29. The Lost Sheep
The Lost Sheep
Rez
As we walk, I make peace with what I have to say. Maybe I’m too close to everything, and I’m not looking at this rationally. So, I repeat what Dad told me. I tell everyone about my run-in with King Elverson, how Dad warned me away from him, and his confession about how he was in debt to him.
“He never said he wasn’t bound anymore,” JP points out.
“I—he—” Shit. “You’re right,” I admit, feeling sick to my stomach, and I stumble over a rock. Thankfully, Knox grabs me before I face plant into the ground.
“I got you,” he whispers and wraps his arm around me, being careful of my shoulder.
“Thank you,” I mumble, feeling completely out of sorts.
This can’t be right. “Wait!” I tell JP. “Yeah, he might not have said he wasn’t bound, but he did say Elverson has not called on the bound since his son, which should have been his last task.
And his words did ring true,” I insist. “Look,” I say, pulling away from Knox and moving closer to JP.
“I know I’m not a perfect reader like your dad, but I can still tell when someone is lying, and he wasn’t. ”
“He could have just done it, without needing the bond used,” Chester mumbles, but I hear it, and my jaw drops.
“Chestie!” Moni chastises him, elbowing him in the ribs.
What the hell?
Zeke squeezes JP’s shoulder, and it seems to remind him of something because JP nods and slowly lets out a breath.
“You’re right, Rez, and I’m sorry. I think I might be letting my emotions get the better of me on this one.” He gives me a sad smile. “Do you remember seeing that picture in my room, that first night? That water painting of the three guys, and I told you it was a portrait?”
“Vaguely,” I admit, although it was a risqué piece if I remember correctly.
“It was the last known picture of Prince Elverson before his murder. He was a close friend of mine,” he admits, and my heart stops, breaks, and tries to piece itself back together.
“Oh, Fates. My father. Oh JP. I am so sorry.” My jaw drops at the loss for words. I curl into myself as I realize my father killed his friend, and there’s no excuse. I feel so dirty and ashamed. Can I even be around him now? Should I even be here?
I stop walking, and a wall of muscle slams into my back. Strong arms wrap around my waist and gently hold me as I look up and find green eyes giving me a bewildered look.
“What’s wrong?” Worry laces Knox’s tone, and he glares at JP. Before I can correct whatever he’s thinking, JP is rushing towards me.
“Rez, it’s not what you’re thinking,” he claims. “You have to understand,” he pleads, desperate to touch me.
“What did you do?” Knox growls, his eyes flashing crimson red.
Woah.
Reaper whines and jumps up on me, knocking me away from both of them, and I stumble against the rocks, falling back so I end up on top of one of them with my feet up in the air.
“Damnit, Reaper. Do you not know how hard it is to get up with just one arm normally?” I ask, giving him a perturbed look.
“Knox?” Moni’s scared voice pulls my attention to her instead of my current goal. Her pale white bark pops against the dark green vegetation, but it’s the others' expressions that cause me to pause.
Everyone is having an extreme case of emotions. Anger, desperation, sadness, fear, depressed, and a few I can’t tell, but it’s enough to know it’s not normal. We were just walking and all of a sudden, this.
What changed? What’s going on?
Reaper barks and acts like he’s attacking something I can’t see, so I pull myself up, and my jaw drops.
Fuck. We were too concerned about my dad and everything else to see the fog. The good news is it doesn’t seem to come to the rocky part of the ground. So, we just need to bring everyone over and travel on a rocky trail.
I glance over to Moni, hovering just out of reach above the fog, and call out.
“Moni, are you sane?” I ask, chuckling to myself. Of course she’s not sane; she wouldn’t know what that was. That was a dumb question.
“Of course I’m not Zane. I’m Moni. Are you okay, bestie?
Did you go nuts like everyone else?” she replies, cocking her head at me.
“And why are you stuck in rocks? Are you trying to become a rock monster? I tried that one summer. It turns out, it was just a prank. That’s not how you become tough like rocks or as big as one.
You’re born that way. Or you take a potion. ”
“MONI!” I yell, getting her attention.
“Huh?” She shakes her head and looks at me. “Oh. Hi, bestie!”
“It’s the fog,” I say, pointing down. “We need to get everyone out of it.”
Knox shifts into Fluffers and bares his teeth at JP in a warning, and my heart skips a beat.
“Before they kill each other,” I add.
Her eyes go wide as she nods and starts to lower herself to the ground.
“But don’t touch the fog!” I yell, warning her.
I swear it’s a real-life game of the Floor is Lava.
She squeaks but chugs her coffee and slams her cup back into her S.I.N. box before grabbing the first person next to her and begins coaxing them to the side, which happens to be Levi.
I focus on Knox since I know he’s the bigger threat.
‘Fluffers? I know you’re in there. Can you help me?’
‘Mate!’
‘Yes. Can you help me? I could really use my strong mate right now. I’m hurt and need you.’ I put a whine into my plea.
‘Coming!’ he says, and does an about face, tongue hanging out of his mouth and prancing his way to me. As soon as he crosses into the rocks, his tongue disappears into his closed mouth, and he sits for a moment before Knox appears.
“What the fuck just happened?” he growls, and I sigh in relief even though I’m still sitting between two boulders that have sharp edges, one of which towers over my head, and my butt is going numb.
“Fog is affecting everyone. Rocks are safe. Help,” I explain in the simplest form and point down to the fog. Knox, appreciating my tactic, snorts.
He picks me up, freeing my buttcheeks, and sets me on a stone.
Once I’m set, he walks over to JP, grabbing his arm and yanking him to safety.
Between the three of them, Moni booms the fog away as JP hits them with water, while Slayer’s tentacles extract them, and they get everyone out of the fog.
The gargoyles are a little harder since Slayer can’t physically pick them up due to their skin, but they wake them out of their stupor long enough to allow them to fly out of the fog to safety.
I can’t help but feel useless as I stand and watch them.
It doesn’t help that my mind is permanently stuck on the idea that my father might be a bad guy's minion for free. I haven’t even talked about how certain Cain is that he’s my sibling, and he wants to work together. How do you break that news?
A few minutes later, we walk across the rocks around a bend and see the silver rim of the next portal.
“Thank Fates!” Moni cries out.
“Whoop!” Lynx does a little dance, and I roll my eyes.
“Where do you think it leads next?” Zeke asks, giving it side-eye.
“I don’t care, as long as we get out of these creepy ass woods,” Ryker grumbles. “I hate this place.”
“Thank you, Blessing, for helping us,” Levi says, shaking the gargoyle’s hand.
Ever the diplomat. This is why he’s our leader, and I’m not. I honestly forgot our escort was even here.
“It’s been my honor.” Blessing crosses one arm over his chest and lowers his head.
“When it is time for us to fight alongside you, just call for us.” He extends his wings, and I gasp at how long they are.
I wasn’t paying attention to them until now, but they could probably wrap around Knots twice.
He easily kicks off and launches himself into the sky along with the others, and I immediately notice the soundless retreat, which isn’t what I was expecting.
“Anyone else notice how he would be a completely silent killer?” Knox remarks.
“Yeah. Deadly,” Ryker agrees, nodding in awe.
“Scary.” Moni curls into herself a little.
“Let’s go,” Knots says as he approaches the portal.
I give the portal a glare as we approach.
Except for when we started the Gauntlet, we haven’t had the best track record with portals, but given that this is what everyone should be using to leave the Ever Woods, I wave off my disdain.
Even with my wonky powers, I’m not getting the butterflies in the stomach or the internal warning that has somehow stayed with me, so I put trust in the Gauntlet makers that they aren’t trying to kill me at least, and approach our exit.
One by one, we walk through, only to be greeted with dead bodies and the stench of fecal matter, sulfur, and blood.
Nothing but corpses, blood, and other questionable substances litter the entryway of the cave tunnel. To the left is the entrance to the cave, and to the right is a dead end, but at least five dead bodies are lying in front of us, which we will have to step over to move past.
“Aww shit. Is that body from Seven Seductive?” Chester asks, moving it with his shoe. The body rolls over to its back, exposing a mutilated demon body.
Knots screws up his face. “It would seem so, and this does not bode well considering the fact we’re in Hell.”
“What do you mean?” Moni asks, looking a little yellowish-green.
“It means, if the home team, Seven Seductive, was taken out at their home base, when they should know it like the back of their hand, then either it’s an inside job, or even what they’ve been trained for wasn’t enough,” he explains.
A chill runs down my spine as deja vu hits me as I follow his line of sight. “Knots?” I can’t hide the worry in my voice as panic chokes me. “I—I can’t shield you!” I admit.
“Then I guess we’d better make this trip quick, huh?” he replies and starts walking towards the entrance of the cave.
What the hell?
“Who the hell answers a problem with an answer like that?” I whine.
“Apparently, he does.” Ryker chuckles. “Come on, Goddess, let’s see what trouble we can get into.”