Descending Darkness(104)
“You can be the optimist, Liam. I’m going to be realistic.”
“Don’t give up just yet,” Liam says as he hugs me to him. “The night is darkest just before the dawn, and I promise you, the dawn is coming.”
I rest my head against his chest. “The Dark Knight.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Colton
Tom leaves the vehicle to check into the hotel while the rest of us wait in the car. This situation couldn’t get much worse. I hear a gasp behind me, and Liam cussing. Natalie scoots closer to him. “Are you okay? Are you hurt? What did you see?” she starts shooting off questions. Liam looks around and then leans back in his seat.
“I was with Ryanne.”
I fly around in my seat and stare at him. “And?”
Tom comes back to the car. “Come on. We need to walk through the lobby, and then get everyone else in through a side door. We don’t want to draw too much attention.”
“I’ll tell you in a minute,” Liam says. A minute? Emma pushes me out of the car, silently telling me not to argue with him right now. I start to turn around to question him again, but she pulls me forward and through the entrance. Emma grabs the hotel keys from Tom and guides me toward the elevator. Now I know how Ryanne feels when everyone else pulls her everywhere. I don’t struggle against Emma, though I know that I could easily move away from her.
Scanning the key card, Emma pulls me into a room and pushes me toward one of the beds. I sit down and wait for everyone else to join us. “Don’t you dare go invisible, Colton!” She points at me as she next to me. Tom comes into the room, supporting Bragden. David is helping Logan hop into the room. Conner, James, Larkin, and Kyril are all able walk on their own, but they are obviously hurting. I can’t imagine how Ryanne looks. She’s so much smaller than these guys. I know that Bragden shielded her from the flying debris, but what physical injuries does she have?
Mr. and Mrs. Howick enter the room after everyone. “Liam, please tell me what you know,” I say as he sits down on the floor. This hotel room is big, but there are too many of us in here. Everyone quiets and waits for his answer.
“Ok, she is back at Dravin’s compound, but it’s not that simple. She’s being kept unconscious with dormirako, and because of that, she doesn’t know how bad her injuries are. She mentioned that her head was bleeding. I don’t think she wanted me to worry about her injuries. She’s scared. Apparently a doctor came in and took some of her blood to see if they can extract her magic, so we have a little bit of time while they run tests but not nearly as much as we need. Dravin thought of everything. We can’t go there without Larkin’s help. He can’t travel long distances until he’s healed and Logan’s too injured to heal anyone.”
We’re so screwed. Liam runs a hand through his hair and looks at me. There’s more, and he knows that I’m not going to like it. “Ryanne thinks that this was supposed to happen.”
“What?”
“Claire told her that we were the ones to bring about an end to the war while she was needed elsewhere. Ryanne thinks that her death will drive us to succeed in this.”
“If she dies, I’m done. I’m fighting for what happens afterwards. I’m fighting because I want a life with my soulmate. I’m fighting for her! I’m not going to let her stay in that compound with Dravin.”
“She can use her magic,” Liam says.
“What?”
“If she can wake up long enough, she can call for Larkin,” Liam says, “but that doesn’t mean that Larkin will be able to transport there and back. You know she won’t call if there’s a chance he’ll be harmed.”
“So, she can use her magic but can’t stay awake long enough to do anything?” I ask.
“Correct.”
I groan and go invisible again. “Colton, we’ll figure something out,” Tom says.
“Claire told me to keep Ryanne with me at all times, and I didn’t do that! I let her walk away from me. She said that Ryanne was in more danger than we knew about. What if letting her away from me changed everything? She wasn’t supposed to be in that car. How did they even know she was in the car? I let her out of my sight, and she was kidnapped again, and now they have their hands on her magic. She’s unconscious and injured, and there’s nothing we can do. They could kill her while we’re stuck here. She could…die,” I choke, “while we’re stuck here.” I’m glad I’m invisible. I’ve barely cried. The only person capable of getting that sort of emotion out of me is Ryanne. I can feel my eyes start to water at the thought of losing her.