Reaching Retribution(87)

“I thought I was stopping this when I dropped you off the cliff’s edge,” Zahtri tells me with a blank expression.

“It takes a little more than that to get rid of me, Zahtri. I’m pretty stubborn.”

“I’ve noticed.”

I can hear all of the fighting going on behind me, but I refuse to turn around. I’ve surrounded myself with a shield, so I shouldn’t have any surprise attacks from behind. I can’t read Zahtri’s mind because he’s put up a mental shield to block me. I’ve surrounded my thoughts with magic, so he shouldn’t be able to read mine either. I want to end this fair and square.

“How is this going to go?” Zahtri asks me. I try to keep a neutral expression on my face despite the surprise. I have no idea. I wasn’t expecting him to ask me that.

“How do you think this should go?” I ask him. Zahtri starts pacing the area in front of my shield. I watch him moving back and forth. He’s going to attempt something, but I don’t know what.

“I think you should drop that shield of yours, Ryanne, before I make you drop it myself. Then, we’re going to fight. Since you’re so adamant on fighting me, I’ll give you that much, but I’m not a fair fighter, darling. You better be prepared.”

I take a step forward. My shield pushes against Zahtri, so he takes a step back. I continue moving toward him. I want to distance us from the rest of the fighting. I know I’ll have to bring out all of my magic, and I don’t want anyone to get hurt because of it. No one but Zahtri, that is.

“It’s a good thing I don’t plan on fighting fairly either then,” I say.

I drop the shield.





Colton


I let my invisibility take over as Ryanne turns around and faces Zahtri again. I can’t see her, but I know that she is talking to him. What is she saying? Since she’s standing on the platform and Zahtri is on the ground below, they are almost the same height. I groan as I focus on the Gadramicks in front of me.

Liam won’t leave Natalie’s side since she almost died. I can see Jedrek fighting Gadramicks to the side. A ball of fire shoots past me. I look to my right and see Incendia fighting a Gadramick. Bragden is fighting off two, so he can’t make it over to her. The Gadramick fighting her knocks her to the ground. I can see the anger radiating off of Bragden as he attempts to stop the Gadramicks in front of him. His eyes flicker over to Incendia, but he can’t actually make it over to her. His arms lighten as flames erupt from his skin and ignite his body. He’s literally on fire.

I punch the man in the jaw in front of me and make my way over to her. For being on the ground, Incendia is holding her own pretty well, but I can tell she needs help. When Bragden is able to stop those Gadramicks, more start fighting him.

I rush behind the man and pull him off of Incendia. Gasping for breath, she slowly pushes herself up. Since he is confused about the invisible force that moved him, it is easy to knock him out. Incendia stands, places her hands on her hips, and thanks me.

“This needs to stop,” she says. Bragden is finally able to finish off the two Gadramicks that were fighting him and runs over to Incendia. He pulls her against his chest and apologizes to her. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t get to you.”

“Hey, hey. It’s fine. Colton helped me,” she says. Bragden nods in my direction, thanking me.

“You’re welcome.” Bragden helped Liam save Ryanne when she was kidnapped the first time. That moment feels like so long ago even though it was only a few months ago. Helping him with Incendia is the least I can do. I turn and look back up at Ryanne. Now she’s talking to him. Since her shield is still up, Zahtri is taking small steps away.

I hear a girl scream behind me. I turn around expecting to see Lily or Emma, but instead I see Logan falling to the ground while a Gadramick pulls a sword out of his side. Lily is the one who screamed. I move away from Bragden and Incendia and make my way over to him

Logan can’t die. I can’t lose another family member. I knock down any Gadramicks in my way as I move through the crowds. Lily is crouched down beside him, tears falling down her face. Logan is trying not to let his pain obvious, but we all know what is going on.

The sword Logan was hit with was infused with dark magic. He won’t be able to heal himself. “What do we do?” Lily frantically asks when I fall to the ground beside him. She grabs Logan’s hands and makes him look toward her. “Logan, what do we do?” she asks quietly. James and Travis move around us, fighting off any Gadramicks who try to come close.

My eyes scan the crowd around us, but I don’t see Jedrek anymore.