BlackMoon Beginnings (8 page)

Gradually, I get up and walk to the bathroom
to take a shower. I grab my clothes from the previous night and
place them on the counter. Standing under the hot water, I think
about the previous day. Everything is happening too fast. I need
time to think—to process everything. I have to make sure I get
control of this mind-reading thing before anything else. I can feel
the thoughts in the back of my mind, but I am not going to let them
come out. I’m in control. They don’t control me.

After successfully steaming up the entire
bathroom, I get out and get dressed. I look around the bathroom.
The counter is completely spotless. I want to brush my teeth,
because I know that I have morning breath. Opening some of the
smaller drawers, I find everything I need: a brush, a toothbrush,
toothpaste, a blow-dryer, and even some make-up. Wow,
convenient
.

I walk out of the bedroom and turn to the
left. I remember that much. However, I get lost soon after that.
Nothing I am passing looks familiar. When every hallway I turn down
looks the same, my frustration grows. The halls seem never ending;
this house is too big. Hearing footsteps behind me, I turn around
and find David smiling down at me.

“Morning. You look lost.”

With a relieved sigh, I say, “I am. I thought
I was heading downstairs, but I can’t find any stairs and have no
idea which way to turn. I was too tired last night to pay attention
to how I got to the room.”

“Let me help you. There is an enchantment on
this house to confuse any intruder. We can’t have others finding
out our little secret, now can we?” He puts his arm around my
shoulder and guides me down the hallway. “Through here.”

He opens a door that leads to another
hallway. At the end of that hallway are the stairs. The stairs are
wide enough that we can both walk down beside each other.

“So, if you don’t mind me asking, how old are
you? You look older than Colton.”

“You’re right. I’m a year and a half older
than Colton. I’m twenty. We’re almost to the kitchen, that’s
probably where everyone is. Now, you on the other hand, don’t look
old enough to be eighteen.”

Laughing, I look up at him, “That’s because
I’m so short. Everyone thinks I’m younger than I actually am. We
can’t all be giants.”

“Good things come is small packages, my
little friend. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.”

“That’s so cliché, David.” He laughs and
squeezes my shoulder. I look up at him just as we walk into the
kitchen. I notice his face transform from a confused expression to
an amused one.

I stop looking at him and turn to look around
the room. Claire is sitting at an island with a muffin and a bowl
of fruit in front of her. Colton is leaning onto the counter with a
scowl on his face, staring at David. I look between the two
brothers wondering what is wrong.

“I found our little friend here roaming the
hallways lost,” says David with a smirk. “I was just helping her
find her way to the kitchen.” He winks at me and then turns to
leave the room. My eyes follow him out. When I turn back around,
both Colton and Claire are looking at me, each with different
expressions.

“Did you sleep well dear? I noticed that it
was sunny this morning.” Looking out the window, she adds, “And
still is.”

“Yeah, I slept well. Thank you for asking.” I
walk over to the island, “Is there any way I can run home and get a
change of clothes?”

“Of course, there’s no need to ask. You’re
not being kept a prisoner here. We just want to help you. Colton
can drive you to your house.”

“Thank you.”

“Oh, and if you want, you could stay here a
couple more nights. It would make helping you a lot easier.” She’s
right, I know that. It’d be a lot better than staying at Jane’s by
myself.

Colton pushes himself off the counter, walks
over to grab a set of keys off the hook, and leaves the room.
Claire looks at me and shakes her head, giving me a look that shows
that she is just as confused as I am. I walk through the door that
Colton had just disappeared into and see him sitting behind the
wheel of an expensive looking car. I don’t know anything about
cars, but I know that this car is worth a lot. As the garage door
starts opening, I jump into the passenger seat and buckle up.

“Are you okay?” I ask him.

Colton looks at me from out of the corner of
his eye and nods. Putting his arm on the back of my seat, he turns
around to see out of the rear window and backs out of the garage
slowly.

When we get out of the garage, I finally see
how massive their home actually is. I feel my eyes widen in
surprise. I must have gasped for Colton turns towards me. I am too
distracted by the sheer size of the house to try and regain any
composure. It is beautiful. Large stones cover the whole exterior.
The main focus is a central bay window with black metal swirls
decorating the window panes. Muted green shutters are located on
each side of all windows. Victorian style ornaments separate the
two floor levels and run along the base of the roof. A large
wraparound porch covers the exterior of the first level. It fits
perfectly with its surroundings. I instantly love it. Something
about it looks familiar though.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” I just nod, unable to
speak. “It’s been in my family for generations. Each family has
added onto it. It wasn’t this big when it was originally built.” He
continues to tell me the family story of the home, but I only
half-listen. The closer we get to town, the harder I have to
concentrate to keep the thoughts locked away. More and more voices
are swarming into me, overflowing my mind with thoughts that aren’t
mine.

When we pull up the driveway, I pause and
collect myself. There doesn’t seem to be many people around, so it
isn’t too difficult. “Colton, do you have my bag from yesterday? My
key is inside.”

“What? Oh, yeah.” He reaches into the
backseat and grabs my bag from the floor. As he moves towards me, I
can smell the cologne he is wearing. It reminds me of the outdoors
and I want to move closer to him to fully surround myself with
it.

Wait. Where did that come from?

“Here.”

I blush at my own thoughts; as if he is the
one who can read minds. I reach into the front pocket of my bag,
take out my key, and open the car door. Stepping out of the car,
another wave of vertigo crashes into me. I grip the door to keep
from falling over. “Something’s not right.”

When the dizzy feeling passes, I nod to
Colton, telling him that I am okay to go in. He walks in front of
me and holds his hand out, “Stay behind me.” I hand him the key. He
casually opens the door and walks inside, signaling me to wait. He
surveys the area before waving me in. I walk past him into the
living room and go up to my room. Grabbing a duffle bag from under
my bed, I go to my closet and dump in random articles of clothing,
hoping that I gather everything I need. My skin keeps crawling.
Something doesn’t feel right and I want to get out of here as soon
as possible.

I run down the stairs, taking them two at a
time. At the bottom of the stairs, I pause. Hearing grunts in the
living room, I slowly turn the corner to see what is happening.
Colton is fighting a man wielding a large sword in the middle of
the living room. Despite not having a weapon, Colton appears to
have the advantage. He is bigger and visibly stronger. He swings
out and kicks the man in the shins, causing him to lose his footing
and fall backwards. Then he punches him in the face with so much
force that he catapults into the wall. After hitting his head, he
slumps to the ground unconscious.

I am so enraptured and frightened by what I
am witnessing that I don’t hear the footsteps behind me. A large
hand wraps around my waist, pulling me against someone’s chest. A
dagger is pressed against my neck. I have
got
to become more
aware to my surroundings. I struggle to get free, but that only
causes the dagger to slice into me. I let out a small cry as I feel
the warm blood sliding down my neck and pooling into the edge of my
shirt.

“Put the weapon down or I kill the girl.”

Colton turns towards me, his face a mask of
shock and anger. He slowly reaches towards the ground and places
the sword a few feet to the left of him. Standing up with his hands
in the air, he looks the man straight in the eyes, “What do you
want?”

“Why, I want her. She’s the prophecy girl.” I
know he won’t kill me. He needs me, but that doesn’t make the
situation any less frightening. The man bends down and smells my
hair, sighing in satisfaction. It’s repulsive. His thoughts hit me
like a ton of bricks. My knees buckle under me as I read his mind.
His grip is the only thing holding me up. His plans for me make me
want to puke and I immediately start struggling again, not caring
about the dagger at my neck. I hear thunder crack from the outside
and the lights in the room begin to flicker.

Colton’s eyes dart from me to an area
slightly above and behind me. I know he was trying to tell me
something. “Please move the dagger. Can’t you see you’re hurting
her?” he pleads.

“If she would stop struggling, I may think
about removing it.” I stop moving. To my surprise, he moves the
dagger from my neck, but keeps it hovering near. He starts to take
steps backwards, dragging me with him.

I hear the sound of glass breaking behind me
and the arms around me suddenly loosen. The knife falls to the
ground at my feet. I attempt to get out of his embrace, but his
body slumps forward, knocking me to the ground with him. I’m
trapped under the weight of him. Four arms reach down and pull the
man off of me. I look up and see Colton and David, both reaching
down to help me stand.

I stand up and sway, falling back into
Colton’s arms. The world is spinning around me. Colton bends down
and picks me up, cradling me again his chest. David walks across
the room and grabs my duffel bag. Both run out of the house and get
into the car quickly. David jumps into the driver’s seat and Colton
sits in the passenger seat, with me in his lap. No one bothers to
buckle their seatbelts as we speed out of the driveway and back
towards the house.

I’m pretty sure I went into shock. That seems
to be the only possible explanation as to why I don’t remember
anything from getting into the car to arriving at the house. In a
day, I have gone from being a nobody who lived a boring simple
life, to a mage who is wanted by both sides. When we get to the
house, I finally come back to my senses. Colton gets out of the car
and carries me straight into the kitchen, calling for Aunt
Claire.

Claire runs into the kitchen and gasps when
she sees me. “What happened?”

“I’m fine. Colton, you can put me down now.”
Colton looks at me. Once he’s sure that I’m okay, he slowly puts me
down, keeping his arms on my shoulder to make sure I don’t fall.
When I don’t sway, he drops his arms, but doesn’t step away from
me.

“When we got to the house, Ryanne stepped out
of the car and said that she thought something wasn’t right. I
surveyed the house and didn’t find anything wrong, so she went
upstairs to get some clothes. While she was gone, some guy came in
and attempted to hack me to bits. He had a sword, but I was able to
knock him unconscious. When I turned around, I saw a man holding
her with a dagger to her neck. David snuck up behind him, hit him
with a vase and knocked him unconscious too. I’m a little surprised
that worked, by the way. I thought he would be a little harder to
fight, but whatever. We grabbed Ryanne, and left. Now you are
caught up,” he explains quickly.

“Oh my gosh sweetie, let’s see what I can do
for that cut.” She puts a finger under my chin, and lifts it up,
examining the cut. “It doesn’t look too deep. One second, let me
get the first aid kit.” I stare at the door that she just walked
through for a couple of seconds before turning around and looking
at the two guys behind me.

“Thank you, both of you.” They are both
looking at me so intently.

David clears his throat, “Ryanne, you don’t
ever have to thank us.”

“I—”

“Okay, here we go. I brought a shirt for you
to change into. Yours is covered in blood. Colton, David, turn
around.” I feel a little self-conscious changing in front of
Claire, with Colton and David in the room, but I listen anyways. I
pull my shirt over my head and grab onto the one that Claire
brought for me.

“This will probably sting a little.” I gasp
in surprise when the wet wipe hits the cut. It did sting. A lot.
“This doesn’t need a healer, since it’s pretty shallow. There’s not
a whole lot I can for it though. On the plus side, since you have
come into your gifts, you should heal quicker. This cut will
probably be gone in the morning after a good night’s sleep.”

“Thank you, Claire.” I reach out to hug her,
surprising both us. After a couple seconds, her arms wrap around me
and she hugs me back.

Facing Colton and David, I ask, “Do you know
who those men were? Why did they try to kidnap me?”

The two brothers glance at each other, David
speaks first, “Well they were probably working for Dravin Kione,
he’s kind of the ring-leader for the Gadramicks; A.K.A the bad
guys. They all want power and control and don’t care about who they
hurt in the process. They think that you are their token to getting
that.”

“Oh….is that all?”

Ten minutes later, when I finally wrap my
mind around what they are telling me, I decide that I need a
break.

“Colton, is my bag still in your car?”

“Yeah, I’ll go get it for you. Be right
back.” I walk to the living room, because that is really the only
room I actually know how to get to, and sit on the couch. David
follows me in there and sits across from me.