“Well isn’t that just stranger than finding a polka-dot pig in the middle of a crop circle,” Travis says. Ryanne turns around and looks at the room.
“Am I the only one who has no idea what he just said?” She faces Travis again. “I can’t speak southern.”
“He means that it felt weird,” Mrs. Howick simply explains.
“Then why didn’t you just say that?” Ryanne asks Travis.
“Because then I wouldn’t have gotten to see that cute confused look on your face, now would I?”
“You could have just waited. I get confused often.” I look at Ryanne, who’s slightly blushing. Suddenly she stills. I recognize that expression on her.
“Travis, catch her!” I yell as I jump off the bed. I won’t get to her soon enough. Travis looks at me confused, but when Ryanne starts falling, he reaches out and catches her.
Folding her in his arms, he asks the room, “What happened? What’s going on?”
“She’s in a vision,” Tom explains.
Something glass shatters in the hallway. We all quiet and turn toward the door. What’s going on? Ryanne stirs right as the hotel room door is kicked open, and a man barrels into the room. He brings his arm up, flashing a dagger. Before any of us can react, he throws the dagger across the room.
Everything seems to move in slow motion. Ryanne pushes away from Travis and jumps across the bed. Tom swings out and punches the man in the jaw, knocking him into the wall beside him. Ryanne flies through the air and tackles Incendia, sending both girls flying to the ground. They scream as they crash onto the floor. Incendia rolls and hits the desk, knocking the lamp off of it, but Bragden catches it before it hits either one of them.
Groaning, Incendia pushes herself up and crawls over to Ryanne, who is curled onto her side, and rolls her onto her back. Metal gleams from her stomach as blood starts to soak through her shirt. I push through everyone and run over to her. Gasping, Ryanne reaches down and grasps the hilt of the embedded dagger. She cries out as she slides the metal out. “Logan!” I say as Ryanne starts shaking. For such a small wound, there’s so much blood.
“She-she…saved me,” Incendia stutters as Bragden reaches down to help her stand. Ryanne looks up at me and tries to smile.
“I forgot about putting up a shield,” she whispers.
“It’s okay, Ry. You’re going to be okay, babe. Logan’s going to heal you.”
“He-he w-w-on’t be able to.” Her body starts shaking more rigorously. I squeeze her hand. “It’s inf-f-used with magic.” Logan puts his hands over the wound and starts to heal her. Ryanne reaches out and places her hand on my cheek, “I love you, Colton.”
I cover her hand with mine, keeping her cold hand on my cheek. Her image is blurring as I try to fight the tears that threaten to fall. “Nothing’s going to happen to you, Ry.”
I look over at Logan, who’s now shaking his head. “She’s right, Colton. This dagger was infused with some sort of dark magic. I can’t heal her.”
Ryanne gasps. Her eyes roll into the back of her head as her body stops shaking. “Ry?” The hand on my cheek goes slack. A small dribble of blood flows out of her mouth. Resting my ear against her chest, I listen for a heartbeat.
Silence.
I place my hands over her wound. I healed her once…
The tears that I tried to keep hidden start falling down my cheeks. She can’t be gone. I already lost her once. I won’t lose her again. I can heal her. I can heal her again.
Nothing. The vibrating doesn’t come. My magic won’t come to me. There’s nothing I can do. The last words I spoke to her were a lie…I lied to my soulmate. This can’t be. I turn and look toward the door. The man who threw the dagger is starting to stir. I step away from Ryanne and start to move toward him. Bragden jumps forward and grabs me. I fight against his grip, so another set of arms grabs my shoulder.
“You killed her!” I shout at him. “She’s dead because of you!”
Chapter Thirty-Five
The pain is gone. The shocks that racked my body stop, and I can breathe again. Sitting up, I pull my shirt up, looking for the wound from being stabbed, but my torso is bare. What the heck? My eyes scan the room looking for any clues as to what happened. The room is spotless. The two beds are freshly made, all the other furniture has a clean shine to it, and the light is turned off as if no one has been in this room for a while.
I push myself off the ground and spin around. Seriously, there’s nothing in here. Where did everyone go? Why am I alone? There’s not even a bloodstain on the floor. Maybe I never got stabbed…maybe I wasn’t even saved from Dravin’s compound. Am I still at Dravin’s compound? Was that all a dream?