Chapter Two
Neith
“Thank you,” River says, the relief clear in his tone.
Baz looks around at us all, “Do you really think that Neith could trigger it? She doesn’t seem strong enough,” he winces and glances over at me, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by that, it’s just that your power level is low.”
I smile, “Don’t worry about it, I keep it locked down without really meaning to. Much like you’re doing, you’re extremely powerful.”
His eyes widen with surprise. Which is understandable, he’s got his magic locked down tight, and I shouldn’t be able to sense it at all, but I can.
I think it’s because I could always sense power levels before I transitioned into being a supernatural.
I’ve been toying with the idea that it could also have something to do with the fact that I can see through glamours that I shouldn’t be able to see through.
“Still, they’re suggesting that you could trigger a dormant magical circle,” he continues, bringing me back to the conversation and thankfully stopping my mind from wandering any more than it already is. The guys reactions are clearly confusing him.
I don’t shift, I’m not sure I’m ready to show him that yet, although the Voices seem to disagree, and I briefly go back and forth with them before realizing that everyone is still watching me.
I let my magic flood me.
Baz’s eyes widen, “I stand corrected. Stay outside of the circle.”
I salute him as I lock down my power and reply, “Yes, sir.”
My eyebrows rise as his purple eyes immediately darken with heat, and he clears his throat as he looks away.
That’s not a reaction that I expected, but it is definitely one that I’m going to file away for later examination.
“Told you, she is definitely safer outside of this circle, just in case,” Ransom grins.
“Agreed,” Baz replies as his eyes dart back to me, this time looking unsure.
“Fine, go on then, go and have all the fun,” I tell them grumpily. It doesn’t quite land because I’m also smiling. “I’ll poke around in the grass out here and see what I can find.”
They all pause and turn back to look at me, and I throw my hands up into the air again, “Oh come on, I can totally do that without getting in trouble.”
All of them, every single one of them, raises their eyebrows at me like they don’t quite believe me.
Fortunately, they seem to think better of arguing with me, because they all turn back around and start to head for the circle.
I watch them for a moment as they start to poke around in the space.
After a few minutes, I’m satisfied that they aren’t going to accidentally trigger it either, because actually, I know my magic is different from all of theirs, but they are all stronger or equal to me in strength, so they could very well set it off too.
Obviously, I am aware that it's more my propensity to get into trouble that has them worried and not my magic itself, but still.
I watch for a moment longer until I’m absolutely certain that their magic is not going to trigger the magic of the circle and cause some sort of ancient mean ass demon, or any other kind of deadly creature to appear.
Apparently, it’s only been in recent history that the demons have been, well, for lack of a better word, nice and unlike how the human storybooks describe them. I say recent, but I think it has been a few thousand years at least.
Anyway, once I’m sure that’s not going to happen, I sigh and start to look around, as I stay in the spot I’m in. Even though I’m reasonably certain that there isn’t going to be anything out here for me to find.
I have to admit I’m grateful for the enhanced sight that comes with being a supernatural because, despite the fact that it’s dark, stormy, and well, pretty much just miserable, I can still see reasonably well.
My attention turns back to the guys, but I can’t just stand here and watch them.
I have never been particularly good at standing still, or sitting still, or being still generally, unless it’s because I want to kill something and it’s necessary for me to be still in order to do so, then I can be as still as a statue for an extended period of time with no trouble whatsoever.
There isn’t anything here that I want to kill though, so I’m bored and fidgety.
I promised the guys that I wouldn’t go into the circle, and that’s fair to be honest, with my track record, I completely understand where they’re coming from.
There might be something at the base of one of the pillars though, on the outside of the circle, and technically, that’s not going in the circle, is it?
So I’m still doing what the guys asked me to do.
There may even be something carved into one of them that will either have what Winston said we needed to get in it, or tell us where said thing is.
I put Betty in the holster on my back along with Asael, since I need my hands free, and stride toward the first pillar.
My neck cranes backward the closer that I get to it, and I realize that it’s impossibly taller than I originally thought.
These had to have been placed with magic or the help of trolls or ogres, or something, because they are fucking huge, there is no way that I can see that they could have been put here by normal human means. Although it isn't a human monument, is it?
The Voices get louder the closer that I get to the pillar, and for a moment, I frown, confused about why, but then I feel it. A small, almost imperceptible flicker of magic, something so small that most would miss it.
My hand begins to reach for the pillar, but I stop myself. Doing things like touching things that are humming with magic is exactly how I get myself into questionable situations.
I will not prove the guys right.
Making sure my hands end up nowhere near the pillar, and that I keep a close eye on the flicker of magic in case it decides to get any bigger, I crouch down near the base of it.
The magic seems to only be coming from the pillar that I’m near, and it’s such a tiny amount that it wouldn’t even be able to affect a bug, so I’m not too worried about it.
I start to look around the base of the pillar, and then look up to see if I can see any shelves carved out or something, somewhere that something could have been placed.
I don’t see anything on or around this one, so I move onto the next one, making sure that I’m checking the space in between the pillars as well. About halfway between one pillar and the next, something catches my eye, and I bend down to see what it is.
“A stick,” I mutter, and start to stand up, but before I can, the ground beneath me ripples and rolls and fucking pushes me into the circle.
I stumble, do a weird sideways rolly-poly, and then end up sprawled like a starfish inside the damn circle.
“Neith,” Griff starts with a warning lilt to his tone.
I pop up and point in the direction I think he is, only to find myself pointing at Coen instead, who just smirks at me.
“It’s not my fault!” I exclaim in defense of the fact that I am in the circle, which is the one place where I told them that I wouldn’t go.
“How is it not your fault?” Van asks, his eyebrow raised.
“The ground tripped me and then pushed me in this direction,” I explain. I’m very aware that my explanation sounds crazy.
“Again?” Reed asks.
“This has happened before?” Baz asks, sounding completely bewildered.
“Yes,” the guys all reply.
I pull myself up off the ground, giving it the stink eye in case it decides to trip me again, and then I grin at the guys.
“Well, at least this proves you all wrong, I’m in the middle of the ancient circle thingy, and nothing has happened,” I point out triumphantly.
The Voices rise in warning.
Fuck.
I jinxed it, I know better, why the fuck did I have to taunt the fates and say that nothing had gone wrong?
My magic starts to react as I feel something build in the air.
“For fuck sake, Love, you just had to say it,” Coen yells over the sound of the weather, as the wind picks up.
“Oopsie!”
“Oopsie?” River replies. “Neith, beautiful, you are by far the best thing that has ever fucking happened to me, but saying oopsie in this situation makes me question your sanity.”
“Fuck off, you know I’ve never been sane,” I call back, my heart beating double time at his sweet as fuck words.
“I don’t know how you’ve done it, but I think you’ve activated the summoning circle,” Baz says with concern as he reaches his hand out for me.
I take it automatically, as he pulls me closer to his massive body and away from the middle of the circle. I’m assuming that’s where the summoning happens. The others all make their way over to us, standing around us protectively.
I know I should be focusing on the fact that we’re in a dangerous situation, but instead, all I can focus on is that Baz still has his giant hand wrapped around mine, and it doesn’t feel weird.
It feels normal, but in the best kind of way.
I don’t know how to explain it, but then again, I don’t really know how to explain any of what is happening where Baz is concerned.
He’s been with us for less than two hours, and yet he’s already been dragged into our crazy and is apparently, according to a crazy raccoon, supposed to be with us and dragged into the rest of our crazy shit.
I’m going to need to apologize to him at some point for everything that has happened and everything that will happen, because I know it’s going to be a lot, and if he wasn’t supposed to be with us, then he probably would be able to live a nice, calm life.
After a few moments where nothing happens, and where even the Voices are quiet, that hum of magic that I felt before disappears completely. I say, “Huh, I guess it just had a little glitch or something? Let’s just find what Winston wanted us to find and get out of here. Even I need a nap again.”
The guys all hesitate for a moment before they nod.
“Yeah, I’m starting to feel uneasy now. If we don’t find it within the next twenty minutes, I’m calling it,” Van replies. “We can come back in the morning.”
“And Winston can give us more instructions this time,” Coen adds.
“Sounds good to me,” I reply.
The guys all move away, and I refuse to be the one who breaks contact with Baz first, it’s just not going to happen.
He glances down at me, his eyebrows furrowed slightly, and I just smile up at him like the dork I am.
Suddenly, he drops my hand like it’s on fire.
“Shit, I’m sorry,” he apologizes, and I get the feeling it’s because he thinks that there’s something wrong with holding his hand, not that he thinks that there is something wrong with holding my hand.
I smile, “Don’t be.”
His frown deepens, making the scars on his face become more pronounced, “You don’t mind?”
I shake my head, “Nope.”
He studies me closely, and my brain stutters. There’s something about that look that’s almost familiar, but I can’t for the life of me put a finger on why it feels that way.
Suddenly, that subtle magic that I felt before flares to life. I have just enough time to see Baz’s eyes widen in panic before my world goes blank.
I seem to be floating in the darkness, much like when I go to my Darkness Friend, but I know for certain that I’m not there. I’ve died really quickly before, one second I’m alive and the next I’m dead, and although it is really disorientating, I still always know that I am in fact dead.
I’m not dead.
Which begs the question, where am I and what am I doing here?
I’m assuming that something has gone wrong because Winston said that we had to get something, not that I would be sucked into some sort of weird blackness.
Wait.
“Hello? Guys, are you here?” I call out, feeling a bit ridiculous, especially when no one answers me.
I figured it was probably only me that the crazy thing happened to, but considering that Ransom recently got pulled into Luesidious and then Coen, Raiden, and he all got sent back there, it is a possibility that they could be involved in this as well.
For a few moments, I just float there. It’s a good job that I’m not scared of the dark or being weightless, because otherwise I would be freaking out right about now.
The Voices are calm, but then they tend to be when I find myself in these sorts of situations, although it would be super helpful if they could let me know what is going on.
That thought I aim very pointedly at the Voices.
“Vision,” they mutter back.
“Well, I’ll be damned, I did not expect that to work, thank you,” I reply out loud because no one can fucking hear me anyway, and I’m surprised that the Voices answered me.
I probably would have replied out loud even if I weren’t floating in darkness.
However, when nothing happens for another five minutes, I start to question whether the Voices are messing with me or not, because nothing is happening.
The Voices, of course, neither confirm nor deny that they are indeed messing with me, although the collective tone of their usual muttering does seem amused at the suggestion.
Whether that’s because they are messing with me or because they just think the idea is funny, I don’t know.
I’m about to call on my magic because it temporarily escaped my memory that I had magic that I could use to help me in this situation, but before I can, I hear a voice. I’m still in the dark, but at least I can hear something now.