Descending Darkness (The Prophesized #3) (24 page)

“Ryanne—”

“
Please
.” The tears are falling down my cheeks now, and I can’t wipe them away. Liam nods right as the door opens. A man comes in and walks over toward Liam. Valdus stands in the doorway.

“You can leave, Liam,” Valdus announces.

“I’m not leaving her,” Liam says. The man continues to walk toward Liam. He bends down and unlocks his handcuffs. Liam flexes his wrists and slowly stands up. I recognize the look in his eye. I glance toward Valdus and know that he recognizes the expression as well, but he makes no effort to try and stop him.

When Liam is standing, he looks straight at the guy, and with lightning speed, he brings his fist back and punches the man square in the jaw. Because of the force of the blow, he flies back, whacking his head against the back wall and falls to the ground.

Liam steps over the man and walks up to Valdus. “If you think I’m leaving here without her, you’ve got another thing coming.” Valdus enters the room and locks the door. Quickly, he walks over to me and begins untying the ropes holding my wrists in place.

“What’s going on?” I ask him as I feel the ropes fall to the ground. I jump up and move over toward Liam, who looks as confused as I am.

“I need you to attack me.”

“What?” Liam asks.

“I need you to attack me. It’s the only way you’ll be able to get out of here alive. Make it look real. To get out of here, you need to take a left and then a right. There’s a door at the end of the hallway that leads outside. Once you’re out, use your magic. When you get back to your house, you’ll need to do the protection spell, Ryanne. You need to be in contact with each person when you do, so you’ll have to do it multiple times. They’ll make me try to bring you back here, so make sure to put the protection spell on yourself as well.”

“Why are you helping us?” I ask him.

“Because I have a daughter,” he whispers to me. “She’s older, but she’s still my daughter.”

I walk over to him and stand on my tiptoes, giving him a small kiss on the cheek. “Thank you.”

He nods and looks toward Liam. I know that Liam doesn’t want to do this, but it has to look real. Liam takes a step forward. “I’m sorry.” He swings his right arm back and punches his tribe leader the same way he did to the man who undid his handcuffs.

I flinch as Valdus falls to the ground. I don’t like watching people get hurt, and I know that he’ll have a wicked headache when he wakes up. Grabbing my arm, Liam pulls me toward the door. When he exits the room, the yelling starts. “Crap,” I mumble right as a man barrels into me. I fall to the ground and get the wind knocked out of me.

Nearly a second later, the weight above me is pulled off as Liam attacks the man. I roll over and push myself up, trying to catch my breath. Liam walks over to me after he takes care of the man and helps me up. I lean against him briefly but quickly recover when I hear the sound of footsteps behind me. Liam glances over my shoulder and starts walking backward.

“Time to go,” he says as he reaches out for my hand and starts running. Taking a deep breath, I start running after him. Rounding the left corner, we stop short when we come across the wall of men blocking the right hallway. I look over at Liam and nod, telling him that I’m good to fight.

Five guys run toward us. I take on the two on the right while Liam takes on the three on the left. I swing my leg up and kick the first man on the chest and spin around and hit the other with my elbow. I continue fighting against these men until I start noticing a pattern. The one on the left relies mostly on his left to hit, which is different from those I usually fight. The other man relies on strength and precision. He isn’t following a pattern but is definitely getting some good hits in. I’m pretty sure a couple of my ribs are broken, and my shoulders and arms are covered in bruises. I am tiring quickly with no avail against these guys. My wrists sting with each movement from rope burns.

I punch the left dominant man in his solar plexus. He falls to the ground winded, but I can’t turn around quick enough to go against the other man. I see the fist coming for me right as it connects with my cheek. I swing around and fall to the ground. Rolling over, I swing my leg out and kick him in the chest, knocking him back into Liam, who has just finished off the third guy. Liam hits the man on his pressure point. I attempt to get up when the last guy reaches out and grabs onto my leg, pulling me back down. I land on my shoulder. Wincing I try to roll over, but he grabs onto my other foot. “Liam!” I say, hoping that he’ll come help me.

Liam jumps down and pulls the man off of me, taking care of him quickly. I really need to learn about that pressure point thing. Reaching down, he helps pull me up. I thank him and look at him for injuries. He has a split lip and black eye but looks fine. Without saying anything to me, he grabs onto my hand once again and starts running down the right hallway. I try to keep up, but I’m having difficulty getting oxygen into my lungs.

We make it to the end of the hallway, and Liam throws open the door. Taking a single step outside the door, Liam grabs me around the waist, closes his eyes, and transports us out of the dream world.

Colton

“Something is happening,” I say as I look down at Ryanne. She has started stirring but isn’t waking up. “What could be going on?” I grab onto Ryanne’s hand hoping that she’ll wake up when I touch her.

Her head turns toward me, and I see the skin under one of her eyes darkening. I reach forward and lightly trace the outline of the bruise. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see the pen marks on my wrist from earlier. Somehow, I’m going to make it permanent.

Can’t she just get a break? Even with me, they’re finding a way to get to her. She can’t take much more of this. Natalie reaches out and places her hand on my arm again, calming me. I press my lips together, trying to keep from acting out. Even with her calming magic, there are some emotions you can’t take away. I want to put an end to all this.

I walk away from Ryanne and start pacing behind the couch. I need to move. I need to do something. I need Ryanne to wake up so I can see that she is all right. “Liam’s bleeding,” Natalie says.

She moves so that she is sitting beside him. Hesitantly, she reaches out and lightly touches his lip. Pulling back, there is bright red blood on her finger. They are fighting someone. Liam gasps and jumps up from the couch. Startled, Natalie screams and moves back, landing with a thud on the floor.

Liam blinks back into the present and looks around. Seeing Natalie on the ground, he bends down and helps her stand up. “Thanks,” she whispers.

Liam looks at Natalie briefly before turning his attention back to Ryanne. “Logan, she’ll need you to heal her when she wakes up. We had some difficulty fighting. They got some hits in on her. I think she has a couple broken ribs, bruised arms and legs, a black eye, and rope burns on her wrists. She could have more, but I won’t know until she wakes up.”

Logan walks over and stops in front of Ryanne, waiting for her to become alert. “What happened?” I ask him.

“Long story short: Valdus was going to give Ryanne to Dravin. Ryanne gave a little speech. Valdus changed his mind and helped us escape. We got attacked. We fought. We came back.”

I can clearly see the bruise under Ryanne’s eye now and the smaller bruises forming on her arms and legs. I grab onto her hand and lace my fingers through hers. I know that she’ll be in pain when she finally wakes up.

Ryanne gasps and opens her eyes. When she tries to sit up, she winces in pain. Her hand tightens against mine as she continues to move. “Ryanne, stop moving. Let Logan heal you.” Liam groans as her pain hits him; he stumbles back into Natalie from the force.

“I have to…I have to do the protection spell. I need to do the protection spell.”

Logan walks over to Ryanne and places his hands on her stomach. She arches her back as her ribs mend back together and whimpers, trying not to cry out from the pain. The bruising under her eye fades until it is completely gone. The redness and blood on her wrists disappear. Logan steps away from her and starts shaking his head.

“Why would he give in that easily?” he asks as he walks towards Liam to heal him.

“Give me your other hand,” Ryanne says as she starts reaching for my hand.

I place my hand behind my back. “Ryanne.”

“Give me your hand,” she pleads with me. I look up at her and see the tears in her eyes. “Please, Colton.”

I reach forward and place my hands on either side of her face, making her look at me. “What’s going on, Ry?” I ask her. She bites her lip to try and stop the quivering. Burying her face in my neck, she starts crying.

“I need to do the protection spell,” she says again.

“You already did the protection spell,” I whisper as she leans back and looks up at me.

While I wipe the tears from her cheeks, she says, “The house is protected. You guys are not. If Valdus is able to pull me into the dream-world, he can pull any one of you. I need to do the protection spell.”

I look over her shoulder and look toward Larkin and Kyril. I’ve never heard of the enchantment protecting people, just objects. “It is possible to do though it takes a lot of magic. Ryanne, if you try to do the enchantment for all of us, you’ll definitely pass out from exhaustion,” Larkin says.

“I don’t care about that. Do you realize that if Dravin can’t get to me, he’ll come after you all? He’ll use you to get to me. I’ve seen it before. Since none of you will let me hand myself over to him, I’m going to do what I can to protect you all. I need to do this.” She turns toward me. “Let me do this.”

“You haven’t even told us yet what happened, and you just want to jump right into the enchantment?” I ask her.

“I woke up tied to a chair in a room. I couldn’t use my magic. Liam was handcuffed to a pipe across the room. Valdus came in and apologized to Liam, saying that he understood what would happen if something happened to me but that he didn’t have a choice. Dravin offered them protection, and they really need it. They argued. I tried to undo the ropes but couldn’t. I did manage to rub my wrists raw. Then, I asked if he would do what he’s trying to do to me to his daughter. Would he give his daughter over to Dravin knowing that he’d probably end up killing her? He left the room and….”

Ryanne looks over toward Liam and bites her lip. “What?” I ask as she shakes her head at him.

“Umm, I didn’t realize that Valdus actually had a daughter. He apparently came to his senses and released us. Liam had to hit him to make it look like we broke out of there. Then we were attacked by a bunch of people in the hallway. I sucked at fighting back, and Liam basically had to fight all of them off. Then we left, and now you’re caught up,” she says. I know that she is leaving something out.

As gently as I can, I grab her chin and tilt her head back in my direction. “I’ll tell you later,” she whispers. “Now, please give me your hands.”

“They’re not going to come after me. Put the enchantment spell around you first.”

“Give me your hands,” she demands while staring at me with determination in her eyes. With an exasperated sigh, I let her take a hold of my hands. Closing her eyes, she starts chanting. “
Magic come forth, I call you to me, protect him from danger so evil cannot see
…”

I jump back as I feel her magic start flowing into me. Thousands of vibrating pins shoot through my body from the foreign magic. It moves through my nerves and veins, coating everything with its invisible shield. I watch Ryanne as she continues to say the enchantment.

She keeps her eyes closed as she concentrates on the words. Similar to what happened in the bookstore, I forget that we’re in a room full of people. The only person I see is the small girl in front of me—the girl so determined to keep everyone safe. The grip on my hands tightens as she pushes more magic into my arms. For the first few seconds, it felt invasive, but now it feels…magical. There are no other words to explain it.

When she finishes the enchantment, I hear a tiny click and then the magic stops flowing. Opening her eyes, she looks up at me, searching. “How do I know if it worked?” she asks without taking her eyes off of me. Someone moves behind me, breaking me out of my trance.

When no one responds, she moves toward Liam and grabs his arms, repeating what she just did. Like me, Liam jumps when he feels her magic flowing through him. I’ve never felt anything like it before. She continues this process on each person in the room. Tom, Larkin, and Kyril are the only ones left, and I can tell that Ryanne is getting very tired. Grabbing onto Tom’s hand, she begins chanting.

A minute later, she lets go and slowly walks over to Larkin. Tom follows her with a frown on his face. Holding onto Larkin’s hand, she closes her eyes and repeats the process.

“She doesn’t have enough energy to do any more,” I whisper to Liam. He looks exhausted as well. She lets go of Larkin’s hands and stumbles over to Kyril.

“Ryanne, you don’t have to—” Kyril protests as he takes a step back.

“Give me your hands,” she whispers angrily while trying to grab onto this hands. He moves his hands, and she falls forward into him. She rests her arms on his chest and pushes herself back so she can talk to him. “Please Kyril.”

Kyril gives Ryanne his hands and lets her do the enchantment. She finishes the enchantment and slumps forward into him. He catches her before she falls to the ground and cradles her against his chest.

Walking over to them, I reach out and let Kyril place Ryanne in my arms. Her hair falls over my arm as I move her closer to me. This has not been an easy day for her.

Ryanne sighs and snuggles into my chest. “I’m going to go lie down with her,” I tell everyone as I move toward the stairs.

“Colton, make sure you stay with her. She’s not protected like the rest of us are,” Liam says. “I don’t think Valdus will try anything tonight, but you know how persuasive Dravin can be.”

“Yeah, I know.”

*****

Sunlight is streaming in through the window on the far side of the room. Tilting my head up, I look toward Colton, who is still sleeping. I try to move out of his arms to go take a shower, but the arm around me tightens, pressing me closer to his chest. Not that I’m complaining.

I settle back down against him and let sleep claim me.

“Ryanne?” I open my eyes and look around. I am sitting in the middle of the field again. Liam is standing off to the side. “I didn’t know if you were still sleeping.”

“I just fell back asleep. Is this about what I asked you earlier?”

“Nothing is going to happen to you, Ryanne,” Liam says.

”You don’t know that for sure, Liam. I’ve died once and come close many other times. You have to keep that promise. If something happens to me,” I tell him as I walk closer to him.

“Nothing is going to happen—”

“I need you to make sure Colton doesn’t do anything dangerous. He can’t hurt himself over me. You have to watch out for him.
Please
.”

Liam walks up to me and pulls me into a hug. “Why are you talking like this?”

I bury my face into his shirt. “Because they’re getting closer. I can feel them all around me, Liam. I feel like they’re always watching me; that they know my every move. More danger is coming, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop it. If I do, I’m not sure if I’ll come out of it alive.”

“Have you had any visions of the future?”

“One, but you know that my visions aren’t permanent. Everything changes.” I look up at him and plead again. “Just please promise me that if something goes wrong, you’ll help keep everyone together. Keep everyone safe, even from themselves.” He has to promise me. I need to know that everything is going to be fine if something were to divulge from the plan. Liam rests his head on top of mine.

“Okay,” he whispers at last. “I’ll do my best.”

“Thank you, Liam,” I say as I start to feel the pull. “I’m starting to wake up,” I tell him.

“I know.” Dropping his arms from around me, he takes a step back. “I don’t like this, but I know why you want to do it,” he tells me.

“I don’t like it either.”

I sigh as I enter back into my real body. I can feel Colton humming beneath me. I move my arm across his chest, wrapping it around his side, hugging him closer to me. He chuckles as his arms tighten around me as well. “Good morning,” I whisper to him.

“It’s not morning anymore, Ry. It’s afternoon.”

“Really? Hmmm,” I say without opening my eyes. My body is still tired from the events of the previous day. I’d used too much magic to protect everyone and still haven’t fully recovered yet. “I’m not really ready to get up yet,” I warn him.

“You take all the time you need.”

Knock. Knock. Knock.

“Don’t get up,” I mumble sleepily to Colton. I am drifting in-between sleep and consciousness. I hear the door open, but my eyes are shut, and my body refuses to open them back up.

“Is she still sleeping?” I hear Liam ask.

“I believe so,” Colton says. I can feel him moving, probably to check and see if I am actually sleeping.

“When she wakes up, remind her to put the protective enchantment on herself. She’s the one that needs it more than us,” he says.

“Liam, what happened while you were there? She’s not telling me something,” Colton asks.

“Umm, she asked for me to watch out for everyone if something were to happen to her. She wants to make sure everyone is safe.”

“If something were to happen to her?”

“She’s just scared, Colton. She wants to make sure that we’re protected if things get out of hand.”

“But she had a vision of the future. She was fine,” he says quietly.

“Visions can change. Nothing is permanent yet.”

“She’s had too much happen to her lately. I wish I could just whisk her away from all this and let her relax for a while. She needs a vacation,” Colton says while trailing his index finger up and down my spine. I snuggle closer to him but don’t open my eyes. I hear the sound of the door closing, letting me know that Liam left the room. Expelling the breath I’d been holding, I curl closer to Colton and let sleep grab me again.

When I finally feel better, I tilt my head and look up at Colton. He is watching me sleep. I bite my lip and smile before trying to get up. Instead, Colton sits up and brings me with him. I rub my eyes and look around. The room is lit from the sunlight streaming in from the far window.