Reaching Retribution (The Prophesized Series) (24 page)

“If I could go back, I would cho
ose to die in that accident like I was supposed to. I know I can’t go back. I can only go forward. I know you have no positive feelings toward me, but I do love you. I regret everything I’ve ever done for Dravin.” Jedrek turns away from me and faces the mages in front of us. “If any of you get the chance, take out Dravin. I’m ashamed of the things I’ve done because of this blood promise. I’ve escaped the fates for too long. It’s time to finally stop running. Dravin’s done some pretty gruesome things under the orders of Zahtri and both need to be stopped.”

I can feel the tears fully streaming down my face now. Jedrek turns back to me. “Don’t cry for me, Ryanne. I’ve accepted this and knew it was coming for a long time now. I’m so proud of everything you’re doing right now. I’m so proud of you
, and I’m sorry I was never there for you. I’m sorry I never got to really know you, but I’m glad to call the girl standing in front of me, my daughter. Despite what you think, I do love you and hope you find all the happiness you deserve in the world.”

Jedrek looks at something over my head. He leans down and wipes the tears away from my cheek. “You’re much stronger than you think. Zahtri is strong, but so are you. You can do this, Ryanne. You just have to believe in yourself as much as everyone out there believes in you
.” He leans down and whispers in my ear, “They’re starting to stir, you don’t have much longer.”

With that, he leaves
me standing on the platform alone. I turn around and wipe the last of my tears away. I feel a pair of arms snake around my waist. I instantly recognize his touch and lean back against Colton’s chest. “I’m fine.”

With a deep breath, I force myself to step out of Colton’s arms, fully knowing that that may have been the last time I’ll feel his arm
s around me. “The magic is wearing off. Get into position. It’s time to finally end this.”

I hate that I can’t make her feel better. I can see the Gadramicks stirring around me, but Ryanne is my only focus right now. I turn her around and force her to look up at me. “Ryanne, go tell him.”

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 any
one 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 twit
ching; 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 fig
ht 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?”

“
Hypersensitivity? I have no idea,” David says. Like me, he’s surveying the field around us. Normally, we’d be really excited for Emma, especially since she’s been waiting for her power, but there’s a lot going on right now.

I hear gasps around us and I look up right in time to see Ryanne drop
to the ground, narrowly avoiding a flying dagger. Adam and Liam both whip around and face Dravin. They start to head for him, but Ryanne jumps up and shoots him with a bolt of lightning.

Dravin stops smiling as he is hurtled
backward in a tree trunk. Both guys turn and look at Ryanne surprised. Seeing her lips moving, I turn toward Emma. I want to know what she’s saying.

“She said
she can read minds, so she knew Dravin was going to throw the dagger, and he’s really starting to piss her off, so she wanted to be the one who attacked him first.”

I smile. That’s my girl.

Ryanne turns toward me again and places her palm over her heart. She mouths the words
I love you
. I do the same. She gives me a small smile and then does a back flip off the platform.

Without missing a beat, she
side-kicks a Gadramick who had just unfrozen. Emma laughs, “I’ve missed her spunk.”

A second l
ater, all the Gadramicks unfreeze and start fighting again like nothing happened. A couple look confused when the mages they were fighting before are no longer in front of them, but many fight like nothing happened. I swing my sword out at the same time as I think about Ryanne being attacked by all the Gadramicks here. I think about how she looked when Zahtri first brought her out—lying unconscious with bruises on her face and body. I feel my invisibility coming out as I punch a Gadramick in the stomach. He grunts in pain as I bring my sword over my head and stab him in the same spot as I punched.

I try to not think about how I just killed a man. He’s a Gadramick. This was the day I’ve
been training for my whole life. I knew that I would have to kill. However, knowing that I would have to kill someone and actually doing it are two different things. I don’t have time to dwell on this for too long, because I feel something wet start to drip down my right arm.

I didn’t even feel any pain from the cut, but dark blood is dripping down my arm.
I turn around and see a Gadramick grinning at me. I lunge for him, but he blocks my attack. “Your little girlfriend over there feels pretty good pressed up against me,” he says. “Like we’re meant for each other.”

I clench my jaw. Looking at him, I see the remnants of bruises under his eyes.
This must be the Gadramick Adam attacked for trying to touch Ryanne.

“How’s your eye?” I ask him as I bring my sword forward again. He growls and steps back, but not far enough. The point of my weapon cuts through the fabric of his shirt and a couple layers of skin. Thick red blood seeps from the wound. Feeling the wetness on his chest,
he yells and runs toward me, but I’m prepared for this attack.

Being angry, the man is sloppy. He’s not balanced on his feet
and he’s only using his upper body to move the sword. Since he’s only using his arms, he’ll tire him out much sooner. I smile when I start to get the upper hand. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Natalie fighting off a Gadramick who is nearly twice her size.

I bring my sword back and thrust it into his gut. The man gurgles and falls to the ground. I pull my sword back and turn
toward Natalie. My invisibility has completely taken over. Now, no one can see me.

I walk up behind the guy and thrust the hilt of my sword into the pressure point in the back of his neck. Without letting out a single noise, he falls to the ground with a thud. Natalie looks confus
ed at first and then she smiles. “Thank you, Colton.”

*****

This Gadramick is really s
tarting to make me mad. I don’t want to kill him, but he won’t stay down. I’ve attempted knocking him out without magic so many times, but he’s being stupid. I grunt as I duck his thrown punch and his laughter echoes through my mind.

He’s too cocky for his own good.

Adam walks up behind him and hits his pressure point, silently knocking him out. “Why does everyone know how to do that but me?” I yell at him.

He gives me a small smile as he turns and starts fi
ghting another Gadramick. If anyone would have told me that one day Adam and I would work together, I wouldn’t believe them. Even without magic, Adam has been my enemy. Now, we’re working together to stop the Gadramicks; the same people he was helping only days ago.

My eyes land on the doorway, but Jedrek is no longer standing ther
e. I don’t know where he went. Earlier, I walked up to him and apologized for yelling at him in the lab. I know that he didn’t understand what he was getting himself into. I remember when I was in the car accident with mom, I couldn’t think straight. I didn’t know what was going on around me.

He told me to kill Dravin. “Don’t think about the blood promise, Rya
nne. Stop Dravin.” Despite me proclaiming that he’s nothing more than a sperm donor to me, I know that’s not true. He’s my dad. We don’t get to choose who are parents are. Blood is blood. I just wish there was a way I could stop Dravin and save him. I just found him and now I have to lose him again.

I look around the field. I can’t see Colton anymore. In fact, I can’t really see anyone through the chaos.
I laugh as I hear Adam commanding Gadramicks to fight other Gadramicks. I’m so glad he’s on our side. His power is very helpful. Liam reaches past me and punches a man in the jaw. I jump back and hit Liam’s chest. I hadn’t seen the man standing there. I need to get out of my thoughts and focus on the task at hand.

My eyes continue their scan as I look for one person specifically. I see him standing off to the side, alon
e. He’s not fighting anyone, and no one is attempting to fight him.

“I’m going to go after Zahtri,” I yell at Liam and Adam. Both Adam and Liam knock out the men they’re fighting and turn
toward me. It’s almost comical how both men fall to the ground unconscious at the same time.

“Ryanne, are you sure y
ou want to do that?” Liam asks.

“Liam, I’m the only one here
that can,” I tell him. A man comes at me and I push a string of magic toward him without taking my eyes off Liam. He falls instantly. They both raise their eyebrows at my action, but don’t say anything.

I don’t like this. Colton w
ill kill me.

S
he’s right, but she could get herself killed in the process.

“Colton’s not going to kill you, Liam. He understand
s that I have to do this,” I tell him. I turn to Adam. “And I could very well get myself killed, but that’s a risk I’m willing to take to stop Zahtri.”

I walk up to Liam and give him a hug. “You’re not going
to die if anything happens to me,” I whisper to him.