Reaching Retribution (The Prophesized Series) (23 page)

“Apparently. I’d recognize him anywhere. He looks older now, but it’s him.”

“
I saw that scar on him earlier and thought of the story you told me, but you didn’t mention specifically where you cut him, so I wasn’t sure. I didn’t know for sure though until I read your thoughts. You were basically screaming them at me.”

“I’m sorry about that. It just took me by surprise.
All of my anger just came rushing back the second I saw him. It all makes sense though. I knew there was a reason why Valdus was working with the Gadramicks. He wouldn’t just help them for no reason.”

I dodge another arm before entering into a cleared area.
Colton’s spinning around in a circle, confused. He stops when she sees me and his eyes widen. Instead of waiting for him to come to me, I run forward and jump into his arms. My heart swells when I feel his arms wrap around my back as he catches me. I didn’t realize how bad I was actually feeling until this moment. The aching feeling in my heart dissipates and the empty feeling I’ve been having leaves. I bury my face in his neck and wrap my arms tightly around his neck. “Thank you for not listening to me,” I mumble against his skin.

“Even Jack Sparrow need
s help every once in a while.”

Co
lton sets me down and looks at me. I see and feel the anger that flashes across his eyes as he takes in my appearance. I know that I have a black eye and bruise on my shoulder. Considering the amount of throbbing in my head, I’m sure that there’s an even more obvious bruise there too. “I need Logan to heal me,” I whisper as I look around the small area. Everyone is here except Bragden and Incendia. Logan pushes through everyone and walks over to me.

“Well, I’ve seen you look worse, gorgeous.”

I smile as I step away from Colton and walk over to him. Without wasting a second, Logan wraps his arms around me while simultaneously healing me. I sink into him letting his healing magic work its way through my body. “You sure do like to get yourself into trouble, don’t you?” Logan whispers as he releases me. Leaning forward he kisses my forehead. “We’ve missed ya, little one.”

“
Ryanne, did you do this?” Tom asks as he points to a Gadramick on his left.

“Yeah, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to stop Zahtri until I had my full strength, so I needed to find
a way to get to Logan. I thought about just fighting my way through, but that would take too long, so I froze them.”

“Amazing,” a man says as he steps
around Tom. This is the man I saw fighting beside him earlier.

“Oh, Ryanne, this is Vincent. Vincent this is Ryanne.
Vincent helped transport everyone here.”

“It’s nice to meet you
. I feel like I know you already from what I’ve heard from Claire and this boy,” Vincent claps Colton on the back. I smile as I listen to his voice. The deep timbre of his voice is raspy yet very soothing to the ears. I can only imagine what Incendia and Emma have said about him.

“It’s nice to meet you, too. Thank
you for helping.” My eyes widen. “Wait, Claire contacted you?”

“Yep, she said that a pretty girl needed my help and I better get off my high horse and rejoin the mage world.”

“Sounds like Claire,” I say. Seeing movement to my right, I bring my eyes over there. Bragden is standing there with Incendia. When he sees me he takes two longs strides and engulfs me in a hug. My feet are lifted off the ground, so I wrap my arms around his neck.

“You sure do have a way of
scaring those who care for you, missy.”

“I’ve missed you, Bragden.” I say as he sets me back on the ground. “I didn’t realize how m
uch I missed our little pranks on each other until I couldn’t do them anymore.”

“Dude,” Liam says behind me. Bragden looks over my head at his brother and smiles. I turn around right as Liam continues, “We’re blood and you didn’t even say hey, nice to see you again to me.” He shakes his head, but can’t say anything more as Natalie runs across the clearing and jumps into his arms.

“Sorry, man, missed you too.” Bragden mutters, but knows that Liam isn’t listening anymore. When he steps back to Incendia’s side, I see the small flamed pendant around her neck. Bragden finally gave his necklace away.

I turn around and look at Colton again, but he’s not looking at me. He’s glaring at Adam. Liam’s standing off to the side
with a large grin on his face as his eyes move between Colton and Adam.

Boys.

“Colton, stop giving him the death glare.”

“
Nope,” Colton says without taking his eyes away from Adam.

I walk up to Colton and grab his chin, making him look at me. Colton moves his head down, but his eyes remain fixed on Adam.
“Colton, look at me,” I demand. I wait a couple seconds and when he doesn’t move, I stomp on his foot.

“Ouch,” he says as he looks down at me. I can hear the mages around me laughing, but I don’
t acknowledge them.

“Leave Adam alone. He’s proven himself to me this week and I trust him. He wants to help.”

“Have you forgotten everything he’s ever done to you?” Colton whispers to me.

“No, but I believe
people are capable of change. Look at Lily,” I tell him. Colton looks toward Logan and Lily. I see his expression change. “She used to pick on me in school too, Colton, but I’ve forgiven her. Why is it not possible for Adam to change as well?”

“That’s different.”

“No, it’s not.”

“He attacked you, Ryanne. Multiple times.”

“And has protected me multiple times this past week.” Colton stares down at me for a couple of seconds, before sighing. I can tell that I’ve won. “Please, leave him alone.” I glance behind me at Adam, hoping that I don’t regret standing up for him. Adam nods and I feel his gratefulness wash over me. He didn’t want to fight Colton, because he knew it would upset me.

The shuffling around me gets louder as more mages star
t to make their way over to us. I hear whispers as people wonder what the heck is going on. Knowing I have to address everyone, I step away from Colton and walk to the center of the open area. I smile at some familiar faces, but there are many people here I don’t recognize. My smile widens when I see Lucas and his silent posse push through everyone.

Liam walks over to me and grabs my arm, pulling me
toward him. “Ryanne, I understand what my mom meant.” At my confused look, he continues, “About the secret of the flame.”

“What? How?”

“In this situation, you are the secret of the flame. You bring the illumination we need in this dark time. You’re the light—the catalyst for the dawn.” I’m the secret of the flame? “A dawn is coming,” he reminds me, “but we need you.”

I’m
the secret of the flame.

I now know what I have to do.
I look behind me and walk over to the platform.
Air, can you help me?
I ask as I visualize myself being hoisted up and gently placed on the platform. I feel my feet being lifted on the ground. I use my arms to make sure I get enough upward movement. When I’m floating above the platform, I release the magic and let myself float down until my feet are firmly planted on the wood structure.

“Look,” I announce to everyone. “I don’t know how long this magic is going to stay. I’m honestly surprised that
it’s lasted this long. Many of you don’t know me and I apologize for that. I wanted to meet all of you before this time came, but plans change.

“I may be able to see the future and I may be able to read mind
s and emotions, but today is as much of a mystery to me as it is to you. I don’t know how all of this is going to play out.” So many different emotions crash into me that I have to take a step back and mentally sort through them. Determination. Anger. Sadness. Love. Respect. Fear. “I’m scared, too. I afraid that everything I’ve fought for will be lost tonight, but isn’t that what life is about? Fighting for what you believe in?

“If you never had to fight for something, you’ve never truly lived. Life is about the u
nknowns. You never know where tomorrow is going to take you, but you go through the day because you want to know. Right here, right now, this is what I’ve been fighting for. This moment where I can finally do something good—where we all can finally do something good. We’re all here for a reason. Whether it is to stop the Gadramicks,” I motion toward the Howicks, “whether it is for closure, we’re all here for something. I want to finally stop Dravin and Zahtri.

“They’ve been testing on humans, trying to see if they can create a whole new magical race.
Both Zahtri and Dravin tried to keep that thought from me, but their mental barriers are not as strong as they think they are. They’ve been trying to extract magic. At first, I thought it was so they could give it to Dravin to make him stronger, but I was wrong. Zahtri injected himself with the magic from witches. He’s learned how to use Dark Magic. Dravin’s been doing some experiments on the side. They’re trying to create a whole army of mages. Nonmages with powers. They’ve killed too many people during this experiment, and it needs to end today.

“I’m not saying that I agree with killing anyone. I’ve been at this compound way too many times, but since I’ve been here, I’m come to realize a few things. Not all the Gadramicks here are bad.
Larkin and Kyril were once Gadramicks, but now they’re my family.” I look toward them and smile. Both of them smile and give me a knowing nod. “Adam was once one of the Gadramicks on the top of my list, but this past week, he’s been one of few reasons why I’m alive and standing in front of all of you. People can change. Please, don’t forget that.

“
I know that blood will be shed here today. I wish that I could save everyone here, but I can’t, because I don’t know if I’ll make it out of this either. What happens today will be remembered for a long time, and I hope that we’ll all come out of this alive, but,” I glance toward the door of the compound where I know he’s standing, “sometimes fate has a different plan for us. There’s no more running. No more hiding. This is it.” Jedrek nods and slowly walks toward me.

I tear my eyes away from him and add
ress everyone again. I know he’s still walking in this direction. “Fight for your friends. Your family. Fight for the person standing next to you. Fight for all the mages you’ve met. Fight for the humans who have lost their lives and fight for those we’ve lost. Don’t forget why we’re here.”

I turn to my right and watch Jedrek
approach me. “Oh and one more thing,” I say. “Zahtri’s mine.”

“Ryanne, hear me out,
” he whispers to me. I know everyone is watching us. I bite my lip and take a step back.

“I can’t
do this right now,” I tell him.

He reaches forward and grabs my arm
to keep me from walking further away. “I may not get another chance, Ryanne.” I can feel my eyes filling with tears, but I refuse to cry in front of this many people. “I was coming to see you when I got into a car accident. A semi-truck t-boned me and sent my car rolling into a ditch. I don’t know if he planned it, but Dravin found me on the side of the road, unconscious. I came around long enough to agree to a blood promise. I was scared and confused and had no idea what it was, but he said that it would save my life, so I agreed.

“He needed me
run his experiments. I specialize in cell research and he knew that my knowledge would be useful for his plans. I didn’t know he would come after you. I wouldn’t have agreed to anything if I thought you were going to be in danger. Dravin made me promise to never seek you out. To never try and contact you. That’s why I never came back. I wasn’t allowed to have contact with anyone I knew before.

“I’ve regretted that decision
every day. I knew you were alive, and I knew you’d have questions, but I couldn’t give you the answers you needed. I was literally bound to stay away. I’ve wanted to turn back time every day, just so I could see you once. I wanted to be there for you. I wanted to be your dad. I never wanted any of this to happen.

“
Maureen never told me she was pregnant. I called her for months after I left, trying to apologize, but she wanted nothing to do with me. There was nothing I could do. I loved your mom, Ryanne. I know you don’t think of me as your dad, but I am and I’m so sorry this is how we had to meet. I’ve imagined this moment for sixteen years and this is not how I wanted to tell you all these things. I didn’t want to be standing here in front of hundreds of mages while you’re about to fight for your life.