Descending Darkness(69)

I look around for anything to determine where I am—anything out of the ordinary to help me figure out my location, but everything looks the same. I am surrounded by trees. Nothing else. Where are the field and the crazy men chasing me? I don’t understand what is going on.

“Liam?” I quietly call out. If I am in the dream world, he should be able to come here. Maybe he can help me figure everything out.

“You were supposed to bring her to the compound, not this stupid dream.” I hear someone yell nearby. Spinning in a circle, I look at my surroundings. The only place to hide is behind a tree. I run to the right and jump behind the largest tree. Pressing myself as close to it as I can get, I strengthen my shield and wait.

“She’s very strong. She was able to override a part of my magic. I could knock her into unconsciousness, but she was able to control where she went.” I’m assuming that Valdus Hamza is the one talking.

“You promised me you could bring her to me,” Dravin yells.

“She’s here somewhere. I just don’t know where. I can’t sense her.”

“She can surround herself with a shield, blocking her magic. You won’t be able to find her if she has a shield up,” Natasha says.

“I need her magic. She’s too much of a threat right now,” Dravin says, “I’m done playing nice.” When did he ever play nice?

“You’re just going to take her magic, right? Nothing else?” Valdus Hamza asks.

“If she happens to die afterwards…well, it was accidental.” I can hear the smile in Dravin’s voice. I really hate that guy.

“You promised me you wouldn’t kill her. You’d just take her magic,” Valdus Hamza shouts.

“You really shouldn’t trust a Gadramick. I won’t intentionally kill the girl. But even without her magic, she could still be a threat to me.” At least he’s finally admitting that I’m a threat.

“I don’t like this,” Valdus says.

“I don’t care if you like it. Just help me find her,” Dravin demands. I press myself farther into the base of the tree. Their footsteps recede into the distance as they walk away from my general vicinity. Holding my breath, I wait until I can’t hear anyone anymore. It sounds like Valdus doesn’t want to be helping Dravin, so why is he?

I peer around the tree. The coast is clear. I look in the direction that Dravin has gone and decide to go the opposite way. I have no idea how to get out of here, so better be safe than sorry. The previous times I’d been here, I was either injured or woken up. I don’t really want to get injured, and I have no idea how to wake myself up. I don’t even know how long I’ve been here.

I hear the snap of a twig right before I hear his thoughts. Freezing where I am, I listen. Ahh, there she is. The man behind me is literally the last person I expected to be here. “Phillip?”

“So you do remember me,” he says as he takes a step toward me. My first instinct is to turn around and run, but I stand my ground.

“What are you doing here?” He helped us before, but something is sketchy right now. I glance over my shoulder. No one is behind me.

“Oh you know, just taking a stroll through the forest.” Wait until Dravin finds out I was the one that caught her.

“Is James with you?” I ask. I don’t like James in the least bit, but right now I think I’d rather deal with James than Phillip. I don’t know anything about him. When he came to the house to help before the battle, he was silent. James did all the talking.

Of course. They always want to know about James. “No, James decided that there was something special about you; that you were the winning side. I’ve never seen anything to confirm his belief,” he growls at me. I start backing up further. Phillip just admitted to working for the Gadramicks.

“So what’s your plan now?” He is taking larger strides to get close to me. I push my legs further until I’m practically jogging backward.

He could easily reach forward and grab me if it wasn’t for my shield. Right now, we are playing a game of cat and mouse.

“Well, since we’re in this lovely predicament, I thought I’d have some fun. You’re alone. None of your little posse is here to help save you. Dravin wants you, but he didn’t specify the condition you had to be in.”

“Why are you doing this? You helped us…”

“I was dragged along. I didn’t do anything in that battle. I don’t see anything special in you. You weren’t even born a mage. How can you be the one to stop all this? Huh?”

I continue moving backward. I’m not sure if Phillip has a power, but I know that I don’t want to find out. He takes a couple steps toward me. I have to do something, but I don’t want to drop my shield. So, I do the only logical thing. I turn around and start running. Brilliant plan, Ryanne. Run away from the bad guy. That’ll get you far.