BlackMoon Beginnings (9 page)

“You okay?”

Ignoring his question, I ask, “Do you think
you could train me? Just some basic self defense moves, so I know
what to do if I’m ever in a similar situation again.”

“Umm…” he runs his hand through his hair,
“Yeah, I guess I could do that.”

“What could you do?” Colton, who had just
walked back into the room, hands me my bag.

“Ryanne wants to learn self-defense. I think
it would be a good idea.”

“I agree.”

I reach into my bag and grab out my notebook.
Pulling my knees under me, I place the notebook on my legs. Turning
it open to a blank page, I begin to draw. I tune out the brothers
in front of me as I start to sketch the grassy field that I dreamt
about once. I can remember the details as if I had actually been
there. The tall trees with the thick trunks; the rough textured
bark; the way the trees form a circle, leaving a large open field
in the center. Uncut grass covers the area with random wild flowers
dispersed throughout. Butterflies of all different colors fly
around. I remember everything.

The room around me has gotten really quiet.
“You’re really good at that. Can I see?” Before I have a chance to
reply, Colton grabs the notebook out of my hands and flips to the
front page.

“I really don’t like people looking…at…my
drawings.”

He disregards me and continues flipping
through the notebook, nodding occasionally, until he reaches the
flamed one—the one he had briefly seen at school. He looks at the
page for a second and then looks at me, his eyes landing on my
pendent. “This one looks like the necklace you’re wearing right
now.”

I pick up my pendent. “That’s actually a
drawing of a tattoo I saw on someone once. I thought it looked
really interesting.” I pause, glance down at the flame and
continue, “This necklace was actually his.”

“Whose?” asks Colton.

“His name was Liam, is Liam. I…uh…met him in
a dream, I think.” I feel my face turning red again. I know I sound
crazy, but there is no other way to explain it.

“In a dream?” asks David incredulously.

“Well…kind of. I was awake when it
happened.”

“What do you mean, when it happened?”

“Ok, but I’ll warn you; this is going to
sound crazy. I fell through my bedroom wall and landed in a
different world, I guess. I don’t know. Liam was there and wouldn’t
tell me anything. He kept saying ‘You are not supposed to be here.
This isn’t your world.’ Then we got attacked by something called a
gorgoth and later a dragon like thing. I got stabbed by its spiked
tail and woke up in my bed after dying in the field. My stomach
hurt whenever I moved and I found this necklace on my pillow. I’ve
worn it ever since.”

They both stare at me like I have three
heads. Before either of them can say anything, Claire walks back
into the room.

“Ryanne, I would like to work on controlling
the thoughts, if that is alright with you.”

“Yeah, let’s do it.” I am glad for the
interruption. I don’t know why I tried to explain everything to
them, when I don’t fully understand it myself. Claire walks in
front of me and shoos Colton out of the way, so she could sit
there. Colton gets up, with my notebook in hand, and goes over to
the window seat.

“Ok, I would like you to try and unleash the
thoughts from their locked place. It shouldn’t be too painful,
because there are only three of us here.” She stops talking to me
and turns towards David and Colton, and says in a stern voice,
“Monitor your thoughts.”

She puts her hands out as an anchor and I
graciously grab onto them. I close my eyes and search my mind,
seeking the large locked box. Finding it, I concentrate on turning
the lock and opening it. With a click, the lid turns and the
thoughts come swarming out. The headache isn’t as bad as I
anticipated, because there
are
only three people here. I
open my eyes and look at her, telling her that I am ready.

“Good. Now, I want you to focus solely on me.
Push the other thoughts back, but keep mine out.” I attempt to do
that, but I can’t. The thoughts are jumbled up. I can’t tell which
one is hers.

“I can’t. I can’t do it.”

“Yes, you can, Ryanne, try again.” This time,
when I look at her, I see her faith in me. I know that she believes
I can do this. I close my eyes and think of Claire, repeating her
name over and over again. For a couple seconds, nothing happens,
but then one of the thought strands gives off a lighter hue. I
mentally grab onto that strand and pull it forward, pushing the
others behind.
Come on, I know you can do this. We believe in
you.
Her thoughts are all encouraging.

I open my eyes and look at her, smiling, “I
did it.” She laughs and squeezes my hands, “I told you so. Let’s
see if this works. I’m going to think a few random thoughts and you
tell me what I’m thinking.”

“Sounds easy enough.”

I focus intently on Claire and what she is
thinking. It turns out to be easier than I thought it would be.
My favorite color is purple.

“You like purple.”

“Correct, ok, another one.”

I have to go open to bookstore soon.

“You have to open the bookstore soon.”
Nodding, she continues.
I hate having to clean up after two boys
all day. They are such slobs.

I laugh and turn towards Colton and David,
who are both looking at us, “She just called you both slobs.” They
both glance at Claire, who shrugs sheepishly.

I think you like Colton.

“You think I—what?” I peek out of my eye and
see both Colton and David still looking at us. I feel myself blush.
I just shake my head at her.

I think he likes you too.
I shake my
head again. It isn’t possible. Claire just stares at me, I can feel
her eyes on me, but I am looking at our hands. A guy like him would
never be interested in me. With a sigh, she lets go of my hands and
pats my leg.

“David, can she try you next?”

“She can try me anytime,” David grins widely
and winks at me. I bite my tongue, but my laugh escapes anyways.
With that, he comes over and sits in front of me. He puts his hands
out just like Claire did and I grab a hold of them. Following her
instructions, I repeat everything I had just done. When I am ready,
I look at him waiting for him to think something.

I’m hungry.

“You’re hungry.”

“He’s always hungry,” Colton mumbles.

I have a fear of sloths. I think they are
weird looking. If they ever decided to assert dominance, they could
probably rule the world.

I couldn’t help it, I start giggling. “You’re
afraid of sloths?”

“Hey, I just told you why.”

“I know, but it is still a little funny. They
could rule the world?” I continue laughing.

Stop it now. I could kick your little
butt.

“But you wouldn’t, because you’re a
gentleman.” He just scoffs at me.

Says who?

“Okay, she can read my thoughts. Colton, your
turn.” Colton puts my notebook down and walks towards me, sitting
beside me on the couch instead of in front of me like everyone
else. I angle my body towards him and place my hands in his
outstretched hands. Ignoring the butterflies that shoot through my
stomach, I close my eyes and concentrate on his thoughts only, but
get nothing. There are only two thought strands running through my
mind and I have already determined they are Claire’s and
David’s.

“I can’t read your thoughts.”

I can’t read his thoughts. There is a void.
Nothing. Nada. Zilch. “Are you thinking of anything?”

“Yes, I was thinking about something.”

“About what?”

“Well, if you can’t read my thoughts then
there is no point in telling you, now is there?” He smiles. “You
can’t read my mind, interesting.”

“How is that interesting?”

He just shrugs and refuses to reply. I look
at David to see if he can enlighten me, but he shakes his head.

“Maybe his thoughts are too bad for you to
hear,” David suggests, smirking.

“I highly doubt that.”

“Why?”

“Well, when we were at the house, I heard
what the man that was holding me hostage was thinking. I doubt
Colton’s thoughts are worse than his.” I shiver remembering his
plans. Gasping, I look at Colton, “Maybe you’re my Bella!”

“Your what?” The look of confusion on his
face is hilarious. David grabs his stomach and doubles over
laughing. Claire attempts to cover her mouth with her hand to hide
her laughter.

“Oh, Ryanne, you’re a hoot. I like you,”
David says through his laughter. He turns and hits Colton on the
back, “Twilight reference man.”

“Twilight? Like that vampire movie?”

“I was referring to the book, but the movie
works as well.” It is funny that he doesn’t understand the
reference, but David and Claire do. I can’t stop laughing. My
stomach starts to ache and I have to concentrate really hard on
calming down. Taking a deep breath, I turn towards Claire. “Does it
mean anything that I can’t read his thoughts?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never heard of it
happening before. I’ll do a little research.” She turns and leaves
the room.

Colton is still sitting with his body angled
towards mine. He reaches back and picks up my notebook, continuing
to look at it.

“Can I please have it back? I don’t really
like people looking at it.” I reach out to grab it, but he moves it
behind him. I move closer to him, “Please.”

“Nope.” I am leaning really close to him. My
chest brushes against his. I could smell his cologne again and feel
his breath against the side of my face. My heart starts racing
against my chest, threatening to make its beat heard. I hear
Colton’s quick intake of breath. I slowly look away from the
notebook and up at him. Colton’s staring down at me with wide eyes.
His expression is unreadable. If only I could read his mind. He
swallows audibly, which brings me back to my senses.

“Fine.” I sit back and look towards David.
His eyes are glancing between Colton and me as he smiles and moves
his eyebrows up and down suggestively. I shake my head and blush at
his insinuation. Being around two guys is going to be difficult, I
can tell that much already.

“Is this a drawing of our house?” Colton
pushes the notebook towards me, pointing to a drawing at the bottom
of one of the pages. I recognize it as the drawing I drew on
Friday.

Confused, I looked at the page. With a gasp,
I mumble, “So that’s where I’d seen it before.”

“You’ve seen our house before?” asks
David.

“No, I had a dream about it once. I just
remembered it now. I was walking in the woods and I came across
this house.”

“You know what Ryanne? I’m starting to think
that these dreams of yours aren’t actually dreams. Maybe they are
some sort of vision. Maybe you’re psychic.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me. Let’s just add
that to the list of things that make me even more of a freak.”

“You’re not a freak, Ryanne,” Colton says,
disgruntled.

“Really? I got picked on in high school and
called a freak almost every day and I didn’t even have any
‘abilities’ as you guys call them. You saw my locker on the last
day of school. Now, I can read minds and may be psychic? On top of
that, whenever I get mad, I have to worry about causing a freaking
hurricane? You don’t call that freakish?”

“No, I’d call it extraordinary. You were
meant for greater things,” says Colton. His eyes tell me that he is
being sincere.

“Potato, Patato.”

David clears his throat and says, “But, hey
on a brighter note, I think your cut has healed. You can’t even
tell that over an hour ago, you were being held against your will
with a dagger to your neck.”

I reach up and touch my neck. The skin is
smooth and doesn’t sting as I touch it. “I thought Claire said it
would heal overnight.”

“Well, you keep surprising us today. It looks
like you heal quicker than most mages.”

“There’s another thing for the list,” I say
under my breath. Colton glares at me, but I ignore him.

“So, can you guys give me a tour of the
house? I don’t want to repeat what happened this morning.”

David laughs, “Sure, come on.” I get up and
adjust my clothes, pushing my jeans down. I notice that Colton
hasn’t moved from the couch. He has turned the page back and is
looking at the flames again.

“Are you coming?”

Without looking at me, he replies, “No, you
go ahead; I have to go talk to Aunt Claire.”

Nodding, I walk out of the room and follow
after David, who is patiently waiting for me at the end of the
hallway.

“Follow me, oh tiny one.”

“You’ve got to stop making jokes about my
height, André the giant.”

Laughing, he wraps his arm around my
shoulder, pulling me closer beside him, and says, “Louis, I think
this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

“You know Casablanca? That’s my favorite
movie!”

“Who doesn’t know Casablanca? It’s a
classic,” he says. “Ok, this house was built to confuse intruders.
Claire added an enchantment to make it even more confusing. I
already told you that though.” We walk up the stairs and into the
hallway with the guest bedrooms. “The guest rooms are on the right
side of the hallway. Colton’s room and mine are on the left side a
little away from yours. The trick is you have to know what room you
want to go to. There’s a training room, an entertainment room, a
couple of guest bedrooms, a library, the kitchen and living room, a
music— ”

“You have a library?”

“Ah, something sparked your interest. Yes. We
have a library. Think about the library. Since you don’t know what
it looks like yet, think about a room of books. Lots of books,
shelves upon shelves of them. The haze should start to dissipate.
You should feel a pull in your gut, telling you which way to go. Do
you feel anything?”