turns to him, “Don’t let that fool you. She’s stronger than she looks and someone needs to break her. She’s going to be the end of all of us.”
He’s standing in a darkened room, candles providing the only source of light. Eerie shadows dance across every surface. Larkin has his back to Dravin, shoulders hunched and eyes downcast.
“Do we really have to kill the woman? Can’t I just find a way to get the girl back?”
“No, Larkin. Killing Claire will make Ryanne upset. People do stupid things when they are upset. She’ll react violently towards Gadramicks. Because of that, we’ll finally be able to convince everyone that she really does need to be stopped. We can get her back here in no time. Without Claire in the picture, we’ll be able to find her. She won’t be surrounded by those stupid spells.”
Larkin is standing outside our house talking with Thomas. “I don’t need to tell you how important this is. We need the girl. For some reason, Dravin thinks you are the only one capable of doing this. However, if you can’t do it, don’t bother coming back. If you think what we did to her was bad, you’ll be in for a surprise.”
I’ve seen enough. I push out of his mind and am thrust back into my own. My body is limp. Colton has his arms wrapped around my waist, leaning me against him. I straighten my legs and support my weight, taking a small step away from him. “Thanks for catching me.
“His name is Larkin. He is working for Dravin, but I don’t think he wants to be. Dravin got to him right when he came into his powers, promising that he could help him. He is telling his followers that I plan on killing all of them. He says I am ‘ruthless and determined to put an end to us.’” I put air quotes around what Dravin said.
“He didn’t want them to find me. He seemed really upset when Thomas told him that they captured me. He even asked them if it was necessary to torture me as much. Oh, he was obeying Dravin’s orders tonight. Dravin told him that killing Claire would cause me to act out, proving that I needed to be stopped. He also knows about the enchantments, so killing Claire would make it easier for them capture me. He didn’t want to do it, but they threatened him,” I think that’s about it. I hope that I’m not forgetting anything.
“You’re trying to tell me that he’s a good, bad guy?” asks Emma.
“I’m saying that he doesn’t like what they are doing. He didn’t want to kill Claire.”
“But he was going to,” says David. I nod; I can’t defend Larkin anymore than that. He didn’t want to do what they were forcing him to, but he didn’t really have a choice. They would have killed him if he didn’t.
Larkin starts groaning in the chair. “What are we going to do about him?” asks Colton.
“I don’t know,” says Tom.
He starts moving again. I take a tentative step towards him, but Colton reaches out and pulls me back. “We don’t know what he is going to do.”
He opens his eyes and starts struggling for a second and then stops. His eyes sweep the room before landing on me. He is younger than I initially thought. He appears to me a little older than Logan. I start squirming under his gaze and step back until I hit Colton’s chest. I don’t like how he is looking at me, like I am some prize possession that he wants to hoard. “How did you know I was coming?”
“I had a vision.” His gaze never wavers.
“Why are you staring at her?” demands Logan.
“She’s the girl from the prophecy. The one that is going to save us all.”
Save us all?
“I thought Dravin said that she was going to kill everyone.” Logan looks at me questioning my earlier response. That’s what Dravin is telling them.
“She’s going to save us from Dravin.”
I step towards him, “You don’t believe in what Dravin is saying?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I discovered who you were long before Dravin. When I first saw you, you were in the park and a little girl was lost. She was cold and crying because she was lost and alone. You gave her your jacket and helped her find her mom. A killer wouldn’t have done that. I knew you weren’t what Dravin was telling everyone you were.”
“That happened over Christmas break. I didn’t even