Chapter Twenty-Five
Griff
Doc gives her a raised eyebrow look, “Are you saying that so we don’t worry so much, or because you genuinely thing think that it is true?”
Neith sticks her tongue out at him, “The latter. I don’t feel this foreboding feeling that usually accompanies these sorts of things, and I would definitely feel that if my life were in danger.”
Neith carries on talking it through with the others, but my focus is elsewhere.
She did it again.
Whenever Neith talks about her life being in danger, shadows cross her features, and knowledge darkens her eyes, and then it’s almost immediately chased away by a fleeting guilty look.
It’s obvious to me that she isn’t telling us something. It doesn’t bother me in the slightest. She doesn’t have to tell us every little thing, just like she doesn’t expect us to tell her every little thing about us.
Having said that, this one makes me extremely curious.
It could just be that she’s remembering when she got blown up, died, and then came back, and what happened in the temple with Raiden, when we nearly lost them both.
I mean, all of that is enough to put shadows in someone’s eyes, but for some reason, I think that it’s more than that.
Which, quite honestly, scares me a little and makes me feel uneasy, I mean, that was not a small thing that happened, and her reaction being because of something more than that is scary to think about.
Maybe it’s my visions giving me hints without the actual vision, or maybe it’s just a feeling, but it’s definitely something, and I’m not wrong.
The thing is, Neith has proven herself to be a bit skittish if asked about certain things, and I really don’t want to push her at all, so I’m not going to ask.
Despite how curious and admittedly worried I am about her reaction.
I’m going to wait and see.
Hopefully, she will tell us eventually, and I’ll have an answer, but if she doesn’t, then I’m going to be good with that too.
“Are we any closer?” Coen asks, as he looks around at the still barren landscape.
I shake my head and let out an annoyed huff, “I have no fucking idea. It’s fucking ridiculous. We have been walking for a good few hours now, and for all I know, we could be going in completely the wrong direction. The vision could be wrong.”
“Your visions are never wrong,” Doc says.
“Well, Michael did say that we should head this way and that when we were close, we would then get some sort of magical wham bam thank you, ma’am, from magic and know where the cave is,” Neith says, not seeming as annoyed by the situation that we find ourselves in as the rest of us.
“I love the way that you phrase shit, Nene,” Van says with a smile and a chuckle.
Neith curtseys while walking, which means that she almost ends up on her ass, and says, “Why, thank you, kind sir.” She looks back at me, “My point is that we’re running out of land, we are literally heading toward the cliffs, so if it’s going to happen, then it’s going to happen soon.”
“She’s got a point,” Reed agrees.
“I know you said that you’re pretty sure that the woman in the vision wasn’t warning you about water, but for my own peace of mind, please don’t go near the edge of the cliff,” Ransom pleads with Neith.
She moves over to his side and stands on her tiptoes as he lowers his head to kiss her.
“I won’t. I have no desire to go so close to the edge,” Neith reassures him, and I think we all take a breath of relief.
I don’t think I have ever worried about someone the way that I worry about Neith. Having said that, though, I have never been in love with someone before, so I’m sure that makes a difference.
“I mean, we could just all search for it,” Raiden suggests. “We’re all just assuming that it’s a magical reason that is going to help find it, but it could just be that we have to hunt for the cave ourselves. You know, put the physical effort in?”
“You might have a point,” Baz agrees. “Although that does mean that we’re going to be out here considerably longer than we thought that we would be.”
They carry on talking, but I freeze.
My magic is buzzing. It’s like it’s fizzing under my skin, I can’t explain it. It’s not painful, but it’s not exactly a comfortable feeling either. I don’t like it, it makes me want to itch.
With a pop, the feeling disappears, and a golden ribbon of light stretches out in front of me and closer to the cliff’s edge.
“I guess we follow the golden ribbon,” I say, interrupting their conversation. I’m actually pretty surprised that they’re still talking since a magic ribbon has just formed in front of us.
They all look at me like I’ve lost my mind, and I frown.
“Erm, what golden ribbon?” Doc asks.
I sigh, “Of course, you guys wouldn’t see it, that would be too helpful.
” They’re all still waiting for an answer, obviously, so I start to explain, “My magic started to behave weird, and then this golden ribbon of light appeared, and it’s leading off into the distance.
I’m assuming that it means that we have to follow it and that it will lead us to the cave where we can do the ritual. ”
Van nods, “Alright, you take the lead, and we’ll follow.”
“I don’t suppose it’s heading away from the cliff edge?” Coen asks as he glances at Neith.
I shake my head, “Nope. It actually looks like it’s going over the edge.”
“Toward the ocean?” Reed mutters, and I nod with a frown. “Awesome.”
“Guys, seriously. I really don’t think that water is a threat to me,” Neith says again.
“We know, but we would all rather be overly cautious,” River tells her.
She sighs, but I know that she understands our reasoning. She would be exactly the same if it were the other way around.
We all pick up the pace now that we’ve got a destination to focus on, and we aren’t just wandering aimlessly in the snow.
“I don’t see a cave, and we’re running out of ground,” Reed says with concern after a few more minutes of walking.
“The ribbon is leading this way,” I say, although I’m aware that I don’t sound as sure about it as they would probably like. “Maybe we have to fly down to the cave? I mean, it is a gargoyle thing.”
“True, but Michael didn’t seem surprised that Neith could be your mate, even though she isn’t a gargoyle, and he didn’t say that it was specific to only gargoyles.
He also said that we could all go with you, and he knows that some of us don’t fly.
Although I suppose he could just be assuming that those who do fly would fly the others down to the cave,” Raiden reasons, ending on a frown.
Neith grins, “I’m so proud of you, that was a Neith worthy ramble.”
Raiden smirks and sticks his middle finger up at her, which she finds absolutely hilarious.
“I think your rambling may be contagious. I never rambled like this before,” Raiden reasons.
“Fuck off,” River retorts immediately. “You absolutely used to ramble like this before, about any sort of theory you had.”
“Guys, there’s a path,” Van interrupts, thankfully stopping the argument before it can really get going.
“Well, that looks nice and safe and not scary and narrow,” Coen mutters sarcastically.
“Alright, easy does it. I think the path has been worn away over time, and since true mates aren’t a thing anymore, no one has had reason to maintain it. Step really carefully,” I order.
“Neith, you go behind Griff and hold onto his shirt. Reed, you go behind Neith and hold onto her, just in case,” Van adds. “We have no idea what other magic is involved, so I don’t suggest any of you using your wings unless you really have to.”
Neith
I roll my eyes. It really is a little bit ridiculous how protective they’re being about the whole water thing. However, I do have a reputation for getting into big, dangerous amounts of trouble, and I’m also slightly clumsy and a bit easily distracted.
I look down at the angry waves crashing against the cliff below.
Yeah, actually, I think I feel better with them holding onto me.
In fact, if they could hold onto me tighter, that would be fantastic.
For some reason, that thought makes me think of them holding me tighter, naked, against the cliff wall on the very dangerous and thin cliff path.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
The Voices snicker.
“I don’t think it’s that funny, I think it’s more disturbing than anything,” I argue back, and they simply carry on laughing at me.
Huffing indignantly, I have to admit that I am grateful that wasn’t one of those things that I said out loud though, because I have no reasonable way to explain that thought. Apart from to say that I pretty much always want them naked, so location really isn’t something I’m that bothered about.
Now, logically, I shouldn’t be as freaked out as I am about walking on this tiny cliff path because I can fly.
However, my logical and illogical sides don’t always see eye to eye.
In fact, my illogical side is a downright bitch sometimes, so although I know that, I’m still terrified.
Plus, wings are still a pretty new thing to me, and quite honestly, I don’t know whether I would open them if I were falling off something.
It would hopefully be instinctual, but if it’s not and it’s something that I have to trigger with a thought or something, then I feel like I would think of opening my wings too late.
Yeah, I don’t want the guys to let go of me, and now I have successfully managed to freak myself out, again.
The number of times that I have talked myself into freaking out should be fucking studied.
It’s not normal, but it is impressive.
Just to be clear, I’m not freaked out because of the water. If I were then I would have to admit to the guys that I was getting an iffy feeling after all, and that maybe the woman in my dream was warning me after all, however that’s not the case.
It’s not the water that’s freaking me out at all. It’s the falling.
I fucking hate falling, and falling to your death is the worst, you have too much time to think.
Trust me, I’ve done it, and it has to be one of my worst deaths.
Not that there are any good deaths, but there are ones that are more peaceful, ones that aren’t drenched in pain, and those I consider good deaths.
Falling though, nope. I fucking hate it. Funnily enough, it hasn’t made me fear heights, and you would think that it would.
My brain never works quite right though.
“It’s not much further, I think I see the path widening up ahead,” Griff calls back over the sound of the wind that has of course, decided to pick back up.
Because this isn’t perilous enough as it is.
I have a little time and I’m trying to distract myself from the sheer drop into the icy depths of the Scottish sea, where there are, no doubt, lots of hidden jagged rocks ready to end me, and I really do not want to die that way.
Especially since I know that there are also supernatural creatures hiding in the depths of the ocean too.
No, thank you.
Apparently, I am shit at distracting myself.
Thankfully, Griff was right, and the path gets wider before we’re all standing in front of the dark mouth of a cliff.
The entrance is pretty big, and I’m hoping that it stays that way because I am not good with being in small spaces, and small spaces where I’m in the earth, well, that’s even fucking worse.
Ransom mutters a couple of words, and then the cave ahead of us lights up with floating witch lights, which allows us to see that the space beyond is really big and that we will all fit in there easily. Plus, they have the added bonus of looking super pretty too.
We all move inside to get out of the wind and away from the edge of the cliff.
At least that’s why I practically run inside.
I suppose I should have been more cautious, considering that this cave hasn’t been used for a really long time and could have some sort of creature living inside it, but honestly, falling off the cliff is a bigger fear of mine than being eaten by some cave-dwelling creature.
The likelihood of something being in here is pretty fucking small anyway.
I can’t believe that we have to go back out that way, well, I can, I mean, it’s a cave, I’m pretty sure that there’s only going to be one way in and out of it. Unless it’s connected to a cave system, that would be pretty cool.
The way back is going to be uphill and even more tricky to trek up than it was coming down, and what if the weather gets worse?
You know what? I’m going to stay here, this is a nice cave. I could live here, no problem.
Okay, I have fully spiraled.