“Ryanne doesn’t either, but why? She just said she was worried about our safety. What did Liam say?”
Natalie turns and faces Tom. “Umm, he said that they are safe, but he’s a little worried about Ryanne,” I instantly turn toward her. “Apparently, Dravin’s had her fight against a bunch of Gadramicks and she’s refusing to use her magic. Dravin attempts to stop the attacks, but some of the guys have gotten a hit on her. Liam mentioned that she has a lot of bruises. Apparently, she can’t sleep and has been refusing to eat anything.
“Adam has been protecting her though. They allow her to leave the cell, but she has to stay with him at all times, because everyone in that compound has vendetta against her. Oh, and get this, apparently Adam thinks he’s in love with her.”
“What?” I yell.
“Yeah, Adam’s in love with her, but he hasn’t acted on those feelings. He’s just been very protective of her. Some guy tried to attack her yesterday, and Adam beat him up. Ryanne had to pull him off the guy. Liam doesn’t like it, but Adam and Dravin are the only reason why they’re still alive.
“Also, Dr. Arden couldn’t extract any magic from Ryanne even without the protective enchantment. She talked to him once, but that didn’t turn out too well. Liam said that since that conversation, Ryanne’s gotten more and more depressed. She tries to put on a brave face around him, but he knows. Ryanne doesn’t think that they’re going to get out of there, and she doesn’t want anyone risking their life to come save her.
“They haven’t come in contact with Zahtri yet. Ryanne knows that he’s there. She can sense his magic around the compound, but doesn’t know where he is exactly. Zahtri is the only thing keeping them alive right now. Liam and Ryanne both know that Zahtri has a plan for them, but they don’t know what it is yet.”
Well, Ryanne left out a lot of details. “I still say we go. Ryanne seemed shocked when I told her how many people we have. We have more of a chance than we thought.”
“Liam thinks that we’ll still need more people.”
“Then, we’ll find more,” I say.
“It’ll take more than two days to gather up more mages, Colton.”
“I can’t leave her there any longer than that. You all know her. She doesn’t like others to think of her as weak, so she won’t give them a reason to believe so. Liam knows what’s going on in that mind of hers. If he thinks that she’s depressed, she most likely is. Think about her powers. She can read minds. She can sense emotions. Can you image what being in Dravin’s compound is doing to her mentally? All that anger, hatred, and negative emotions. We can’t leave her there for much longer. Three more days tops. If we can’t get any more, we go in there with what we have. We’ll warn everyone of the dangers ahead of time, but we go anyway. I’ll go by myself if I have to. I have to try.”
“Okay,” Tom says. He doesn’t try to talk me out of it or offer another strategy.
“Okay?” I can’t believe what I’m hearing.
“We all love her too, Colton, and Liam’s part of our family as well. We miss them as much as you. I hadn’t thought about what being there would be like with her magic. Even if they’re not hurting her, it’ll still affect her just to be there. Three days. That’s all the time I’m allowing before we go there. I’ll go let everyone know.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Liam, will you tell me more about your mom?” I ask him as I play with the flamed pendant he gave me a few months ago. “Or how you got that scar?”
“What do you want to know?” he asks me.
“What was she like? How’d it happen? Either story. Both stories. Whichever one you want to tell.” I angle myself more toward him, so I can watch him as he talks. That sounds weird, but I love watching him when he talks. Liam doesn’t show much emotion, but when he tells stories, he comes alive.
“She was amazing. She was the type of person who went out of her way to make someone happy. She loved making jewelry. I don’t remember a day where she wasn’t making something. She loved molding something beautiful out of nothing. All the girls in our tribe would come and ask her to make something for them. They always offered to pay, but mom would never accept their money.” Liam smiles as he talks. He’s staring off into space, reliving the memories.
“Everyone would come to her as ask her to repair their protector pendants. The mother’s of all the male mages were supposed to make their sons their own individual pendants, but many women would come to mom and ask her to make them. My mom had a way of knowing people without meeting them. She could look at you and instantly know what your symbol should be. It was uncanny.