Uncontrollable

Chapter Twenty-Three

Shouts from all around me came when I landed.

As they continued fighting, I tried standing up. The world was swimming around me. A scream came from my mouth when I stood up and then collapsed back onto the ground, a new round of pain enveloping me.

"Ryder," Grey exclaimed, running toward me.

"What?" I asked, annoyed. He leaned his face over mine. I could slightly make his face in my world of pain.

"What happened to you?" he asked. "You look like a mess."

"I got shot," I answered, my voice weak from the agony but clearly conveying I was not in the mood to be called a mess.

"You're emotions are bizarre," Grey commented, his face scrunched in confusion for a moment. 

"Grey," I began through a fog of pain, my voice steely.

"Let's get you out of here," he said. "The others are almost finished with their fights."

He said it as if it was an every day to fight with other wizards and win.

"Hopefully they won't come attacking us any time soon when we destroy their defenses like this," Grey said quietly as he watched the remaining fights with his full attention.

After what felt like eons, Grey told me that we were ready to go back to Base. By that point, my vision was black around the edges, although something seemed to be keeping me conscious and alright. I assumed it was Grey.

The feeling of transportation enveloped me and the next thing I could comprehend, I was slammed into a rough, cement surface. I screamed in pain, the world around me turning darker and my brain becoming foggier.

Somewhere near me I heard more shouting.

"Get him to a healer!"

"Be careful!"

My head rolled the side, my cheek resting on the cold surface. The lids of my eyes began drooping. I tried to force them to stay open but they wouldn't obey. I tried to move my limbs but I had no control over them either.

The sounds of chaos around me slowly faded out into nothing. My world was enveloped in blackness.

The first thing I heard was voices. After a few moments of consciousness once more, I could tell they were clearly Vanessa and Grey's. And they were angry. The pain in my shoulder seemed to have gone away, but I kept my eyes closed; something told me I shouldn't be awake.

"-Gonna realize and then you're going to have to pay the price." There was an indignation lacing Vanessa's voice that sounded deadly, but something else sounded different. At the time in my muddled state, I couldn't figure it out.

"He will not figure out," Grey began, his voice just as heated as Vanessa's but lacking the same fatal tone. "That boy is stupider than cow shit. If he were to figure it out I may jump for joy just because of the imbecile he is."

My mind reeled. Were they talking about me? Was this really Grey — the same old man who looked at me with such care — speaking? Maybe I was hallucinating. Or dreaming even. That had to be it; Grey would never speak of anybody like this.

"I think you're underestimating Ryder. You always have, but this time it's going to come back to bite you," she retorted. So they were talking about me. My heart pumped faster. How could this be a dream when it all felt so real?

"No, it won't," Grey answered, taking up the mortal tone of voice that Vanessa had.

"Yes, it will, Grey. Just because you fought your way to power doesn't mean that you can treat your inferiors like they are dirt. In all honesty, you don't deserve to be king." The words shocked me. I'd never seen such a fiery side of Vanessa. She was speaking as though Grey was the worst being to walk this earth. On top of that, the disgust in her voice would make you think she was speaking to vomit.