that, he’s gone. I frantically search the yard for him, but he is nowhere to be seen. The sound of glass breaking diverts my attention from the yard back to the kitchen.
The mysterious man is standing behind Claire. She is gasping for breath—her body going limp in his arms as the dagger protrudes from her side. Tom jumps off of the couch, and shouts at the man. Before he can reach him, he disappears again. Tom reaches out and grabs Claire as she starts falling to the ground.
“Logan! Logan!”
Claire coughs up blood and her breathing is sporadic and slow. Tom rocks her body in his arms, putting pressure on the wound. Her body convulses once before going limp.
“Ryanne! Ryanne!” I rapidly blink back into the present. I am lying on the floor in the middle of the hallway with everyone surrounding me.
“What time is it?” I ask, attempting to sit up. Everyone looks at me like I have grown three heads. “What time is it!?” I yell. This is important. It could mean the difference between life and death.
“It’s 8:44, why?” Ignoring their question, I jump up and push past them running the rest of the way down the hall and catapulting down the stairs.
“Ryanne, what’s going on?” They follow me downstairs; their footsteps echoing mine. I run through the living room. Tom bolts up with a puzzled expression. I enter into the kitchen right as the man materializes behind Claire. Not slowing down, I run straight into him, knocking both of us onto the ground. The dagger flies across the floor and stops moving, lying precariously on the ground to my right. Without thinking, I grab the handle and whack him in the jaw with it. Adding some magical energy to it, I am able to knock him out.
“He’ll be able to blink out of here when he wakes up.” I say. Everyone is standing in the entryway to the kitchen bewildered and confused. Claire is staring at the man, mouth hanging open. Logan and Tom grab the man off of the floor and tie him to a chair.
“What the hell just happened?” yells Tom, looking around the room, eyes landing on me.
“I had a vision. I saw him standing in the backyard talking to someone and then he blinked into the kitchen and stabbed Claire. Logan wasn’t able to get downstairs in time and she died in your arms.” I turn and look at Claire, “I couldn’t let you die.”
Claire gets tears in her eyes and runs towards me, wrapping me in her arms. She’s already a motherly figure in my life. Jane acts like she wants to be my friend, not a parental figure. Claire has been able to help me when I have been utterly confused about what was going on with me. She helped and continues to help me come to understand my magic and how to harness some of my powers. I can’t lose another parental figure. Those men were after her because of me. They want to get rid of her, so she can’t protect me anymore. “Thank you for saving my life, Ryanne.”
“There’s no need to thank me.”
She lets go of me and steps away, “Yes, there is.”
“What do we do with him?” Emma points towards the unconscious man tied to one of the kitchen chairs.
“Well, we’ll need to question him. See why he was going to kill Claire. We have to wait until he is conscious though. It shouldn’t take too long for him to wake up.”
“Umm, I knocked him out with magic too. I knew I wouldn’t be able to knock him out with just the dagger handle, so I drew some magic into it.” Tom looks surprised.
“I wasn’t aware that you could bring magic into a non-magical object. I’ve never heard of anyone who was able to do that.”
I shrug. “I can try to read his mind though.”
Tom’s eyes widen. “That’s an excellent idea.”
“Now, wait a second,” says Colton. “We don’t know what is going to be going through his mind. She’s already seen and been through enough lately. Is that really the best suggestion we have?” He places his hand down my on shoulder as he looks at Tom.
Turning around, I address him myself. “There’s nothing else we can do, Colton.” I reach out and put my hand on his arm. He glances down at it, before meeting my eyes again. “Thank you for thinking about me, but this is the best option. I’ll be fine.”