Descending Darkness(53)

“He…um…he hit me, a couple times actually. I tried to break up with him after the first time, but he threatened me. Conner and my dad had to threaten him before he finally left me alone.”

I look over at Liam. He is clenching his fists against his leg. Natalie won’t see it from where she is sitting, but I can see it. “Oh my gosh. I’m sorry, Natalie.”

“Oh, it’s fine. It happened a while ago.”

“We’re not very good when it comes to guys, are we?” Emma asks. Natalie and I both turn and look at her. “Well, I was cheated on, Natalie was abused, and Ryanne got attacked by the same guy who is now working with Dravin.”

“Hmm, I bet it’s a mage thing,” Natalie says jokingly. I am about to tell her that I wasn’t a mage when it happened, but I feel the pull again, and everything goes black.





Chapter Fifteen




Colton

No girl should go through what any of these girls have already gone through. They were all treated poorly by men before, and they don’t deserve that. No one does. I am glad that Ryanne has these two as her friends. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Ryanne open her mouth to say something but then tenses in my arms; her words left unspoken.

“You okay?” I ask her as she starts falling forward.

I tighten my grip around her shoulder and prop her back against me. Her head falls to the side. I try moving her into a more comfortable position, but her head just rolls back. The room is silent because we all know what is happening. There is nothing we can do. We just have to wait—wait and see what this vision brings.

A couple minutes later, Ryanne gasps and sits up. She looks around the room and jumps up. “What time is it?”

David looks at his watch. “Almost 9:00, why?”

She jumps over my legs and runs up the stairs. What did she see? I stand up and am about to head upstairs when she comes back downstairs, hopping on one foot as she tries to put her shoe on. “Larkin, I need you to take me to Jane’s. Like right now!” Larkin stands up and walks over to her. “Then, I need you to come back here and get Colton and Liam.”

“What’s going on?” I ask her, but she ignores my question.

“Larkin,” she jumps in place, “I need to go now!” Larkin reaches out and grabs her arm and transports her out of the room. Liam and I get up and grab our shoes. I finish tying mine when Larkin transports back into the room.

“Bragden and Logan, get ready. We need more people,” he says.

“You just left her there?” I yell. Larkin ignores my question and grabs Liam and me. We are transported to Jane’s house. I’d only been here one other time, but this time is different. I can hear yelling in the backyard. Liam and I run around the house as Larkin transports away again.

Ryanne is standing in the middle of the yard, fighting off two men. There is already one guy lying on the ground. I can tell that she is using her magic because every time she touches one of the guys, they grunt in pain. I run toward the guy at her back, swing back and punch him right in the jaw— the way that Tom taught me when I was younger. His eyes roll into the back of his head, and I let him fall to the ground.

“What’s going on?” I ask her as she elbows the man in the stomach. He grunts and tries to punch her. She ducks and swings her leg out and kicks him the neck. As he falls, Liam walks behind him and hits the pressure point in his neck, knocking him unconscious.

“In less than a minute around ten guys are going to come out of the trees and start attacking. They’re here to kill Jane and Ross.” She looks toward the house. “Dravin decided that she is a target again. He’s trying to get me to react.” She turns around and faces the forest.

On cue, men start piling out.

She pushes her magic out and creates a giant shield. The men run straight into it and immediately fall back. If we weren’t about to fight all of them, I might have found that comical. “I’ll keep this up until Larkin comes back. I can’t keep it up for too long, especially if they start fighting it.”

All at once, the men start pushing themselves back up. Together, they begin pounding on the invisible barrier, and Ryanne grimaces and staggers back a little from the force. I reach out to steady her. She is going to tire out too quickly if she has to keep this up for long.

“We’re here!” Larkin says. I turn around and find everyone coming into the backyard. Liam curses when he sees Natalie walking beside Emma. He looks over to his brother. Without actually speaking, his brother knows what he is asking. Bragden walks over and stands beside Natalie.

“I can’t hold it much longer!” Ryanne shouts.