Reaching Retribution(38)

Ryanne runs a hand through her hair and looks toward the window. The clouds have thickened. They open up and start to steadily downpour on the world below. Ryanne jumps again as more thunder rumbles. “You’re a little jumpy this morning. Are you okay?” I ask her.

She ignores me and continues to watch the window; her shoulders tense when lightning strikes the ground in the distance. I look behind me at Tom, who’s just as confused as I am. Reaching around, I force Ryanne to turn toward me. The fear is obvious in her wide eyes as they connect with mine. “Ryanne, what’s going on?”

“We need to get out of here,” she says as she jumps off the couch and runs up the stairs. I turn around and look at Tom. At the same time, we both jump up and follow Ryanne upstairs. She’s banging on everyone’s doors. When someone opens the door, she goes onto the next one. Tom and I stop in the hallway and watch Ryanne. David and Emma sleepily turn toward me questioningly. I shrug. I honestly have no idea what’s going on.

Ryanne stops halfway down the hallway and turns around to face me. The rest of the doors in the hallway open up to see what all the noise is about. Biting her bottom lip, she looks down and shakes her head. Her shoulders fall as she runs a hand through her hair. Looking back at everyone in the hallway, a single tear rolls down her cheek. Ry…

“Don’t attack. I’ll go with you!” she yells.

Who is she talking to? Ryanne walks up to me and grabs my face. Her eyes glisten with more unshed tears. She pulls me down to her and kisses me quickly. All too soon, she pulls away and moves around me, walking toward the stairs again. “I’m so sorry for what I’m about to do,” she whispers.

“What’s—” A large gust of wind blows through the hallway knocking everyone back a couple of steps. Tom and I are thrown backward from the force. Landing on my back, I instantly sit up and look over at Tom, who’s just as confused at what just happened. “She’s creating more distance between us,” I whisper.

“I knew you’d finally come to your senses,” Dravin says as he steps into the hallway. Adam, Natasha, and Valdus all follow after him. Large Gadramicks fill in the hallway behind them and get in a defensive stance. Natalie and Conner gasp when they see their sister. Natasha smiles and waves to her family, but the grin is anything but pleasant. I get up to go to Ryanne, but Tom grabs my arms and holds me back.

“She stepped away from you for a reason, Colton. She most likely had a vision about this,” he whispers to me. I stop struggling. Just because he’s right doesn’t mean I have to like it. Dravin looks past Ryanne, and his eyes land on me.

“Interesting. I vividly remember planting a dagger into your side and watching you bleed out at my compound,” he says as he turns back to Ryanne, “which would mean that you—”

“I said I’ll go with you. Leave them out of this,” Ryanne says to Dravin. The fear is no longer decipherable in her voice. She sounds confident and angry. He moves forward and walks a slow circle around Ryanne. Her body tenses as Dravin trails a hand across her shoulder blade, moving her hair to the side. Tom reaches out and clasps onto my upper arm to keep me from moving.

Liam walks over to me. “What are we going to do?” he whispers.

I have absolutely no idea. I open my mouth to tell him that when my chest tightens. An invisible hand has reached into my chest and squeezed my lungs free of any air. Coughing once, I fall to the ground gasping for breath. Nothing comes to me. Through the indiscernible noise in my ears, I hear whispers about Natasha. I already know this is her doing.

Leaning my arms on the ground, I grunt as my chest tightens further. Hearing Ryanne growl, I look up and through the clouded spots in my vision, I see her whip around and thrust her arm toward Natasha. Her concentration on me is broken when Ryanne sends her flying across the hall. Air suddenly floods back into my lungs and I breathe in, coughing as the organs try to start working again.

When Natasha lands in a heap on the floor, Ryanne turns around and faces Dravin, who also flies to the opposite wall and is pinned there by her magic. He struggles to get free, but is unable to. Ryanne’s magic surrounds us as she creates a shield separating them from us. Logan puts a hand out and heals me as he helps me stand. When he finishes, I walk to the edge of the shield and push on it, trying to get her to drop the shield. We could fight if she would let us.

“I told you I would go with you if you left them alone,” she says through clenched teeth.

“I did leave them alone, dear. Your little friend over there is the one that attacked them.”