Reaching Retribution(76)

She sniffles and looks toward the door of the compound before returning her eyes to me. The remaining unshed tears bring out the light browns and greens in her eyes. “Tell him what?” she whispers to me.

“You know what you need to tell him.” Ryanne bites her lip. I pull her forward and lightly kiss her. She sighs and nods against my lips. I pull back and tuck her hair behind her ears.

“Go,” I tell her. As she moves past me, I lightly tap her on the butt. She gasps and turns around, staring at me with wide eyes. Winking at her, I jump off the platform. I can hear her laughing behind me as she walks toward her father. I’m glad I can give her a little semblance of happiness at this time, because I know in a few minutes that’s all going to change.

“Is she okay?” Liam asks me while watching Ryanne. “She didn’t react well when she talked to him the first time.”

“She will be.” I unsheathe my sword.

“Did anyone write down that speech? Because that was pretty freaking awesome,” Emma says as she grabs her weapons. “That’s one for the history books,” she pauses. “Mage history books. Is there such a thing as mage history books?”

“I got it,” Larkin says. We all turn toward him shocked. He pushes a button on his cell phone and Ryanne’s voice flows out from the speakers.

“Oh my gosh, Larkin. That’s amazing. Why didn’t I think of that?” Emma asks David.

Everyone brings out their weapons and gets in a protective stance. Liam kisses Natalie and walks to the edge of the platform near Ryanne. Natalie frowns as he walks away again. We just got them back, and they’re already distancing themselves again. Liam looks back at me. I understand what he’s silently asking me. I step closer to Natalie and nod back at him. I’ll watch his soulmate while he watches mine.

“Do you think we’ll get out of this situation?” Natalie asks me. I bring my sword in front of me and watch the Gadramicks around us. They’re all twitching; making subtle movements.

“I hope to God we do.”

“Colton, I think you should use your invisibility here. Give yourself an advantage over everyone,” David says. I stare at him for a second, mind reeling. Why don’t I ever think of stuff like this? “Esh, you and Ryanne are perfect for each other,” he mumbles. “She always forgets she has powers until it’s too late.”

“Sometimes I do forget that I have a power.”

“Sometimes I remember that I don’t have one,” Emma mumbles. I turn and look at her but she’s looking at the ground. With a sigh, she looks up, “How the heck am I supposed to fight against a bunch of Gadramicks who have powers?”

“The same way you’ve been doing it so far, by kicking their—”

“Hey, hey now. She’s a lady, Colton,” David says with a laugh.

I punch my brother lightly in the arm and turn back toward Ryanne. She’s walking away from Jedrek and looking around the field. Her eyes land on mine. She nods at me. This is it. The wind picks up speed, so I know that Ryanne is calling her magic to her.

“She’ll be fine, Colton. Her magic has gotten much stronger since she’s been here,” Larkin says. “Dravin didn’t know that Ryanne’s power increases with negative emotions. She’s been channeling all the anger around here and she’s completely pissed off. Dravin’s plan has backfired.”

I forget sometimes that Larkin can sense magic. Ryanne turns around and whispers something to Liam. Adam walks up the stairs on the platform and says something to Ryanne. She turns and looks over at Dravin’s frozen form. Her eyes narrow, but she nods.

“What is he saying to her?”

“That Ryanne needs to watch out for Dravin. He’s sneaky,” Emma says, “and still very dangerous.” We all turn to stare at her. How could she hear that?

“What?”

“Do you see how far away Ryanne is from us?” I ask her. “Adam whispered and you heard them. None of us could hear them from here,” I say. “We’d need them to be yelling or speaking into a microphone for us to hear them.” A small black microphone appears in Emma’s hands.

She gasps and drops the microphone. A loud screeching noise echoes through the field. Emma looks up at David and me through wide eyes.

David smiles at her. “I think you just got your power, babe.” At Emma’s confused look, he continues, “You’re a conjurer.”

“A conjurer?” she asks. The Gadramicks around us are starting to move more often. “But how does that explain why I could hear Ryanne and Adam?”