Descending Darkness (The Prophesized #3) (14 page)

She doesn’t look like all the other mage girls. She’s doesn’t have the height that they have, and she has curves which attracts the attention of all mage guys. David and I don’t think anything of it because we both went to a public school and were surrounded by humans, but not everyone did. Most mages grow up surrounded by other mages. However, we’re still guys, and Ryanne is
very
attractive.

“What?” she asks me. I flick my eyes away from her body and back to her eyes. Her cheeks are stained red.
Ahh
, that is even more attractive.

“Ryanne, what did you mean when you said you were scared that you won’t get to have the life you saw in the other vision? What did you see?” I know that she is referring to the vision she had in the backyard when I touched her.

Her blush darkens a little as she takes a step toward me. She doesn’t look at me as she says, “I saw us.”

“Us?”

“Yeah, us. Together. The vision took place about eight years in the future.” There is more. I reach out and tilt her head, so she is looking at me.

“And what happened in this vision?” I ask her when she finally looks at me.

Slowly, she starts, “Well, we were walking along the beach, and I used my magic on you and then I ran away laughing. You started chasing after me,” she licks her lips and looks away, “and I ran into the house and leaned against the kitchen counter. You came in a couple seconds later, soaking wet. I grinned at you while you stood in the kitchen, dripping water everywhere. You told me that…” she trails off, biting her bottom lip. The corner of her mouth is slightly upturned; she is trying to hide a smile. I move my hand up to frame the side of her face.

“What did I tell you?”

“You told me that since I was…pregnant, you’d let me get away with that and then you kissed me.”

Pregnant? Ryanne and I will have a child together. In the future. We’ll get to have a life together and be happy. We’ll have a family…we’ll be a family.

I hear a knock at our door, but I don’t pay attention to it. “Are you sure?” I ask. When she nods, I can’t hold in my smile anymore. I bend down and pick her up, spinning in a circle. I hear the door open, but I don’t care. Ryanne laughs in my arms. I put her back on the ground and lean down to kiss her. She moans against my lips and leans into me, wrapping her arms around my neck.

When Ryanne hears a sigh behind us, she pulls back and looks over her shoulder. Seeing Emma and Natalie standing in the doorway brings back that beautiful blush. She turns around and buries her head into my shirt, laughing.

I look over Ryanne and see Emma smiling at us, while Natalie has an envious look on her face. “You guys ready?” Emma asks. Natalie blinks and regains her composure. I laugh and start walking toward the door. Ryanne walks backward—her face still buried in my chest from embarrassment. She doesn’t like attention, and PDA definitely brings it. I bend down to pick her up and carry her out of the room. She squeals and lightly hits me on the chest. “Put me down!” I smile at Emma and Natalie as I walk past them. They both laugh and follow me downstairs. “Colton!” she whines and starts struggling in my arms. I tighten my grip on her and continue walking.

I make it downstairs and walk to the backyard. Everyone is already standing outside, waiting. “Ready?” I ask. David and Liam both give me perplexed looks since I’m still smiling. Ryanne hits my chest again, but I can tell that she is giving up.

“Pleeeease, put me down.” I shake my head and continue walking. As we pass Bragden, he laughs at her. Oh, he shouldn’t have done that. I set Ryanne down and watch as she turns and waves at him sweetly. She slowly walks over to him, and he watches suspiciously as she approaches. When she stops in front of him, she throws her hands up in surrender but motions for him to come to her. He crouches down slightly, and she stands on her tiptoes to whisper something to him. She steps back and nods at him. He starts shaking his head while she begins to take small steps backward. I don’t know what she said, but she thought it was hilarious. She runs past us laughing and stops beside Liam.

Emma bumps into my side and casually asks, “So, why are you so smiley?”

“I’m not smiley.”

“Colton, you’re still smiling,” she says as we enter the training center. I look over toward the far corner and see Liam and Natalie already over there.

“Oh, sorry. I have to go over there and help train Natalie!”

“Don’t worry, I’m patient.”

“Get rid of the space between I’m and patient and you’ll have what you are: impatient,” I yell over my shoulder as I start walking away.

I’m taking training seriously today. There aren’t any jokes played. I actually train. I really want to be able to do what I did in the vision, and to do that I need to be confident in my abilities. Bragden will come at me slowly, and I have to block his advances. We aren’t working on weakening our opponent. Bragden wants to make sure I can block and defend myself effectively.

“Blocking an attack is very important. If you’re able to block any advances, your opponent will start to get desperate. They’ll make careless mistakes, which will give you the upper hand. If you let yourself get hit, you’ll tire out much faster. You need to be able to defend your body.” He comes at me again, and I am able to block most of his attacks, but I still land on my butt more times than I can count.

Bragden swings another punch at me. I bend over, dodging his throw and jump back. When he comes for me again, I use my forearms to block his advance. I turn to the right and try to block his kick, but my arms don’t want to listen to me, and I make it halfway there before I get hit in the shoulder again. I stumble backward, and Conner catches me. “Ugh, I can’t do it.”

“Yes, you can. I’ve seen you do this many times,” Bragden says.

“When I was able to use magic. I can’t do it without it.”

“You took out those two guys in Dravin’s compound before we got there without magic. You can do this. You just have to concentrate.”

“That was adrenaline and anger. I can’t do it when it’s only me. I’m not strong enough,” I tell him. I must have spoken louder than I thought I did because the gym gets really quiet.

“Use that anger! Get angry, Ryanne! Dravin and Adam aren’t going to stand by. They’re going to attack, and you won’t always be able to use your magic. So get angry at me! Defend yourself.” I hear a small rumble of thunder outside.

Bragden holds his arm out. “Don’t. She needs this.” Glancing over my shoulder, I see Colton stop walking toward us. I know that he doesn’t like to see me angry. “Let’s go again.”

I can tell that others are watching us, but I focus solely on Bragden. Conner takes a couple steps back. He’ll join in if I start to get the upper hand on Bragden. I know that they are only trying to help me, but it still angers me that I am so easily defeated.

Bragden takes a step toward me. He swings his arm out again, and I bend backward, narrowly avoiding it. Righting myself, I prepare for his next attack. He reaches out and attempts to punch me, but I bring up my forearm and knock his hand down. Using his other hand, he aims for my stomach. I move back and use my unoccupied arm to deflect that blow. A couple seconds later, he starts to increase his intensity. I deflect the first couple blows. He swings out with his right hand to punch my side. I dodge this hit but don’t see his left hand until it connects with my shoulder. I spin around and fall into Conner, who steadies me. I can feel my arm throbbing, but I push the pain to the back of my mind. I step away from Conner and face Bragden again, nodding to tell him that I’m okay.

“Again. This time start fighting back.” He doesn’t give me much time to recover. Conner moves back as Bragden runs toward me. I jump out of the way and prepare myself for his advances. I successfully block his oncoming attacks. Bragden fights predominately with his right side, so I aim to stop that. Ducking one of his punches, I lift my foot and put all of my weight into my step.
Aim low.
I bring my foot down on his foot, then reach back and kick him in the shin. When he bends over, I spin around to gain momentum and kick his right shoulder. He stumbles back, but doesn’t fall. As he regains his balance, his eyes narrow at me and a look of concentration crosses his expression. This just got serious.

I am aware of everyone around me. I see Liam, Natalie, and Colton in the corner attempting to spar, but watching us instead. I see David and Emma standing off to the side with Logan and Larkin, not even bothering to try and train. I hear footsteps behind me as Bragden starts walking for me again. Conner is about to join in. Quickly, I do a back handspring off to the side, so I am no longer in the middle of the floor. Off to the side, I am able to see both guys as they come toward me.

I run at Conner first. He isn’t expecting me to make the first move. I jump kick him in the chest. As he stumbles backward, I turn around and deflect Bragden’s blows. Hearing movement behind me, I duck at the last second, and Conner’s fist hits Bragden in the chest. While down, I lean back and hit Bragden in the shin again—the same spot as last time. He hisses and momentarily forgets to get back into a defensive stance. I swing around again, like the first time, and kick him in the middle of his chest. He falls backward and stays there, so I face Conner again. As I’m turning, his fist connects with my stomach.

I fall backward but quickly go into a back summersault and recover. I hear someone gasp behind me. Dang it, that hurt. Ignoring the pain, I assess my surroundings again. Bragden is standing off to the side, watching. He’s not joining back in thankfully.

I haven’t trained much with Conner yet. Like David did initially, he usually stands behind me and tells me ways to correct my stance or move, so I’m not as familiar with his fighting style. After deflecting the next couple of punches, I start to notice a pattern. He uses his right arm twice and then his left once. He isn’t as strong as Bragden; he relies on speed instead of strength. When he moves to punch me with his right hand, I stop it. Grabbing onto his wrist, I pull him forward and twist my body, so my back is to his chest. Keeping a grip on his right wrist, I swing my left elbow back and hit him in the solar plexus. He grunts and bends over, winded. With my left foot, I back kick him in the shin and let go of his wrist. When he doubles over, I spin around and kick his right shoulder with the base of my foot, knocking him on his back.

When he doesn’t get back up right away, I realize that the fight is over. I reach down and help Conner up. “Sorry,” I say when I see his wince.

Bragden runs up to me and picks me up. “I told you you could do it!”

When he puts me back on the ground, I am instantly knocked off my feet again as Emma barrels into me. “That was amazing. You’re totally my hero now!” She gets off of me and jumps up. Reaching a hand out, she says, “Oh and sorry for tackling you again.”

“That’s okay. I’m good down here actually,” I tell her. Since I am no longer moving, I realize how much pain I am actually in. My stomach and shoulder are throbbing, and my forearms are numb from blocking their hits. I close my eyes and use my arm to block out the bright lights in the room. “Goodness gracious guys, did you have to use me as a punching bag?” My voice comes out more winded than I wanted it to.

Bragden and Conner mumble their apologies. I hear the others making their way over to us. Bragden sits down next to me. “So, in order to make you believe in yourself, I have to make you angry.” I try laughing, but it comes out all wrong. I am still trying to catch my breath. Sparring with two large guys takes a lot out of a girl.

Someone grabs onto my arm. I open my eyes and find Logan standing over me. The throbbing in my stomach and shoulder fades while feeling returns to my arms. I smile at him and sit up in a seated position. Colton stops right beside me. Looking down at me, he asks, “Are you okay?” I hop up and look around the room.

“Yep, now I want to electrocute something.”

“You want to what?” Colton asks me. I laugh at the expression on his face. I realize that it is a strange sentence, but I want to use my magic.

“I said that I want to electrocute something. I’m pumped up now and want to use my magic.”

Colton walks up behind me and wraps his arms around my waist. I lean back against him as he says, “You should rest a little, Ry. You’re tired.” I open my mouth to argue with him. “Don’t argue with me. I can tell that you’re tired. You can work on your magic later.” He starts walking backward, pulling me with him.

“Hmph, you suck,” I whisper to him jokingly.

“But you love me.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I say as I call my magic to me. I may not get to train with it today, but that doesn’t mean I can’t use it right now. I surprise him when I shock him in the chest like I’ve done so many times with Bragden. He stares at me with wide eyes, and I start skipping backward out of the training room.

Bragden starts laughing. “Now, you know what it’s like!” I grin at him and wait for him to come after me. When he turns around and faces me again, I see the coy smile that I was waiting for. I turn around and run out of the room. I hear his footsteps following me as I run through the forest. I enter the backyard and run up the stairs and wait on the porch. I don’t see Colton, but that doesn’t mean anything.

A couple seconds later, something barrels into me. I take a couple steps backward before I’m spun around and pressed against Colton’s invisible chest. I laugh as he whispers in my ear, “Gotcha.” I look down and see that I am now invisible too. He bends down and flings me over his shoulder. I scream as Colton opens the backdoor and walks inside.

“Put me down!” I say through my laughter. He ignores me and runs up the stairs. It still shocks me that all these guys are able to easily support my weight. He makes it to the top of the stairs and casually walks into our room. I am still hitting his back, trying to get him to put me down. When the door is closed, he releases me and becomes visible.

I am still smiling when he reaches out and crushes me to him. That isn’t the reaction I was expecting to get after shocking him, but I’ll take it. I lean into him and kiss him back. The arms around my waist tighten as he picks me up, bringing me up to his height. When I wrap my legs around his waist for leverage, he deepens the kiss. One of his hands is placed on my lower back while another lightly pulls my hair.

What happened to taking it slow? As if reading my mind, Colton pulls back and rests his forehead against mine. I unwind my legs from his waist and let him place me back on the ground. Resting my hand on his chest, I smile as I feel his racing heartbeat.

“Don’t worry so much, Ry,” Colton tells me. “Everything will play out like it should.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I have faith in you,” he whispers to me, his voice so full of love. I lean back and look into his eyes and see the truth behind his words. I’m going to do whatever I have to do to make sure that look stays in his eyes.

Ten minutes later, I get out of the shower and run a towel through my wet hair. I can hear Colton in the bedroom rummaging through his drawers. I quickly get dressed and check my reflection in the mirror. I look…eh, I really don’t care. I’m not really trying to impress anyone. I already have the only person I’d want to impress. I slowly open the door. When I make sure that Colton is completely dressed, I walk out of the bathroom and find him sitting on the edge of the bed waiting for me.

I call my magic to me and trail my finger across his chest. When he feels the shock again, he jumps up and grins evilly at me. I run out of the room laughing. Instead of heading toward the stairs like he’s expecting, I run down the hallway, stop at the end, and watch as he moves toward the stairs. He looks over the railing, down into the living room, searching for me. Not finding me downstairs, he turns around. When he sees me, I stand my ground and start laughing as he comes toward me. He is expecting me to do something. When he is a couple feet in front of me, I throw up a shield around me. I can’t help but giggle as he bounces off of it. He is smiling at me, shaking his head. Narrowing his eyes, he gives me a look that says
challenge accepted.

I drop the shield, and he comes toward me again. Grabbing me around the waist, he starts tickling me. I lean forward, laughing, desperately trying to get away from his hands. “Mercy!” I yell when I can’t breathe anymore. When he lets go of me, I step away from him, narrow my eyes, and concentrate on my magic. When I see the little cloud forming above his head, I jump up and run toward the stairs.

Instead of going down like a normal person, I jump over the railing, flipping down to the first floor. Calling my magic to me, I ask it to slow my fall. I feel the pressure beneath my feet as my magic slows my descent. My feet hit the ground, and I put my arms out to balance myself.

When I don’t fall, I look up and see Colton leaning over the banister railing. I start laughing, surprised at my own actions. “Oh my gosh, that was so cool!” I squeal and look into the living room. Everyone is watching me. I bite my lip to hide my smile and casually walk past everyone and sit on the couch.