BlackMoon Beginnings (33 page)

“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.