Reaching Retribution (The Prophesized Series) (21 page)

Pacing through the ballroom, I wait for Tom to come back. Everyone is moving around anxiously. Natalie walks over to me and grabs
my forearm. I halt and turn to look at her. She looks like she’s ready to kick some ass. Dressed in all black, she has a sword strapped to her back and a dagger wrapped around her thigh. Dark eyeliner lines her eyes brightening her already bright blue eyes. “Calm down, Colton. Everything is going to be okay.”

“How
can you be so sure?” I ask her.

“I just am. If we’re going to be successful tonight, we have to be sure. Ryanne and Liam are counting on us. They need us to be sure.”

She’s right. “Thank you, Natalie. For all of this. I would have gone crazy if you didn’t help keep me calm this whole time.”

“You don’t have to thank me, Colto
n. I’m the only person who understands what you’re going through right now. We need to help each other. You’re like a brother to me,” she says with a small smile.

“Hey!” Con
ner yells from across the room.

“You
’re like a second brother to me,” Natalie corrects herself without acknowledging her brother. I laugh and hug her. Without Liam here, I’ll watch out for Natalie tonight. I wouldn’t forgive myself if anything happened to her after all this.

Tom walks back into the room and walks straight
toward me. “I found him,” he says.

“Found who?” I don’t know who
he’s talking about.

“Vincent, I found him.”

“No freaking way. He didn’t want to be found. How did you find him?” Vincent is just like Larkin. He can transport to different locations without having been there before. Unlike Larkin though, he can transport many people at once. He’s helped us once in the past few months. He brought Logan to the house when Emma and Ryanne were shot. His power will make transporting everyone to Dravin’s compound much easier.

“I called him
.”

I stare at Tom. We’ve tried calling him countless time
s in the past few weeks with no success. He didn’t want to be contacted, so he never answered. He remained hidden, and we remained hopeful he’d come to his senses.

“He said
Claire visited him and told him that he was needed. He’ll be here in a few minutes.”

“Who’s Vi
ncent?” Natalie asks.

“Vincent is an old friend of mine. He went into hiding when a couple of Gadramicks tried attacking him for his power. They wa
nted him to work for them and didn’t like his refusal, so they tried to kill him. We’ve been trying to call him to see if he’d help us, but he wouldn’t answer. He wanted nothing to do with this fight…until Claire talked to him. Apparently, she was able to convince him it was time to get back into the fight. To use his magic again.”

“What’s his power?”
she asks.

“He’s a traveler.”

“Like Larkin and Travis?”

“Yes, excep
t he can move multiple people, or objects, at once. He’ll be able to help transport people to the compound, which means we’ll be able to get there much sooner than we originally intended.”

“That’s great!” Natalie says. Her excitement attracts the attention of everyone else in our group
.

“What’s going on?” Emma asks as she skips over to us. She’
s dressed similarly to Natalie: dark clothes and make-up, hair up in a high bun with a sword strapped on her back and a dagger on her thigh. In fact all the girls are dressed similarly. Incendia’s wearing her hair down. Her bright red hair contrasts strikingly against her black attire. Lily looks tough. It’s strange to see her in anything other than her red cheerleading uniform. I’m still getting used to her being a mage.

“Vincent is coming,” Tom
announces. David and Logan both step forward, mouth hanging open, and stare at Tom.

“Really?” Colin asks.

“Who’s Vincent?” Incendia asks. Tom explains the whole story again, this time to the entire room. Everyone quiets and listens to Tom as he speaks. Natalie starts pacing. Like me, she wants to get this over with. We’re very antsy and need to get moving. The sooner the better. I don’t know how much more waiting I can take.

Tom stops talking
as the door to the ballroom slams open. A man stands directly in the middle of both doors. “I hear I’m needed.”

“Ah, and there he is,” Tom says as he points to the door. Everyone redirects their attention to him as Vincent causally
strolls through the room.

“M
other of mmmphhhhmmm—” David covers Emma’s mouth. Who knows what she’s going to say.

“
Jumping jellybeans, if Gerald Butler and Joe Manganiello had a love child, it would look like him,” Incendia says. Lily and Natalie both nod their heads without looking away from Vincent.

“Dude, one of your jobs now is being their censors. You gotta be quick,” David says to Bragden while he uncovers his hand from Emma’s mouth
, “or they’ll say some crazy stuff.”

“I’m just keeping things interesting,” Incendia says without taking her eyes off of Vincent.

“That’s what I was trying to say,” Emma mumbles, “until this big bully stopped me.” She elbows David in the stomach lightly.

Tom starts cracking up while Vincent move
s through the room. He doesn’t stop or look at anyone as he makes his way to us.

“I know I’ve let myself go, but I don’t think it’s that funny,” Vincent says with a smile as he stops in front of Tom.

“It’s good to see you,” Tom says as he gives Vincent a hug.

“If that’s what he looks like when he lets himself go, I can’t imagine what he looked like
before,” Emma whispers to Incendia.

“It’s good to see you too. It’s been too long,” Vincent says as he looks behind Tom. He nods at me. “You’ve grown since I saw you last.”

“That’s usually what happens,” I tell him as I reach forward and shake his hand.

“
I hear it’s your soulmate we’re going to find.”

“And hers.
” I point to Natalie. She gives him a small smile.

“Well, congrats on finding them. We’ll get them back,” Vincent says.

“So when are we doing this?” I know he just got here, but I need to go soon.

Vincent turns to Tom. “Got any
more snazzy outfits? I burned all mine.”

“Snazzy,” Emma turns to Incendia. “I like him.”

“Yeah, follow me,” Tom says to Vincent. Turning to the rest of the room, “Do any last minute preparations. We’re going to be leaving soon.”

“Okay, here’s how it’s going to go. Larkin is going to take Vincent out to the compound to show him where to bring everyone. He’ll come back and start bringing everyone there. Don’t attack until you hear my word. We don’t know how to get into the compound or what we’ll find when we get there. I apologize for the uncertainty, but we don’t have a lot to go on. We’ve been there before, but didn’t come across many Gadramicks. This time will be different. We will have to fight,” Tom turns to Larkin. He nods, places a hand on Vincent’s shoulder, and transports out of the room.

“
If anyone comes across Zahtri, leave him alone. None of us are strong enough to go against him. Going against him would be a death wish. When we get to the compound, remain low to the ground. With Larkin’s help, Vincent is going to bring us to a spot where we won’t set off the alarms. We should have surprise on our side. We’re going to need that.

“No one attacks without my say. We need to assess the surround
ings before storming in. Wait for my word,” Tom repeats right as Larkin and Vincent transport back into the room.

“They’re gathering outside for something. I found an area where we can go without them sensing us, but we have to
be quiet. If anyone says anything too loud, they’ll hear us.”

“Why would they be gathering outside?” Natalie asks.

“If my hunch is correct, it has something to do with Zahtri and I can guarantee Ryanne is probably involved somehow.”

“Wake
up, darling. It’s time to go,” Zahtri whispers to me. I can hear footsteps walking through the room. My arms and legs weigh a ton and despite my efforts, I can’t move.

I feel my body being lifted off the ground. My head rolls back which jolts me awake.
Zahtri is holding me up slightly off the ground. I try to shake the fog out of my brain. When I look at Zahtri, he places me on the ground. Since I hit my head, my equilibrium is off; I sway on my feet a little. He keeps his arms on my shoulder and steadies me. “You know for someone so powerful, you’re pretty fragile.”

“Did you expect that I’d just
magically get up after you threw me into a brick wall? I’m still a human, not some crazy superhero.”

“We should work on that,” he whispers in my ear. I cringe away from him.

“
We’re
not doing anything,” I retort as I step away from him. Zahtri laughs.
Feisty. Hmmm, not sure how I feel about that.
He grabs my wrists and slaps a pair of handcuffs on me. I look down at the metal cuffs and back up at him questioningly. I know he can read my mind, so I don’t ask him aloud.

“
Do you remember that dagger that you stepped in front of?” he asks me. Of course I remember that stupid dagger. It almost killed me…for real that time. Wait…how does he know about the dagger? “I gave Enrique that dagger personally. He promised to work for me. His power was impressive. Not as much as mine or yours, but still impressive. I didn’t think he’d get himself killed so easily,” Zahtri says as he tightens the cuffs. I wince as the metal digs into my wrist.

“
The big mage of yours has some anger issues,” he tells me. I’m not sure if he’s referring to Bragden or Colton. “You see I dabble a little in dark magic. I’ve found a way to infuse said magic with certain objects. It works best with strong metals. Go ahead. Try to get free.” I don’t give him the pleasure of seeing me struggle. I know it’ll hurt if I move my wrists, so I just stare up at him, trying to keep a blank face. “Also, I can read your mind. You’re kind of like an open book. You should try a little harder to censor your thoughts.”

Zahtri starts walking
toward the door. When I don’t follow, he sighs loudly and walks back to me. “I like you Ryanne. It’s going to be a shame to waste so much magic,” he moves my hair off my shoulder. I cringe away from him, but can’t do much since I’m already pressed against the wall with my hands cuffed. He leans forward. I turn to the side and feel his lips brush against my ear, “And I don’t like to be wasteful, darling.”

I use my cuffed hands to try and push him away from me. He leans back a little b
it but doesn’t step away. “Zahtri, let me make this clear.” I arch my head back and point up to him. “I’m not going to work with you. Not now. Not Ever. I’d rather die first than work for a bunch of murderous Gadramicks. I’ve heard and felt what you all really feel. I haven’t found anything here to make me sway my choice. So you can get that preconceived notion out of that big head of yours because it is never going to happen.”

“We’ll see about that,” he
says as he pushes me toward the door. The movement makes my head start throbbing again. I stumble backward into his chest. “You should have avoided the wall.”

“You shouldn’t have pushed me into the wall,” I retort. He
ushers me forward. My ears start buzzing—a low humming reverberates through the hall. I shake my head trying to clear the noise. I stop moving forward as the hall starts spinning—the candlelights swirling into the darkness. I close my eyes right as I feel my legs give out again.

Crouching down in the bus
hes, I look at the scene in front of me. Gadramicks are streaming out of the compound and gathering in the area behind it. A large wooden platform is being constructed as we speak, both with magic and physical labor. Through all the noise, it will be no problem getting all the mages here.

“Where do you think they are in there?” Natalie asks me
as she crouches down beside me.

I look
toward the compound door again. It’s propped open because so many people are coming in and out. “Probably in a cell somewhere. I don’t know. What I do know is that we’ll find out soon enough.”

I hear rustling behind me. I turn around and see about fifty mages crouch
ing down behind the bushes. We need to remain as hidden as possible. Being spotted early would ruin everything. We need the element of surprise to be on our side if we have any chance of this working.

The air around me feels electric. I don’t know if it is
due to the magic being used by the Gadramicks or the anticipation of what is to come, but it’s a little eerie. Natalie gasps as Dravin walks out of the compound; behind him are Liam and Adam—both handcuffed. There are four Gadramicks around them. Even if they attempted to fight, with their hands cuffed and Ryanne not around, they wouldn’t stand a chance.

“I didn’t think Dravin would go against Adam,” David says. “Even if he was helping Ryanne, I thought he was listening to orders.”

I glare at Adam. He can’t see me, but it makes me feel better. Adam’s been with Ryanne these past few days keeping her safe while I couldn’t, but I still can’t get over everything he has done to her in the past—even before either of them were mages. There are some things you just can’t forgive and forget.

Dravin orders the Gadramicks surrounding Adam and Liam to stand at the end of the platform. Two men stand behind them and two stand on either side of them, making sure that neither attempt to run. Dravin walks to the other side of the platform and quietly talks to Natasha and Valdus. I glance down at Natalie. She watches her twin through narrowed eyes. With a tight jaw and clenched fists, her feelings
toward her sister are obvious to everyone surrounding us. Conner walks up and pats his sister on the back.

“What if we have to hurt her?” Natalie says to him. “What if she tries to kill either one of us?”

“I don’t know, Nat. I don’t know,” Conner says as he pulls her in for a hug. “What I do know is that she’s not the same girl we grew up with. She’s not the same Natasha. I just have to hope that girl is in there somewhere.”

Natalie nods and lays
her head down on Conner’s shoulder. I look behind me again. More mages are here. I’d say about half of our group is now crouching down in the field behind me, waiting for their cue to go. This could actually work. I have to keep a realistic outlook in mind. There’s always a chance this could turn out way different than what we are intending.

I turn to my left where Bragden, Incendia, Lily, and Logan are all crouching. Bragden and Incendia are
quietly arguing amongst each other. Incendia wants to be on the frontlines fighting as many Gadramicks as she can, while Bragden wants her to stay by his side where he can keep her safe. Lily and Logan are talking to each other in hushed tones. I watch Lily for a couple of moments. I’ve never seen Lily this open before. I hung out with her and other jocks while in school, but I never saw this side of her. I never realized how much people change themselves to fit in with others. This Lily is much more likeable, and I’m glad Ryanne helped save her. I’m glad she found Logan…even if they won’t acknowledge it at the moment.

“Hey,” Tom says as he comes up behind me. “We only have two or three more groups to come before we’re all ready. I’ll come back over here when Vincent and Larki
n have transported everyone. It’ll be a few more minutes. Do not do anything until then. No matter who or what comes out of those compound doors.” Tom looks to Conner and David. “Do not let him move from behind these bushes until we’re all ready, okay?” David and Conner agree.

A couple more Gadramicks come out of the compound and walk to the open area in front of the platform. “They’re going to reveal Zahtri’s identity tonight.”

“How do you know that?” Natalie asks me.

“What else could they be doing?”

“I think you’re right about that,” Kyril says as he stops behind me. “Dravin wouldn’t bring all the Gadramick’s out in the open like this if it wasn’t important. He wouldn’t risk it.”

“T
his could be the prophecy? This could be the moment that we’ve been told about?” Emma asks.

“I guess it depends on Ryanne. She hasn’t been training the past couple of days. She hasn’t been eating, so she won’t have her full strength. And if she’s hurt…” I trail off.
I know that she has a few injuries. “We’ll see what happens,” I finally say.

On the platform,
Dravin is saying something to Adam and Liam, but neither seems to the listening. They both have blank expressions on their faces as they stare down at the ground. Dravin’s getting angry. Liam turns to him and says something. Even from this distance, I can see the anger in his eyes. Dravin reaches back and punches him in the jaw. Natalie gasps beside me and covers her mouth to keep from being any louder. Liam’s head whips back, but he doesn’t react. With a grunt, Dravin storms to the opposite end of the platform and yells at Valdus before rushing back into the compound.

“
What the heck is going on?” Incendia asks.

The Gadramicks all quiet down and turn
toward the compound doors. “I think we’re about to find out.”