Chapter Two
Neith
The guys stare at me with surprised expressions for a moment.
“It hadn’t even occurred to me that was possible,” River mutters.
I nod, “Another thing would be not to limit it to ghosts. I’m willing to bet that there are a few other things that could be classed as undead that we don’t want in here.
I don’t want to take any risks, so just add to the wards a layer guarding against anything that should be in the Spirit Realm?
Again, with the same caveat so that nothing that calls this place home gets ejected. ”
I call this place home, and I’m not sure if I’m classed as something undead. It would be a shock for everyone if Ransom did the ward and I got ejected from the grounds.
Ransom smiles and pulls me into his arms. Dipping his head, his lips meet mine in a heated kiss that makes me forget who I am.
“I love the way that your mind works,” he mutters as he ends the kiss.
I grin, “Right back at ya, gorgeous.”
The guys chuckle at my breathless reply.
“So, what do you think, Ransom, is it possible?” Griff asks curiously.
Ransom seems to think about it for a moment and then shrugs, “I’ve never done it before, but that’s because I’ve never tried to. I guess there’s one way to find out.”
“Do you want us to all touch you at the same time, like with the wards at my parents' place?” Van asks.
“Ooo, sounds dirty,” I smirk, and the guys just shake their heads and laugh.
“Nice,” River grins, giving me a high five.
Ransom answers Van’s question as he shakes his head, “No. I think since I’m trying something different, and I want these wards to be as strong as the ones at our house.
I need you all to be touching me individually, and I will add your magic one by one.
I don’t want to risk them not being as strong as we need them to be.
It will take longer to do, but I think it’s worth it,” he replies thoughtfully.
“Absolutely,” Van replies. “Is there any particular order that you want to do this in?”
Ransom shakes his head, “Nope. But even if you don’t know what death magic you got given by the Choosing, I need you to try to focus on it when I pull the magic from you for the wards. My instincts are telling me that’s what is going to help us ward the house from everything living and dead.”
“That makes sense, actually,” Reed nods.
One by one, the guys all add their magic to Ransom’s ward, and with each one, I watch as a shimmering, glittering, black layer gets added before it disappears and becomes invisible again.
I don’t think I’m supposed to be able to see it, but as I’ve said before, I could see through Navy’s ward the first night that I met her, and I know that was strong.
The guys couldn’t even see through it. So it must be a part of my magic, the ability to see wards and see through them.
It's pretty awesome, and if I can work out how to use it properly, then it will be useful in all sorts of situations.
“Your turn,” Ransom says, bringing me out of my thoughts as he holds out his hand for me.
I smile and take his hand. We’ve done this a few times now, so it’s a familiar feeling to me.
He told us to focus on our death magic. I’m pretty sure that the majority of my magic is linked to death, so I focus on all of it, as well as my intention to protect House, Ethel, and the grounds from all things living and dead that wish to cause it or us harm.
The ground shakes, and once again a huge boom of power releases, this time though it comes from both Ransom and me. The ward snaps into place with a resounding thunk.
“It worked?” Griff asks, his eyebrows high on his forehead.
Ransom nods, “Oh yeah. They’re as strong as the wards at our house. I would venture that they’re stronger thanks to the extra protections that we put in place for the dead.”
“Awesome,” Raiden grins. “Well done.”
“Let’s go inside and find out why House was being attacked in the first place,” Van suggests.
“Yeah. It’s not like Ethel lost in a poker match and they were coming to collect,” River jokes and then looks at me and asks, “right?”
I shrug, “Honestly, I have no idea. It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if she played poker somehow. Especially after seeing what she just did, but this feels more vengeful than a simple poker debt.”
River frowns, “Yeah. That’s true. I wonder why they were attacking then?”
“I guess the only way that we’re going to find that out is to ask, Ethel,” Doc points out as we head back toward the house.
“Plus, it’s damn cold, and I don’t want to be outside anymore,” Coen adds, making me smile.
“House has probably got the fires on for us,” Griff smiles.
“I can’t wait to get introduced to House and Ethel properly,” Coen replies with a smile.
“Wait, the bags,” I say as I remember that we came through the portal with our stuff and then obviously dumped them when we had to defend House.
“I’ll grab them,” Doc says and then disappears, returning with our bags and handing them out to all of us.
“Thanks, man,” Coen says as we all grab our bags and then head toward House finally.
The shutters all flap wildly as we walk up the steps.
“House looks fine. I could have sworn that I saw him get damaged,” Raiden says with a frown.
“I saw one of his shutters get pulled off, at least I was sure that’s what I saw,” I add, as I study the now perfectly looking shutter. “Are you okay, House?”
His shutters slam happily, and the front door bursts open, a warm, welcoming glow spilling across the porch.
“Is it me, or does the porch look in far better condition than it did the last time that we were here?” Ransom asks as we all head through the door and into the warmth of House.
“It’s not just the outside,” Reed says as he steps inside. “It looks great in here.”
The fires flare suddenly, and I’m pretty sure that it’s because House is happy with the compliment.
“House has been busy,” Ethel calls from the kitchen. “Hurry now.”
We all dump the bags that we brought with us in the hallway, ready to take them upstairs later on, and follow our noses into the kitchen.
“Wow, this looks great,” Coen compliments as we all take seats.
“Thank you, Coen, dear,” Ethel replies.
“You know my name?” He asks.
“Of course I do,” she replies gently. “Now eat.”
We all share a look. We have some pretty big questions to ask her, but I highly doubt that Ethel is going to answer any of them before we’ve eaten. Hell, she might not even answer after we’ve eaten. She’s not always that forthcoming with information after all.
“We may as well eat,” I say. “Ethel won't speak to us about what happened outside until we do.”
“She’s right,” Ethel agrees.
To be fair, none of us take that much convincing to eat. Ethel and House, because I’m not entirely sure which one actually makes the food, make the best meals ever.
After a while, everyone has finished eating, and I look over to where Ethel is perched in her usual space on the counter.
“Alright, you two,” I start. “What the hell was that about? Why were you getting attacked by ghosts?”
A cupboard door slams.
“It happens occasionally, certain members of the Other Side get ballsy and decide that they’re going to try their hands at stealing it, even though countless people have tried before them and no one has succeeded,” Ethel replies rather flippantly, and of course vaguely as well.
I narrow my eyes. “That still didn’t answer the question, Ethel.”
She sighs, and House bangs the cupboard doors closest to her a couple of times.
“Alright, alright,” she snaps at House. “Quit nagging me.”
“Ethel?” I ask.
“How long are you all staying for?” She asks, avoiding the question.
I decide to answer despite the fact that she is changing the subject, “We’re staying indefinitely.
The Blue Fucker, who I told you about last time, well, he’s actually called Casimir, and has been controlling Dimitri.
It’s a whole thing that I don’t want to get into now because you still haven’t answered my question, Ethel. ”
She chuckles, “We can catch up on that later. I suppose that since you are going to be here for a while, you should probably know. It’s about time that you did anyway. House has thought so for a while.”
“Know what?” Raiden asks.
“First, Ransom dear, how strong have you made those wards? We felt them go up, but I need to check that you guarded against the dead as well as the living,” Ethel asks Ransom.
“I did. We decided that it would be a good idea since you were attacked by ghosts,” he replies. “Actually, it was Neith’s idea to add in some caveats so the dead who don’t mean you or us any harm are still welcome.”
“Good,” Ethel replies. “As soon as I open the door, the spirits are going to stir. It will save time if we don’t have to defend House again.”
I raise my eyebrow, “How long has this been going on?”
“For as long as House and I have existed,” Ethel replies.
“And how long is that?” I ask, knowing that she’s not going to answer me because she never has. When she predictably stays silent, I add, “What door? What is going to make the spirits stir?”
“It’s probably easier to show you,” she replies as she floats up off the counter.
“That’s another thing, have you always been able to do that?” I ask, as we all get up and start to follow her.
“Yes,” she replies simply.
River smirks at her short reply and my obvious annoyance with it, and I stick my tongue out at him.
“Then why didn’t you do it before when I was around?” I ask.
“I didn’t feel the need to. Now, hurry up. There are going to be a few things that you’re going to need explaining to you. I can’t show you one thing without showing you the other,” Ethel says rather mysteriously.
It looks like we’re about to have another huge revelation thrown at us, whether we’re ready for it or not.
To be honest, it can’t be much bigger than finding out that the Blue Fucker who is creating the hybrids, or at least trying to, has been controlling Dimitri and is responsible for the way that Dimitri treated me.