Chapter Five
Neith
I nod as the wind picks that moment to start howling, it cuts straight through my jacket, and a shiver works its way through me.
River gently pushes me toward Doc, and before I can protest that he’s going to be left on the moors by himself in a worsening storm, Doc has transported us back to House. It does make me feel better when he immediately disappears again to get River.
“Everyone has gone for a shower to warm up, and then we’re all meeting in the kitchen,” Van tells me.
“Sounds good to me,” I reply. “I definitely need to warm up.”
“Normally, I would say we can talk about everything that has happened in the morning, but we have no way of knowing what is going to happen next, and chances are we’re going to end up busy, so it’s probably best if we speak about it now,” Van explains.
“Agreed. I already tried to tell you about the Voices not being the dead a couple of times, but then something popped up,” I reply.
“Exactly,” Van agrees, not seeming surprised in the slightest that I’ve tried to tell him and had to stop.
River and Doc appear, and I smile. “I’ll be back down in a moment. I need a hot shower and comfy clothes.”
The guys nod in acknowledgment.
River shivers and says, “Oh, definitely. A hot shower sounds amazing right now.”
We leave Van downstairs, and we all head up to our rooms to shower.
∞∞∞
I may have taken slightly longer than I was supposed to in the shower, but I didn’t take as long as I could have, so I suppose I’m calling it successful.
Before I head downstairs to explain myself, because I am aware that most of what we need to talk about is something to do with me, I make sure that I grab Styx’s shirt. I’m damn glad that it’s still where I dropped it on the floor, because it had occurred to me that it could have disappeared again.
If it had, it wouldn’t have made it impossible to explain to the guys what went on in my dream, but it would have made it a little bit more difficult.
As I leave the room, I make sure that the hagstone hasn’t done a disappearing act and is still resting on top of my dresser. I’m not really sure where else to put it, so for now, that’s where it’s going to have to live.
When I get down the stairs, I smell something absolutely delicious, and I know that despite the fact that we have already had dinner, House and Ethel have made something else for us to eat while we talk. They definitely know us well.
I pat the wall in the hallway before I walk through the kitchen door, “Thank you for looking after us, House.”
There’s a small buzz of magic under my hand, and I smile.
“I’m the last one?” I ask as I walk into the kitchen and find everyone already sitting.
“Yep, even Baz was quicker than you, and he hasn’t had a hot shower in forty odd years,” Reed teases.
“Whoops?” I grin.
I honestly thought that I was being pretty quick, but apparently not.
The guys all laugh as I take my seat at the table, and admire the pastries and coffee that House and Ethel have put out.
“You’ll never guess what?” River asks, bouncing around on his seat and making me smile.
“What?”
River looks at Baz, “Tell her.”
I raise my eyebrow at Baz, and he smiles, opening his mouth in order to tell me whatever it is that has River so excited, but before he can, River interrupts.
“You’re taking too long,” River mutters in a rush, making Baz laugh. “Baz’s room changed. We put him in one of the spare rooms, obviously, but when I showed him to the room, he opened the door, and it was completely different than the generic thing it was.”
My eyes widen, “Seriously?”
Baz nods, “Yeah. It fits my personality perfectly. Your house is impressive.”
House bangs the cupboard doors happily.
“House says thank you,” Ethel calls from her place on the counter.
Baz smiles, “No, thank you. It’s been a long time since I had a room.”
“That’s awesome,” I grin. I’m curious to see what it looks like now, but I’m not sure that I know him well enough to be able to ask to see it yet. I mean, I’ve only really known him for a few hours. I try not to laugh, yeah, I’ll definitely wait to ask to see his room.
He nods, and then is clearly uncomfortable with having the focus on him because he changes the subject, “And House and Ethel make you pastries, that’s even better.”
I smile and glance over to where Ethel is in the kitchen, “This looks amazing, thanks, guys.”
“It wasn’t us, Zephyr made them while you were gone, on the job today. We were supposed to put them out for dinner, but obviously we didn’t get the chance to,” Ethel explains.
“Zephyr bakes?” I ask, unable to hide the surprise in my tone.
“He does when he’s stressed, although he hasn’t actually had anyone to share it with for a long time. I think he enjoyed baking for someone else,” Ethel replies with fondness.
“Well, I feel bad eating these without him,” I mutter, standing up.
“I’ll be back in a second. I just want to see if he wants to come and join us.
He’s already been involved in a pretty private conversation this morning when we went over the plan for the wolf sales, and I think he knows something about what happened with the Voices and me, so it’s probably better that he’s involved anyway. ”
“Okay, Love,” Coen smiles. “Don’t be too long though, because I can’t promise that I won’t have eaten all of this.”
I narrow my eyes and point at all of them, “There better be at least five left for me.”
“Five?” Baz asks with a smile, his eyebrows raised slightly.
I grin, “At least or heads are going to fucking roll.”
Thunder claps overhead as my eyes change, and my pink fire rolls up my arms.
“Oh, I love it when you’re all scary,” Griff grins.
My smile widens, “The thunder is handy for making a point. Plus, I’ve got more control over it now.”
The guys all chuckle, and Baz watches me, looking intrigued.
He nods, “Note to self, don’t get between Neith and pastries.”
“It’s probably best to change that to food in general. Just don’t get between Neith and food, is probably your safest bet,” Van points out with a cheeky smile.
“I would be offended, but he’s right. I’ve bitten people before when they’ve tried to take things off my plate,” I reply with a shrug.
“Wait, you have?” Doc asks.
Coen gives me a look, “Yes, she has.”
“She bit you?” Raiden asks through his laughter.
I nod, “He tried to steal my fries.”
They all burst out laughing, and I smile as I stand up to go and get Zephyr, and I place Styx’s shirt on the table. River and Coen both frown as they inhale deeply.
“Where did you get that?” River asks, his laughter gone. “It’s not yours.”
“It doesn’t smell like anything I have come across before,” Coen adds, as he inhales deeply again, just to make sure.
I nod, “I’ll explain in a minute. Let me just go and get Zephyr.”
The guys all reluctantly nod, but clearly aren’t that bothered by having to wait for me to explain the shirt, because they’re quickly reaching for the pastries before I’ve even made it out of the door.
Smiling, I walk through the house and toward the wall where House hides the door to the basement. I’m hoping that House decides to let me in, but if not, I can just yell at the wall like a crazy person and hope that Zephyr can hear me.
I’m not really sure why it feels important that he is involved in the conversation. Admittedly, I do want to thank him for the baked goods, which isn’t something that I thought he would do, but then again, I don’t really know him at all, so I suppose that I shouldn’t be surprised.
That’s not strictly why I thought that he should be up with us in the kitchen though. I just feel like he should be there. Like he should know what we’re talking about, and be involved with it, with us.
Also, the fact that he stopped me on the way out of the kitchen this morning and asked me about my dream is an obvious sign that he knows something, and can probably answer the questions that I have about the Voices and the way that my magic judged that asshole, and how I then took his heart and destroyed his soul.
I have no idea how I did it, but I know without a shadow of a doubt that I could do it again. The knowledge is there, I can feel the magic, I just have to call on it.
Before I use it again, I want to know what it is, what it does, and whether there are any consequences to using it.
Although I don't seem to be experiencing any consequences right now, it could be because I used the magic in a dream, and if I used it in the awake world, there would be consequences. I need to be cautious.
I also want to know how the hell Styx’s shirt has followed me from my dream.
Of course, I’m almost one hundred percent sure that it wasn’t just a simple dream, but then again, if it wasn’t a dream, what the hell was it?
All of this means that Zephyr should be included in the conversation.
When I get to the hallway, I’m actually surprised to see the door there. I didn’t think that House was going to allow it to be visible because Ethel told us that opening the door is like sending a signal to the Spirit Realm and the people who want the bone in the basement.
It’s because of that, and my desire not to have to deal with anything else today, that I choose to knock on the basement door instead of going down the steps.
If I don’t get a response, then I’ll go down, but I think that he should be able to hear me through the door.
Pretty much all supernaturals have amazing hearing.
Hopefully, he can hear me even if he’s in his house in the pocket realm that he made.
I’ve got no desire to deal with any more shit today, and I already have enough things to explain, I don’t really want to risk adding another ghost war into it.
“Zephyr?” I call out as I knock on the door.
After a few moments of waiting with no response, I try again, but this time raise my voice more and bang on the door a few more times.
Still nothing.
“What do you think, House, should I risk going in?” I ask quietly.
I really do feel like he has some of the answers to the questions that I have, and that it’s important that he’s a part of the conversation as a whole. Although that second reason doesn’t really make sense.
Plus, I feel like he’s been in the basement for a while, and I know that he has a house in his pocket realm, but he’s got to be lonely.
I would be.
I was, although I had Betty to talk to, and she kept me semi-sane.
I pause, actually, maybe she didn’t, I mean, I was talking to a gun, and she wasn’t enchanted then.
I shrug, you know what, it doesn’t matter, she’s enchanted now, and I was talking to her and the Voices.
The Voices murmur in agreement.
Of course they are voices in my head that no one else can hear, so that might be more of a tick in the crazy column instead of in the sane one.
Thankfully, before I spiral any further than I already am, the basement door glows and then slowly opens.
Zephyr isn’t standing on the steps looking at me like I’m a few sandwiches short of a picnic basket, so I’m assuming that House is the one who opened the door for me, and if House opened the door for me, then he thinks that it's okay if I go down there and speak to Zephyr.
The torches on the walls light with a welcoming glow as I descend the steps deep underground.
When I get to the bottom, I’m kind of disappointed that Zephyr isn’t floating in the middle of the room like he was when we first met him.
I feel like the image that he’s shown us is only the very tip of the iceberg.
The way that he holds himself and the way that he tracked my movements as I moved across the room this morning tells me that he is coiled violence, a predator.
I felt that as soon as my eyes landed on him. He’s deadly.
And as I stand here in the basement and in his space, my instincts scream at me. He is not what he appears to be, he’s acting in a certain way for our benefit, not because that’s who he is.
Despite all of that, I can’t definitively say that he is a danger to us. Which is incredibly confusing. Even the Voices aren’t much help, not chipping in either way.
He’s here, in my house, and he’s not going anywhere for a while because he’s on the run from something, and because I don’t know whether he’s with us or a threat to us, it means that in all the spare time that I have, I’m going to have to figure it out and get to know him.