Chapter Thirteen
Zev
We’ve all been silent while we eat, and we’re all eating what probably equates to our body weight in food.
I pause as my attention moves to Loki, who has a mug of warm blood in front of him and is sipping it slowly as he eats.
He hasn’t eaten properly since he fed from Farren, and yet, even now, he doesn’t seem that bothered by the blood in front of him. I hope that’s a good thing and doesn’t turn into an issue that we need to deal with.
“Oh,” Rival says. “I almost forgot. So I woke up last night and I couldn’t get back to sleep, so I went to the library. I had actually only just fallen back to sleep when everything happened with Farren.”
“Sorry,” Farren mutters.
“Don’t be,” Rival tells her.
Mayhem narrows his eyes at his brother, “I’m going to assume that you weren’t there reading for fun and that you were actually catching up on all of the research that you’ve wanted to do?”
Rival grins, “Yeah, pretty much.”
The rest of us chuckle.
“Did you find anything out?” Khaos asks curiously as he puts another piece of bacon in his mouth.
Rival’s expression lights up as he shifts excitedly in his seat, “Yeah, I did actually. I don’t know why, but I decided to look at the bracelets that were used to control Hades.
I figured that if I could work out what they were made of, then it might give us a better idea of which God is trying to take over the Underworld. ”
Farren
“That’s a really good idea, actually,” I say.
“We need all the help we can get to figure out who is behind this. The gemstone can’t be that common, or the gods would always be getting controlled by each other, most likely.
So, if we can find out what it is, and where it’s come from, then we might be able to follow the trail back and find who bought it, or something. ”
Rival nods, “That’s exactly, what I thought.” His eyebrows rise as he smiles, “I’ll give you three guesses what realm the gemstone is from.”
Khaos shakes his head, “No way, seriously?”
Rival’s smile widens, and he nods, “Yep.”
“Care to fill the rest of us in?” Storm asks. “I think I’ve eaten too much food to make my brain work properly.”
“The Dragon Realm,” Rival says.
“The gemstone in the bracelet can be found in the Dragon Realm?” Reaper asks for clarification.
“Not just found. It’s the only place in all of the realms where the gemstone can be found, and it’s a highly prized and highly regulated thing.
It is extremely difficult to get it outside of the Dragon Realm.
In fact, it’s banned. The only way to get the gemstone outside of the Dragon Realm is through the black market, but even then, it is rarely available, and when it is, it’s only available in small quantities.
There is absolutely no way that gemstones as big as the ones that are in the bracelets would be available in any other realm but the Dragon Realm,” Rival explains.
“So, what you’re saying is that the God got the gemstones from the Dragon Realm, which means that he is either working with someone there, which would be really bad, or he has a contact there that is willing to break the very strict dragon rules to give him the gemstones,” Storm replies.
“I’m going to assume that it's Remeus and Crem, but if it’s as regulated as you said, then even them getting hold of it is questionable. ”
Rival nods, “Yep, but they shouldn’t be there anyway, so they’ve obviously got contacts there who are helping them.
It is also another reason why we need to go to the Dragon Realm.
We need to figure out which god is trying to take down Hades and who is working with him in the Dragon Realm, other than the princes.
The Dragons are a strong and formidable ally to have, especially since they don’t give their allegiance to many.
We need to put an end to the allegiance if we can. ”
Hades nods, “Yes, I agree. There appear to be several reasons why we need to go to the Dragon Realm now.”
“The key, the lost Dragon Souls, the princes, and now the origin of the gemstone bracelets that were used to control you, and the possible allegiance with a Dragon, or the Dragons in general, which could be catastrophic,” Khaos summarises.
“Ah, I’m glad that you’re already on topic,” Monty says as he suddenly appears on the kitchen counter, crouched down and perched on one foot with his other leg resting on his knee, and his elbow balanced on his leg, his head resting in his hands like he has been there for a while.
“Monty, I swear, one of these days you’re going to make me jump and I’m going to take your head before I realise it’s you,” I curse, since he made me jump.
Khaos chuckles, “I like that plan.”
Monty levels Khaos with a look, “I would be nice to me if I were you, I know things regarding you and Hades that I’m not happy about, but I’m handling it quite well if I do say so myself.”
“Hey!” Hades starts to protest, “How did I get dragged into this?”
“Oh, you’ll figure it out soon,” Monty says, narrowing his eyes at Hades.
Hades throws his hands up in the air in exasperation.
“For the love of the gods, please don’t start talking in fucking riddles again,” Kill groans.
“Rude,” Monty mutters, a twinkle of amusement in his eyes.
I chuckle, “Monty, I presume that this isn’t a social call?”
His gaze meets mine, “You are correct in your assumption, my dear favourite.”
When he stays silent, Mayhem asks, “Well? Why are you here?”
Monty’s smile widens, “It would appear that your trip to the Dragon Realm is not going to happen as swiftly as we originally thought it would.”
I glance over at Zev. We haven’t managed to tell the guys about the castle, the trapped people, and the balance being in danger if they perish.
In all fairness, it shouldn’t have slipped my mind, but I haven’t been awake for that long.
Then I got distracted by the fact that I’m now bonded to all of them, which feels right and not scary at all, so I’m just going with it, and then Hades mentioned bacon, and I didn’t think about anything else until now.
“Do you think it’s because of the realm that we visited?” Zev asks through the bond link.
“I think that would make the most sense,” I reply.
“Agreed, the realm is on a very tight timescale, and if we don’t get there in time, then it’s not just that realm that gets affected but all of them,” Zev replies, with a worried edge to his voice.
“Exactly, it would make sense that the need to rescue them is higher up the list than the Dragon Realm,” I reply, trying to still pay attention to what Monty and the others are saying, even though I’m talking to Zev in my mind.
I’m not really succeeding, but I don’t think anyone else has picked up on it yet.
“If it is because of the dying realm, then Monty might be able to save us some time and tell us how to get to the realm, instead of us having to find the book,” Zev suggests.
“That’s true,” I reply. “We need to tell the guys about it as well. We’re going to need everyone’s help, not that we wouldn’t tell them anyway.”
“Agreed,” Zev says, he pauses, and I see his eyes flash white briefly, “we need to wait until after Monty has gone to tell them. We also need to make sure that we don’t mention it at all to Monty.”
“Okay,” I reply with a smile.
I trust him completely. If he says that we can’t tell Monty about the dying realm, whose death will throw off the balance of light and dark, then we don’t tell him. I’m not going to risk making the situation worse than it already is. We can’t afford to take any risks with this situation.
The consequences would be truly catastrophic.
“It still fascinates me that you just believe me, and don’t question me when I say things like that,” Zev says. His smile turns wicked as he adds, “It would be inappropriate for me to kiss you right now, wouldn’t it?”
I try not to laugh as I reply, “It would probably confuse the hell out of everyone.”
“Fine,” he mutters as he pouts.
Reaper frowns, his words pulling us out of our mind conversation, as Kill raises an eyebrow at me curiously, having correctly guessed that I was having a conversation with someone. He has always said that my expression gives it away. I mouth the word later to him, and he smiles.
“Wait, what? I thought it was urgent that we got there and found the key as quickly as we could.”
Huh, I guess we didn’t miss as much of the conversation as I thought.
Monty nods, “Yes, that was what the information that we had at the time told us that we needed to do. However, some new information has come to light, and now there is a delay in you going.”
Hades narrows his eyes, “Why does it seem like you are unsure about that?”
Monty sighs as his expression becomes disgruntled, “We know that you aren’t going to the Dragon Realm as soon as we thought, but we don’t know why you’re not.”
Khaos’ eyebrows rise, “The Fates don’t even know?”
Monty smirks, “Nope, and it’s driving them crazy.”
Khaos grins, “I bet it is.”
“Wait, you’re telling me that not even the Fates, who are supposed to know everything, don't know why we aren’t going to the Dragon Realm as soon as we thought we were?” Zev asks incredulously, his eyebrows high on his forehead.
Monty nods, “Yep. They can’t see it.”
“Surely that’s not a good thing?” Reaper asks.
Monty shrugs, “Well, that’s where the issue lies, they don’t know whether it is or not.”
“We are still going to the Dragon Realm though?” Kill asks.
Monty nods, “Yes, that is a certainty, you are definitely going. The key fragment is there as well as something else that you need to find, and Crem and Remeus are there and need to be dealt with before they get their brothers out of the Underworld.”
“Something else?” I ask.
Monty just looks at me, and then continues talking as if I didn’t ask a question, “Plus, it’s looking like your trip there is not going to be a quick or simple one.
You’re going to need to use this extra time that you’ve been given to prepare.
I will work on something to make your journey easier.
By the time that they think that you will be going, I should have it ready for you. ”
“Thank you, Monty. That is very much appreciated,” I tell him with a smile.
He returns it before his expression becomes serious again, “You’re very welcome, but I have a feeling that you may need more help than I can give you.”
“Well, that’s ominous,” Loki says, his eyebrow raised.
Monty grins, “Yep.”
With that very blunt last sentence, he disappears in his usual Monty fashion. Leaving us with more questions than answers.
I look at Hades, “Is he really gone, or is he doing that thing where he hangs around for a bit?”
Hades thankfully knows exactly what I’m talking about and doesn’t look at me like I’m going crazy. Instead, his magic swells slightly, and he shakes his head.
“He’s gone,” he replies. “There’s no one around that shouldn’t be.”
“What’s going on?” Storm asks.
“Before I got pulled into the nightmare and all of that went down, I was pulled into a different kind of dream, and I pulled Zev in too,” I start.
Loki’s eyebrows wriggle, “Oh, I like where this is going.”
I burst out laughing, “Dirty bastard, not that kind of dream.”
“Shame,” Loki replies with a twinkle in his eye and a smile playing around the edge of his lips.
“You were saying?” Mayhem says, trying to get the conversation back on track, although he’s smiling too.
“Right,” I say, refocusing, and then with the help of Zev, we tell them all about the dream.
As soon as we get to the bit about the trapped supernaturals, the condition of the realm and the fact that if we don’t save them in time, then the balance is going to be thrown off, everyone sits up straighter, and their expressions become serious as they remember what Hades said about it last night.
Hades looks at Zev, “There’s no way that this could have been a simple dream and nothing more?”
Zev shakes his head, “No. To be honest, I’m not sure what kind of dream it was, but it wasn’t just a dream. The reaction that Farren had to it was a big indicator, and then the way the dream behaved. It wasn’t just a dream, and the threat of the balance being thrown off is a very real concern.”
“Well fuck,” Khaos growls.
I clear my throat, getting Hades' attention, “Are ghosts possible? I mean, without them going batshit crazy and causing fuck loads of problems.”
Hades immediately shakes his head, “No. Souls, or ghosts as you said, can’t survive outside of the Underworld Soul Side.”