BlackMoon Beginnings (15 page)

This time, jumping in the air, foot
outstretched, she aims at my chest. Her foot connects, sending me
backward, knocking the wind out of me. She attempts to hold me
down, but I roll out of the way, placing my palms down on the mat
beside my head. I arch my back and kick my feet up, giving me
enough momentum to flip over and stand, facing Emma again. I take a
few steps back, distancing myself. I run towards her, before
jumping straight into the air and lunging forward. My hands connect
with the mat and I swing my feet over my head into a flip, rotating
twice in the air, before successfully landing in front of her.
Without missing a step, I drop to the ground and swing my leg out,
knocking her down. She connects with the mat and stays for a
second, before jumping back up and facing me.

There is hair pulling, punching, and kicking.
We continue sparring for a while; neither one of us gaining any
leverage on the other. When I can tell both of us are getting
tired, we hear a whistle. We stop what we are doing and turn in the
direction of the noise, meeting four sets of eyes. Logan, David,
and Colton are all staring at us with their mouths hanging open
while Tom seems really proud.

Tom says, “I think that is enough for now.
Let’s take a ten minute break.” He walks towards Emma and me with
bottles of water in his hands. We each take one and thank him
before opening it and drinking half of it right then and there. We
are both breathing heavily and sit, well more like fall, on the
ground worn out.

I turn towards her, “I’m sorry if I hurt you
at all during that.”

She grabs her shoulder, wincing. I’d kicked
her there at one point. With a smile, she adds, “Don’t worry. I
retaliated just as hard.”

“Yeah,” I laugh. “I think you pulled out a
fistful of my hair.”

We fall into a comfortable silence, drinking
our water and trying to catch our breath. The guys walk over and
sit across from us, still staring.

Emma speaks first, “What the heck are you
guys staring at?”

David looks at me first, but his eyes linger
on Emma, “You guys were great. We couldn’t concentrate on our own
sparring, because we saw both you doing flips off the walls and
stuff.” He turns and looks at me again, “It was better than
watching you kick Colton’s butt the other day.” I laugh remembering
the surprised looks on both of their faces the first time I pulled
out my gymnastics training.

Colton jokingly punches his brother, “Hey,
hey. She beat you too!” He hits my leg, “I can’t believe that you
learned some of that a couple days ago.

“It was very impressive,” says Logan. I smile
at him and continue drinking my water. I tip the bottle back and
frown when nothing comes out.

Colton chuckles at me, “Here, have the rest
of mine.” I gratefully take it from him and drink the rest. I am
still thirsty when I finish his, but I know that I shouldn’t drink
too much, because we still have more training to do.

I fall back onto my back, gazing up at the
ceiling. I close my eyes, waiting for Tom to come back into the
room and start the weapons training.

“I think you killed Ryanne, Emma,” says
David.

“Not likely. I’ll think twice before I call
someone small again. She’s feisty.” She says with a laugh and
everyone follows suit.

Without opening my eyes, I point in the
direction of the guys sitting across from me and warn, “Yeah,
that’s right. Think twice before bringing out another short joke.
David. Logan.”

“Okay, are you guys all prepared to start
again?” David, Colton, and Logan jump up, eager to start. Emma and
I remain on the ground, still tired from the earlier sparring.
David reaches down to help Emma while Colton and Logan both extend
a hand for me. I glance between both of them, before taking both
hands in mine and letting them pull me up.

“I know you haven’t Ryanne, but have you ever
fought with a sword before, Emma?” She shakes her head. “Ok, I want
you two to sit back and just watch for now; get a feel for what is
involved. We’ll start your training some other time.”

“Oh, thank goodness. I’m pooped.”

I fall to the ground at Tom’s feet. All eyes
land on me. I shrug, not caring. Soon, Emma follows my example and
sits beside me.

“David, you sit out for now too. I have a
feeling these guys will give us a good show,” says Tom.

“Yeah, jealously vs. arrogance,” David
murmurs under his breath. I turn towards him, my brow furrowing in
confusion, waiting for him to elaborate. He pats me on the shoulder
and shakes his head. I think about reading his mind, but decide
against it.

Colton and Logan walk over to the wall, where
an assortment of weaponry is located and pick out two similar
looking swords. The only difference I notice is the color of the
handles. Logan’s is black, while Colton’s is gold.

They walk to the center of a mat and face
each other, swords pointed out, crossed in an x formation.

“Begin,” says Tom.

Logan reacts first, swinging his sword out
towards Colton. Colton steps back, out of the sword’s range.
Lunging forward, he retaliates, swinging the sword in the opposite
direction. Logan deflects the blow. The sound of metal on metal
resonates through the room and I flinch each time the swords
connect. I don’t like watching them fight. I’m afraid one of them
is going to get hurt. Instead, I watch their feet: always apart,
one usually in front of the other. This sort of fighting requires
fancy footwork.

Which means it’s not for those of us who are
clumsy.

Uh oh.

They start incorporating kicks and punches
into the fight. I can tell by their expressions, that this isn’t
just a practice. I lean towards David to ask him about it.

“Are they mad at each other or
something?”

“I don’t know, Ryanne.”

I can tell by his tone that he isn’t telling
me something. He can’t look me in the eyes. I close my eyes and
reach into my thought box, and searching for David.

I can’t believe she doesn’t know. She’s so
oblivious.

“Oblivious to what?” I ask.

“What?” Realization dawns in his eyes. “Are
you reading my mind?”

“Well, you won’t tell me anything!”

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEF…
He’s
screaming the alphabet at me? Who screams the alphabet at someone?
I push his thoughts back and lock them up. Spoil sport.

“Fine, fine. I can’t hear you anymore. You’re
obnoxious, do you know that?”

I hear the sound of a whistle blow behind me.
Tom steps over me and moves between the two boys, stopping the
fight and separating them.

“Ok, that’s enough for now.” The boys
continue to glare at each other. Logan walks away first, puts his
weapon up, and walks out of the room. Colton follows soon
after.

David gets up and helps Emma and me to our
feet before walking us down the stairs, towards our room, to change
out of our work-out clothing. Emma’s room is right next to mine. We
smile at each other before entering our rooms. I grab a pair of
khaki shorts and a green sweat jacket and walk to the bathroom.
Five minutes later, we both come out in clean clothes and go search
for the guys.

I hear the sound of two people arguing and
walk into the room and find Logan and Colton still fighting. David
is leaning back in a new chair, arms folded behind his head, feet
crossed, and a smile on his face.

“What the heck is going on between them?” I
ask Emma. She turns to me to reply, but David interrupts.

“Ryanne! Emma!” He jumps out of his chair and
basically yells at us. Both of us jump back, startled, at his loud
tone. Logan and Colton stop arguing and turn to us, with forced
smiles.

David walks up and puts his arm across Emma’s
shoulders, “Would you two lovely ladies care you join us for a
movie?” I swear I see her blush.

“What movie?” she looks up at him, smiling.
They are close in height; Emma is a couple of inches shorter.

“What would you like to watch?”

“Something scary.”

I groan. Hearing it, both David and Colton
laugh. Logan walks past Colton, brushing his shoulder in the
process, and goes over to grab a movie. David drags Emma to the
couch and they sit down near each other. I am the only one not
sitting down, so everyone turns and looks at me. The only open seat
is between Logan and Colton. I walk over reluctantly, not wanting
to watch the movie, but not wanting to be a coward and do something
else.

“If I have nightmares, I’m blaming you,” I
tell Colton.

He chuckles and puts his arms around my
shoulders, pulling me towards him. I let him because I know I will
need something to hide behind.

Emma has no problem watching the movie. She
even laughs at some points. I, however, barely see a single minute
of the movie. It is horrible. Colton’s arm tightens around me every
time I cringe into his shoulder. I hear the sounds of a saw, bones
breaking, and a collective ‘ouch’ from the group around me. Then
nothing. It is quiet. The movie is over. I slowly lift my head and
find everyone looking at me smiling.

“So, Ryanne, did you enjoy the movie?” asks
Logan.

“Oh, yeah. Let’s watch it again!” I
sarcastically reply.

We hear the sound of footsteps running down
the hallway. All of us turn and look at the door, Tom runs by the
room and then a couple of seconds later, turns back.

“There is a disturbance in the woods. Get
ready. We need all of your help.” When no one moves, he yells,
“Now.” Jumping up, we all run to our rooms. Once in my room, I grab
my shoes, put them on, and grab a hair tie. Throwing my hair into a
ponytail, I hear my door being thrown open. Colton runs into my
room and thrusts a sword at me.

“Take this.”

“I can’t. I don’t know how to use that. I’ll
probably injure myself more than anyone else.” He steps towards me
and puts a hand on my cheek, brushing his thumb across my
cheekbone.

“
Please.
Just take it,” he pleads. I
slowly tear my eyes away from the sword and look up at him. His
green eyes stare into mine, begging me to take the weapon. I don’t
know why, but I find myself moving closer to him. Hesitantly, I
reach forward and grab the weapon from his hands. The cold metal
feels too heavy under my grip. My arms aren’t attuned to carrying
something like this.

He is standing so close; my heart starts
racing as I continue to look into his eyes. His hand slides from my
cheek to the back of my neck, leaving a tingling trail beneath his
touch. He searches my eyes, not seeing any form refusal, he begins
to lean in. He is going to kiss me! I follow his movements and lean
towards him. My eyes start to close when I hear someone hit the
door as they run into my room.

I jump back, distancing myself from Colton.
He doesn’t turn around to see who was at the door; his eyes remain
on me the entire time. Trying to keep my blush at a minimum, I lean
around him and see David standing at the door, breathing
heavily.

“We need you two outside. There are lots of
people coming.” He says and then quickly leaves the room. I brush
past Colton out of the door. That can wait.

Halfway down the hallway, Colton grabs my
elbow and turns me around to face him.

“Ryanne.” Standing on the step above me,
Colton is even taller than he usually is. I have to really arch my
neck to look at him.

“We have to go help.”

Walking down two more steps, so we’re closer
in height, he says, “You have to stay with me at all times. They
are probably coming for you.”

When I agree, Colton grabs my wrist and pulls
me down the stairs. We run through the kitchen and out the
backdoor, joining everyone else. I have only been with these people
for a short time, but I already love them. They care about me, just
as much as I do them. I haven’t had someone care for me like this
in a while.

Tom turns to us and says, “We are going to
head into the woods and draw them away from the house. Claire put
an enchantment up, so they shouldn’t be able to find it anyways,
but just to be safe…” He stops and looks at Emma and me, “I want
you girls to stay with at least one of the guys. You aren’t as
experienced as they are with fighting. Keep together and try to not
split up.” He turns and looks at everyone again. “I don’t know how
many are out there. Claire is on her way home to help. Someone stay
with Ryanne at all times. They are most likely coming to find her
and we can’t let that happen.” I feel all eyes move to me.

Tom looks towards the trees, we can hear
people coming. “Are you guys ready?” No one says anything, but we
know what we have to do. I want so fiercely to protect these people
around me. Tom starts walking into the woods and I am the first one
to follow.

After walking for about ten minutes, I begin
to wonder where they are. I can hear them all around us. Twigs are
snapping in every direction and the sound of branches and leaves
brushing together and being pushed aside sounds throughout the
forest.

“To the right,” I tell Tom.

One man bolts out from the trees and runs
straight toward Tom. Tom is prepared for the attack, though. Their
swords clash together a couple of times, before Tom is able to
knock it free, sending it crashing to the ground. He hits the man
on the head with the handled end of the sword, causing him to fall
to the ground. Seconds after that, all hell breaks loose.

Tom, Logan, David, and Colton, form a circle
around Emma and I and take on the attack by themselves. They are
able to disarm and knock the first couple of men out, but soon they
are outnumbered and surrounded. I am getting mad. I have to do
something. If we have any chance of getting out of this, we have to
move and Emma and I have to fight.

We share a knowing look, for we know what has
to be done. Without looking at the guys, Emma and I jump out of the
circle and run straight towards a couple of men, surprising them
with our attack. The surprise only lasts a couple of seconds.
Breaking out of their trance, they run towards us, weapons
drawn.