I wasn't kidding when I said that I would be locked and loaded when I left the safety of my house that morning.
I had four daggers on me, one on either side of my legs, as well as two at my side. I had a knife in my pocket, and a gun strapped around my waist. On my back, I had a sword, the same sword that I had killed Li Pike with, and the bag over it.
I was not in the mood to play around with any Dark Forces, and if one decided to cross my path, then all hell would break loose.
I silently cursed Ryan while I made my way through the forest to get to the dojo, wondering what was so important that he had to have me out and about when all I wanted to do was go to bed.
A flicker of movement to my left had me grab a dagger and throw it near the person.
Thunk, the dagger landed the tree beside Ryan with an inch to spare.
Ryan let out a small sigh of relief and tried to brush it off. "Really?" he asked and raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
I shrugged. "It's because I felt like it," I replied. "I am also mad at you." I scowled and narrowed my eyes, and he shrugged. "What's so important that you had to have me here at three in the morning?" I asked and raised an eyebrow.
Ryan sighed and moved a hand through his hair. He grew serious and was about to take the dagger out of the tree but hissed instead and clutched his hand closer to his chest.
I furrowed my brows in confusion and walked over to him. Worry flickered through my eyes for this Snakeston while I watched him back away from the dagger. "Ryan?" I asked, and he grunted in response. "What happened?"
"That dagger," he hissed. "It hurt me." He hissed again, and I could tell that he was in pain. "Sssssstupid magic."
I blinked, and I blinked again. Confusion filled me while I walked over to him. "What do you mean?" I asked. I grabbed the dagger and stuffed it in the open sheath before I held out my hand. "Hand," I ordered.
Ryan hissed but complied and handed me his hand. "It burnt me," he replied, and I could tell that it had.
There was a huge nasty welt on his hand, and it looked bad. Skin slowly started to peel away to show that it looked worse than it had.
Guilt gnawed at the pit of my stomach, and I silently cursed myself for being so stupid. "Come on, we need to get that cleaned," I said, not looking at him, "or else it could get infected."
"It'sssss not your fault, Martha," Ryan said when I let go of his hand and started to walk toward the dojo with Ryan following me. "It'ssss mine. I ssssshould have known that you had come acrossssss a magic ussssssser." His voice grew softer at the end, and I knew that he knew about Wisters.
I nodded. "Come on," I said. "Let's go to the dojo so that I can get you healed." I paused. "Can I use what I have to heal on you, or do I need to find something for you that I can use?"
Ryan gestured for me to walk toward the dojo, and I did. "I think you would be able to usssssse it on me," he said, and I nodded, relieved. "The dagger hassssss something on it that makessssss it hard for me to pick up."
I stayed silent and nodded again. "I think I am going to need to hold your hand," I said when we reached the border. I could feel the tension in the air, and I did not want him to get hurt.
"Awwwww, you do care about me," Ryan teased, and I rolled my eyes at him. He placed his hand in mine, and the feeling instantly went away.
"Very funny," I said dryly and started to walk the rest of the way to the dojo. "I respect Shuman and care about her. I am still mad at you."
Ryan raised an eyebrow, and amusement flickered through his eyes. "Why?" he asked. "What did I do to make the lovely princessssss mad at me?"
"Well, I am still mad about you dropping the baby off the cliff," I said, "and because you wanted me to send you a picture of me naked."
Ryan smirked. "Well," he said. "It didn't hurt for me to try." He shrugged and cleared his throat before he grimaced. "I do want to apologize," he said, and I looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"What for?" I asked when he didn't elaborate off the bat. "What are you sorry about?"
Ryan shook his head and didn't answer. He stayed silent while we made it the rest of the way to the dojo, and only then did I let go of his hand because I knew that he would be safe.
I rolled my eyes and scowled. "Are you talking about the fact that I am here and not asleep?" I asked and found the key. I opened the door and gestured for him to go down the steps.
Ryan hesitated but nodded before he held his hand closer to his chest. "I know that you need it," he said, his voice soft. "Sssssssssso I am ssssssssorry for that."
I shrugged and followed him down the steps. "It's ok," I said. "I know that I need sleep, but I know that I need to have information. I have a feeling that you have information for me, which is why you had texted me."
Ryan nodded. "I do," he confirmed. He hesitated. "However, I have no idea how much I can tell you without you getting hurt beforehand."
I shrugged. "I'm going to get hurt either way," I replied. "It happens, and it doesn't matter if it is emotionally or physically. However, I will be bouncing back just as quickly as I can."
Ryan nodded. "I am glad that you are able to do that," he said. "You need to."
I shrugged and didn't reply. I knew that I needed to be able to bounce back because a lot of people were counting on me. They were counting on me to be ready to lead if anything happened.
Ryan pulled out a chair and sat down. He hissed slowly and removed his hand from his chest. "It'ssssss has gotten worsssssse," he noted, seeing that the skin around the wound had peeled and was slowly turning black. He looked at me. "I think you ssssssshould hurry, princessss," he said. "Or it isssss the end of the world for little old me." He smirked.
I rolled my eyes and put my bag on the table. Quickly, I pulled out the cream that I could use to heal wounds and opened it. Guilt settled on my shoulders like a warm blanket because I was the reason why he was in pain. I was the one that had thrown the dagger near him.
If I hadn't done that, then he wouldn't have been injured.
"Sssssstop blaming yoursssssself," Ryan scolded when I walked over to him with the cream. He watched me take some out and placed it on his wound. "It isssss not your fault." Relief filled his voice, and I had a feeling that he would be alright.
I didn't reply and shrugged. I stayed silent and watched his hand glow with magic before the glow dimmed and left a healed hand in its place.
"I'm sssssserious," he said.
"I thought you were Ryan," I said and capped the cream. "I guess I was wrong." I shrugged.
"Very funny," Ryan said dryly while he gave me a blank look. "Thisssss isssss no time for book jokesssss."
I bit back a smirk and sat in another chair. "So, why did you call me?" I asked, growing serious.
Ryan sighed and moved a hand across his face. He looked tired, older even, and I had a feeling that he felt as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. "We're running out of time," he said. "I am ssssure that you had figured that the girl issssss with "usssss?"" He looked at me and waited until I nodded in confirmation before he nodded. "I ssssstill can't tell you where we have her," he said, and my heart sank. "However, I wassss able to collect ssssssome of thissss when I wasssss pussssshed down." He reached into his pocket and pulled out some rocks and leaves, the same stuff that Marcus had gotten.
I leaned forward and inspected one of the leaves in the pile. Something that Marcus hadn't gotten the first time.
My heart pounded in my chest, and I vaguely remembered the interesting leaves because I had seen it before. "I know where this is," I said and got up. "Sort of."
"Sssssssort of?" Ryan asked and watched me walk to an old bookcase that was in the room.
I nodded and picked out one of the books, a book I had made a long time ago of a trip that Master Yin and the group had taken. "Ya," I said. "I thought it was a cool leaf and had never seen one like it before." I flicked through the book, occasionally coughing as a plume of dust was lifted into the air.
"But you had ssssseen it," Ryan said. "Do you know where?"
I stopped when I landed on the page and looked at the old picture of an abandoned warehouse that was on the outskirts of town.
The pit in my stomach sunk more, and I knew that she was there. Bethany was in a warehouse that was so close but so far away.
"Ya," I said and walked over to him. I was about to set the book down on the table when something red caught my eye.
"Martha?" Ryan asked and sat up when I walked over to what had caught my eye. "What isssss it?"
It was a calendar with a date circled and in a bold red color. The words 'red moon' was written in it, and I had a feeling that that was when shit was going to go down.
How I hadn't noticed it before, I didn't know, but I knew that was when there was going to be a battle. I knew that there were going to be lives lost, and I knew that something bad was going to happen to my family and me.
And I knew that I was not going to make it to be a tiger because the red moon was in two days, and I was out of time.