I can clearly see the bruise under Ryanne’s eye now and the smaller bruises forming on her arms and legs. I grab onto her hand and lace my fingers through hers. I know that she’ll be in pain when she finally wakes up.
Ryanne gasps and opens her eyes. When she tries to sit up, she winces in pain. Her hand tightens against mine as she continues to move. “Ryanne, stop moving. Let Logan heal you.” Liam groans as her pain hits him; he stumbles back into Natalie from the force.
“I have to…I have to do the protection spell. I need to do the protection spell.”
Logan walks over to Ryanne and places his hands on her stomach. She arches her back as her ribs mend back together and whimpers, trying not to cry out from the pain. The bruising under her eye fades until it is completely gone. The redness and blood on her wrists disappear. Logan steps away from her and starts shaking his head.
“Why would he give in that easily?” he asks as he walks towards Liam to heal him.
“Give me your other hand,” Ryanne says as she starts reaching for my hand.
I place my hand behind my back. “Ryanne.”
“Give me your hand,” she pleads with me. I look up at her and see the tears in her eyes. “Please, Colton.”
I reach forward and place my hands on either side of her face, making her look at me. “What’s going on, Ry?” I ask her. She bites her lip to try and stop the quivering. Burying her face in my neck, she starts crying.
“I need to do the protection spell,” she says again.
“You already did the protection spell,” I whisper as she leans back and looks up at me.
While I wipe the tears from her cheeks, she says, “The house is protected. You guys are not. If Valdus is able to pull me into the dream-world, he can pull any one of you. I need to do the protection spell.”
I look over her shoulder and look toward Larkin and Kyril. I’ve never heard of the enchantment protecting people, just objects. “It is possible to do though it takes a lot of magic. Ryanne, if you try to do the enchantment for all of us, you’ll definitely pass out from exhaustion,” Larkin says.
“I don’t care about that. Do you realize that if Dravin can’t get to me, he’ll come after you all? He’ll use you to get to me. I’ve seen it before. Since none of you will let me hand myself over to him, I’m going to do what I can to protect you all. I need to do this.” She turns toward me. “Let me do this.”
“You haven’t even told us yet what happened, and you just want to jump right into the enchantment?” I ask her.
“I woke up tied to a chair in a room. I couldn’t use my magic. Liam was handcuffed to a pipe across the room. Valdus came in and apologized to Liam, saying that he understood what would happen if something happened to me but that he didn’t have a choice. Dravin offered them protection, and they really need it. They argued. I tried to undo the ropes but couldn’t. I did manage to rub my wrists raw. Then, I asked if he would do what he’s trying to do to me to his daughter. Would he give his daughter over to Dravin knowing that he’d probably end up killing her? He left the room and….”
Ryanne looks over toward Liam and bites her lip. “What?” I ask as she shakes her head at him.
“Umm, I didn’t realize that Valdus actually had a daughter. He apparently came to his senses and released us. Liam had to hit him to make it look like we broke out of there. Then we were attacked by a bunch of people in the hallway. I sucked at fighting back, and Liam basically had to fight all of them off. Then we left, and now you’re caught up,” she says. I know that she is leaving something out.
As gently as I can, I grab her chin and tilt her head back in my direction. “I’ll tell you later,” she whispers. “Now, please give me your hands.”
“They’re not going to come after me. Put the enchantment spell around you first.”
“Give me your hands,” she demands while staring at me with determination in her eyes. With an exasperated sigh, I let her take a hold of my hands. Closing her eyes, she starts chanting. “Magic come forth, I call you to me, protect him from danger so evil cannot see…”
I jump back as I feel her magic start flowing into me. Thousands of vibrating pins shoot through my body from the foreign magic. It moves through my nerves and veins, coating everything with its invisible shield. I watch Ryanne as she continues to say the enchantment.
She keeps her eyes closed as she concentrates on the words. Similar to what happened in the bookstore, I forget that we’re in a room full of people. The only person I see is the small girl in front of me—the girl so determined to keep everyone safe. The grip on my hands tightens as she pushes more magic into my arms. For the first few seconds, it felt invasive, but now it feels…magical. There are no other words to explain it.