Reaching Retribution (The Prophesized Series) (34 page)

“Ryanne,” someone calls out for me. I roll onto my back and try to blink away the fog from my mind.
“Ryanne,” she repeats.

When the haze finally dissipates, I look around. I’m in the middle of the field of dreams…only this time I’m not alone, nor is Liam here. I’m surrounded by my mom, Claire, Jedrek, Vincent, and Kyril. I’m surroun
ded by the dead…which means I’m dead.

I died. Again.

“Did I do it?” I ask. “Is Zahtri gone?”

“He’s gone,” Claire says. “You did well, dear. You did well.”

I push myself off the ground. “Not well enough. I’m here. I’m not at the compound anymore. I freaking died again.” I bite my lip and try to not cry, but a single tear rolls down my cheek.

My mom rushes forward and wraps her arms around me. “Don’t cry, dear.” I wrap my arms around her waist and cry onto her shoulder. When you tell someone not to cry, it becomes impossible to actually listen to them. Something inside me has to rebel against authority.

“Do you remember what I told you that first day in the book store, Ryanne?” Claire asks.

“Umm, you
told me the town was full of unexplainable things,” I reply. Before I even finished speaking, she starts shaking her head.

“I told you
not everything is as it seems. Magic has a way of complicating things. You’re not really dead, Ryanne. Right now, you’re sort of in…between life and death.”

“How is that possible?”

“You pushed all your magic out, Ryanne. Literally all of it,” she says.

“I couldn’t risk him getting away.” Zahtri was
strong. I had to make sure he wasn’t going to walk away from that situation. “I had to.”

Jedrek steps forward. “Do you r
emember how I told you that your magic was mixed with your blood?” I nod. Of course I remember that conversation. “Well, when you came into your magic, it became an intricate part of you. You need it to survive. Your magic isn’t like an appendix. You can’t just have surgery to have it removed and then go about things like nothing is missing. Your magic is like your heart. You can’t live without a heart, Ryanne.”

“So…I killed myself,” I state.

“You’re not dead,” Vincent says. I watch as Claire looks over her shoulder and smiles widely at him. Even in death, she found happiness. Vincent glances over at her. I can see the love in his eyes as he looks at her.

“Then what’s going to happen to me?” I ask to anyone who can give me an answer.

“That depends on you,” my mom says. I look up at her as she speaks. She still has her arms around me.

“What do you mean?”

“When you died before, you had to overcome your insecurities to go back. You had to promise me that you’d start seeing yourself as others do. You promised to believe you were strong enough to succeed and that you were good enough for Colton.”

“I did. I do. I overca
me all of those things.”

“Yes, you did honey,” she says. “This isn’t like that.”

“Then what is this like?” I ask. I look between all of them. I don’t really know if I like where this conversation is going. Vincent looks at me with sad eyes. My mom’s grip around me tightens. I look at Claire and then focus on my mom. “Mom, please tell me.”

“There’s nothing you can do but wait.”

“Wait? What the heck am I waiting for?” I demand as I step out of her arms.

“
Whether or not your body is strong enough to heal itself.”

“Well then, I’m screwed,” I mumble as I sit down on the ground. “How long does it
take for my body to realize I’m actually dead?”

“That’s not the right attitude,” Claire says. “You need to think positively, Ryanne.”

“I need to think positively?” I ask incredulously. “Do you realize what you’re asking of me? Do you know how hard it was for me to finally realize that I was strong enough to end this? I didn’t figure that out until a few hours ago
while
I was in the middle of that fight.”

“You defeated Zahtri,” Kyril says. “You defeated the Gadramick that even Dravin was afraid of. You know you’re strong, Ryanne, you just don’t know how strong you really are. You’re going to pull through this.”

I sit down on the ground. How do I always get myself into these situations?
Why
do I always get myself into these situations? “I know what’ll happen if I die tonight,” I look up at Claire. I remember what she told me when I died in that hotel room. Dravin and Zahtri aren’t alive, so not everything will play out like she previously stated, but I still can’t risk it. “I can’t let that happen, Claire. I can’t let that path be paved. What do I have to do?”

“Be positive,” Jedrek says. “Thi
nk positively.”

I’m not usually
a very positive person. In fact, if there was a positivity award, I would never be a recipient. Ever. Right now though, I can at least try to think on the bright side. I can think of the glass half-full.

“So how long are we talking about here? Five, ten minutes? An hour tops?”

“Only you know that,” Claire says.

“
Well, do you think we can get a pizza delivered here? Thirty minutes sounds reasonable. I’m starving. I’ve been fighting all day.” I try to keep a serious expression on my face, but seeing everyone’s smiles lifts my spirits a little bit.

I can do this.

But the actual question is, can my body?

“So what’ll happen to you guys?” I ask moving my eyes between all of them. They’re…dead. They don’t have another chance. I’ve been given too many chances. Why don’t they get one too?

“After this, we move on,” Claire says. “We’re here to help you. Once your body chooses, our time is done. We get to move on. I finally get to move on.” I can see the small smile on her face.

“I’m so sorry,” I whisper. I feel responsible for their deaths. Claire died during an explosion that was mean
t to kill me. My mom died in a car crash that was meant to kill me. Jedrek, Kyril, and Vincent all died in a battle that they were a part of because of me. I’m the common factor in all of their deaths.

“Ryanne, do no
t blame yourself for our deaths,” Vincent says. “Phillip killed me. Not you.”

“I chose to correct the car,”
my mom tells me.

“
Cawtel killed me,” Jedrek says, “but my death was long overdue.”

“Fallon stabbed me,” Kyril states.

“I chose my death,” Claire cryptically says. At my confused look, she continues. “You’ll understand someday. Check the books.” The books? Claire winks at me, but refuses to explain further.

“Claire, what were
Colton’s parents names?” I remember him telling me their story, but for the life of me, no pun intended, I can’t remember their names.

“Scott and Lynelle,” she answers. “Why?” I knew it. They are the ones th
at carved their initials into the tree. Colton’s parents helped me tonight. They played a part in helping me overcome Zahtri…and I may never get to tell Colton that.

Choosing to ignore her question, I ask,
“So what now?” I cross my legs and lean back, closing my eyes and basking in the sunlight. That’s one thing I love about this place. It’s never too hot. It’s never too cold. There’s a light breeze and a nice amount of sunlight. It’s not blinding, but it feels good as it hits the skin.

“We wait,” my mom answer
s.

I hate w
aiting.

The fighting around us has basically stopped
. Ryanne’s magic isn’t just concentrated on the opposite side of the platform anymore; it’s moving around us as well. She has Zahtri fully enclosed in a vortex of magic. She pulled this same move on Colin during a training session we had back at his house.

I push my invisibility back and look at Liam, who’s staring at Ryanne with a worried expression on his face. Even though he’s not her protect
or now, I know he still wants to be fighting beside her. “Something’s wrong,” he whispers.

I look back over at Ryanne as she falls to her knees on the ground. The vortex has folded in on itself, creating a
cocoon around Zahtri. There’s no way for him to escape now. Ryanne is still pushing out magic. Too much magic. “What is she doing?” She needs to stop.

“She’s ending this,” Liam
answers. At the same time, we both start to head in her direction.

The wind begins
to pick up. Increasing in intensity, it pushes against our bodies making it impossible to move forward. Voices and soft whispers fill the air. Ryanne leans forward and places her hands on the grass to remain upright. Thunder cracks above. She’s still pushing out magic.

Ryanne, stop. Stop. STOP! I repeat this over and over, hoping that she’ll hear me.

Lighting strikes the middle of the vortex as Ryanne shoots a large ball of magic at it. Everything around us stops as we watch it make its way to the tornado. No one is fighting anymore. Everyone is watching and waiting to see what happens next.

When the magic connects, the vortex begins to glow. Its luminance increases in intensity until it literally hurts to look at it. A couple seconds later, it explodes and the brightness shoots out across the clearing, blinding everything. My body is thrown
backward and I feel myself free-falling through the air. I don’t know how long I am like this, but it feels like an eternity. I can’t hear anything around me. I can’t see anything. I’m all alone in my quiet little universe.

Slamming into a hard surface, I’m brought out of my bubble and back into the real world. Hearing a slight ringing in my ear
s, I open my eyes and see pieces of wood. Leaves are floating to the ground from the trees that exploded.

Shaking the haze away, I
sit and look toward the platform…or what’s left of the platform. Zahtri is gone. The ground is charred and dead where the vortex was. My eyes move across from it and…

Ignoring the pain spreading through my body, I jump up and run across the clearing, jumping over bodies along the way. I don’t stop to look and see who is lying down. I don’t think about how many of them are dead. I don’t look at anyone, except the small girl with curly hair.
I jump onto the broken platform and run two steps across before going off the edge. At Ryanne’s side, I drop to the ground. She’s lying on her stomach with her hair across her face. Rolling her onto her back, I lean down and listen for a heartbeat. There has to be a heartbeat.

Thump.

Was that a heartbeat?
Thump.

It was! She’s still alive. “Logan!” I yell. I can’t heal her.
He’s literally the only one who can heal her. I sit back and push her hair out of her face.

Oh my gosh.

She’s covered in cuts and bruises. Did she get these before or after the explosion? I look back at the clearing. Liam and Natalie are running toward me. I can see David, Emma, Bragden, and Incendia all moving, so at least they’re alive. Tom is pushing himself off the ground. Where the hell is Logan? Larkin transports in beside me. “Is she alive?”

“For now, but she needs Logan,” I
tell him. Larkin disappears.

I lean my head down and rest it
against her forehead. “Ryanne, don’t you dare leave me. We planned our life together. You can’t leave me now,” I say. Without my permission, my eyes start to tear up. I’ve seen her die too many times. I pull her body into my lap. Her head rolls to the side. She’s completely unresponsive. “Please don’t do this to me.”

Liam and Natalie fall to the ground beside me. “Please tell me she’s alive,” Liam implores as he looks down at her. I can see the grimace he’s trying to hide. She looks horrible, I know. She needs
to be healed. She needs Logan. She pushed out too much magic to heal on her own.