“Now,” she furiously whispers to the men.
They all turn around and slowly start walking out of the yard, grabbing all the unconscious men littering the ground as they go. She pushes more magic toward them. The last couple of men fall to the ground, but when she takes a step toward them, they scramble up and run into the woods. Her body begins to shake as another round of thunder shakes the earth. Ryanne falls to her knees and grabs her head; she’s starting to lose control. Natalie pushes past me and runs for Ryanne.
She pushes Liam out of the way and grabs onto Ryanne’s arms. The storm stops. All that is left is a steady drizzle. Ryanne takes a deep breath and stops shaking. I bend down next to her and pull her to me. I can still feel the magic emanating from her, but it isn’t dangerous anymore.
“Ryanne, are you okay?” She buries her face into my chest. I push her wet hair from her face and pull her back. She’s staring up at me through frightened eyes. She has a bruise forming on her cheek. Besides some shallow cuts and small bruises, she came out mostly unscathed.
“Ryanne, what’s going on?” The feminine voice asks again. I’m assuming that this is Jane. Ryanne slowly stands up and walks away from me, toward the woman.
“Jane, I can explain,” she whispers. Jane takes a step back. Ryanne bites her lip when she moves away from her out of fright. Ross wraps his arm around her and pulls her to his side protectively.
“Ryanne, what were those men doing in our yard?” Ross asks. “And…how?”
“Can I come inside? I don’t want to stay out here anymore. I promise to explain everything,” she says. “I’m not going to hurt you guys.” I don’t know if she is reading their minds or if they look scared. They are standing too far away for me to read their facial expressions. Ross starts shaking his head, but Jane stops him. She nods and motions for Ryanne to follow them into the house.
“Larkin, can you take everyone back?” He nods and walks over to Emma and Natalie. Ryanne looks between Liam and I. “Liam, will you stay?” I understand why she asked him, but it still hurt that I can’t be the one to help her with this. Liam is her protector, and he’s the only other person that Jane knows. I walk backward and stand near my brother and Logan.
Ryanne walks up the steps of the back porch. As she walks through the doorway, she turns around and looks at me. She touches her chest, where her heart is, and mouths sorry to me. I touch my chest over my heart and nod at her. I understand what she is doing.
Larkin transports back, grabs Bragden, and leaves again. I stare at the door as Ryanne slowly closes it and walks into the house, leaving me behind. I grab onto the back of my neck and look toward the sky. It isn’t raining anymore, but it is cloudy. I exhale and have to concentrate really hard to keep visible. Larkin appears in front of me. He places a hand on Logan’s shoulder and transports him back to the house. A couple seconds later, he is back. Reaching for Conner, he leaves again.
David pats my shoulder, “She’s going to be okay, Colton.” Larkin transports back and stands between David and me. Placing a hand on both of our shoulders, he closes his eyes and concentrates on transporting us away.
Twenty minutes later, we are all dry and back downstairs. Larkin is sitting on the couch where Liam usually sits. He looks like he could fall over at any given moment. He has used a lot of magic in such a short period of time. I can’t sit still, so I take to pacing the floor behind the couch.
“Colton, she’s going to be fine. She’ll call if she needs any help. Quit worrying,” Emma says.
“I don’t think she has to worry about not being that girl from the vision,” Logan says. “We saw a little bit of her tonight.”
“That’s what I’m worried about,” I whisper.
“Why are you worried about that?” asks Natalie.
“I’m afraid that…I don’t know. She’s strong, I know that. And she can handle what’s being thrown at her but to what extent? You can only go through so much before you crack. She’s not invincible. She does have her kryptonite.”
“She would appreciate your Superman reference,” Emma tells me.
“I’m just worried that we’re all going to start thinking of her as the prophecy girl because we’re catching glimpses of her, and she’s terrified of just being that. She’s Ryanne, and we have to remember that.”
“She thinks we’re using her because she’s the girl from the prophecy?” Emma asks. I notice that everyone else is being very quiet. They all seem lost in their thoughts.