BlackMoon Beginnings (26 page)

Hearing footsteps on the stairs, I turn
slightly to see who is coming towards me. Colton sits down on the
bottom stair and looks up at the stars with me. Neither one of us
speaks for a while. I watch him out of the corner of my eye as he
opens his mouth to speak multiple times, before deciding against
it.

How did we get here? How is it that neither
one of us can be in a room alone anymore without feeling awkward? I
don’t understand how and why things have changed so much between
us. Where’s the Colton that followed me to the gazebo to make sure
that I was okay? I want
that
Colton to be here. Not the
Colton that has Natasha following his every footstep.

After a few minutes, he sighs and says, “Did
you know that most stars are over a billion years old?” I look over
at him watching the stars. Even his profile is swoon-worthy. Stupid
Colton and his attractiveness.

“Look, Colton. I’m sorry I ignored you. It’s
just that so much was changing so fast that I kind of freaked and I
took it out on you. I miss talking and being around you. Can things
go back to how they were before? I want us to be friends
again.”

Bringing my attention back to the stars, I
wait from his response. I feel him watching at me, but he doesn’t
say anything. Oh dear, he doesn’t want to be friends anymore. I’ve
ruined it. I’m too much baggage and he’d rather be with Natasha. He
exhales and I finally look over at him, searching for an
answer.

“Just friends?” After thinking it over, he
gives me a small smile and says, “I’d like that, Ry. I’ve missed
you.” He hugs me and I let him, taking comfort in his embrace. I
really have missed him. I try to hide my yawn, but can’t. Laughing,
he stands up, pulling me with him. “Come on. We finished cleaning
your room. You need to go to bed.”

For a while, everything returns to normal. We
train every day with Tom. Emma and I become closer. She’s the best
friend I’ve never had. My relationship with Colton also returns to
how it was before. Colton and Liam seem to be becoming pretty
close. David and Emma are still stuck in the flirty friendship
stage with neither one wanting to be the first to initiate anything
more. Conner and Madison come over occasionally, but Natasha and
Natalie haven’t been back since that incident.

Days pass without anything exciting
happening. We just prepare. Claire says that we have to stay at
this house. That this is what would be best for us. She does know
best; she has the intuition after all. It’s a Wednesday when I
finally crack. Boredom can cause someone to do that apparently.

I am sitting in chair in the entertainment
room with my notebook in my lap. This is the first time that I have
no idea what to draw—no inspiration is coming to me. I’m having a
doodle block. So, the only logical thing would be sit upside down
in the chair and wait for inspiration to strike, right? I think so.
I put my feet up where my head should be and lean back, my head
facing the ground. I can see the ceiling and the other chair
directly across from where I am sitting and I wait. Inspiration has
to strike sometime.

I can hear people shuffling down the hallway.
I know that pretty soon, everyone will come into this room and find
me sitting here, but I don’t move.

“Hey…Ryanne…what…are you doing?” David asks
slowly as if I can’t understand simple English.

Turning my head towards them, I reply, “I’m
bored and can’t think of what to draw.”

“And is that working?” asks Emma.

“Nope.”

“Would you rather watch a movie?” I can hear
the laughter in Colton’s voice as he asks the question.

“Nope, I’d rather see how long it takes for
all the blood to rush to my head and I pass out.” They all laugh.
“I’m being serious.”

“Oh, we know,” Colton says as he sits down on
the couch.

Liam comes over to the chair I am sitting in
and starts nudging my shoulder with his foot, wanting to sit down
in the chair with me. “Come on, Ryanne. Get up.”

“You can’t make me,” His eyebrows rise.
Giving me a look that says
challenge accepted,
he smiles
down at me and raises his hands, fingers pointed outward in the
universal tickle signal and starts moving towards my exposed
stomach. I kick my feet back and do a backwards flip until I am
sitting on the ground facing the chair I was just sitting in.

“Never mind, I think I’d rather watch a
movie.” Liam leans down, picks me up, and sets me in his lap since
there are no available seats anywhere else. “You know, that was
pretty rude.” I whisper to him.

“You just have to threaten to tickle Ryanne
and she’ll do anything,” says David.

“Don’t get any ideas, buster.”

He just smiles at me. “Already have some.”
Emma looks at me like she knows what I was going to do and gets out
the chair to sit on the edge of the couch. I gather up a small
strand of energy and visualize knocking the chair that David is
sitting in backwards. I thrust the energy strand with the visual
imprint towards him and wait for the scene to play out.

When he realizes what I am doing, his smile
falters. His chair tilts backwards and while he tries to move
forwards to counteract the movement, he still falls. He lays on his
back for a couple of seconds surprised, before he starts laughing.
Once everyone hears his laughter, they join in. Getting up, he
returns the chair to its proper position, sits down, and stares at
me. “Well played, little one. Well played.”

Liam shakes my shoulder, “You’re
devious.”

I turn my smile on him, “I know.”

An hour later, a movie is put in and
everyone’s attention is on the screen. “It’s so sad that they kill
his wife at the end of this movie. He doesn’t remember her. The
poor hot mutant,” says Emma. She has a crush on Hugh Jackman.

I feel something brush against my stomach and
look down and see Liam holding the flame necklace that he gave me.
I still haven’t taken it off. “My mother made this for me.”

“Really?” I whisper back, intrigued. I turn
so that I’m facing him. I can feel a story coming on. Liam doesn’t
often share personal information about himself. He isn’t an
emotional guy. The only thing I really know about him is that he
has an older brother named Bragden.

“Yeah, she used to make a ton of jewelry for
everyone. It was one of her many hobbies. She made this leather
bracelet that I’m wearing too.” He holds up his wrist so I can see.
The tanned leather is braided into a complex pattern, intertwining
in a zigzag formation. “She gave me this necklace when I was ten
years old. She passed away a month later.”

He isn’t looking at me, but at the necklace,
seemingly lost in his memories. I reach up and start to bring the
chain up around my neck, to give it back to him. His mother made it
for him and him only. She made the necklace with her love,
intending for him to always keep it on it him as a token of that
and as a reminder of where he came from.

“You take it back. I can’t keep something
like that. You’re mother gave it to you specifically.” Grabbing my
arm, he halts my progress.

“Ryanne, I didn’t tell you that to get the
necklace back. I want you to keep it. She would have wanted me to
give it to you.”

“Why?”

“Growing up, my mother used to tell me to
cherish life. Think of a candle flame. It burns bright, but slowly
dies out. When it’s burning bright, it represents living life to
its fullest. Each flicker is an obstacle that is overcome. In the
end, the flame slowly wanes. You have to make the most of what you
have when the flame is brightest. You never know when the flame is
going to be blown out. Life is short, but it can also be beautiful.
It’s a symbol of hope. Candle flames take away a small portion of
darkness, giving the slightest bit of illumination in the darkest
of times.”

I watch his face as he speaks. Despite the
roughness in his appearance, there is softness underneath. Under
all the black hair, is a guy who had to grow up too quickly.
Looking up at him, I can see small pieces of sadness in his gray
eyes. He is very handsome, with his crooked nose and scar only
adding to his appearance. Something about the way he speaks tugs at
my heart strings. I can tell that Liam loves and misses his mother,
so I can relate to him in that way.

“I’m sorry about your mother Liam. She sounds
like a very smart woman.”

“She was.” My eyes travel down his face and
land on his rather large arm. I can see the outline of his flamed
tattoo peeking from underneath the sleeve of his t-shirt. Slowly, I
roll the sleeve up to get a better look at it. I can feel him
watching me, but I don’t look up. When the full tattoo is visible,
I slowly trace along the edges with my finger, barely touching his
skin.

“Is that why you got this tattoo?”

“Yeah. I got it when I was seventeen after a
bad period in my life. It’s a reminder for me to not dwell too much
on the bad things. Flickers in the flames don’t remain for long.
The flame will return to its bright luminance once again.
Everything happens for a reason and we can’t live too long in the
past, otherwise the future will fly past us.” He brings his hand
under my chin and tilts my head back, making me look at him.
“Please don’t forget that, Ryanne. It’s always better to light a
candle than dwell in the darkness.”

I stare into his gray eyes for a couple of
seconds before nodding. He’s right, but making myself follow that
idea is going to be difficult. I lean back against his shoulder and
curl into his side.

My mom wouldn’t want me to be sad that she is
gone. She would want me to cherish the fact that I got a second
chance. She swerved so that I would be able to live. I can’t change
the past and she wouldn’t want me to. Everything does happen for a
reason. I know that my mom can see me; that she’s always rooting
for me to succeed. I feel a single tear run down my cheek. I am
stronger now than I was and am slowly getting stronger every day. I
know that it’s going to take some time, but I know that I’ll grow
to appreciate what she did for me down the long road ahead.

“Did we disturb the movie?” I ask when I
realize that the room is silent and everyone is watching me yet
again.

“No. The movie’s been over for a couple
minutes now,” Emma replies.

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you that
eavesdropping was rude?” Liam says in a light voice, laughter
hidden beneath the words.

Shrugging, she replies. “Someone may
have…once…I don’t really remember.” David laughs and picks Emma up,
throwing her over his shoulder. She screams at the suddenness of
his actions. With her giggling, he runs into the hallway.
Everyone’s eyes follow them, confused.

He runs back into the room, sans Emma, “Are
you guys coming? It’s training time,” he says. Running over to me,
he grabs my arms and pulls me off of the chair, dragging me towards
the door. When he touches me, I get the sensation that is starting
to become familiar to me. “David…” is all I can get out before I
fall forward into a vision.

The backyard is decorated for a special
occasion. Small lights, shaped like lilies, line the stone pathway.
Tall, thin columns are erected around the perimeter of the yard,
enclosing a small area large enough for this reception. Sheer
fabric connects the columns on either side of the lawn, letting
sporadic strips of sunlight shine through. White flowers with pink
accents line the base of columns. The grass is sparkly, as if
someone had thrown glitter all over it and numerous lawn chairs are
lined in rows on both sides, with people sitting in them.

David is standing at the end of the aisle,
fidgeting nervously. Wedding music starts playing and everyone
stands up and turns around, awaiting the bride. At the end of the
aisle is a beautiful bride staring at David. Wearing a short white
silk dress that flows around her knees, Emma beams at her future
husband as she starts walking down the aisle.

I come back to the present and find myself
leaning against David. “Did you have another vision? What
happened?” He looks concerned. I look behind me and see Logan,
Liam, and Colton with similar expressions. I look back at David and
start beaming. Concern turns to confusion. I just laugh and hug
him, before turning around and skipping out of the room. I know
everyone is confused, but I don’t think I should share that vision.
That is one vision that I don’t want to risk changing. I walk back
to my room and find Emma changing into her training clothes. My
smile widens when I see her.

“Are you okay?” She asks, “You’re scaring
me.” I shake my head, my smile never wavering, and grab an outfit
to change into. Once outside, we find that all of the guys have
beaten us and are already stretching. Joining their circle, Emma
and I begin to stretch with them.

David is still looking at me, wondering what
is wrong when he sees my barely-contained smile. I know that I look
like a crazy person, but I can’t help it. I am happy for them. “So
are you going to tell us what you saw?”

I bend down to touch my toes, stretching out
the muscles in my legs. My hair falls forward, creating a curtain
around my face. Crap, I forgot a hair tie again.

“Wait, you had a vision? Is that why you’re
smiling like that?” Emma inquires. “You had a vision that wasn’t
bad?” I nod, still not saying anything. “But you won’t tell
anyone…?”

“Nope.”

“Why?”

“Because it could change the future.” Turning
toward Emma, I ask, “Do you have an extra hair tie I could
borrow?”

“Yes, but you have to tell me your vision,”
she challenges.

“That’s okay. You guys can just pull all my
hair out. I’ve had worse.”

“Oh that’s low. Fine. Here.” She throws the
hair tie at me. I smile sweetly and thank her. Rolling her eyes,
she gets into the stance that we always get into when training. It
doesn’t take us long to realize that we are both getting much
better at fighting. We are able to disarm the guys much quicker
when we don’t have our weapons drawn though. We know the basic
maneuvers to use when holding a sword, but it is much easier to
fight without one. I am able to use magic to knock out any opponent
much quicker and easier than I could before. When practicing with
Emma I don’t use it, because it wouldn’t be fair. She’s taller and
stronger than me, but I am faster so I can move out her attacks
better than she can mine.