“You must not be a very good leader then if they don’t listen to you.” Dravin growls and struggles to break away from the wall again, but it’s useless. Ryanne has grown stronger with all the magic training she’s been doing with Colin recently.
What is she doing and why is she doing it? There must be something we can do, but Tom shakes his head. Ryanne’s much stronger than us, and there’s nothing we can do against her magic. I push away from the shield and start pacing. Emma runs up to me and tells me, “Ryanne must have a plan, Colton.”
“No, Ryanne’s like freaking Jack Sparrow,” I mumble as I walk around Emma and start pacing again. She won’t understand that, but those were Ryanne’s exact words. She just makes it up as she goes.
Turning around, I watch as she walks over to Natasha. Helping her stand, she pulls her forward and whispers something in her ear, too quietly for anyone else to hear. Natasha’s eyes widen, but she doesn’t say anything. Ryanne drops her magic from Dravin. His face contorts into an expression I easily recognize as he pushes off the wall and runs over to Ryanne. He forcefully slaps his hand across her face. The force of the impact echoes through the hall that even Natasha gasps at the noise. Liam, David, and Tom all rush over to me. It takes the three of them to hold me back.
Ryanne’s head whips to the side, but she doesn’t cry out. Slowly, she turns back to Dravin and flips her hair back. A large red welt in the shape of a hand is forming on her cheek. I start struggling again when I see the redness.
“I said I would go with you. There’s no need to be violent,” she tells him politely. Dravin laughs and turns her around, handcuffing her hands behind her.
“I hope you know those handcuffs really aren’t stopping anything. If I wanted to fight you, you’d know,” she tells him.
“Oh, I know dear,” he whispers loudly in her ear. Ryanne flinches away from his touch. Dravin laughs again and pushes Ryanne toward the stairs.
“Take me with her!” Liam yells as he steps away from me.
“Liam, what are you doing?” Natalie asks him. He walks over to her and pulls her against him, kissing her gently. It looks like more of a goodbye kiss than an I’ll be back kiss. Natalie must have felt the same way because tears start streaming down her face when he pulls away.
“I love you,” he whispers to her. A surprised look crosses her face, before she says it back to him. Liam turns back around and faces Dravin again. “Take me with her,” he repeats.
All of the Gadramicks stare at Liam in bewilderment because he voluntarily wants to go to Dravin’s compound. Ryanne starts shaking her head as she looks at him. Liam nods slightly at her. He’ll die if he doesn’t go with her. “Do it, Dravin,” Valdus tells him. Valdus is the only one who can convince Dravin to let him go. He’s the only one who understands what Liam is going through.
Dravin nods, but turns toward Valdus. “If they escape, it’s your life.” Valdus glances at Liam again and with hesitance in his eyes, he nods.
“I understand.”
Liam looks at Ryanne who is now crying. “Drop the shield, Ryanne.” She bites her lips and shakes her head again.
“They’ll kill you,” she whispers to him.
“Then I’ll die either way,” he tells her. Natalie gasps behind me. Emma goes over to her and tries to comfort her, but it’s no use. I understand what Natalie is feeling right now and no amount of comfort will help.
Ryanne turns and looks at everyone, her eyes lingering on Incendia. “Don’t try anything. Please,” she pleads with us then drops the shield. If she’s pleading with us, she knows more than she’s letting on. David and Tom tighten their grip on me, but I don’t try anything. I promised her that I would try to trust her. Ryanne looks at me again. She mouths, “I love you” to me, and a second later, she spins around and kicks the man holding her in the chest. When he falls backward, a thin lightning bolt materializes out of nowhere and strikes behind Ryanne, separating the metal links of the handcuffs. With her hands free, she moves toward him.
Dravin looks momentarily surprised, but quickly masks that emotion. Ryanne stops in front of him and gets in his face. Poking him in the chest, she says, “If you hurt him, I swear I will kill you.”
“I don’t think you have it in you to kill, little mage,” he taunts. “Would you be able to watch the life drain from someone’s eyes? Watch as they take their last breath, and know you are responsible for their pain? No, you’re too pure of heart to end someone’s life.”