Reaching Retribution(86)

Ryanne pulls back and stands up, shaking her head. “Stop the fire, Incendia.”

“Ryanne,” I start.

“I have to stop him, Colton. That psycho threw me off a cliff,” she mumbles as she shoots water toward the wall of fire, creating a doorway large enough for her. Without looking at anyone again, she walks through. The fire descends back down the second she’s out of sight. Logan turns and heals Larkin while everyone else just stands around, confused as to what we all just saw.

“What the heck just happened?” Emma asks.

Thunder rolls in the distance. “He just angered an already angry girl,” Logan says as he steps away from Larkin. Kyril reaches down to help Larkin stand.

“Do you think this is going to be over soon?” David asks. We all glare at him. “What? I’m hungry. I forgot to eat before we came here.

“How do you forget to eat?” Emma playfully hits his shoulder. “You’re always thinking about food.”

“Incendia, drop the fire,” I say. She shrugs and smiles.

“I’m not the one doing this,” she says as she looks up toward Bragden. We all turn and look at him shocked. I didn’t think he was strong enough yet to do this. He hasn’t been training for that long.

“You needed time to heal Ryanne…”

“Thank you,” I tell him. “Now drop the fire.”

The fire around us disappears, and through the fighting, I watch as Ryanne walks up to Vincent. He looks down at her for a second before nodding and grabbing onto her wrist. Both of them disappear without saying a single word to anyone else. “Where is she going?” I ask Larkin.

“Back to Zahtri.”





Chapter Twenty-Seven


He threw me off a cliff. Off a freaking cliff. Like really? All I wanted was a fair fight, but no, he had to throw me off a cliff while I was basically unconscious.

Vincent drops me down in the middle of the cliff edge where we were last time, but Zahtri is nowhere to be seen. I spin around in circles looking for him. “Is he supposed to be here?” Vincent asks me.

“Yeah,” I point to the cliff edge. “He just threw me off of that.” I look behind me. Oh no. “Take me back. Take me back!” I yell. Vincent doesn’t even question me. He places a hand on my shoulder and transports me back to the area behind the compound. I knew it.

Zahtri is way too cocky for his own good. He is talking to Dravin while standing on the opposite side of the platform. Landing on it, I look behind me and see everyone fighting. Colton, Liam, and Natalie are all fighting together. Bragden and Incendia are together while David and Emma are helping Logan and Lily fight. Larkin and Kyril are tag-teaming it—still creating chaos around them. Travis is fighting with a smaller girl with his parents right behind him.

Zahtri stops smiling when he sees me standing there. “You just don’t know when to stop do you?” he yells as he starts walking toward me.

“Go,” I whisper to Vincent.

“Ryanne,” he says.

“Thank you for helping me, Vincent, but I need you to go.” When he doesn’t move, I say, “Go or I will make you leave.” Vincent looks down at me for a moment before he blinks away. I don’t know where he went, but I’m glad he listened. Though I don’t know him, I don’t want anything to happen to him.

Love and anger crashes into me. Instantly, I recognize it as Colton’s. I put a shield up behind me as I turn around.

Colton is still standing with Liam and Natalie, but he’s looking at me. I want nothing more than to go over to him and forget about everything happening around me, but I can’t. I can’t ignore it anymore. This is happening. This is real. Right here, right now, I have to fight. I have to fight for Colton. I have to fight for our life together. I have to fight. Without him.

I place my hand over my heart and nod at him. I can’t go to him and I hope he doesn’t come to me. This could very well be the end for me, and I need Colton to know I love him. Colton mimics my stance and nods back to me. He understands. I take a deep breath and turn around, quite possibly facing my imminent death.

Zahtri is waiting patiently at the edge of my shield. I don’t do anything and neither does he. We just stand there. I can see Dravin moving around us. I want to stop him, but I know I’m not the one destined to stop him. That privilege belongs to Liam and Colton.

“I see you survived the fall,” Zahtri says.

“I used my resources,” I tell him.

“Interesting.”

“What are we doing here, Zahtri? We need to stop this once and for all. No more games. Just us. No one else needs to become involved.”