“I don’t know. I remember listening to Ryanne talk to you and then out of the corner of my eye, I saw a car come out of nowhere. It literally came out of nowhere. We were the only people on the road. He t-boned us and then drove off. I don’t know how there wasn’t any damage to his vehicle. I saw everything. Shards of glass were flying everywhere. Bragden turned his body and blocked most of the glass from hitting her, but she still hit her head against the ceiling when the car flipped. She was buckled, so I don’t know how that happened. Then suddenly there was another man in the car with us. He grabbed Ryanne and transported her out of the car. She was unconscious, so she couldn’t fight back at all. The rest of us were kind of in a daze. It all happened so fast.”
Ryanne’s in the hands of the Gadramicks again. I let go of Logan and start pacing. I can smell the smoke coming from the car. “We’ve got to move now. The car is going to blow!” I say as I start moving back. Larkin transports into the car, grabs Kyril’s shoulder and transports him out of the vehicle.
I run past David and grab Emma and Natalie and start running in the opposite direction. Everyone runs after me. Adrenaline pumping, I pull the girls away from the smoking vehicle. They stumble but keep up. Ten seconds later, I hear the explosion behind me. It sends shocks over the ground, knocking us all down. Landing on my stomach, I push myself up and look over my shoulder. The car is completely engulfed in flames; metal shards are falling from the sky.
I turn and look at David, who’s still supporting Logan. Logan’s wound is slowly starting to heal, but it’s going to take a while. In order to heal everyone else, we’ll need Ryanne here to help him.
I jump up and grab the back of my neck. What am I supposed to do now? I need to get to the compound. I need to get to her. I need to find my soulmate. I won’t be able to relax until she’s back in my arms. “How do we get her back?” I ask Tom.
*****
Darkness is slowly unleashing me from its strong grip. I open my heavy lidded eyes and try to push the hazy stupor back. It’s like asking the fog on an early summer’s morning to fade. It doesn’t listen; you just have to let it do its own thing. A loud high pitch noise is screeching in my ears, cancelling out any sounds around me. The left side of my body feels like something hard slammed into it. My left shoulder and arm are throbbing, and a cool liquid is sliding down my leg. “Colton?” I groan. My voice is barely audible, but the desperation in it is obvious. “Liam?
As the daze starts to dissipate, my blurred surrounding starts to become clear. Dang, it’s bright in here. I slam my eyes shut and slowly open them this time, letting them adjust to the intense lighting. My eyes connect with a pair of brown eyes standing over me. Instantly, I scream and cower back in the chair. Are you freaking kidding me?
Dravin’s mouth is moving, but I can’t hear anything through the ringing in my ears. I narrow my eyes at him and try to read his lips. Nope, apparently I’m horrible at lip-reading. Dravin stops talking and stares down at me. When the ringing in my ears subsides enough, I ask him what he said.
“Glad to see you awake,” Dravin says. Now we can start. “How are you feeling? Actually, don’t answer that. I don’t care.”
“How did I get here?” My voice comes out all wrong. Instead of sounding strong and confident, I sound weak and broken. A sharp pain shoots through my stomach with each movement, making it difficult to breathe.
“You don’t remember the car accident?” Dravin says with a smile when he sees my discomfort. Maybe she has some brain damage. She is bleeding from the head. He reaches forward and lightly touches the side of my forehead. I wince and flinch away from him. When he draws his hand back, his fingertips are covered in blood.
“Car accident?”
“Yep, my clever little rouse to get you away from that little posse of yours. It was a lot easier than expected considering the collision knocked you unconscious.”
The scene starts coming back to me. I was sitting beside Bragden…with James driving. I was talking. What was I saying? I remember waking up from sleeping against Bragden after hearing his voice. He was…on the phone. He was talking to…Colton. He was talking to Colton and handed me the phone. I was on the phone with Colton when the accident happened, and he heard everything. Is everyone else okay? Are they hurt?
“So what’s your plan now?” I ask Dravin. Dravin pulls up a chair and sits down next to me. I’m strapped to what looks like a dentist’s chair. Dravin stares down at me for a couple seconds before he opens his mouth to reply.