hey. I did that once. Two times tops. And it’s not like she was naked or anything. She had a bra on,” Larkin tries defending himself but only gets glares. I can feel a blush rising. A topic change is in order.
“Just think about it, Colton. During a fight, you can go invisible and go all ninja on everyone,” I say. “Oh! You’d always win at hide and seek!”
He laughs at me. I love it when I am able to make him laugh. His melodic laugh always makes me smile. “I like the way you look at things, Ryanne.” He looks over at me, still smiling. Be cool, Ryanne. I’m sure I am grinning like a crazy person. “I just hope it comes in handy, and someone can benefit from it.”
“There will come a moment when you will have a chance to show it. To do the right thing,” David says, but he isn’t looking at Colton. He is smiling at me, waiting.
“I love those moments. I like to wave at them as they pass by.” I grin at him. “Oh, David you’ll really have to do better than that. Do you think I’m wearing this shirt just because I like Johnny Depp.” I pause. “Actually, I do love Johnny Depp, but I like the movies almost as much.”
“One of these days I’m going to stump you.”
“I look forward to it.”
Training today is just as brutal as it was yesterday. Liam and Colton are definitely not taking it easy on me because they know that my enemies won’t either. I am getting stronger, but it’s going to take a lot more training for me to be able to take on more than one person without magic. The good thing is, because of my size, people don’t expect me to be able to fight back at all. They see a tiny girl—an easy target. That’s one thing I have working to my advantage.
Colton reaches out and swings an arm toward my head. Instead of ducking, I bend backwards and do a back bend. When my hands connect with the ground, I kick my feet up and hit him in the chest. He staggers back but quickly recovers. Jumping up, I turn and face him again, waiting for his move. He smiles at me and then disappears. I quickly scan the area around me, looking for any signs of movement.
A foot connects with my stomach, knocking me to the ground, flat on my back. The wind is knocked out of me from the fall. Liam stands off to the side, laughing. I feel a slight pressure against my hips and something pins my arms to the ground. I start struggling as Colton reappears above me with a huge smile splayed across his face. “That’s not fair. If I can’t use my magic, you can’t use yours!”
“When did we make those rules?” I struggle against him again but stop when I realize that I’m trapped. He has me pinned to the ground. If that’s how he wants to play…
“What are you going to do to me now that you have me here?” I bat my eyelashes at him and bite my lip. His smile falters a little, and his grip loosens, giving me the advantage I need. I pull my knee up and connect with his oh so sensitive area—the one way a girl can get the upper hand in any situation. He grunts in pain and moves off of me. With a smile, I hit him with a blast of magic that sends him flying a few feet away before landing with a thud on his back.
Liam falls to the ground laughing. Everyone else has stopped sparring and is watching us. I slowly walk over to Colton, “Two can play that game.” All the guys are laughing, and Emma is jumping up and down, clapping. With that, I turn around and walk past everyone into the house.
Chapter Twenty-Six
I grab a water bottle and sit down at the kitchen table, waiting for everyone to join me inside. When the door opens and everyone comes in, I can’t help but giggle at the way they are looking at me. Emma looks really proud, while everyone else is amused. When I see Colton walk in last with a grimace on his face, I smile innocently at him. “What’s wrong?”
He just glares at me. “Not cool.” Liam is trying very hard to contain his laughter.
“You should know that if you’re not going to play fair then I won’t either.”
“Noted.” He grabs a water bottle and sits down at the table, still brooding. I can’t help but smile at his reaction. He’s so cute when he is upset. Emma walks past me and gives me a high five.
Entering the kitchen, Tom stops when he sees the look on Colton’s face. “What’s wrong with him?”
“Ryanne just beat him at his own game,” David says and goes on to explain what happened. Liam cuts in a couple times since he was closer and knows everything that was said. Before the end, Tom is laughing along with everyone else. While David is talking, I glance over at Colton. He’s struggling to contain his smile as well. It’s good to know that he’s not really mad at me.
“I’m going to go change. I’ll be back in a minute.” I walk upstairs and into my room, locking the door in the process. I grab my Jack Sparrow shirt and shorts from the bed and quickly change. Running a brush and some leave in conditioner through my hair, I try to tame my curly mess. When I feel decent again, I open the door and slowly walk out.
Halfway down the hallway, someone grabs me around the waist. I scream, but when the fingers start moving, my scream transitions into giggles. “Say it.” I shake my head and continue trying to get away. I double over laughing. The tickling continues, and my stomach starts to hurt from laughing so hard. “Mercy!” I yell through the laughter.
Colton lets go of me. Spinning around, I call magic to me and make it rain above him. Through the rain, I can see the outline of his body. I start laughing and run down the stairs. Once in the kitchen, I run behind Liam and wait for Colton to come into the room. Colton walks into the kitchen, fully visible and soaking wet. I’m not the only one who laughs at the sight of him standing there with water dripping off him.
“Oh, it�
�s on, little one. It’s on,” Colton says from the doorway. I peek around Liam’s shoulder and smile at him. He shakes his head, but I can hear the amusement in his voice.
David looks between the two of us, “This is going to be funny.”
I keep an eye on Colton all night. I just know that he will try to retaliate sooner or later. I’m hoping for sooner rather than later. The later it gets, the more likely I am to forget. He’s sitting on the opposite end of the couch with a small smile on his face. What is he thinking about? He’s up to something.
Suddenly, his smile disappears and he stands up and walks over to me. My eyes follow him warily. Stopping in front of me, he sticks his hand out. “Can I try something?” I stare at his outstretched hand suspiciously. Is this a trick? “I promise that I’m not going to do anything. I just have an idea and want to see if it will work.”
I slowly grab onto his hand, still cautious of his motives. He laces our fingers together. Closing his eyes, he appears to be concentrating. Colton disappears but keeps a hold of my hand.
“Colton, what are you doing?” My arm starts to vibrate. I look down and see that my hand is starting to disappear. First my hand goes and then my arm. It’s like someone is taking a giant eraser and erasing me. I gasp. I can see through my arm. Colton pulls me up so that I am standing. I feel something wrap around my waist, and I am pulled against his invisible chest. My entire body starts to vibrate. I look down and watch as I completely disappear. “Oh my gosh, I’m invisible!”
I can’t see Colton, but I can feel him. I am still pressed up against his chest. It’s a good thing that I’m invisible because I’m pretty sure that I’m blushing. “It worked.” He sounds surprised.
“This is so awesome. I wonder what else you can do,” I whisper to him.
“They could totally be making out right now, and we wouldn’t know,” Emma says. I turn to glare at her.
Colton’s chest rumbles with his laugh. “You know she can’t see you right?” he tells me.
“How did you know I was glaring at her?” I whisper to him. He just laughs but doesn’t answer my question. “How do you become un-invisible?” I ask Colton. Colton steps away from me but keeps a hold of my hand. Slowly, I feel his grip leave my hand. I’m visible again. “That feels so weird.”
A couple seconds later, Colton materializes. Liam looks up at him. “That could actually be a really helpful power. If you ever need to get out of a sticky situation, you could just become invisible. It’d make getting away easier.”
Speaking of helpful power, I start to feel the pull of mine. Before I can tell anyone, I fall into another vision.
Colton
It makes sense. My invisibility would be incredibly helpful in battle as a way to go about things unseen. If I am around, which I will be, I can help Ryanne get away from Dravin or Adam. I can do more than just fight now.
I am looking over at Liam, when I notice Ryanne starting to sway. She’s still standing very close to me. I look at her right as she collapses. I reach out to stop her from hitting the ground but end up falling with her. I cushion her fall, so she doesn’t land straight on the hard floor. “A little warning would have been nice.”
“I don’t think she really had one. She was smiling one second and then…well she collapsed,” Emma says.
I glance down at Ryanne. Her small body is lying across my lap. Her neck is lying over my arm at a very unusual angle. I shift her so she is in a more comfortable position. Liam’s watching Ryanne, waiting for a sign that something is wrong. He isn’t displaying any signs of discomfort, so Ryanne must be seeing the scene play out instead of being in the vision. The room is silent as we wait for her to come back.
What is she seeing? How will she react when she comes back? I’ve seen her laugh, cry, get angry, become stunned, demand to be taken to Dravin, etc. We’ve seen it all. What would it be this time? I hate when she sees visions that upset her—especially the last one where she lost control of her magic. Please, don’t let her have to go through that again.
Her head rolls to the side, and she sighs. She’s going to be alert in a couple more seconds. On cue, three seconds later she opens her eyes and looks around. “Shoot.” She jumps off me and starts running. Jumping over the arm chair, she flies toward the stairs. Using the banister to propel herself forward, she runs up, taking the stairs two at a time. Once we get over the initial surprise, we all spring into action. Liam and I run after her first. I make it up the stairs and follow her into Tom’s room. She never stops running. Jumping, she tackles someone to the ground. I hear a female scream and then someone starts coughing.
Entering the room, I find Tom on his hands and knees coughing violently, and Ryanne on the floor with a very angry Natasha. I go over to help her but can’t. I run straight into an invisible barrier. Damn it, Ryanne put up a shield. She can’t fight and keep up the shield for long. I understand that she’s trying to protect us, but we don’t need it right now. She’s the one that needs help. The others come into the room and start pushing against the shield as well.
Ryanne jumps up and flips backwards right as Natasha runs toward her. I can tell Natasha is trying to asphyxiate her, but she isn’t affected. She must have a shield around her too. She drops to the ground and swings her leg out, knocking Natasha to the ground. It doesn’t look like Natasha is trained as well as Ryanne. She rolls to the side and gets back up. Natasha runs toward her and jump kicks her in the stomach. Ryanne flies backward, slamming into the bathroom door.
We all gasp. That looks like it hurt. I beat against the shield harder. I can’t stand watching her get hurt like this knowing that I can help. Jumping up, she closes her eyes. Natasha starts to move toward her. Liam and I start pounding against the shield even harder. Someone behind me is yelling, but I’m not listening. My eyes are fixed on the stubborn girl in front of me.
The atmosphere in the room starts to change. I can tell that Ryanne is calling magic to her. Her hair starts flying around her like she’s surrounded by fans. She thrusts her arms forward, and her magic connects with Natasha, sending her flying into the back wall. Hitting Tom’s dresser, she knocks off all the belongings on top and falls to the ground where she remains. She groans but doesn’t get back up.
Ryanne falls to the ground and finally the shield falls down. Larkin runs over to Natasha and places a hand on her unconscious body and transports her out of the room. I rush over to Ryanne, who is panting on the ground. “She was…she was…going to kill…Tom. I had to…to stop her.” She slumps back into me. Logan crouches down and tries to heal her before she passes out. Ryanne sighs as the magic heals her physical injuries from the fighting, but a couple seconds later her head falls to the side as she starts losing her battle to stay awake. Logan can’t do anything about the exhaustion from using too much magic at once.
I bend down and push the hair out of her face. She arches her chin up and looks at me, “I’m sorry about the shield.” Any words that I intended to say get stuck in my throat when I see the dark circles under her hazel eyes. Going limp in my arms, Ryanne passes out. Yet again.
Ten minutes later, we’re all sitting in the living room in silence. No one really knows what to say. I just put Ryanne in her bed. She’s still out and probably will be for a while. Tom seems to be in shock. He hasn’t said anything since Ryanne tackled Natasha. He just keeps opening and closing his mouth.
“She saved me.” We turn our attention to Tom. “She attacked Natasha…to save me.” He starts shaking his head and pushes his fingers through his hair as he stares down at the floor. “She put a shield up and tried to fight on top of that.”
“No matter how stupid it is, we’ve kind of stopped questioning what she does. She does what she thinks is right,” explains Liam.
Logan speaks next. “I’m sorry for saying this Colton, but she seems to be doing a pretty good job. I mean, she’s able to deflect these attacks with little to no help.”
“Just think about how many of her injuries could have
been prevented if she had help,” I rebut. I’m starting to understand why she does what she does and why she feels like she needs to do it, but that still doesn’t mean I like it.
Tom is still shaking his head. “I just can’t believe that Natasha would try to kill me. I’ve known her since she was child.”
“Natasha’s just following Dravin’s orders, and like Claire, Dravin knows that your death will cause Ryanne pain and she’ll act out.”
“I don’t ever want to experience that again. I don’t know how Ryanne has gone through it twice. It was horrible. It felt like the life was being drained out of me. I could see everything in color and then all the color faded away; I only saw black and white. Life and death.”
“Like everyone keeps saying, she’s tough. There’s no other explanation,” Larkin says.
“She saved me,” Tom whispers again. I don’t think his mind has fully processed what happened tonight.
“She’s saving us all.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Liam.” I look around waiting. Nothing. “Liam.” I can do this all day…or night. I’m not sure what it is right now. “Liam. Liam. Liam.” Come on, I’m starting to annoy myself. “Liam. Liam. Liam. Liam.”
“Quit saying my name.” I look behind me and see Liam walking into the clearing, dressed in all black with a smile on his face. My eyes follow him as he sits down beside me. “You called?”
“Took you long enough.” He doesn’t respond to me, just continues staring. “Ugh, fine. I don’t really know why I called you here. I passed out, didn’t I?”
“Yes.”
That’s it? That’s all he can give me? Some company he is.
