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“Caitlin.” His voice was rough as his eyes frantically ran across my face and body, as if he was trying to convince himself that I was really there. “What the hell happened?”
“Grant’s vardoger tried to overtake me. Ryan saved me.” I felt too weak to say any more than that, and I didn’t try to interpret the hard look Simon gave Ryan. I saw Sarah running into the clearing and she attacked Grant with a hug. He still seemed disoriented despite having dropped the gun to the ground, but he enveloped Sarah into his embrace.
“What happened?” she shrieked when she saw me sitting on the ground. She rushed over and I tried to stand, not wanting her to be frightened.
“I’m okay. Really.” Both Ryan and Simon grabbed an arm as I stood up, both pulling me in their respective direction. I felt like a wishbone being pulled apart and I shook both of them off, feeling strong enough to stand on my own. “Let’s go back to the apartment. It’s freezing out here.”
Sarah nodded although she looked like she wanted to ask a thousand questions. I didn’t pull away when I felt Simon’s arm around me. I leaned in closer to him, grateful for his warmth. In my peripheral, I saw Ryan bend down and pick up the gun, but I made no comment. All I wanted right now was to go to our warm apartment.
We were all silent as we made our way back, but I knew once we reached the apartment, a lot of questions needed to be answered.
Chapter Eight
Simon was the first one to speak after he had settled me on the recliner and wrapped me in a blanket.
“We could have prevented all of this if you had told us you had a damn gun.” The accusatory tone in his voice was unmistakable and Ryan responded to it antagonistically.
“I didn’t think there was a need. But it all turned out okay, didn’t it?” Ryan’s expression turned suspicious. “Where were you anyway? You were gone for a long time before you showed up at the scene.”
“No, it didn’t turn out okay,” Simon bit out through gritted teeth. “How the hell can it be okay when Caitlin was nearly killed!” His eyes narrowed. “As for where I was, I was looking for Grant. I thought you were all behind me until I lost track of the sounds of his footsteps and turned around. I heard Caitlin scream and I ran as fast as I could, but the woods are hard to navigate in the dark.”
Simon turned to me, his expression gentling. “What happened?”
I forced my voice to stay calm and steady as I recounted what had transpired. “We were right behind you when we thought we heard Grant’s voice from another direction. Sarah took off running and Ryan went after her. I tried to follow them but I lost track of where they were and got disoriented. The next thing I knew, Grant appeared with his vardoger, and his vardoger attacked me.” I shook my head, trying to get my thoughts straight. “I tried to destroy it, but my powers weren’t working. I couldn’t feel anything inside me. No energy, no powers… nothing. It’s like I was just empty.”
I took a long, trembling breath as I replayed the scene in my head. “The vardoger was trying to overtake me when Ryan came and destroyed it. Even though Grant was threatening to shoot him.” If Ryan hadn’t arrived when he did, there was a good chance I would be dead or overtaken right now. It was a sobering thought and I gave him a grateful look. “Thank you.”
Grant spoke before Ryan could respond. His face was haggard and drawn, making him look much older than his years. “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice raspy. “I barely remember what happened, and the pieces that I do remember scare the shit out of me. It was like I was fighting against myself, trying to get control of my body.” He looked at Ryan, his voice shaky. “I want to believe that I wouldn’t have shot you, but every fiber in my being was telling me to pull the trigger. It took everything I had not to do it.”
“It wasn’t you,” I said gently. “It was the vardoger. It can have an amazing amount of control on you. It just shows how strong you are that you were able to fight it off, to not do what it wanted you to.”
“It also helped that it was distracted trying to overtake Caitlin, so it was only using a small amount of its energy on you,” Ryan added. He said it matter-of-factly, not realizing that it was an insensitive comment after I had made an effort to make Grant feel better. Grant looked absolutely guilt-ridden even though none of this had been his fault.
“I’m sorry too!” Sarah exclaimed, looking shamefaced. “I shouldn’t have run off like that. I wasn’t thinking. I thought I heard Grant and I was frantic to get to him.” She looked at me remorsefully. “I didn’t mean to put you in danger.”
“Everything turned out fine,” I said reassuringly, trying to raise everyone’s spirits. “The important thing is that we’re all safe and Grant’s vardoger is no longer a threat. We should be happy.”
No one seemed to respond positively to my words, so I just sighed and leaned back in my chair. Ryan was watching Grant when he spoke.
“Do you remember taking the key to my glove compartment? It clearly wasn’t jimmied open, and I have a special lock on it that’s almost impossible to pick since I keep my gun in there.”
Grant shrugged helplessly. “I have no idea. I don’t remember opening it, let alone getting the key from you. Where do you keep it?”
“In a hidden compartment in my duffle bag.”
“Great,” Simon said sarcastically. “That’s a fantastic hiding place. Good job.”
Ryan narrowed his eyes. “I didn’t think anyone would go looking through my things.” He turned to Grant again, studying him speculatively. “I don’t know how you did it without me noticing. Do you still have it?”
“I don’t think so.” Grant patted the front pocket of his shirt and then the pockets of his jeans. He looked bewildered when he pulled out a small key from his jean pocket. “Strike that. Here it is.”
Ryan walked over and took it from Grant’s outstretched hand. “Get a better hiding place for it,” Simon said harshly. His gaze turne
d suspicious. “Why do you need a gun anyway?”
Ryan laughed humorlessly as he unclasped his necklace and strung the key on it, a small clang coming from it hitting his iridium coin. He turned to Simon after he had refastened the chain. “Just because I’m bound to not kill people, even the ones overtaken by vardogers, doesn’t mean I won’t use a gun in self-defense.”
I was tired of the bickering, my mind settling on the question that had been whirling in my head since we had returned. “I don’t understand why I wasn’t able to destroy the vardoger but Ryan was able to.”
