Reaching Retribution (The Prophesized Series) (19 page)

“
I could tell that she was starting to get frustrated in herself. Her flame wasn’t getting any brighter. In fact, its illumination was dwindling. We didn’t know what we could do to help. She tried to put on a strong face around us, but we knew. She wasn’t the same. The accident changed her.

“A month after I turned ten, I was training with Tranton when I received the news that my mother had committed suicide. My strong, fearless mother took her own life. She swallowed a bunch of her pain medications and left a note explaining how sorry she was, but she couldn’t take it anymore. She couldn’t stand the pitied looks from the neighbors. She couldn’t stand seeing us
worry over her. She couldn’t stand everyone wanting to help her. All her life, she’d been in control and suddenly she wasn’t. She didn’t know how to handle the sudden change. She even said in the note that her flame was dying and it was time to just extinguish it. Apparently, she couldn’t prolong the inevitable. I’ve never told anyone that she committed suicide before. I always thought suicide was the weak way to go. How could I think that when the strongest person I knew made that decision?” Liam shakes his head. I can tell that right now, he’s not with me. He’s inside his memories. “Even now, I still don’t know what I think about it.

“
Besides the note, she left Bragden and me both tiny wooden boxes full of random items. Mine had this leather bracelet, my great grandfather’s pocket watch, and Rozene’s wedding ring. I have no idea what was in Bragden’s box. He never told me, and I’ve never asked.

“Bragden and I didn’t have any family to go to, so Valdus took us in. Valdus
had previous adopted this mage, Ezra. Ezra was twelve when he came and lived with Valdus and his wife. We did not get along. I don’t know what it was, but Ezra hated me and worshipped Valdus. I don’t think he liked that he was no longer the center of attention all the time. He had to compete for the amount of attention he thought he deserved. As the years passed, Ezra’s disdain for me grew. I tried everything I could to change his feelings toward me, but nothing worked.

“Bragden started training every day. We drifted apart. We both handled mom’s death in different ways.
Bragden took his anger out during his training sessions. He was always angry while I was the quiet one. I didn’t express myself like he did. I trained to further my magic. Valdus and I worked on strengthening my dream-walking abilities. I hadn’t come into my powers yet, but I was already showing signs. I could control my dreams. Inside of my dreams, I could literally manipulate whatever I wanted. If I imagined a certain location, I could go there during a dream. If I envisioned a specific scene or event, I would dream about it. It was amazing.

“I wanted my flame to be as bright as it could be. Just because mom’s flame dwindled,
didn’t mean mine should. She always wanted us to thrive and she did everything to make sure that we did. I would work with Valdus in the morning, and then I would train in the evenings. One day during training, Tranton had me fighting with weapons with Ezra. I was so done dealing with all of his crap. Neither one of us were taking it easy on the other. I was fifteen at the time, and he was seventeen.

“I won’
t go into all of the details, but we both took our anger of the situation we were in on each other. When I felt his blade swipe across my face, I pushed even harder. I could feel the blood dripping down my face, but I continued fighting. I wanted to knock that smug look off his arrogant face.

“We both continued to push each other…almost to ou
r breaking points. We could hear Tranton yelling at us to stop, but we both ignored him. I spit the blood that was dripping down my face at him as I swung my sword out. I watched as my blade swept out and hit him. When I saw the blood start spilling out of the wound, I stopped. I dropped my sword and left.

“I left training. I left Rockwood. I
just left. I walked out of that training room and never looked back. The only thing tying me to that town was Bragden and Bragden and I had been drifting apart. I barely spoke to him. We exchanged passing glances, but that was all. I gathered up a small sack of my belongings and I walked out of that town. I needed to get away for a while.

“I got into some bad things. I was big. I knew that I was stronger than most humans and I took advantage of that. I got into drugs. Got in trouble with alcohol. I stole things
. Had some run-ins with the law. I thought I was better than everyone, and there was nothing anyone could do that would make me believe otherwise. One night while I was sleeping in the park, I had a dream. Mom visited me in my sleep that night similar to what Claire has been doing with you and Colton.

“She told me to man up—t
o accept my responsibilities and grow up. I was seventeen at this point. I wasn’t responsible for my actions. I didn’t understand how my actions could affect other people. I didn’t think there were other people in my life whom my disappearance would impact. Mom didn’t say much to me in this dream, but she told me to remember the flame. Remember everything she told me.

“I came to my senses that night. I stopped the drugs. I became sober. I stopped stealing
. I cleaned up my entire act. I walked into the first tattoo parlor I came to and got this tattoo. From that moment on, it became a constant reminder for me not look back. The future is the only thing that can change. I couldn’t change what had already happened to me, but I could do everything in my power to make sure that I made the most of my future. That year was a flicker in my flame and ever since then, my flame as been burning bright.”

“What happened between you and Bragden? You two ar
e pretty close now,” I ask him.

“
While I was out, Bragden had inherited the house. In fact, he got everything that mom left us. I was so scared to come back. I didn’t know how everyone would react, but besides a few people, everyone welcomed me back. I moved in with him. While I was away, I continued training. I grew over a foot in height. My hair lengthened and I had this jagged silver scar on my face. Most people regarded my wearily. I didn’t look like the friendly boy I was before I left.

“
I didn’t train with Valdus anymore. Even though I was only seventeen, I had already come into my powers. Bragden and I got closer while we lived together. We realized that we just reacted to mom’s death in different ways. We just needed time to let everything sizzle out. As we started to understand each other more, we pushed back everything from the previous years. I’ve never been as close to Bragden as I am right now. To this day, I still don’t know what happened to Ezra. He left shortly after I did. Like me, he just disappeared.

“Valdus pulled me aside when I was eighteen and told me that Ezra was actually my half brother. We
share the same dad. Dad apparently had an affair shortly after Bragden was born and he ditched Ezra’s mother too. Mom never knew, because Dad asked Valdus to never tell her. I don’t know all the details, but Valdus and my father were friends and when Ezra’s mother passed, he promised to take care of him.”

“Does Bragden know?”

“I think so. I’m not sure. I never spoke to him about it directly, but I think he figured it out on his own.”

Liam finishes speaking and neither one of us say anything for a little while. Liam has not had it very easy. I was right with my thought that he had to grow up too quickly.

“Liam, what was your mother’s power?” I ask.

He starts shaking his head. “I’
m not sure exactly. I think she had premonition. I think that’s how she was so good at knowing what everyone’s pendants should be, but she never told us specifically. Whenever Bragden or I asked her about she would smile and say that the secret was in the flame.” Hmm…the secret is in the flame…what does that even mean?

“Liam, what happens after this?”

“What do you mean?”

“You guys have been training for this your whole life. What about once this is all over?
When this prophecy no longer matters? What happens after?”

“Life. Life happens, Ryanne.
That’s one thing you can always count on. Life goes on. Whether you want it to, whether or not you’re ready for it, or whether you’re even a part of it, life goes on.”

We’ve been in this compound for too long. I’ve lost track of the days. I know we’ve only been here a couple of days, but I feel like it’s been forever. It’s weird how sudden my moods can change. Yesterday, I was completely fine. I sat in this cell with Liam for the majority of the day, listening as he told me his story. Today, I want to curl up into a ball and avoid everyone all together.

“Ryanne, you have to eat something,” Liam says.
He pushes a plate of food toward me. Surprisingly, it looks good, but I’m not hungry. “You didn’t eat anything yesterday. You need to eat.”

“
No, I don’t,” I mumble as I lean back against the hard wall. Ever since Dravin tried to get me to use my magic against the Gadramicks, I’ve lost all appetite and desire to try and break out of here. I know he’s just trying to train his men to fight against me, but I’m not going to give him anything else to use. All it results in is me getting punched, kicked, and knocked to the ground. My body is sore from all the bruises on me.

Just yesterday, Natasha came into my cell while Liam was out with Adam trying to get food for me. She pushed me against the wall and
attempted to asphyxiate me. I was able to throw up a small shield, but I still felt some of the affects of her power. She laughed as I fell to the ground gasping for breath.

“Colton’s not coming for you, Ryanne. He’s probably m
oved on to the next girl by now, maybe my twin. He’s always had a thing for blondes anyway.” She stopped attempting to asphyxiate me the second the guard left her alone, but her glare remained the entire time.

I blink back into the present when
Adam walks into the room and sits down on the floor in front of me. His emotions run into me. He’s concerned, worried, and angry at Dravin for letting the men hit me. I know that he’s staring at the bruise under my eye and possibly the dark one on my shoulder. “Ryanne, eat.”

“Nope,” I tell him.

“What’s wrong, Ryanne? Really?” Liam asks.

I turn and look straight at Liam. He
of all people should know what is wrong. I don’t answer him though. Instead, I turn back around, lean my head against the wall, and close my eyes. Maybe I’ll see Colton again.

It’s been two days since I
last saw him. He told me they were planning a rescue mission, but I really hope he listened to me and put that plan on the back burner for now. It’s not safe. Something is stirring. Everyone is antsy. Change is in the air; that much I know. I can feel it.

I wince as someone’s
anger barrels into me. It didn’t bother me at first, but the longer I’m here the more their feelings are affecting me. “Are you having trouble controlling them?” Liam asks me. I nod. I try to siphon the feelings through me, but have trouble. They’re lingering. If I don’t get a handle on this soon, I’m going to start acting out their feelings. Considering how strong their emotions are, I know it won’t be good for anyone to be around me during that time.

“Controlling what?” Adam asks. Neither Liam nor I answer him. Adam may be acting nicer, but he’s still a Gadramick.
“Let me help you.”

“Adam, please stop,” I lean forward and run my hands through my hair. Placing my head on my knees, I groan. “I can’t handle
your concern.”

“I’m
worried about you, Ryanne.”

“I know. I can feel that,” I look up at him, “but please stop. I can feel all your emotions and being around so many people at once is starting to hurt me.”

“Oh.”

I wince as another wave of anger crashes into me. I can feel a few Gadramicks yelling in the hallway. Three Gadramicks run past the door of my cell, probably going to break up a fight. A sharp pain spreads through my stomach when the noises in the hallway get louder. Crying out, I curl in half, grabbing on my stomach, trying to stop the pain.

“Ryanne, focus on me,” Liam tells me. “Forget everyone else; just focus on me.”

He doesn’t understand. He doesn’t understand what this feels like. Whimpering, I lean forward and rest my head against the cool floor. “I can’t. I can’t, Liam.
I can’t do it.” I gasp when the pain spreads to my head. A blinding headache lingers there and settles. Nothing makes sense anymore. “Make it stop. Please make it stop. It hurts,” I cry. I feel my body shaking, but I can’t control it.

A wave of coldness spreads through me, offsetting some of the pain, but it makes my body react more violently.
Pulling my knees under me, I fist my hands in my hair and pull, trying to feel something else, but nothing works.

“Adam, you need to leave,” Liam says. Though he’s trying to remain calm, I can hear the waver in his voice.

“But she’s…”

“She can feel your panic. If you can’t control your emotions, you need to leave. She’s only going to get worse if you stay.” I can’t handle it anymore. I scream.
“Ryanne,” Liam grabs my shoulders and pulls me up, but my eyes are closed, so I can’t see anything. “Ryanne, look at me.”

I hear a door close, but the pain doesn’t lessen. I can’t open my eyes. The room is too bright; it’ll just worsen the headache. I can’t do it. Shaking my head is the only response I can manage. I’m not screaming anymore, but I can’t seem to form any sentence
s. I’m not sure I could even speak if I wanted to.

“Ryanne,” Liam pleads with me again.

“Move out of the way,” a deep voice says.

“No,” Liam says.
“This is all your fault. She wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you!” he shouts; his anger rising. I lean forward and rest my head on the ground again. There’s too much going on right now. I can hear Liam and Dravin yelling. I can sense the pain of the men in the hallway who are fighting. I can feel the anger pumping through everyone. I can still feel Adam’s concern as my condition worsens. Someone in the cell with me throws a punch and I feel the anger rise even further as the pain spreads through someone’s jaw.

I open my mouth to scream again, but nothing comes out. I don’t see how this could
be any worse. The pressure inside me keeps building up. A loud buzzing fills the room as if a thousand bees just swarmed the area. I can’t control anything anymore. I can’t do it.
Please
make it stop.

Everything continues to build up. Though my eyes are closed, it’s not just darkness I se
e. A bright ball of white light in the distance starts flying toward me, and I can do nothing but watch.

The light overwhelms me
until all I see is white…the soothing white light. The pain stops. The anger stops. Everything stops until all I’m left with is serenity. I’m alone with my own thoughts and emotions.

For the first time in a few days, I’m at peace.

The light dims until I’m surrounded by the dark again. I’m always
surrounded by the dark. I can sense one other person in the room with me, but I can’t pick up on anything specific which tells me that Liam near. His control of his emotions is impeccable. He’s able to fully control his feelings, so it doesn’t affect me like everyone else’s does. Reluctantly, I open my eyes and look around the cell.

My eyes don’t travel far before I meet a pair of gray eyes. I don’t really know what happened, but based on the slight lingering headache, I know something
did. My back aches as I try to sit up; I must have been in this position for a while. Liam shifts slightly and helps me up.

“What happened?” I groan when I’m able to stay up on my own. Liam removes his hands from my shoulder and runs a hand through his hair. Turning slightly so that I can see him, I
gasp when I see the bruise along his jawline. “Who did that to you?”

“Dravin,” he whispers as he reaches out and fixes some of my stray curls.
“Are you feeling okay? You’ve been out for a few hours.”

“A few hours?”

“Yeah, the pain of everyone’s emotions proved to be a little too much for your body and you passed out. Dravin came in and I think he was going to try and help you, but I kind of snapped when he came in and I swung at him. I did hit him, but not as hard as he got me. His guards rushed in and pulled me back before I could do anything else.”

“
Liam…” My eyes linger on the bruise on his skin. I don’t know what I want to say to him, but I hate that he keeps getting hurt because of me.

“I’d do it again,”
he whispers.

“Liam, I don’t know how long we’ll be here, but
please don’t do anything that’ll separate us. When I was first thrown into a cell like this, I hated it. Being surrounded by all these Gadramicks, I’m glad I’m stuck in this cell, and I’m glad I’m with you. I don’t feel as lonely, and I feel safe with you. Take it from someone who’s known to push buttons: this is one situation where you want to listen. Something is happening here, and I need you with me.”

I don’t want to think about what would have happened to me if he didn’t volunteer to come with me.
Liam angles himself toward me and watches me for a few seconds. He doesn’t say anything; he just stares.

“What?” I ask when he doesn’t look away right away.

“Nothing,” he says right as the cell door opens and Adam walks in.

We both turn
toward the door. A confused look crosses Adam face as he slows his walk to a stop in front of us. “Dravin wanted me to see if you were awake,” he tells me.

“There’s a window,” I remind him.

“I know.” He doesn’t do anything, but continues staring at me. The confusion remains though. Liam grunts beside me when he doesn’t look away.

“Adam, what’s your power?” I ask him
when I start to get uncomfortable from his attention. I realize now that he’s never used any sort of magic against me, so I have no idea what he can do. Even the few times I’ve fought him, he never attempted to use any magic.

Adam leans
back and looks at me. I can tell that he’s thinking about whether or not to tell me. “I can control people. Their emotions. Their thoughts. Their actions. Anything. I can control them.”

I sit up straighter
. “Are you serious?”

“Yep,” he turns
toward Liam. What he is doing? “Scoot away from her.”

I turn
toward Liam who has a
whatever
expression on his face, but he slowly removes his arm from my shoulder and scoots a little over a foot away from me. My mouth falls open as I look between Liam and Adam. Liam looks extremely confused.

“Oh my gosh.
” I turn to Adam. “Can you control anyone?”

“No. I can’t control you or Dravin.”

“Why?”

“Y
our mind is connected to your magic in some way. I can’t break through the magic barrier.”

“That doesn’t make sense. I’ve met someone whose power was Persuasion and his magic worked on
me.”

“Persuasion and Control are two different things, Ryanne, so the magic works differently.”

“But Liam can go into minds. He can knock me out if my magic gets out of control and…” I’m cut off when the cell door is thrown open.

“Ryanne, I need you to come with me,” D
ravin yells from the doorway. He looks anxious. He no longer has the confident demeanor he usually displays when he comes to get me to fight. Slowly, I stand and make my way over to him. Liam and Adam both stand up behind me. “Just Ryanne.”

I
give them a small smile over my shoulder. I know that it won’t do anything because I look like crap, but it’s all the assurance I can give them right now. Dravin grabs my elbow and pulls me in the hall. Adam exits the cell and glances at me briefly before walking down the hallway in the opposite direction. I watch his receding form, waiting for Dravin to tell me what is going on. When the grip on my arm tightens, I gasp and look up at Dravin.

“I’
ve tried to be patient with you. I even tried a different approach this time, but you’re pushing the limits. I can’t extract your magic, so you’re going to have to give it to me in other ways. You’re going to fight for the Gadramicks. You’re going to be our secret weapon.”