Black Moon Beginnings

chapter Twenty-Six

In the background, I can hear muffled voices. I’m not ready to wake up yet. My brain is awake, but my body refuses to fully wake up. I sigh and snuggle deeper in the bed.

“Ugh, I’m so stiff. I can’t believe we all fell asleep in here,” Liam mutters, sleepily. I hear the sound of something being moved across leather. “You look happy,” he adds, quietly chuckling.

“Shut up.” My bed shakes. That doesn’t make sense, where am I? I am pretty comfy, so I decide not to open my eyes yet. Slowly, I fall back asleep. Then, I start drifting. I’m not quite asleep, but I’m not awake yet either. I can hear people talking around me, but I can’t get my body to become functional yet.

“It’s weird. Usually she wakes up pretty early,” I hear Logan say. “I’m not surprised that Emma is still asleep.”

“Let her be. Today is going to be a long day. For all us, but especially her,” Liam says.

“If something actually happens to her… I can’t…” Colton’s voice cracks. I’m sure if I could see him, his torment would be written all over his face.

“We all care about her Colton. She’s family,” says David. “We just have to make sure to stay around her at all times today.” I exhale and pull my knees up, closer to my chest. For the first time, I realize that I’m lying at an odd angle. I’m not sitting straight up, but I’m not lying down either. I blink quickly, before slamming my eyes shut again. It’s very bright in the room.

Slowly opening them this time, I’m able to see. I sit up groggily and rub my eyes, trying to get rid of the exhaustion. I close my eyes again and roll my neck counterclockwise, trying to get out the kinks. When I open my eyes, I realize that I am still in the entertainment room. Why did we sleep in here? I turn and see that I am sitting very close, practically on top of Colton. I blush and glance around the room and see everyone is in the same position they were last night. They all laugh at my confused expression.

“Morning, sleeping beauty.” Logan is smiling at me, clearly amused.

I arch my back, trying to awaken my stiff muscles, and turn towards Colton. “You should have pushed me off of you or something. I’m sure that wasn’t very comfortable.” Liam snorts. I am too tired to try and determine what he means with that. I scoot back a little, giving Colton some room to move.

“What time is it?”

“It’s a little after 9:00. Tom thinks that people will start arriving at noon,” Colton says sitting up. I sit back against the couch and close my eyes again. I can’t fall back asleep again. With a sigh, I open my eyes and get off the couch.

Standing up, I step over Colton’s legs and start walking towards the door. “Ok, well I’m going to go take a shower.”

Colton jumps off the couch and faces me. “Not alone.”

I just stare at him. His eyes widen when he realizes what he just said. I know that he meant that I wasn’t going to walk to my room alone, but I don’t let him know that. “I-I I mean…Not like that…I meant to say…” His face is turning red. He’s adorable when he’s embarrassed.

I giggle as I watch him try to fix his statement. “Colton, would you please walk me to my room?” I ask, saving him from further embarrassment. He follows me out of the room. Running his hands through his hair, he keeps opening his mouth then suddenly shutting it. I know that he wants to say something, but I don’t want to push him.

When I enter my bedroom, I turn and thank him. As I’m closing the door, I smile and say, “You know, you’re pretty cute when you’re flustered.” I close the door, leaving him standing there shocked.

Fifteen minutes later, I get out of the shower and wrap a towel around me. I find Emma rummaging through her clothes. She drops an outfit on the bed and turns to me. “So, what did you say to Colton?”

“What do you mean?”

“When he came back into the entertainment room, he was rubbing the back of his neck, you know like this,” she demonstrates what he did, “and he was trying, not so successfully I might add, to hide his smile. So what did you say to him to cause him to react like that?”

“Nothing really. I just said he was cute when he was embarrassed.” I grab my clothes and go to the bathroom to change and finish getting ready.

Once finished, I walk back into the room. Emma is sitting on the bed waiting for me. “That’s all you said? He’s got it bad.”

“Not likely. I mean, I just saw him kissing Natasha a couple days ago. I’m sure it was something else.” I start packing the small duffel bag I have of things that I absolutely want to keep. I grab the picture of mom off the nightstand, throw in my notebook and a couple items of clothing, and zip the bag up. I don’t have a lot of personal items that I cherish. With Emma packed, we grab our bags and go downstairs, dropping the bags on the couch where the guys had put their things.

Laughing, we link arms and walk into the kitchen. Stopping dead in my tracks, I turn and see at least thirty people examining me. I’m surprised I didn’t hear the thoughts sooner. The sudden onslaught of voices is too much for me to handle. I collapse to the ground, knocking Emma down with me. I don’t pass out like I thought I would, but I can’t think or move. They’re too strong. Tom rushes over to me and picks me up, carrying me out of the room. I hear some others rush after us.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t get to warn you. Try to block their thoughts. I know it’s a little overwhelming.” Gritting my teeth, I close my eyes and grab my head. It’s pounding. There are so many people in the room. I need to get a handle on this before more people show up. It takes more time to push the thoughts back, but when I am finally in control I look up at everyone and nod. Tom is sitting in front of me looking upset and guilty.

“I’m fine. I just wasn’t prepared for that. I’m ready now.”

“Are you sure? You don’t need another minute to ready yourself?” I shake my head at him and get up.

“Time to be like a fat polar bear,” I say as I walk past him.

“What the heck does that even mean?” Emma asks.

“I’m gonna break the ice,” I say as I walk into the kitchen and smile at everyone. Tom clamps an arm down on my shoulder, “Everyone, this is Ryanne. I told you about her on the phone.” I smile and wave at those in the room. I see a mixture of disbelief, boredom, awe, and curiosity on their faces.

“I know. I know. You expected me to be taller, right?” It seems to work. Many people crack a smile, some even laugh.

“Don’t put her size past her. She was able to beat all these guys behind me during sparring sessions.” He points over his shoulder where Colton, Liam, David, Logan, and Bragden are all standing. I see a couple more awed reactions.

“So what was with the collapsing earlier?” someone from the back of the room asks.

Looking in the general vicinity of the voice, I decide to take control of the situation. I want these people to like me. It would be difficult to get people to help fight with me, if they think I am some weak girl.

“I don’t know if Tom mentioned it to you all, but I’m able to read minds. I wasn’t prepared for the onslaught of all your thoughts. I was taken a little off-guard. Don’t worry, I’ve closed off the bridge. There’s no traffic coming in here.” I point to my head. “It was an excellent first impression, right? Me collapsing on the ground?” I beam at everyone, hoping that my nervousness isn’t too obvious.

An hour later, I’m socializing with the crowd. I’m introduced to everyone, but after the first couple of names, I have no idea who is who. That will have to wait ‘til another time. Most people are asking me about my powers and how training is coming. I politely answer their questions and then ask them about theirs.

“No way. That’s totally awesome.” That power would come in handy. I narrow my eyes at the guy I’m talking to. I’m not sure if I believe him.

“Yeah, I can basically control people’s mind,” he says. I watch him for a few moments, trying to determine if he’s serious. He

“So you could rule the world if you wanted to?”

“No, my power only works on one person at a time. It would be very difficult to control billions of people.” As if sensing my disbelief, his eyes narrow on me, concentration etched onto his face. What is he doing? My body starts moving without my permission towards the man in front of me. Stopping less than a foot away, I stand on my tip-toes and kiss his cheek. Then, I am back in control of my body.

“Did you do that? That was freaky. I couldn’t do anything to stop it!”

He laughs at my excitement, “Yes, I did do that. However, I now feel like I shouldn’t have. Your boyfriends don’t look too happy.” He looks at something behind me. Boyfriends? I turn around. If looks could kill…

He leaves to go talk to someone else and I walk towards Liam and Colton. “I’m supposed to try and get everyone here to like me. I can’t do that if you scare all of them off.”

“Why did you kiss him?” asks Colton.

“I didn’t believe that he had the power of persuasion, so he demonstrated it for me. It was harmless, quit worrying.” I cross my arms across my chest and look around the room. People are still glancing at me. I turn and whisper to Liam and Colton, but keep my eyes scanning the room. I don’t want it to seem like I am unapproachable. “Do you think they’re disappointed in me? I know I’m not really what they were expecting. I think it’s going well, but people are able to fake exterior emotions and expressions and I’m too afraid to read their minds.”

Colton places his hand on my shoulder and starts to talk. I face him waiting to hear his response, but it never comes. His body tenses, his eyes roll into the back of his head, and he starts to slump forward. Liam jumps to try and catch him, but it catches both of us off guard. Colton crashes into me and we both tumble to the hard linoleum floor. Liam jumps into action and rolls Colton off of me. A couple of seconds later, he gasps and jumps up looking around. I’m still sitting on the ground, shocked at what just happened. Tom runs over and helps me get up. “What happened? Colton, are you alright?”

I recognize the look on Colton’s face. “Oh my gosh, how? You just had a vision!”

“I think you transferred a vision to me.” A small smile plays on his lips.

“How is that possible? I didn’t see anything. What was the vision about?” I’m really curious. I had no idea that I could cause others to see visions.

He looks at me for a second, his eyes searching. Cryptically, he says, “Maybe you weren’t supposed to see it. Not yet anyways.” He blinks rapidly, “I understand why you collapse every time you see a vision. That’s very disorienting. Did I fall?” Now I know how everyone felt after I had the vision about David and Emma and didn’t say anything.

“Yeah,” says Liam. “Right into Ryanne. Knocking her to the ground with you.”

“I’m sorry! You’re not hurt anywhere, are you?” He turns me so I’m facing him.

“I’m fine. I would have tried to catch you, but one,” I hold up my index finger, “you caught me completely off guard and two, I’m not strong enough.” He puts an arm across my shoulder and pulls me against him. He seems rather chipper. Now I really want to know what that vision was about.

Tom sighs at us and then addresses the room, “Sorry about that. Nothing to worry about here.” He pulls Colton out of the room, while I stay back with Liam. They’re whispering to each other, but I can’t hear what they are saying. Turning towards Liam, I ask him, “Do you have any idea what that was about?” He shakes his head; he’s just as clueless as I am.

As the day goes on, the more anxious and nervous I become. The anticipation is starting to get to me. Most people understand what’s going on with me, because they leave me alone. I smile at those who come up to me, but can’t keep up a conversation. Everyone is starting to get changed and doing any and all last minute preparations for tonight. Tom sticks our bags into the car and hides it in the woods. As more people arrive, it takes a lot more concentration to keep the mental block intact. During the day, most guests remain in the kitchen. It has large windows and the back door, so everyone can be ready in an instant. I’m pacing in the living room alone, trying to think about other things.

Bragden comes up behind me and grabs my arms, gently halting my movements. “What’s wrong, Ryanne? We can all tell that something’s up.” He points behind him. My group is standing in the doorway of the kitchen, keeping a wary eye on me.

“Nothing’s really wrong, per say. I’m just thinking too much about all the things that could go wrong today…”

A voice sounds to my right. “Ryanne.” I scream and jump into the Bragden. Bragden steadies me and then turns to face the man who scared me. My scream alerts everyone else and the house goes silent. Tensing, Bragden is prepared to fight. I pat him on the chest and turn towards Larkin.

“He’s fine Bragden.” Facing Larkin, I say, “Geez, you’ve got to stop doing that. You scared the tar out of me.”

“I don’t know why there was tar in you to begin with, but whatever.” I roll my eyes at him. “I just thought I would tell you that Dravin knows of your location and knows you are prepared to fight him. He’s planning on attacking in an hour.”

With that he blinks out the room. I’m frozen, just staring at where he was just standing. An hour? Everything seems to stop. I can’t hear anyone talking to me, though I know they are. My world starts spinning and my ears are ringing. Dravin is coming. The time has come. There is nothing we can do now, but go into this battle head first. I feel myself being moved—a strong grip on my arm. This is actually happening. I wish there was a way that I could relive last night, sitting in the entertainment room with my friends laughing—purposely forgetting that everything could be changed tomorrow. I don’t know if I’ll have another chance to do that again. Ever.

It feels like my body is vibrating. So many different scenarios play out in front of me. I’m imagining the worse things happening. Getting stabbed. The house blowing up. Colton getting hurt by Adam. David not being able to protect Emma. Logan not being able to heal me.

“Ryanne.” More shaking. “RYANNE.” I’m trembling. “Logan!” Someone is yelling, but the voice sounds muffled. I feel like I’m underwater with no way to get to surface; struggling with no resolve. My heart beat is increasing. I’m experiencing shortness of breath—my lungs are protesting with the limited oxygen. I feel someone grab my shoulders and all the symptoms start dissipating.

Oxygen rushes into my lungs and I am able to breathe again. I blink and find Logan crouching down in front of me, arms on my shoulder. I am sitting on the floor with my back pressed against the wall. Liam, David, and Emma are standing behind him. Colton and Bragden are on either side of me. Resting my head on my knees, so I can’t see anyone, I apologize.

“What happened to her?” Bragden asks.

“She was having a panic attack. I stopped it before it reached its peak.”

I look up and look at Logan, “Thank you. I don’t…I…” I don’t know what to say. I’d never had a panic attack before. Logan reaches out, palms facing up. Grabbing his hands, I let him help me up. “Did everyone see that?” I look towards the kitchen where most people are.

“No one saw it but us. I’m sure they know that something happened though. Claire and Tom are in there trying to distract them while we help you.” Logan still hasn’t let go of my hands. I notice that I’m still trembling a little. I close my eyes and deeply breathe in and out, trying to calm my body down the rest of the way. When I finally feel stable, I try to apologize again.

“I don’t know why that happened. When I heard Larkin say we had an hour… I kind of freaked. I kept seeing all this horrible stuff happening and it scared me. I don’t want anything to happen to you guys because one stupid guy wants to find me.” Logan pulls me to him and wraps his large arms around me.

I hug him fiercely. I don’t know if I’ll get another chance to. This man has saved my life on numerous occasions and I don’t think there will ever be a way to fully repay him for what he’s done. I step out of his arms and collect myself. Standing straighter, I square my shoulder and hold my head high, prepared and determined. Without looking at anyone, I walk past them and into the kitchen.





Forty minutes later, we’re standing on the back porch, waiting. Weapons are down, but ready to be drawn at any moment. Anticipation is hanging in the air. Intimidation is our tactic; show them that we aren’t scared and aren’t going to back down. We’re here to fight. I’m standing in the front, slightly behind Colton and Liam. Since my little panicking incident earlier, neither of them will leave my side. I’m not complaining about that though. It makes me feel safe…well, safer.

The forest is quiet. Too quiet. There are no birds chirping, no animals scurrying around, nothing. Just silence. We know how deceiving the silence can be. I look behind me at all the people here. All the people here to help fight against the Gadramicks. My eyes land on Conner. He nods and smiles slightly at me before turning his attention back to the forest. I hear many gasps behind me. Returning my attention to the forest in front of me, I see what they’re all looking at. Flying through the air are about a hundred arrows coming straight for us. Someone screams behind me. Liam reaches out to shield me, but I push him back and concentrate on my magic. Silently calling air to me, I visualize a huge gust of air sending the arrows back towards the direction they came from.

This is going to take a lot of magic. I can feel it bubbling to the surface, itching to be freed. Drawing my arms away from my body, I slowly start raising them. I can feel the wind picking up. The arrows are at their highest point and soon they will start to descend. When my hands are raised completely above my head, I forcefully thrust out all the magic. I fall backwards into Liam from the force. He steadies me, but his arms tighten around me when he staggers forward when the wind rushes past us towards the arrows. We all freeze and wait, watching to see if my magic will be enough. When the air coalesces with the arrows, their momentum falters. They twist through the air before reversing their direction and flying back into the forest.

Everyone rights themselves and turns towards me, mouths slightly agape in amazement. Even Colton and Liam are looking at me in awe. “Thank you, Ryanne. You saved us all,” Tom says. It’s not like I was going to just stand here and let them get impaled with arrows when I know I can at least try to do something. “Everyone get ready. They’re close.”

Dravin walks out of the forest, slowly. When his eyes connect with me, he smiles evilly. “Give me the girl and this can all be avoided.” His voice rings out. Liam and Colton both put their arms out in front of me, as if they expected me to give myself to Dravin. “No? Fine.”

He raises his arms over his head, signaling the others to attack. Mages start running out of the forest towards us. Tom yells and everyone behind me runs forward to meet them halfway, weapons drawn. As we discussed earlier, Liam, Colton, David, Emma, Logan, and Bragden are to stay back with me, unless it is absolutely necessary to join the fight.

I start fidgeting and getting antsy when I see Tom fighting someone even though he has the upper hand on him. Tom’s already gotten in a hit on his shoulder, making his movements more restricted. He punches him the face with the hand not wielding the sword. The man’s head whips back and he falls limply to the ground. Tom turns around and starts fighting with another man. This one is more aggressive. We are outnumbered and they’re slowly surrounding us. I turn towards Bragden, Logan, David and Emma, telling them to go. We need all fighters. They run into the yard prepared for the attack.

Besides us, Claire is the only person left on the porch. She is to stay here and use any spells necessary to block out their magical advances. I turn towards Liam and Colton, “We have to help them. There are too many.”

Colton looks torn. He wants to help, but doesn’t want me to join the fight. We have to fight if we want any shot at coming back from this. He slowly nods before turning back to Liam and me. He and Liam share a knowing glance.

I look between both guys, “I love you guys.” Before the tears can come, or they can say anything to stop me, I run past them and into the middle of the yard where I know Thomas will be. I find him standing over a girl, sword raised over his head. I run straight for him and jump kick him in the side as his sword is coming down. I briefly remember talking to her earlier, but can’t recall her name. “Go!” I shout to her as Thomas falls. She scoots back on the ground before rolling over and getting up. Turning around, she runs off and begins fighting someone else.

I’m now directly in the midst of the chaos. Dravin is nowhere to be seen, but I already knew that was going to happen. All around me, people are engaged in fighting. Opening my mind, I let the thoughts in of those directly around me. Liam and Colton are running towards us. Liam is worried about me. He’s basically screaming his thoughts at me. He doesn’t want me to be in this fight, especially not fighting against Thomas. This is about me and I’m not going to sit in the background and let everyone fight for me.

Thomas gets off the ground and turns towards me. I call some magic into my arms and legs. Fighting Thomas is not going to be easy. He is larger than Bragden and I had trouble with him. However, I am already angry at Thomas. No one is going to get away with hurting me like he did.

Dravin said to bring the girl back alive. But I’m getting really tired of the all the trouble she’s causing. She needs to be taught a lesson. He growls menacingly and runs straight towards me, sword pointed outward. I have a Sherlock Holmes moment. I can see every move he is about to do in my head. I’m aware of others fighting around me, but Thomas is the only person on my mind.

Jumping to the side, I avoid his sword, and kick his arm, loosening his grip on the weapon. He swings out with his other arm to punch me. I drop to the ground and hit him in the shins, causing him to stagger backwards. He doesn’t fall to the ground like I wanted him to, but it gives me enough time to stand back up and prepare for another advance.

I briefly look around the yard. Colton is off to the side, fighting Adam. Everyone else is fighting random Gadramicks. Bragden’s fighting off numerous people at once while David’s staying close to Emma, helping her fight and keeping her safe.

Thomas recovers and stalks towards me again, swinging his sword. I can tell that he wasn’t prepared for me to defend myself. He thought this was going to be an easy fight. He underestimated my knowledge of swordplay and use of magic. I’ve been training and it shows. The magic makes me a more equal opponent and where he has strength, I have agility.

The sword in my hand is moving in ways I didn’t think were possible for me. I am incorporating all my gymnastics tricks, but because so many people are in a small space, it’s hard to do all the moves that I know I’m capable of.

I hear Colton cry out behind me, but I don’t turn around like I did in the vision. I hear him grunt in anger shortly afterwards, so I know he’s okay. The tintinnabulation of blades in the background and grunts from punches echo throughout the yard, but I only focus on the man in front of me. I’m now fighting for my life. I’ve accepted that something could happen to me, as long as this man is stopped. With him stopped, there’s a better chance for someone to get to Dravin—to stop him.

He simultaneously swings his sword towards my neck, while bringing his other arm out for a punch. Making a snap decision, I duck to avoid being sliced with the sword. This move causes me to get punched in the shoulder with enough force to send me flying to the ground. Raising his sword above his head, he walks towards me. I pull my knees to my chest and kick towards him when he gets close enough, hitting him in the crotch. Dropping the sword, he falls to his knees. I jump up and back kick him in the face, breaking his nose. Deep red blood flows down his face.

The sound of Colton crying out in pain again breaks through my defensive bubble. I turn to see what happened. Colton is kneeling on the ground, holding his wound. Blood is dripping down Colton’s arm, seeping through his fingers, where Adam had sliced him. Adam is raising his sword for a fatal attack. I gather up all my air energy and push it towards him. He flies onto the stone patio, rendering him unconscious. Colton’s eyes jerk towards me. “Look out!”

That is the distraction that Thomas needed. Turning back around, I see Thomas pushing himself off the ground and coming towards me. He knocks the sword out of my hand and back hands me, knocking me to the ground. I quickly roll over, avoiding his foot as he attempts to kick me. I jump up and spin around, bringing my magic filled arm out to punch him in the stomach. He doesn’t flinch. He spits blood at me. Smiling at me, he deflects my arm and thrust his other hand into my stomach. Tearing through skin and muscle, his sword implants itself in my abdomen. Looking into his eyes, it is obvious that he was going to enjoy watching me die.

“Ryanne!” I hear Colton yell. I look down and see his sword sticking out of my stomach. Deep red blood pours out around the sword and soaks my shirt. The Cold is spreading throughout my body. Thomas jerks his sword out forcefully and smiles as I fall to the ground. The metallic taste of blood fills my mouth and the wetness of it trickles down my chin. Larkin blinks in behind Thomas and stabs him through the heart at the same time that Colton reaches me. He claws at the sword, but Larkin pushes it in deeper.

“Get her out of here!”

I succumb to the darkness. My body is broken and unable to do anything I want it to. As I begin to violently shake, Colton yells for Logan. Blood is soaking the ground beneath me. Colton scoops my limp body up and runs towards the house.

“Don’t you dare leave me, Ryanne!” Colton yells, while gently placing me down on the cold, tiled floor. A door slams against the wall and heavy footsteps rush towards us. My heartbeat is slowing and I start coughing, choking on my own blood.

“Move Colton!” demands Logan. My shirt is pushed up, revealing the wound. I feel hands on my stomach as I drift farther and farther into the darkness. Seconds tick by…

Silence.

“She saved me, Logan. That’s why she was stabbed.” Colton lets out an exasperated sigh, seemingly choking on his words. “What’s wrong? Why isn’t it working?” Sadness laces his speech. Everything is muted. I can’t feel my body anymore. The pain is gone.

“She’s too far gone, Colton. I can’t work miracles.”