28. I Tell Her, I Tell Her Not
I Tell Her, I Tell Her Not
Levi
“Rez!” Moni yells, and I rush to slow Rez’s descent, but with an entire upper torso of a spider attached to her, it’s almost impossible. But it’s enough to allow Slayer and Knots to slice the claw away from the body, and Lynx grabs her out of the air with his scorpion tail.
“Thank the Fates,” Chester sighs in relief as everyone gathers around Rez. I keep my distance and watch as they take turns checking each other’s injuries and making sure we’ve made it out okay from the fight.
From what I can tell from here, Rez has some damage to her shoulder, and Knots’ left wing has lost some primary feathers, but besides some scrapes and bruises, everyone else is okay. We are all alive, and that’s what matters most.
Blessing walks over to stand with me. “I really don’t understand why they would attack us specifically.
Like us, they attack only to protect their young or to survive.
They do not hunt us, and we have given them no reason to earn their ire.
” He shakes his head before he turns to me.
“Thank you for helping us. We have medicine and supplies for your injuries, and when you’re ready, we can take you to the portal you are searching for. ”
I cock my head and give him a disbelieving look.
If he had a flesh neck, my hands would probably be around it right now, since he kinda threw us into this fight with no warning.
He at least tried to help take down the spiders with his metal spear.
That’s probably the only thing that’s keeping me from zapping the crap out of him right now.
He’s not as proficient a fighter as we are, but that doesn’t mean much since we have been training with L.A.M.B.
, and we aren’t Gargoyles going against our greatest weakness.
“Aren’t I glad my neck is stone?” He smiles at me, and I clench my teeth.
“Thank you for your hospitality,” I manage to say through tight lips before turning to address the group.
“If you guys follow Blessing, he has supplies to help clean you up and heal what they can before taking us to the portal,” I explain, and I’m relieved to see the same reaction on my friends’ faces. But they do a great job of covering their shock and shuffle our way.
“I’m gonna stay and help dispose of the bodies,” I tell them as they pass, and I turn to Blessing. “Are you okay with me burning them in the fireplaces? Or do you use anything from them?” I ask, making sure I don’t rob them of any supplies.
“Thank you for asking. If their pincers are still in good shape, we can use those. And now that the ceiling is fixed, the fireplace is fine to use. We weren’t using it before, because we didn’t want to alert any predators to our young that we couldn’t close the hatch.
Now we can start moving them back in once the room is cleaned up,” he tells me before walking out with my friends.
As my friends walk out, I watch as Rez holds her right arm to her chest, and I find myself rubbing my chest where my heart is.
I know if I were to look, the sore I have is looking worse.
Stupidly, I try to think back to the first time we met, and even that first day is starting to waver.
I remember she was scared, and I had to explain her options.
I don’t even remember what those choices were, but they upset her, and I touched… was it her hair?
I grind my teeth against the sharp pain pressing on my chest once more and drop the thought. It will come to me when I really need it. Let me get to work. There are at least twenty corpses that need to be disposed of.
I go to the closest spider and easily cut off an intact pincer with my magic, placing it off to the side before dragging the body over to the massive fireplace.
It’s tall enough that I can walk into it, so rearranging the body of the spider doesn’t take long, and once I have two in there, I throw a fireball in to start the fire.
I continue the process, letting my mind wander as I work at getting rid of spider bodies. My thoughts wander to one supe with pink hair that fills my mind.
Emer.
Is she still in Ever Woods? Did she also get hurt?
Nah, she’s a beast, and she has a good team too.
She’s probably down in Hell, and of course, she has family down there, so she will easily pass through there with no problem.
Her uncle is Asmodeus, and he won’t let anything happen to his niece and daughter.
Slap.
I sputter and choke on the stream of water forcibly hitting me in the face.
“You done with your nightmare?” JP snarks before letting up on the waterworks.
I cough and wipe the water from my face, glaring up at the cocky ass that’s perched up against the doorframe.
“You trying to drown me?” I spit out before whispering a spell to dry me off.
“If it’s the only way to get those thoughts out of your head, then consider me Poseidon’s Grim Reaper.” He smirks, but drops his smile as he pushes off the wall and walks over to me.
“Look, Levi. I could hear you screaming at me, as in, you weren’t shielding any of your thoughts just now. I know this is hard on you.” He places his hand on my shoulder, and I go blank. I’m not sure how I feel about all of this.
Should I feel angry that I was caught? Ashamed that I’m struggling? Relieved that someone knows?
“Believe it or not, but if anyone can make it through this curse—because make no mistake, that’s what this is—it’s you.
You’re the strongest out of all of us to push through this and still get the girl in the end.
And it will be the right girl, Levi.” He squeezes my shoulder.
“But if you find yourself struggling at any point, let us know. We’re family, and that’s what we’re here for.
You’re not doing this alone.” He pauses and looks around before he drops his hand.
“Well, you were doing it alone.” He chuckles. “But not anymore. Let me help.”
I chuckle and nod.
“Okay, just make sure you take off the claws before you incinerate their bodies,” I tell him, dragging the closest arachnid body I have to one of the fireplaces.
“Simple enough,” he says as he walks over to a spider and cuts off a claw, laying it down in the line I’ve made.
I’m over on the other side of the cave when JP calls out to me.
“Hey Levi?”
“Yeah?”
“Have you noticed this?” he asks, still standing by the claws.
I run my hands through my hair and walk over to see what he’s talking about. At a glance, all I see are the claws I’ve lined up in no particular order. They all differ in size and color, with smooth outer shells and sharp pincers that could easily cut through skin or crush bone or stone.
“What do you see?”
“This.” JP kneels and points to a shape at the base of the claw on the one he’s closest to.
I conjure a light and bring it down to inspect the area, and I feel the blood drain from my head.
“Holy Fates,” I murmur.
“I take it this is bad,” JP guesses.
I really wish I hadn’t seen this, but now that I have, I need to check the other claws. I quickly shuffle to the others and check. The exact same swirls of intricate designs are on all of them, causing my stomach to roll with nausea.
“Levi?” JP probes. “You’re scaring me, and the fact that your shields are a fucking iron vault when just a second ago, they were thrown open, is definitely a red flag,” he points out, and he’s completely right.
This is bad news, and I’m not sure I want to be the one to break it.
I turn to look at JP as I swallow down the bile rising in my throat.
“Let’s finish the last few and see if the others have the same mark before I come to a conclusion,” I tell him.
He pauses as if ready to argue, but purses his lips and gives me a curt nod before turning and grabbing another spider.
I double-check my shields, making sure they are solid, and add another layer just in case, as I work out what all this means in case I could be wrong.
I don’t want to be wrong and send anyone into a panic if I’m overreacting.
This is why I keep emotions out of things and focus on logic and facts.
We work in silence for a few hours, burning the bodies, piling the pincers against the wall, and with every symbol I see etched into their base, it’s a stab at what I know.
As JP pulls the last pincer over and lays it down so I can see the marking along with all the others, my heart sinks.
That’s not just a simple stamp or brand that would be found on a normal pet or livestock that humans would have on Earth.
One could call it a simple spell, but most would call it slavery.
I walk around the cave and cleanse the room since the Darkstars are poisonous to the gargoyles, and this is their nursery. We can’t have any lingering, exposing them, and letting our efforts go to waste.
“We’re all done,” Moni says, zipping into the room. “Let’s go, slow pokes!” she yells, turning and leaving a green streak as she flies out.
“You’ve got until we land in Hell to get it straight in your head before I spill,” JP tells me simply as he passes, and I feel a weight land on my chest.
He doesn’t mean he knows what I know, but he will bring up what he saw here, and then how I want to handle it will be out of my control. I take in a deep breath before slowly letting it out and follow him down the hallway.
I guess I have to figure out how to accuse someone without breaking their heart. I wish it were easy to throw your emotions back into a locker once they were out. I need that superpower.
As I reach the entrance to the cave, I take stock and look over everyone to make sure they are okay.
“We’re cool, Levi,” Rez reassures me with a smile. “Nothing we can’t handle,” she says with her arm in a sling.
“What the hell?” I take a step towards her, and the air is knocked out of me as I reach for her, reminding me of the condition I have. Flexing my fist, I step back and turn to Blessing. “What medicine did you have on stock?”