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 is 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.
Chapter Nine
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 intentsely.