Chereads / Petal Peak / Chapter 2 - Chapter One

Chapter 2 - Chapter One

Violet had left Dom and Chris in the kitchen, walking into her bedroom. She kept thinking about her conversation with Shawn earlier, wondering what the noise was in the background. Every time she tried to call him back it went to voicemail, just like when she tried to call Emma. She hadn't tried Eddie yet, but they weren't really that close; nor was she close with Ryman. She decided to head back into the kitchen, since she had an idea. "Chris, can you call your brother, please?"

Chris glanced at her in confusion. "I haven't talked to Ryman in a while, why do you want me to call him?"

Violet took a deep breath. "Because I think Shawn's in trouble."

Chris was silent for a moment, then pulled out his phone and dialed numbers.

Ryman answered on the second ring. "Chris? Everything okay?"

Chris was silent for a moment. "I was just calling to check on everyone. You, Emma, Eddie, Rachel, and Shawn?"

"We are all fine," Ryman said rather too quickly.

Chris exchanged a glance with Violet. "I needed to talk to Shawn about something, is he around?"

Ryman was silent a moment. "Uhm.. He's not around, can I take a message? Wait a moment, are you still hanging out with Emma's sister?"

Chris glanced over at Violet who just gave a small nod of encouragement. "Nah, we got into this huge argument but I still consider Shawn my friend. So let him know that I called."

He hung up a moment later, then glanced at Violet and Dom. "You may be right and Shawn may be in trouble."

***

Emma was sitting on the couch talking to Eddie. "So you know things? What kind of things? Do they come in the form of visions? Hallucinations? Are you psychic?" She kept bombarding him with questions.

Eddie shrug. "I don't know.. they just come to me some times, I see things that are about to happen, only like by a few minutes though."

She listened, nodding along. "So you could be psychic, just don't know it yet?"

"Could be I guess," he shrug.

Then the door opened and Ryman walked in. "What's going on here?" He asked, glancing from Emma to Eddie, then back again.

Emma stood up, then walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him. "Nothing, did you get everything taken care of?"

He kissed her softly. "Sure did," he promised her.

She kissed him back. "Good. Oh, by the way, have you seen Shawn today? He left for work earlier, but never came back."

He shook his head. "Nope, he never even showed up for work."

"That's weird," she said in confusion. "He had been looking forward to this job.. should I call him?"

"No!" He sighed. "No, sweetie. Maybe he didn't want to work today or just needs some time to himself or something."

She frowned. "Maybe so."

"You look tired though, so why don't you just go to bed," he kissed her cheek.

She glanced over at Eddie who was listening in silence, then back at him. She flashed him a quick smile. "I'm actually not sleepy, I was hoping that we could have a movie night or something."

Ryman sighed. "You need your sleep." He took her hand, then pulled her towards the bedroom.

***

Rachel was pacing back and forth. "Ready to talk now?" She asked, pausing in front of the cage. "What was you talking to Violet about?"

Shawn glared at her. "How many times do I have to tell you? Nothing. Nothing that concerned you and Ryman anyways."

She rolled her eyes. "Then tell me what it was about." She crossed her arms. "I'm not leaving here until we talk."

It wasn't long after that when Ryman rejoined them. "I'm sorry, I had to use a spell just to get them to sleep." He glanced through the bars at Shawn, then back at Rachel. "So? Any luck?"

She shook her head. "Nope, he's saying that they talked about nothing."

He sighed. "Unlock the cage," he instructed her. "Then you can go."

Her eyes widened and she glanced at him. "What?! So I don't get to witness how you get people to talk?"

He shook his head. "Maybe later, hun." He nodded towards the cage. "Unlock it now." He walked over to a vault, then opened it up.

She unlocked the cage, then backed away. "I'll see you later then," she turned away and walked off.

He closed the vault back, then walked back over to the cage. "The door's open now, you coming out?"

Shawn glared at him. "Why should I?!" He hissed.

Ryman chuckled softly, then stuck his head into the cage. "Not today, Lewis," he roughly grabbed his arm, then pulled him out. "What did you say to Violet? Even Chris is looking for you!" He shoved him to the ground. "So let's talk, shall we? Want to let me know what you two talked about?"

Shawn shook his head. "I told you, nothing! She's still learning how to control her powers!"

Ryman jerked him back to his feet. "Is that so? So she still can't use them yet? Interesting. So what else can you tell us?"

Shawn shook his head. "Nothing!"

Ryman shoved him against the wall. "There was something else, I know it. You would tell me if you wasn't still friends with her! Would she go through this much trouble for you? I think she only cares about herself!"

Shawn pushed him backwards. "Don't say that about her! Don't even talk about her! You don't even know her!"

Ryman backed him into the wall. "I don't have to know her. She's still just a little witch!" He clenched his fist, then punched him in the stomach. "And you're just wasting my time here!" He shoved him back to the floor. "You're a traitor to Emma, know that? And you know what happens to traitors."

Shawn tried to get his breath back so he could speak again. "No, you're the traitor to Emma, so is Rachel!" He hissed softly, his voice hoarse. "And someone needs to tell her!"

"Like you?" Ryman kicked him in the side. "Sorry, but you're not going anywhere." He walked over to one of the drawers, then pulled out a match, and struck it. "You can deal with fire, so control this one. Oh, wait... you can't use your powers here." He tossed the match down. "I wish you luck getting out of here." He walked into the back of the room, grabbing a gas tank. He tossed it to where a small fire was starting, then glanced back at Shawn. "This is where I leave you now."

Shawn glared at him, then tried to push himself up. "Ryman!" He called after him. "Ryman!"

Ryman flashed him a smile, then walked out the door and closed it behind him, then locked it. "I'd love to see you get out of there." He propped up against the opposite wall to wait. It wasn't long until he had to duck down from the explosion of the gas tank that he'd left inside. He smiled to himself. "Oh, well," he walked off laughing to himself.