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 do 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.
“You okay?”
Ignoring his question, I ask, “Do you think you could train me? Just some basic self defense moves, so I know what to do if I’m ever in a similar situation again.”
“Umm…” he runs his hand through his hair, “Yeah, I guess I could do that.”
“What could you do?” Colton, who had just walked back into the room, hands me my bag.
“Ryanne wants to learn self-defense. I think it would be a good idea.”
“I agree.”
I reach into my bag and grab out my notebook. Pulling my knees under me, I place the notebook on my legs. Turning it open to a blank page, I begin to draw. I tune out the brothers in front of me as I start to sketch the grassy field that I dreamt about once. I can remember the details as if I had actually been there. The tall trees with the thick trunks; the rough textured bark; the way the trees form a circle, leaving a large open field in the center. Uncut grass covers the area with random wild flowers dispersed throughout. Butterflies of all different colors fly around. I remember everything.
The room around me has gotten really quiet. “You’re really good at that. Can I see?” Before I have a chance to reply, Colton grabs the notebook out of my hands and flips to the front page.
“I really don’t like people looking…at…my drawings.”
He disregards me and continues flipping through the notebook, nodding occasionally, until he reaches the flamed one—the one he had briefly seen at school. He looks at the page for a second and then looks at me, his eyes landing on my pendent. “This one looks like the necklace you’re wearing right now.”
I pick up my pendent. “That’s actually a drawing of a tattoo I saw on someone once. I thought it looked really interesting.” I pause, glance down at the flame and continue, “This necklace was actually his.”
“Whose?” asks Colton.
“His name was Liam, is Liam. I…uh…met him in a dream, I think.” I feel my face turning red again. I know I sound crazy, but there is no other way to explain it.
“In a dream?” asks David incredulously.
“Well…kind of. I was awake when it happened.”
“What do you mean, when it happened?”
“Ok, but I’ll warn you; this is going to sound crazy. I fell through my bedroom wall and landed in a different world, I guess. I don’t know. Liam was there and wouldn’t tell me anything. He kept saying ‘You are not supposed to be here. This isn’t your world.’ Then we got attacked by something called a gorgoth and later a dragon like thing. I got stabbed by