Chapter Twelve
Neith
I glance down at the bracelet that’s covering the mark on my wrist and frown.
“We do seem to be getting hit with a lot at the moment. I mean, we find out something new and amazing, or threatening, and before we have the time to process it, let alone deal with it, we’re thrown something else.
It’s got to slow down at some point, right? ”
“It must do. Otherwise, we’re only ever going to have questions and no answers, and I think that would drive me insane,” Raiden says with a frown as his expression darkens.
“Although I do think that the majority of the things that we’ve found out are all connected in some way, which should hopefully mean that when we answer one of the questions, it should answer several of the other questions too. ”
“That would be nice,” I agree. Suddenly, I become more aware of my surroundings. “Does it sound quiet to you?”
We pause, and Raiden puts his hand on the hilt of his sword as he answers me, “Quieter than it should be, considering we’re in the middle of the woods, and a moment ago the wind was howling through the trees.”
My eyes scan the surrounding area, looking for anything that’s out of place. At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if a damn yeti walked through the woods.
“Oh my fuck, are yetis real? Why did I never ask anyone that growing up? That’s seriously important information,” I exclaim, only just remembering to keep my voice quiet in my excitement.
Raiden glances at me incredulously, but answers anyway, “Yetis are just Bigfoot shifters that live in the colder climates where it’s always snowing. So their shifted forms have a different fur color.”
“Bigfoot!” I exclaim. I shake my head, “I am so disappointed in myself. Why have I never heard of them?”
“Because they’re ridiculously rare and like to keep to themselves,” Raiden shrugs. “I’ve never met one.”
“I have,” a familiar and somewhat unwelcome voice drifts through the trees.
“Flinotive,” I growl. I made a point to remember what his voice sounded like. I’m still pissed that he sent me to an unknown realm where I could have died simply by breathing the air, forget all of the other shit I went through there.
Raiden looks at me, “The imp? What has he got to do with Bigfoot and yeti shifters?”
It’s then that I remember that he can’t understand the imps language, and apparently didn’t hear anything speak.
Before I can give him a heads up that Flinotive is about to appear, the little shit, and two of his friends drop from the branches. Asael is in my hand immediately, and Raiden has a sword pointed at them as well.
I’m not going to lie, there is a part of me that wants to ask about what he knows about Bigfoot. I’m using that as the plural because Bigfeets sounds wrong, and I’m not sure about Bigfoots, which also sounds not quite right, but now isn’t the time to be asking for clarification on the plurals.
Or for talking about Bigfoot in the first place.
“What do you want?” I ask with a slight bite.
As I mentioned earlier, I’m still a little bit salty about the whole sending me to Luesidious, where I got attacked by the backward knee things, found Aseal, that was actually a good thing, but it was the only good thing then I got bitten by something and almost trapped there indefinitely while the guys had no idea where I was or what was going on.
The image of that shocked, super-hot supernatural that I winked at also replays fairly often in my mind, not just because there was something alluring about him, but also because of the utterly horrifying way I winked at him, it’s damn good job I’m never going to see him again because thinking about that makes me physically cringe.
Awesome.
The imps also gave me a gorgeous necklace, which I haven’t taken off, and for some reason feels really special to me, although I’m not entirely sure why I have such a strong connection to it.
Which is suspicious in itself.
“What do you want, Flin?” I ask again, my eyes narrowing with suspicion.
“We just wanted to make sure that you were okay, and that you knew that we were in the woods,” he replies gently.
It kind of makes me feel bad.
Kind of.
“Did you send Ransom to Luesidious?” I ask, ignoring the fact that he’s actually being pretty nice right now. I want to make sure that we clear up everything before I even begin to think about trusting them.
The confusion that flashes across his features lets me know that he’s telling the truth when he says, “No, we did not, miss. One of your mates was sent to Luesidious?”
Again, I decide to ignore him, because I’m not entirely sure that he should have that information if he wasn’t the one who sent Ransom there.
“I have no idea what’s going on,” Raiden mutters.
“Shoot, sorry. I was just asking him about Ransom, he didn’t send him to Luesidious,” I explain.
“We can speak in his language, if that makes it easier,” Flin offers, and the other imps all nod in agreement, mumbling and smiling sweetly.
I smile slightly, because despite my previous misgivings, they are making it quite hard not to like them right now, and nod, “Yes, please.”
“Can you understand me now?” Flin asks Raiden.
Raiden nods, looking somewhat relieved that he can now follow the conversation as he says, “Yes, I appreciate that.”
Flin nods.
I pull my necklace out from under my shirt and hold it up, getting straight back into asking questions now that Raiden can understand what we’re saying. This may be the only chance that we have to get the answers that we need from them.
Any opportunity that we have to get some of our many questions answered must be taken advantage of.
Quickly, before the opportunity disappears, and more questions arise.
“What about my necklace? Why did you give it to me, and why do I get a headache when I think about it sometimes?”
Flin’s head tilts to one side curiously, his bushy eyebrows draw down over his jewel-colored eyes, as he asks, “It gives you a headache when you think about it?”
I nod, “Yes, only sometimes. It’s not giving me a headache now.”
Suddenly, his confused expression clears, and he takes a step forward, causing me to immediately raise Asael again.
Flin raises his hands, “I’m sorry miss, I should have explained first. The necklace is an extremely strong talisman that very few people can touch.
It has protections on it in order to keep it from falling into the wrong hands.
It appears that one of the protections that was on it has not been removed, as it should have been before it was given to you to protect.
If you allow me to, then I will remove it, and you will no longer get headaches. ”
I hesitate for a moment but ultimately decided that I want the headaches gone, plus, he’s been surprisingly pleasant during this meeting, and in every one we have had, apart from our very first one.
I nod and kneel down, “I don’t want to take it off. Can you do it without me needing to?”
He smiles softly, “Yes, miss. That’s no problem.”
Fortunately, the pendant seems to know that I don’t want the imp that close to my neck since it puts me in a really vulnerable position, so it makes the chain longer so I can hold it far away from me without having to take it off.
Flint pauses in his steps and then grins at me, hopping from foot to foot happily, “I knew it was the right decision to give you the necklace miss. Let me just take off the protection, and you’ll be able to begin to understand how powerful it really is.”
Before I can ask him anything about what he’s just said, he reaches out one of his small hands and places it on the pendant of the creature. He mutters something under his breath, too quiet for me to hear, and then there’s a brief flash of magic before he steps back with a smile.
“There it is all done, miss,” he smiles happily.
I’m about to reply when my eyes widen in shock as memories come flooding back.
The backward knee walking things in the Choosing, and the huge and invisible creature, which helped me.
I remember that before it arrived, my necklace heated, signaling its presence.
It helped me. I would have been easily overwhelmed if it weren’t for its help.
Holy shit, it’s the same creature as the one who bit me in Luesidious. I remember the air around it shimmering slightly and allowing me a small glimpse of it.
“Wow,” I mutter in awe.
“Miss is getting her memories back?” Flin asks with a knowing smile, lighting up his features.
I can’t help but return his smile as I nod, “Yes, I am, thank you for returning them to me, Flin.”
“You are most welcome, we need to go,” he replies, and then just like that, he and all the imps are gone again.
“Your memories back?” Raiden asks curiously. “What the hell does that mean?”
I nod and start bouncing, shifting from foot to foot as I do because I’m excited. I quickly explain to him about the trial in the Choosing and the creature helping me, holding up my necklace that has now shrunk back to its original size, and showing him the creature that I’m talking about.
“So, a similar creature to the one that bit you as you jumped through the portal in Luesidious, helped you defeat the creatures in the trial at the Choosing, and your necklace is connected to it somehow? Is that right?”
“Yes and no, the creature isn’t a similar one, it’s the same one,” I explain with absolute certainty, because there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that they are the same creature.
Raiden just stares at me for a moment, “Wow.”
I nod, still grinning, and then my mouth drops open, “Holy shit, the kelpie lake and the missing time.”
“That was your creature, too?” Raiden asks.
“I remember my necklace heating, I don’t think it was my creature that was the threat though. I think it was there because I was under threat, and that’s why my creature turned up, like it could sense it somehow,” I reply. “Winston!”