Descending Darkness(45)

Natalie leans back against Liam’s chest laughing. He glances down at her surprised but doesn’t move. He’s trying to keep a blank expression. I don’t think Natalie realizes what she is doing. “Stay on your good side, got it,” she says once she is able to calm her laughter. She looks up at Liam, and her smile wavers a little. She mumbles an apology and steps away from him. Liam is watching her with a small smile on his face when Conner walks into the room and looks between Liam and Natalie. His face turns into a scowl. I pat him on the chest, and I walk out of the room.

Colton and Natalie follow me out. Conner walks up to Liam and whispers something to him. Natalie notices it too. I wonder what that is about…I sit on the couch and scoot over, giving Colton room to sit beside me.

“So you think you’ll be up to training today, Ryanne?” Bragden asks me.

“Yeah,” I say at the same time that Colton gives a firm, “No.”

“I’m going to train today,” I tell Colton. There’s not going to be any ifs, ands, or buts about it.

“Ryanne, you were attacked yesterday and spent the whole day throwing up. Then you slept for hours. You’re not training today.”

“Yes I am. Colton, I need to train today. You know I hate just sitting around. They’re able to get to me so easily, and I can never do anything. I just have to take whatever they throw at me and hope that I’ll get a tiny break. Sooner or later, there is going to be a time when I actually can do something, and I need to be prepared.”

“Ryanne…” I look up at him, and he trails off. He’s arguing with himself right now. One part of him just wants me to rest and get completely better, but another part of him understands that I need to do this. He’s just worried about my safety.

“I feel fine, Colton. I don’t need any more rest,” I whisper to him. “I need to train today.” I stare up at him, pleading with him with my eyes. Honestly, if he says no, I’ll still train, but I don’t want him to be mad at me. He sighs loudly.

“Fine, but if you start to feel anything bad, you will stop. Promise?” I nod. I won’t overdo it. Colton looks over to Liam, who had just sat down next to me. “You’ll tell me if you feel anything weird with her, right?”

“Correct,” Liam replies.

“Esh, someone’s paranoid,” I mumble under my breath. Colton squeezes my arm and leans down.

“You’re in perfect tickling position right now,” he warns.

“Psh, I wasn’t talking about you…” I smile sweetly at him hoping to avoid any tickling. Thankfully, he just laughs at me and turns his attention back to whatever David is saying. I look past Colton and see Conner and Larkin sitting at the kitchen table. I make my way over to them.

“Hey guys, whatcha doing?” I ask.

“Oh you know...just…doing stuff,” Larkin says.

“Doing stuff? That’s the best you can do?” I say through my laugh. Larkin is usually way more creative than that.

“I panicked. I didn’t have enough time to think of something. Gosh, woman. Come back in like five minutes, and I’ll have something mind-blowing to say.”

“You panicked? Wow, what happened to Larkin?”

“Shut up.”

I laugh again and turn toward Conner. “Hey, where’s Madison? I miss that little girl.”

“She’s staying with our parents. I talked to her the other day actually. She said that next time she sees you, she wants to play dolls.”

“It’s a date,” I tell him. I do miss her. She seems pretty cool for a youngin’. After a couple seconds of silence, I lean toward Conner. “So what were you talking to Liam about?” I smile at him, giving him my angelic look, hoping that he’ll trust me enough to tell me. I’ve pretty much mastered the puppy dog eyes. I know that I’m being nosy, but I am a girl. I am entitled to being nosy every once in a while.

“You know something, don’t you?” Conner asks me.

“Know something about what?”

“I know what you’re doing.”

“And what am I doing?”

“You’re trying to get information out of me without actually giving anything away,” Conner says.

“I don’t think I’m smart enough to think of something like that,” I tell him. “I think you’re reading too much into things.”

“If you’re going to get any information, though there isn’t any, you’ll have to go through Liam.”

“Ugh, you suck,” I tell him but smile sweetly at him. Contradictions are my specialty. I stand up to walk back into the living room, when I feel the pull of my visions. I open my mouth to warn someone, but I’m already falling.