What movie are we going to watch?”
“Well, since you are so interested in Thor, how about that?”
Everyone is waiting for my response. I know that they just want to make sure that I am doing fine. I don’t want them to feel obligated to do something that they wouldn’t have done before. “I know what you are doing. You don’t have to do all of this stuff for me. I’m fine. I mean it. Watch whatever movie you guys want to.”
David looks around at everyone else, “So, Thor it is?” They all nod. With a dramatic sigh, I snuggle into the chair and get comfortable, while Colton gets up and puts the movie in.
An hour into the movie, my neck starts to get stiff. Sitting up, I look around and notice how engrossed everyone is in the film. Eyes wide at the screen, they look as if they had never seen this film before. I thought everyone had seen this.
“Liam, can I speak with you for a moment?” I don’t wait for a response. I get out the chair and walk into the hallway, hoping that he will follow. A couple seconds later, he appears.
“What’s going on?”
“What happened to Bragden and who is he? I remember you saying his name in Dravin’s compound, but I never saw him.”
“Bragden is my older brother. He stayed to make sure that we got out okay. I’ve contacted him and he got away. Nothing happened to him, don’t worry.”
“You have a brother? Why did he stay behind? He could have come with us.”
“He had to make sure that no one followed us for a little while. He was giving us enough time to get away. We didn’t want you to get captured again. It would have been worse the second time.”
Goosebumps cover my arms thinking about it. “Where is he now?”
“Back home, near Rockwood.”
“So he is okay? Nothing happened to him?”
“Ryanne,” Liam grabs my shoulders and forces me to look at him. “Nothing happened to Bragden. He’s back home. He escaped without any harm.” He is safe. Nothing happened to him because of me.
Liam starts to walk back into the room. “Wait,” I grab his wrist and pull him back towards me, “Do you want to go back? I mean I don’t want you to, but I don’t want you to feel forced to stay here if you don’t want to. You have a family and they probably want you back with them…I just…”
“Ryanne, you’re rambling again,” I stop talking and look up at him. “I don’t want to go back. I know what the dreams are trying to tell me now. I’m meant to be here, protecting you.” He grabs my wrist and starts pulling me back into the room.
“Actually, I think that I’m going to go talk to Claire and Tom really quick. I’ll be back in a minute.” Liam looks at me for a few moments before nodding and letting go of my arm. Turning around, I walk downstairs to find them. I don’t know what I want to say to them, but I don’t want to go back into the entertainment room for some reason. Something is dragging me down the stairs.
When I enter the kitchen, I find Tom sitting at the table reading the newspaper and Claire dicing some fruit.
“Can I help you?” I ask. Claire smiles at me and hands me a cutting board and small strips of pineapple to dice. I chop them in silence for a little bit. It’s refreshing. No one is watching to see if I am going to break down at any second or suddenly pass out. No one is expecting me to act a certain way or do a certain thing at that moment.
“Can I ask you something, Claire?”
“Sure, dear, what is it?”
“I’ve been thinking about this since I’ve been back here. While I was in that compound, I tried to open my mind and listen to what everyone was thinking, but I couldn’t. I kept trying, but nothing worked. There wasn’t a single thought. Is it possible for others to block their thoughts from me? I don’t know about the weather, since I couldn’t see out any windows, but I don’t think that power worked either.”
“They can’t block their thoughts from you specifically, but there is magic that can block you from reading their minds. It’s very complicated though. They have to have a very powerful mage, but if you were perfectly healthy, you probably would have been able to overcome