Chapter Thirteen
This time when I awake its gradually I don’t come crashing into the awake world in a ball of pain like I did after the nightmare that Creep pulled me into.
Thank fuck.
When I do finally open my eyes though not only do I have a worried looking Knot, in her fox form lying on my chest with her nose inches away from my own but I also have Ghost peering at me from his perch above my head looking just as worried.
He tilts his head to the side and I reach up slowly and gently stroke the feathers of his chest with one hand as I stroke Knot with the other.
“I’m okay guys I promise.” I say to them.
“Are you sure Beautiful because you were asleep for a really long time and none of us could wake you.” Kai says his tone anxious.
I peer past my familiar’s to see all of my men and Kysen crowded around me worriedly.
“Fuck did something weird happen?” I ask worried that I might’ve done an interpretive dance or some shit.
“No Darling but you have been asleep, without moving a muscle for the entire night and a good portion of the morning too. That and your familiar’s both showed up to guard you.” Levi says coming closer as Ghost and Knot move out of the way not taking their eyes off of me.
“That’s usually the sign that somethings a miss with you but they weren’t panicking just watching so we took our cue from them.” Jax says, laying a hand on my thigh and squeezing gently.
“That explains why I feel so stiff.” I groan. “Fuck before I forget, does anyone have a pen and a piece of paper or anything similar?”
“Sure, one second.” Kysen says curiously.
He rummages through his pack, which he had the foresight to bring into the tent and then hands them to me. I try to sit up but don’t get very far thanks to the stiffness in most of my body, Kai gently pulls me up to sitting position and I cross my legs in front of me and lean on them to write.
“Care to explain?” Maverick asks me as I start to write down the letters I remember so I can put them the right way around.
“I had a vision from Nyx. The short version is that we need to go to this town and get an envelope off of Monty.” I tell them as I write. “The only problem being that I only saw the name of the town in a reflection. Hence why I need the pen and paper so I can write it the right way round.”
“Well at least we know what our next step is now.” Kai says optimistically.
“But if you saw Nyx give this guy the envelope then that had to have been over three hundred years ago.” Kysen says incredulously.
“Three hundred and fifty-two to be exact. She told him how many years he’d have to keep it for.” I reply absently just starting to flip the letters so its written the right way.
“That’s absolutely crazy.” Mav says wonder in his deep voice, “That means that she knew all of this was going to happen that long ago.”
“Why are you frowning Titch?” Hunt asks tilting his head and studying me.
“Somethings niggling at my brain something that I can’t remember that I think happened at the end of the vision.” I frown harder and try to push to remember.
I cry out as sudden sharp pain spears through my brain and makes me feel dizzy and nauseous from the severity of it.
“Whoa, Little Star.” Jax coos as he pulls me against him. “What happened?”
The others crowd around once again looking worried.
“I tried to remember.” I say simply my head still pounding.
“Ok Beautiful lets not try that again, agreed?” Kai implores.
I nod slowly once not wanting to jar my head. Fortunately its already starting to fade.
“Your vision was from Nyx, there must be a reason why she doesn’t want you to remember.” Kysen reasons.
“He’s right.” Mav agrees.
“I know. I just don’t like being in the dark but she hasn’t steered us wrong so far so I guess I’ll carry on doing what I’ve been doing and trust her.
” I say trying to push it from my mind I definitely don’t want to risk getting one of those headaches again.
“Do you know where this is?” I say changing the subject and thrusting the piece of paper I was using to work out the name of the town in his general direction.
“Occultatum.” He mutters as he stares at the paper. “I’ve heard of it but I have no idea how to get to it. I’ve never been before. From what I recall though it’s a tiny little village with nothing of much interest there. One second.”
I watch curiously as he goes out of the tent.
“You guys might want to come out here there’s not enough room in there to spread the map out properly.” He calls back.
Ahh that makes sense. No such thing as google maps here, traditional ones are what’s used.
I stiffly follow the guys out of the tent grabbing something to nibble on, on the way out, I’m starving.
Kysen has the huge map spread out on the still damp earth from last nights rain although the sun has already started drying it up a bit.
He positions rocks at each corner to stop it from blowing away and then leans over it studying it.
“Is this the whole of the Demon realm?” Maverick asks leaning over the map so he can get a closer look.
“God no. This is just the west Kingdom.” Kysen replies, frowning as he searches for Occultatum.
“Wow. I had no idea this place was so big.” Levi mutters.
“Ah ha here it is. Right,” He says motioning us forward. “This is where we are, roughly somewhere in these woods and this is where Occultatum is. It’s around a four hour ride away from the academy. Which is here.” He adds tapping his finger at beautifully detailed castle on the map.
I can’t wait to get there and explore it properly. I bet a castle of that size and age is hiding a multitude of secrets and I’m looking forward to uncovering a few.
“Are you sure this is where we need to go?” Kysen asks me.
“Yes I’m positive. She told me to pay attention. Whatever is in that envelope we need to know. I’m hoping it has something to do with my parents or the missing Centres and Bonded.” I mutter.
“Maybe they’re one and the same!?” Maverick says enthusiastically as he jumps up and starts pacing.
“It hadn’t even occurred to me before now but hearing you put them together like that just made something click.
What if your parents were taken by the same people that took all of the Centres and Bonded mates? ”
“The Order.” I whisper as it suddenly dawns on me.
“It would then stand to reason that they could be the same people that took Rebecca and her Bonded. I’d almost forgotten about them but we know that the Director was involved in their kidnapping and that she was involved with the Order too.
If my parents were taken by the Order along with the other Centre’s then it stands to reason that Rebecca and her Bonded were too.
” The words rush from me as all the pieces click into place.
“Fucking hell you’re right.” Jax mutters.
“How the fuck did we miss that!?” Kai questions scrubbing a hand through his hair.
“Ok let’s focus. We really need to be careful it was bad enough when it was some unknown enemy but we know that the Order are damn dangerous.” Levi says falling into the role of leader seamlessly as usual.
He easily commands the attention of the others and me. You can’t help but listen to what he has to say.
“We need to focus on one thing at a time. Hopefully whatever is in that envelope will not only confirm that it is the Order that have taken your parents but also some information or something on how we’re supposed to rescue them and where they are.”
“What about the others?” I ask.
“Your parents are the priority Sage. We can always regroup and come back for the others. Obviously if we can we will get the rest out as well.” Levi replies.
“No.” I say firmly. “We get them all out or we risk them being moved and we may never find them again.”
The guys all look between me and Levi as he just crosses his arms over his wide chest. I don’t budge. This is really important to me and I just know that we’ll never find them again if they get spooked. We’ve got one shot at this.
“Ok Darling. We’ll do this your way but if I think it’s becoming too dangerous and we’ll lose someone I will pull us out regardless of how pissed you will be at me. You come before everything else.” He says firmly.
I ignore the guys raised eyebrows and Jax with his hand over Kai’s mouth stopping him from saying something that will no doubt get him in trouble.
“That’s fair.” I say walking up to him and placing my hands on his arms. He watches my curiously. Unsure about my reaction. “Thank you for listening Levi.”
“I’ll always listen Darling, I might not always agree though.” He says honestly wrapping his arms around me.
“Same.” I grin and he smirks before dipping down and kissing me softly.
“I can’t believe you got him to agree with you!” Kai blurts.
“Sorry guys there’s only so long I can keep his mouth occupied for.” Jax says not realising at first what he’s said.
“Well . . .” I start.
“Don’t, we don’t have time for that to devolve.” Kysen chuckles.
“Fine spoil my fun!” I grumble.
“He’s right. If we’re going to get this letter off of the guy we need to get going or we won’t get there until nightfall.” Hunt says.
“I don’t know the village well enough to know whether it’s safe to travel to after dark.” Kysen adds.
“Alright, like I said first thing first. We need to get to the village and find Monty.” Levi says.
“Agreed let’s pack up.” Maverick says.
We all disperse and start to pack up as Hunter checks on the horses.
All of them are still here which surprises me.
I thought the storm would of scared them off.
I may have been asleep for the majority of it or in a vision.
I was unconscious, we’ll just go with that.
Looking around at the destruction and debris everywhere it’s obvious that it was a violent one.
If I were the horses I definitely would’ve disappeared.