Descending Darkness (The Prophesized #3) Page 8

  “I heard that.”

  “I know. I meant for you to. I’m glad your hearing works.”

  “Thank you for testing it,” Emma says with a smile.

  “You girls are crazy,” I tell them as Ryanne curls up beside me. Wrapping my arm around her, I turn toward Natalie, who made a noise at my comment. “You’re crazy by association.”

  “Eh, I’ll probably end up crazy because of them anyway,” Natalie says with a shrug.

  “You got that right,” Emma says. Ryanne laughs and smiles over at Natalie. I’m glad they are all getting along so well. I was worried that Ryanne and Natalie wouldn’t get along because of how similar Natalie and Natasha look. But Natalie is nothing like her sister. Nothing. Ryanne and Emma have taken to her.

  “So what are we watching tonight?” Logan asks.

  “X-men!” Emma squeals excitedly.

  Logan shakes his head. “We just watched that.”

  “X-men First Class!” For some reason, Emma loves the X-Men movies. Though Ryanne would never admit it aloud, I know that she does too. She loves all that comic book and superhero stuff.

  A little into the movie, Ryanne says, “Let’s just say I’m Frankenstein’s monster and I’m looking for my creator.” A couple seconds later Erik Lehnsherr says that exact line in the movie.

  “Oh my gosh guys, it’s like I’m psychic or something.”

  “X-Men First Class. Ha, got that one. You lose,” David says.

  “I lose?” I look down and see Ryanne smiling. Turning towards David with a familiar gleam in her eyes, she continues, “A loser? How ‘bout I pop one of your antennas off, and throw it across the yard. Then who’s the loser, me or you?” David stops smiling. Based on the blank expression on his face, I can tell that he is thinking hard about where this quote is from. Ryanne starts laughing and leans back against me. “Someone needs to catch up on their Disney movies.”

  “Oh, I know. It’s Mulan,” Natalie says. Ryanne nods and giggles. I tighten my arm around her. I seriously love that sound from her.

  “One of these days, you’re going to run out of quotes, oh little one, and I’ll be there with an awesome quote comeback that will render you speechless.”

  “When that happens, I hope Hell also freezes over and all pigs start to fly.” Ryanne’s eyes get really wide. “Oh, what if the sky turns to fire and your nose falls off?”

  Natalie and Emma start laughing. “Pocahontas II,” they say simultaneously.

  David looks over toward me, “How does she do it?”

  “I’m awesome,” Ryanne mumbles and returns her attention back to the movie. David laughs and gives me another look that says good luck before also turning back toward the TV.

  An hour later, the credits begin rolling. Emma and Natalie have both fallen asleep sometime during the movie. David lifts Emma easily and carries her upstairs. Natalie has fallen asleep with her head on Liam’s shoulder. He has a little more trouble trying to move her without waking her, but he is able to pick her up and carry her upstairs. Ryanne slowly stands up and looks down at me. Holding her hand out, she waits for me to take it and head upstairs.

  Grabbing onto her hand, I pull her up the stairs and into our room. She stops a couple of feet into the room. With a yawn, she looks at me over her shoulder. I still can’t get over how cute she is when she is tired. Chuckling, I walk toward her, place my hands on the small of her back, and push her to the bathroom, so she can brush her teeth. I literally have to push her because she drags her feet the entire way. Once in the bathroom, she stops in front of the sink and stares down at her toothbrush and toothpaste. Without reaching for it, she looks back over to me.

  I am able to contain my laugh, but I can’t contain the smile. I reach for her toothbrush and uncap the toothpaste, squeezing a little onto the toothbrush for her. I hand the toothbrush to her and reach for my own. She slowly starts to brush her teeth, her eyes flickering over to me in the mirror. I watch her back. When she catches me, she blushes and looks away. She has no idea how beautiful she is when she does that.

  When she finishes brushing her teeth, she places her toothbrush back in the holder and leans against the wall waiting for me. She doesn’t look as tired as she did a couple minutes ago. I spit the remaining toothpaste out and reach around her to place my toothbrush in the holder beside hers. She doesn’t move, even when I brush against her. She bites her lip, looking at me from under her long lashes.

  Placing my hands on her hips, I walk her backward to the bed. She doesn’t take her eyes away from me as I move her. She complies but stops when the back of her legs hit the edge of the bed. My heart begins to race the longer she watches me. Her long hair is piled over one shoulder. I reach forward and tug on the end of it, without breaking eye contact. She stops biting her lip, but her eyes lower from my eyes to my mouth. I wait the agonizing seconds for her to look back up at me before I kiss her.

  When I swallow audibly, she drags her eyes from my mouth back to me, a slight blush rising on her cheeks. I take another step closer to her, closing the distance between us. Ugh, I can’t wait any longer. She tilts her head up and waits. I lean down and press my lips to hers. I tilt her up further as she stands a little taller. Wrapping my arm around her tiny waist, I slowly lower her down to the bed. Her small hands grip my arms as I move her.

  With her back firmly pressed to the mattress, she moves her arms slowly up my arms and wraps them around my neck. I deepen the kiss and prop my body over hers, wary of the amount of weight I place on her. She’s so small. Kissing me back with everything she has, she pulls me closer to her. Gosh, this girl can kiss.

  Her hands slide up the base of my neck. Running her hands through my hair, she sighs into my mouth and pulls me down further. If I knew kissing her would be this good, I would have told her about the soulmate thing much sooner.

  I slow the kiss and pull back. I watch as she slowly opens her eyes and looks at me. Both of us are breathing heavily. Her hazel eyes stare back at me full of love. No one has ever looked at me with that look before. I reach down and kiss her lips lightly once more before rolling off of her. She turns so she is facing me, and I smile at her appearance. I messed up her curly hair, and her pink lips are slightly swollen. She bites her bottom lip and looks at me. I can tell from her expression that she wants to say something.

  I turn so that I am facing her. “What?” I ask her as I reach out and try to tame her hair. She looks slightly embarrassed as I move her curls to the other side.

  Propping herself on her elbows, she looks down at the comforter and says, “Does it ever bother you that you’re stuck with me now? I mean you’re only nineteen…”

  She’s worried that I don’t want to be with her? Wow, she’s more oblivious than I originally thought. “Ryanne, I’ve wanted to be with you since junior year. We had history together, and every day you came into class with a sad look on your face, and I always wanted to make you smile. I wanted to see your eyes light up with amusement. I wanted to hear your laugh and see that little dimple on your left cheek,” I reach forward and touch her cheek where the dimple is. She bites her lip but doesn’t look up at me.

  “I didn’t understand at the time why I was so drawn to you. When you came into the bookstore that day…I saw you walking across the street. I saw that guy fly around the corner, and I watched as you froze in the middle of the street. You just stared at the car. I wanted to run toward you, to protect you, but Claire told me to wait. She had a feeling that you were going to do something.

  “When we saw you fly across the street, we knew there was something special about you. I knew that there was something special about you. She ran out to help you off the curb while I stayed frozen where I was. She yelled at me to go get you some Advil because I was just staring at you. I couldn’t stop staring at you. All I was able to think about was that the girl I had a crush on for a year was in the bookstore, right in front of me. When you finally looked up at me, it felt like time had frozen. I only saw you. Claire dis
appeared. The bookstore disappeared. There was only you. It kind of freaked me out that I felt so much for you even though I barely knew you, so I pretended indifference. You didn't know who I was. You never once looked in my direction during the classes we’d had together.

  “When I found out that you were a mage, I was ecstatic. I’d get to spend time with you more often. I was even more excited when we found out that you’d be staying with us for a little while so we could help train you. Apparently, I wasn’t very good at hiding my feelings for you because Tom and David kept giving me a hard time about you. Every time one of the guys looked at you, I got insanely protective. I wanted to push you behind me, so I could be the only one you’d see. With the protectiveness, came jealousy. I’d never been the jealous type before, Ry, but you made me jealous. Every time you talked or looked at Logan or David, I wanted to punch them. Punch them! You don’t even want to know what I wanted to do when I saw that they made you blush.”

  She is still messing with the comforter. I want to see those hazel eyes again. I want her to look up at me. “And then you got kidnapped. I lost it. You can ask anyone. I panicked thinking that I would never see you again. I yelled, I hit stuff, broke things. You name it. I did it. Claire told me after we searched for days that you were going to be okay. I started to realize how strong my feelings were for you then.

  “I’d already tried to kiss you once before, and we were interrupted. Then there was the time in the kitchen when David and Emma came in…and then Natasha showed up. You were ignoring me at that time and it hurt. I was mad at everyone, and Natasha kept following me around everywhere. I missed talking to you and just being around you, so I kissed her. I wanted to see if I could get over you—if I was capable of getting you off of my mind, but I didn’t feel anything with her. It felt wrong. I felt more just sitting beside you than I did with her. It frustrated me to no end that you weren’t talking to me.

  “Before the fight, I touched you and had a vision. I think you were able to transfer a vision to me because of our connection. Though at the time we didn’t know it, you were always the one for me. There was always something between us. In that vision, I saw you a couple seconds after you were healed. We ran out of the house, and I covered you in the yard as the house blew up. So, I knew you would live, but I didn’t know how. During that fight, when Adam was about to kill me, and you hit him with your magic, I realized that I couldn’t deny my feelings for you anymore. You saved my life, and it cost you yours.

  “When I carried your limp body to the house and set you down on the floor to let Logan heal you, it felt like something in me was missing. It felt like my heart was literally breaking. You started coughing up blood and then went limp. Your eyes rolled into the back of your head and just like that, you were gone. I kept yelling at Logan, but there was nothing he could do. I hit you on the stomach, willing you to come back to me. When my hands touched your skin, they started vibrating. I knew immediately what was happening. I was healing you.”

  Finally. She tears her eyes from the bed and looks at me, waiting for me to continue. “When the wound started to close up, I looked over at Logan and he was smiling at me. He knew what was happening too. We had heard all of these rumors about how soulmates could bring each other back from the dead, but none of us knew if there was any truth behind the words. I've never met anyone that magically brought someone back, but I'm so glad that it was true. I'm so glad that I was able to heal you. I wanted to tell you right then and there what was going on, but we needed to get out of there. Something just didn’t feel right about the timing, so I kept it a secret, but it didn’t change anything. Every moment I spent with you after that just strengthened the feelings I had for you.

  I reach forward and brush my thumb across her bottom lip. “You don’t know how hard it was for me to watch you go to Jane’s wedding with Liam looking like you did. I wanted to be the one to experience that with you. I wanted to be the one that you danced with. I wanted it to be me. I was jealous of Liam. In a way, I’ve always been jealous of Liam. Even before you met him, you already had something special with him. I thought you liked him for a little while there, but he explained the pendant to me. He’s just as protective of you as I am. We have that in common.”

  “You thought I was interested in Liam? Even Emma knew that I liked you.”

  “Well, it appears that we were both pretty oblivious then.” I grab a strand of her hair and curl it around my finger. “Ryanne, since I first saw you in the hallway sophomore year helping a freshman find her way to class, I knew that I wanted to get to know you. When I finally had a class with you, I was elated. When I finally got the courage to go up and talk to you, it was a little after your accident. You came to school with your wrist in a cast and a forlorn look in your eyes. I wanted to make your pain go away so bad, but I knew that you needed time, so I waited again. Every moment I’ve spent with you has made me realize how much I need you beside me. Even when you are mad at me, I like knowing that you are still here; that you’re near. The Fates chose us. We’re meant to be together. We’re meant for each other. So no, it doesn't bother me that I’m stuck with you. I want to be stuck with you because I’m in love with you.”

  Chapter Eight

  He’s in love with me. It still takes me by surprise when he says that, even though he’s said it once before. I look over at him and get lost in those green eyes. Those green eyes have always held some hypnotic powers over me. I lean forward and kiss him lightly on the jaw. He sighs and wraps his arms around me, pulling me against him. When I’m firmly pressed into his side, I rest my head on his chest and tell him that I love him too.

  I’m glad that I finally asked him. I was worried that he’d grow to resent this attraction between us, but he still wants to be with me despite everything going on.

  “You know that day in the bookstore after I almost got hit by the car?” I arch my head back and wait for him to nod. “Well, I was very attracted to you. I remember thinking that I really wanted to touch your hair and how enticing your eyes were. When you were dusting the bookshelves, I saw a small patch of skin on your stomach…I couldn’t even think straight. Then you caught me staring which caused me to act like even more of a bumbling moron.”

  “That’s why you were blushing?” he asks me with a slight smile in his tone. He starts tracing small circles into the sensitive skin on the underside of my arm.

  “Yeah, I get really nervous around attractive people. I’m really awkward and then I get embarrassed by how awkward I am.”

  “That’s cute,” he says while placing a small kiss on the top of my head.

  “You’re lucky I’ve gotten used to all of you guys; otherwise it’d be very awkward around here.”

  His chest rumbles as he speaks, “I hope you’re just talking about me.”

  Oh, Colton. “Of course. You are the only attractive guy in this house.”

  “Ha, I’m telling David.”

  At that moment, a loud pang of thunder shakes the house, ruining the carefree moment between us. I jump and sit up slightly. Colton looks at me, silently asking if I'm the cause for the sudden weather change.

  “It’s not me,” I tell him. The room brightens as lightning lights the night sky.

  There’s a knock at the door. Colton gets out of bed and answers it. I sit up when Tom comes into the room, his eyes landing on me. “Is this you?”

  “No, I’m not causing the storm.” I don’t think I can create anything this big. When I first came into my powers, I could manifest weather patterns, but now that I have more control on it, I only create elements of certain weather patterns. I haven’t caused a full-blown storm yet.

  “Ok, well I want everyone to go downstairs. This storm could be dangerous,” he says. I crawl out of bed and walk over to Colton. He grabs onto my hand and pulls me out of the room after Tom. When Tom knocks on the door across the hall, a very sleepy Emma opens it and glares at Tom for disrupting her sleep. Olive darts out of the room and straight for my leg
s.

  Scared.

  Letting go of Colton, I reach down and pick Olive up. “It’s okay. I’ll keep you safe,” I tell her as I cradle her against my chest. Colton puts a hand on the small of my back and guides me downstairs. Liam, Logan, Bragden, David, Larkin, and Conner are already downstairs when we get there. In sync, they all turn to look at me. Goodness gracious, why does everyone think I am causing this? Before I came into my powers, natural disasters did occur. Storms do exist. “I’m not causing this storm, so don’t look at me like that.”

  “Just checking,” David mumbles. I sit down on the couch next to Liam, and Colton sits down next to me. Harry Dillion from Channel 12 News is giving a live report of this evening’s weather.

  “A large storm system is making its way through the state tonight, bringing heavy rain and wind gusting above sixty miles per hour. Expect severe pop-up thunderstorms and golf ball size hail with these storms. Some parts in the northernmost section of the state have experienced power outages. We’ll be back on with any new information regarding these storms. Onto other news, two more people have been reported missing in Huntington’s county…”

  The lights flicker as loud thunder rolls outside. I’m not really afraid of storms, but I am very jumpy. I lean into Colton’s side, taking comfort in him. Olive moves onto my lap and curls up into a ball. Colton wraps his arm around my shoulder and pulls me closer. Emma, Natalie, and Tom descend the staircase. Emma and Natalie make their way into the living room while Tom remains at the bottom of the stairs. Emma walks over and sits with David in the chair, and Natalie goes to sit on the floor, but Liam and Logan both scoot over, creating space between the two of them. The couch is plenty big enough for all of us.

  “What time is it?” Emma asks.

  Tom sits down on the floor and checks his watch. “It’s 2:10 a.m. I think it’s just safer for everyone to be downstairs in case of an emergency.” The room lights up when lightning strikes outside. Olive starts shaking in my lap.