Power Play

Chapter 19: Ryan

Chapter 19: Ryan

    For the first time since the night he'd killed Blaze, Ryan felt an odd sense of peace. He imagined that he should feel worried, or scared. After all, he might be killed in the battle that would soon occur, but Ryan wasn't afraid of death. In fact, there was a part of him that hoped that he would be killed that night, because it would mean that he would be able to be with Anne, without having to worry about everything else. Part of him even thought perhaps in a crucial moment of the fighting he could simply intentionally slip, leave his enemies an opening, leave himself vulnerable, and it would take care of all his problems. But deep down he knew that if he didn't put his all into it, fight to the best of his ability, with everything he had, it would be no different than suicide. Anne would surely see it no differently. Only now did he regret bothering to go through combat training with Vryce. Had he not bothered to learn anything, he'd have been far easier to kill.

    Surrounding him were six very nervous party goers. Two freaks they'd expected to show up hadn't, and four freaks they didn't even know were standing in their midst. The six knew that something had to be up, they just didn't know what, and they were doing their best to hide their anxiety, to varying degrees of success. The woman throwing the party was doing better than the others. Her face was a perfect mask of politeness, and if it weren't for the look in her eyes, you'd never have been able to tell anything was out of sorts. Openly though, she'd welcomed them and attempted to make them comfortable. The leader of the city had stated that they were invited, and that was all she needed, even if she was still worried about the why. They'd been prohibited from telling any of the freaks at the party, the ones who resided there, about what was going on. At least, not until it was too late. They couldn't risk any of them getting it into their heads to run off to try and escape the impending fight. After all, freaks openly fleeing the party would give Masters' spotter a pretty good idea that something was amiss.

    The leader of team A had chosen two of Harken's freaks for the assignment of being inside the party when the attack started, and had called for two volunteers from the freaks who'd been conscripted that night. Ryan had been the only one to volunteer. The team leader hadn't questioned Ryan's lack of experience, although another freak had snidely brought it up at the initial briefing only to have Vanning glare them into silence, the team leader had simply given him a newfound look of respect and nodded when Ryan had offered himself for the job. Since no one else had volunteered, the team leader had chosen a freak named Simon to fill the other spot. Simon had been carrying a larikin with him, a sword, which was now hidden under the couch that Simon was sitting on. Apparently from the discussion he'd had with the team leader on being chosen, the spotter wouldn't be able to sense the larikin with his vision. So long as Simon kept it hidden in a place the spotter wasn't going to look until the fight started, there wouldn't be a problem.

    The two freaks Harken had sent were the only ones who were mingling with the others at the party. Simon had just been sitting on the couch looking lost in thought and Ryan was leaning against a wall just calmly observing it all. He'd spoken a few times with people who'd come over to talk to him, but the conversations had been shallow and abrupt with the exception of the woman throwing the party, who'd offered him food and stuck around to see what he'd thought of it before asking, with a curiosity that still only showed in her eyes, how he knew the leader of their city. He'd answered evasively enough that he could tell her concern only deepened, but still she smiled brightly and gave a polite response before walking off.

    Suddenly a cellphone went off, a phantom of the opera ringtone playing a short haunting melody. The cellphone belonged to one of Harken's freaks, it was a signal. While there'd been no guarantee that they'd get one at all, they'd been told that if the others were able to give warning, the team leader would send an empty text to let them know the attack was about to take place. This was it. Suddenly Ryan found himself nervous, excited, like a rush of adrenaline was flooding his system. His sense of peace seemed to be wavering more with every second that passed. He instinctively turned his body towards the south and took a few steps away from the wall. That was where they'd been told Masters' freaks would most likely be coming from, the south. Taking a few deep breaths, he let his eyes scan back and forth between the windows along the wall, looking at the small patches of landscape that were visible from where he was standing and knowing that at any second he might see approaching shadows in the night.