Descending Darkness(20)

“Of course, this is your room now,” I tell her. A surprised look crosses her face, but she quickly recovers and walks into the bathroom. I know that the whole soulmate thing still frightens her, but I know over time she’ll come to accept it whole-heartedly. When I hear the shower start, I pick up Olive and leave the room, giving Ryanne some privacy to get ready.

In the kitchen, everyone is seated at the table. Conner is sitting beside Bragden, talking. The two are similar in age, so they’ll get along well. They met previously when Conner helped us fight, but they don’t really know each other. I put food and water in Olive’s bowls.

“Is she okay?” Liam inquires.

I sit down at the table. Everyone turns and looks at me, waiting for my response. “Yeah. She doesn’t want to talk about the vision, but she doesn’t think it’ll happen for a while. She says that it’s part of some sort of plan.”

“One of her crazy plans or a group plan?” David asks.

“I don’t know. I know that I’d never let her go into a situation where her plan was to get attacked by Adam and Dravin, but I really don’t know much at this point,” I tell him. I don’t really want to think about it right now. “Where are Emma and Natalie?”

“Upstairs. Getting ready, or whatever it is girls do,” David says.

“Conner, does Natalie care about fashion and clothing…stuff?” I ask.

“Not really. She’s more of a t-shirt kind of girl. She’s not super girly when it comes to clothing.” I start laughing. David groans. “What?” Conner looks between us obviously confused by our reactions.

“Emma’s always trying to get Ryanne to wear something other than t-shirts all the time, but Ryanne’s stubborn. Now, she has Natalie to criticize.”

“Well Natalie can be pretty stubborn when she needs to be,” Conner says.

“Great. Now, we’ve got two Ryanne’s on our hands.”



*****

For some reason, it is planned for me to get attacked by Dravin and Adam. I don’t know what is supposed to happen exactly. There has to be a reason why I saw that vision, but what was it? In the vision, I was waiting in the middle of a field. I knew what was going on. I knew that I was in the dream world, and I knew whom I was waiting for. So, when Dravin and Adam rushed out of the woods and came toward me, I pretended to defend myself. I wasn’t really fighting, but I was giving them the pretense that I was fighting back. Why?

I reach down and turn the shower off. There is no way I’ll find the answer right now. Wrapping a towel around myself, I peek into the room. It is empty. Colton and Olive aren’t in here. The clothes I’d grabbed had somehow gotten wet while I was showering, so I need a new outfit.

I dress in my black James Dean shirt and white shorts. It isn’t that bad, so Emma shouldn’t have anything too negative to say about it. I walk across the hall to her room and open the door without knocking. “You know, throwing on a nice outfit wouldn’t kill anyone around here. I seem to be the only one who cares about what she looks like,” Emma says from the bathroom.

“You are,” I say as I walk toward her.

“Look, Ryanne, Natalie’s just like you.” I look over and see Natalie sitting on the bed wearing a black t-shirt with Snoopy on it and jean shorts.

“Nice.” I smile at her. It is nice knowing that there is someone else who doesn’t really care about appearances. It doesn’t look like she is wearing much make-up either. “How’d you get the outfit though?”

“Larkin took Conner back to the house, and they grabbed some clothing for me.”

“Well, if you ever need to borrow anything, you can ask me. I can’t guarantee that it will fit you though. You’re a little taller than me,” I tell her. Every single mage is taller than me.

“Or you can just do what Ryanne does and steal from the guys,” Emma says as she walks out the bathroom.

“I do do that.”

“I do it too sometimes. Guys clothing is just more comfortable. It’s not as tight,” Natalie says while hopping off the bed.

“See!” I whip toward Emma.

As we walk out of the room, Emma asks Natalie, “So, can you sing, dance, play piano, and do gymnastics as well?”

“Well, everything except play the piano. I took gymnastics when I was younger; trained for five or six years.”

“Of course.”

I start laughing. I think I am going to like Natalie. We just entered the kitchen when Emma turns to everyone. “Meet Ryanne the second,” she grumbles as she points to Natalie and walks over to David.