Chapter Fifteen

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Hello everyone. Just as a quick heads up, there will be a point of view change in this chapter. The stars signal that it is changing from Ryders point of view, to third person Vanessa and Grey scene, and then back to Ryder's point of view.

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"Don't move," a deep, masculine voice commanded. He sounded like a police officer of some sort.

The barrel of the gun was cold against my temple. The ground around me was soft as if I was laying in sand. Rain had ceased to pound down onto me; I felt the intense sunlight shining down onto my wet body. The crash of waves didn't sound too far off.

I was too tired and devoid of energy to do anything, let alone preform magic to try to save myself.

"Are you Ryder?" It was the same voice who told me not to move. I wondered why they didn't add my last name to that question.

I nodded slightly, not sure if they could tell, but not caring either. Why did they want to know my name?

"Who are you?" another voice in the distance asked, although the question didn't sound directed toward me. A few seconds later, a scream rang out, piercing into my ears, and jolting me into a frazzled state.

Suddenly, energy began to fill my body. I started fighting against the man holding me down. I must have caught him off guard because he fell off of me with after one gentle shove.

My surroundings swam, but I could still make out Vanessa in the swarm of officers.

We were on a beach, although I had no idea how we got there. I stumbled across the sand, pushing through all of the officers to get to Vanessa. 

I didn't know why the officers didn't grab me, but it seemed like they couldn't.

My outstretched hand was only inches away from her when I collapsed. A hand grabbed my shirt, and I felt my body being transporting once again.

Screams of the police officers flooded back into my ears, but only for the slightest instant.

Then, I was on on a hard, cold surface.

"I need a healer in here!" Vannesa's voice screamed. I tried sitting up, but the world around me shook, and black veil covered my eyes.

                                                ****

"How did it go?" Grey asked Vanessa, making sure to have cast a spell to prevent the people from listening to their conversation. 

They were walking in the field that Vanessa and Ryder had first met in. The ground around them was hard and frozen, the cold air surrounding them was howling. Vanessa sighed before answering.

"It went fine. The guards were cruel, the slaves helpless," Vanessa said. The look of remorse on her face made her look far older than she was. Her fake southern accent had ran away. She had no reason to keep it if she was only speaking to Grey.

"What went wrong?" Grey asked, picking up on her discomfort.

"Nothing went wrong," she answered. "It's just, this doesn't feel right. It feels dirty, and fake. No one deserves to be swindled like this."

"My dear, Vanessa. You've developed feelings for our friend, Ryder, haven't you?"

She did not answer.

"It's of no matter. They'll fall away as he slowly reveals his true self. His soul is as barren as the earth beneath us."

Vanessa looked up at this.

"I think you should get to know people before you make judgements like that." Without another word, Vanessa had disappeared into thin air.

Grey laughed a callous laugh.

                                                ****

The world around me came back into focus. I sat up quickly. I looked around, and saw that I was in the same room where I was healed for the first time.

The door opened before the voice came. 

"Oh, you're awake." It was a different voice than the first time. I turned my head towards the noise. The woman whom it came from looked calm, her brown eyes surveying me carefully, her short, amber hair sliding slightly as she changed the position of her head.

"I am. What happened?" I asked. My head was pounding like the beat of a drum, but besides that, I felt fine.

"I'm not told what happened. I'm just asked to heal you," the woman responded. She pulled a small flashlight out of the pocket of her white lab coat, and  held it up to my eye.

"I'm just going to see how you react," she explained quickly before holding my eye open and clicking on the flashlight.

Just seconds later, she turned it off.

"Your pupil contracted. That's a good sign. You'll be fine. But someone wants to talk to you first," the healer said. As if on cue, the door swung open and Grey walked in.

Concern twinkled in his caring eyes.

"Ryder! How are you doing, my boy?"

"I'm fine. What happened?" I asked, eager for the full story and not able to contain my curiosity.

"We'll get to that later. First, I want to talk about what you saw. With the slaves."

"It was gruesome," I answered quickly. "It was one of the worst things I've ever seen."

"Was it?" he asked, his voice rising at the end of the sentence.

"I don't think I'll ever be able to erase the horrifying image of those slaves being beaten from my mind. I couldn't keep myself from intervening," I said. My voice had turned to a whisper as I recalled the terror I felt.

"So. That being said, will you join the war now that you know what we are fighting for?" His voice was extremely hopeful.

I sighed. I had known my answer for a long time, but was reluctant to share it.

Grey met my eyes, a smile plastered on his face. I spoke my answer quickly, averting my gaze toward the tiled floor.

"No. I won't join the war."

~+ Uncontrollable +~

And there is chapter fifteen! I hope that you liked the ending and enjoyed the little point of view switch.

I also am crossing my fingers that you guys followed what happened when it shifted to the scene with Grey and Vanessa, and then back to Ryder.

Any thoughts on what Ryder will do now that he said no to the war? 

Until next update!

Note: Dedicated to @LeighUre for giving a very inspirational and informational interview in the book "Cracking the Wattpad Code: Insider Secrets the Pros don't want you to know!" It's a wonderful interview and some of the things she said kept me inspired for this story.

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