Chapter Twenty-One
Farren
I stop dead in my fucking tracks in the empty hallway. The only students that were in this part of the school were the ones that were in Fitz's class, and we were the last ones out. I look around, probably looking like a fucking crazy person, but in all honesty, I fucking feel like one.
“Farren, are you okay?” Loki asks cautiously.
“Do you sense something?” Mayhem asks as they all immediately go on guard.
“At the risk of sounding like a fucking looney, please tell me you guys heard that voice?”
They all share a look, and I groan, covering my face with my hands. It was definitely only me that heard that. Fan-fucking-tastic.
“What did it say?” Loki asks, curious and not judging me in the slightest, and I could honestly kiss him because of it.
“Maybe we should discuss this back in our room, just in case we’re being listened to?” Storm suggests, and everyone nods.
When I don’t move straight away, Loki threads his fingers through one of my hands, and Reaper surprisingly does the same on the other side. When we get up to the room, Rival makes everyone their favourite drinks, and then they all sit there and stare at me expectantly.
“Well?” Storm asks somewhat impatiently.
“Erm, I was worried about Zev. I don’t like many people, and those I do, I become protective of, and I don’t like that he’s going to go through the games alone.
So I prayed to the Fates to keep him safe and then a woman’s voice filled with awe-inspiring power said, I hear you daughter, he will remain safe.
Beware, everything is about to change. That’s when I freaked out. ”
I lean back and sip my coffee as I watch the array of expressions go across their faces as they stare at me in silence, and I try not to fidget under their scrutiny.
“Let me get this straight you prayed to the Fates, and one fucking answered you?” Loki exclaims.
“Well, I don’t know about it being one of the Fates, but something answered me. For all I know, it could be the God of Death or something.”
“I’m not even sure what to fucking reply to that. I mean, that’s nuts,” Mayhem answers.
“At least we know Zev is somehow going to be safe during the games,” Loki shrugs, looking on the bright side of the situation.
“Yes, somehow, even though he’s going to be alone with no backup, and there’s a reason why warriors have teams and don’t go in alone,” Storm says dryly.
In response, I just glare at him because, unsurprisingly, his attitude is starting to dip now.
I suppose so long as we remain civil on jobs, it doesn’t really matter the rest of the time, except I’d kind of like to have the same relationship with him as I have with the others.
I also feel like most of it is put on, like he’s playing a part and doesn’t want me to get too close to him, so he treats me like this.
I like our sparring, it amuses me if I’m honest, but I would like to get to know him better and see the actual expressions on his face.
The conversation is dropped after Storm’s sarcastic reply, and everyone orders food up to the room and then gets on with their own things.
I end up snuggling between Loki and Reaper, and I’ve stuffed myself full of food and enjoyed being surrounded by them.
I must’ve fallen asleep at some point because I’m vaguely aware of being carried to bed.
Halfway through the night, I feel the comforting warmth of Poca getting onto the bed, and I wrap my arms around him.
“Missed you,” I mutter sleepily and receive a scorching hot lick on my cheek in response.
With Poca next to me, my nightmares don’t affect me like they usually would, it’s almost like there’s a layer of protection between them and me, so I’m just witnessing them rather than experiencing them as I normally would.
∞∞∞
“Morning, Farren,” Mayhem greets far too cheerfully when I emerge from my room the following day.
I grunt my reply, not awake yet and slightly sore from riding so hard yesterday. He smiles at me like he’s amused and then holds out a cup of coffee for me.
“Thanks,” I mutter.
“Aw, hey Poca, where have you been?” Rival asks the hellhound, who is excitedly jumping up and down and saying hello to everyone. He even gets a slight smile out of Storm.
“He’s like a giant puppy,” Loki grins, his vampire teeth on full display and doing something to me, which I am going to ignore this early in the morning. More coffee, that’s what I need, not to be thinking about sexy vampire bites.
“Did we get our new schedules?” Killian asks, making a beeline for me and kissing me on the forehead as he goes past, his tail stroking my butt.
“Yeah, they’re on the coffee table,” Storm replies, frowning at Killian and me.
Of course, I ignore him, rather than engage, and grab a schedule, looking over it.
I’m glad that we still have Professor Fitz since, out of all of the teachers, he seems to be one of the only ones who is genuinely invested in helping the students.
I suppose the other teachers could’ve still been in shock and trying to get their own heads around the implications before they dealt with students.
I hope that is the case and they all step up their game today and actually help us properly.
After all, it’s our lives on the line, and we’re all woefully unprepared.
At least I’m fortunate enough to have my training behind me.
As I look over it, trying to memorise the room numbers and incredibly grateful that now all the guys are in my classes, I can follow them to the right one.
As I look it over, I notice that they’ve combined combat and weapons together and made it an hour longer so instead of finishing at five our school day ends at six.
A knock on the door interrupts my study of the classes, and since I’m closest, I put it back down and open the door, surprised to see a harried looking Magnus on the other side.
“Magnus, are you okay?” I ask.
“Yes, yes. Well, is anyone really okay at the moment? Can I come in?”
“Of course,” I frown, stepping back and letting him into the room.
“Hey Magnus, how’re you?” Rival asks.
“We have a problem,” Magnus says in reply.
“Of course we do. What now?” Reaper sighs heavily.
I can’t blame him at all. We seem to constantly have problems or things that aren’t going quite right. At this point, what’s one more problem?
“Coffee?” Kill asks Magnus.
“Yes, please, a bit of something strong mixed in if you have it.”
I raise my eyebrow. Exactly what has gone fucking wrong now that means Magnus is drinking in the morning and before classes? Surely it can’t be just because of the games?
“Sure, I can do that,” Kill grins, seemingly unperturbed, he quickly makes up Magnus’s drink and then hands it to him.
“Thanks.”
He doesn’t say anything else, and Reaper is clearly feeling impatient as he asks again, “What’s gone wrong now?”
“I’m sure that you’re aware by now that the Headmaster is up to something?
” We all nod, “Well, he tried to send you out again this morning. Fortunately, I caught wind of it and managed to convince him to put it off for two days. I have no idea what he’s hoping to achieve by sending you out this regularly. ”
“Do you know where we’re being sent to?” Storm asks, arms crossed over his chest.
Magnus’s worried look becomes severe, “He’s sending you to the Shadowlands.”
“What?” Loki yells, shocking me with the sudden outburst. “The Shadowlands are practically a death sentence for anyone who enters them. Only the senior enforcers go in if they have to, and even then, they rarely come back out again.”
“They’re a barren land, shrouded in darkness and fog permanently, where the worst of us live.
Criminals escape there rather than being caught, I know there are a couple of towns further in, but the stories that have come out of them are truly horrific.
There’s an unspoken rule, they leave us alone, and we leave them alone,” Reaper adds.
“Those towns aren’t quite as bad as they make out, but they do run on an entirely different and more bloody code of conduct than we do, and there are rules and traditions that, if you don’t follow precisely, will end in you being eaten,” I decide to add my opinion because the Shadowlands are actually something I feel protective of.
Everyone falls silent and turns to stare at me in horror.
“Farren, you’ve been to the Shadowlands?” Magnus asks.
I shrug, dropping my hand to run through Poca’s fur, “A few times, yeah. I should be able to get us there easily enough, depending on what entrance we’ve been told to use and what the job is?”
“Why were you in the Shadowlands?” Storm’s icy voice snaps out at me.
“That is none of your concern. What is of your concern is that I’m in a position where I have knowledge of the place that could help you.”
Anger lights his face. Clearly, he doesn’t like that I won’t answer him, “I don’t trust you.
You’ve already had one assassin after you, and the Headmaster has a problem with you particularly.
You are a hazard to have around my team, and I will not have them put in danger because you don’t want to share something uncomfortable. ”
The guys bristle at his words as Magnus raises his eyebrows at his outburst, his eyes on me as he realises that I haven’t shared anything about what my father made me do.
It surprises me when it’s Rival that comes to my defence, not because I didn’t think he would but because out of them all, Mayhem and Rival are the ones I’m not quite as close to.