Reaching Retribution(109)

Shaking the haze away, I sit and look toward the platform…or what’s left of the platform. Zahtri is gone. The ground is charred and dead where the vortex was. My eyes move across from it and…

Ignoring the pain spreading through my body, I jump up and run across the clearing, jumping over bodies along the way. I don’t stop to look and see who is lying down. I don’t think about how many of them are dead. I don’t look at anyone, except the small girl with curly hair. I jump onto the broken platform and run two steps across before going off the edge. At Ryanne’s side, I drop to the ground. She’s lying on her stomach with her hair across her face. Rolling her onto her back, I lean down and listen for a heartbeat. There has to be a heartbeat.

Thump.

Was that a heartbeat? Thump.

It was! She’s still alive. “Logan!” I yell. I can’t heal her. He’s literally the only one who can heal her. I sit back and push her hair out of her face.

Oh my gosh.

She’s covered in cuts and bruises. Did she get these before or after the explosion? I look back at the clearing. Liam and Natalie are running toward me. I can see David, Emma, Bragden, and Incendia all moving, so at least they’re alive. Tom is pushing himself off the ground. Where the hell is Logan? Larkin transports in beside me. “Is she alive?”

“For now, but she needs Logan,” I tell him. Larkin disappears.

I lean my head down and rest it against her forehead. “Ryanne, don’t you dare leave me. We planned our life together. You can’t leave me now,” I say. Without my permission, my eyes start to tear up. I’ve seen her die too many times. I pull her body into my lap. Her head rolls to the side. She’s completely unresponsive. “Please don’t do this to me.”

Liam and Natalie fall to the ground beside me. “Please tell me she’s alive,” Liam implores as he looks down at her. I can see the grimace he’s trying to hide. She looks horrible, I know. She needs to be healed. She needs Logan. She pushed out too much magic to heal on her own.

Larkin transports back in beside me with Logan. Since he was in the back, his injuries aren’t as bad as the rest of us. He looks down at Ryanne and grabs onto the hand that I’m not holding and closes his eyes. When the injuries are this bad, he doesn’t have to find the area that needs healing the most. His power knows what to do. I watch as the bruises and scratches disappear from her skin. The swelling under her eye goes down and the cut on her lip mends itself. Her arm straightens out as the bone sets itself back into place.

Logan opens his eyes and releases her hand. I stare down at Ryanne waiting for her to open her eyes and look at me. After a few seconds and nothing happening, I look up at Logan. “Why is she not waking up?” I ask. “Why didn’t that work?”

“Something’s not right,” he says without taking her eyes off of her. When is anything ever right? I tighten my grip on her. She has to wake up.

“Come on, Ryanne,” I say. Leaning down, I listen for her heart beat again.

Thu….mp.

It’s fainter now. Thu…….mp.

“Damn it, Ryanne. Don’t you dare leave me. Wake up!” I shout and shake her lightly. Tom walks behind me and places a hand on my shoulder. We were supposed to come out of this together. Why didn’t Logan’s magic heal her? Why?

Reaching down, I rest of my forehead on hers again. This isn’t the end. It can’t end like this.

I know you can hear me, Ryanne. I know you’re listening. You need to get back here. You need to come back to me. Jack Sparrow always found a way back, so I know you can too. You’re so much stronger than this. Fight whatever it is you have to fight, just come back to me. I can’t do…any of this without you. Come the hell back to me, Ry. I need you here.

I continue to push these thoughts at her. Ryanne could never read my mind, but she had a way of knowing what I was thinking. This improved with her power of emotions.

We’ve lost too much today. Too many lives were ended at this compound. I will not be able to bury her. Dravin can’t be right. He just can’t be. There’s no way I can watch them lower a casket, with her inside, into the ground. I won’t make it through that. I just got her back. She can’t be gone.

Ryanne, please.

I move to listen to her heartbeat again. It’s silent.

Her heart’s not beating anymore.

I can’t stop the pained cry that escapes my lips or the tears that fall from my eyes and slide down my soulmates already cold cheeks. I don’t bother trying to hide any of these emotions.

I couldn’t even if I tried.