Chapter Thirteen
Neith
Mael nods and then, with no warning whatsoever, flings me up onto his back and then gives me barely any time at all to grab onto the reins as he takes off at full speed through the woods.
I’m assuming that he’s taking us to see where he’s moved the lake, but to be honest, he could just be taking me for a joyride. I’m good with either one.
I love how free I feel when I’m riding Mael.
I don’t think I will ever get tired of it.
I would like to know how to get to his lake though, because I don’t want to have to call him every time that I want to see him.
That feels like something that I should save for emergencies.
If I were to use the whistle every time that I just wanted to say hello, then it would be taking advantage of the connection that we have, and I don’t want to do that.
My smile is huge by the time that we finally break through the trees, and I see the familiar sight of the kelpie’s lake before me.
It’s so strange because it looks exactly like it did at the guy’s place, and if I didn’t know any better, I would have assumed that we were there.
The longer that I study the area though, the more subtle changes I notice. The lake appears to be bigger here, with a bigger beach and more space around the edge of the lake too, meaning that the kelpies can come out of the water without being almost immediately under the trees.
I don’t miss that it’s given them a tactical advantage as well, because anyone who is stupid enough to attack them will have to cross over an expanse of shoreline that has no cover whatsoever.
Meaning that the kelpies will be able to detect them with ease and deal with them swiftly, or call on us for help if they need to.
“You’re so fucking clever,” I tell Mael. “I had no idea that you could do something like this. You just up and moved your entire lake.”
He snorts and sends me images.
“What did he say?” Raiden asks me. When I look at him questioningly, he replies, “I just guessed that he had something to say because of the way he snorted at you. Mavros does the same thing.”
“In his own way of communicating, I think he said that not all kelpies would be able to move their home,” I explain to Raiden and then turn my attention back to Mael, “Is that right?”
He nods and stamps his feet, making me grin.
“I’d take that as a yes,” Raiden smirks. His smile quickly turns into a frown as the clouds finally decide to let go, and the rain comes down heavier as the wind picks up.
“Let’s go!” I call out over the sound of the wind and pounding rain.
Doc
“Neith and Raiden should be back soon, the weather's picked up. It’s getting pretty nasty out there,” River says as he looks outside.
“Yeah, that’s turning into a storm for sure,” Reed agrees.
“I’m going to go and get dinner started. I’m hoping that Ethel and House will let me cook,” Coen says as he gets up and stretches his back out.
We’ve all been reading over the files, getting as much information as possible.
Well, we have been doing that in part. Reed’s been checking the weapons, Ransom has been checking wards, and making some spells that we can give to the teams that they can throw.
Sort of like grenades. They’ll need to say a trigger word and then launch it.
He had some made, which thankfully came with his workshop when House brought it here, but it’s going to be a massive operation tomorrow, so he’s having to make more.
I would imagine that he’s going to be up quite late tonight making them.
There isn’t any point in reminding him that he needs to get rest. He gets extremely agitated and restless before the promise of violence, and he won’t be able to sleep anyway.
Personally, I would rather that he were making spell bombs instead of beating the shit out of several punching bags.
Especially since I have no idea if we even have punching bags here.
House is pretty fucking awesome, so I would be surprised if we didn’t have a gym somewhere in here. Especially since it’s gotten everything else so right, and a gym is something that most of us use pretty regularly.
As Coen disappears into the kitchen, I turn to Reed and River, “I think I might head back to the house and get whatever bags people put by the front door.”
“Good idea,” River agrees. “We aren’t going to have the time to head back for a couple of days at least. Even though it doesn’t take you very long.”
“I saw the pile of bags, it’s not going to be one trip,” Reed winces.
I grin, “I figured that would be the case.” Standing up, I smile and then call on my magic to take me back to the house.
Nothing happens.
“Why are you just standing there?” Reed asks, with a slight smile.
“I can’t teleport,” I reply, and both of their smiles immediately drop.
“Try again,” River suggests as he sits up straight in his chair, his eyebrows dipping with concern.
I nod and pull on more of my magic this time. More than I have ever needed to in order to teleport.
This time, I disappear, but I’m brought right back to the living room with Reed and River.
I groan as I lean forward, putting my hands on my knees as my stomach clenches and my head spins.
“Are you okay?” Reed asks, his hand already on my back, and rubbing soothing circles on it.
“What happened?” River adds. “You flickered out and then came straight back, and you’ve never gotten ill when you’ve teleported before.”
“I’m not sure what happened. I went, but it was like I hit a brick wall and immediately bounced back,” I plonk my ass on the seat, and tilt my head back, closing my eyes and trying to regain my equilibrium. I hate feeling dizzy.
“I’ll send out a text and let everyone know what’s happened,” Reed says.
I don’t move, worried that any movement will set off the spinning in my head again, and it’s only just stopped.
Tiny, soft hands cup my cheeks. I must have really been out of it because I didn’t hear her come back.
“How’re you doing, Cam?” She asks softly while the others all discuss what happened and what could have caused it.
I pull her onto my lap, and she lands with a surprised oomph that makes me smile.
“Better now,” I reply. It’s true, as soon as she touched me, everything calmed. My stomach stopped trying to expel its contents, and my head stopped threatening to carry on spinning if I moved so much as a centimeter.
She’s mine, and I’m hers, and I keep forgetting that.
I never thought it would happen to me.
Slowly, I open my eyes and find her watching me worriedly. I don’t like that. I gently grip her chin and bring her lips closer to mine, kissing her softly as I feel her relax against me.
“Really, I promise that I am feeling a lot better now, okay?” I tell her when I finally pull back.
She studies my expression closely and then nods, “Okay.”
“What happened, man?” Raiden asks.
I shift Neith slightly so that I can see everyone and reply, “I have no idea. It’s never happened before, not even when I was first starting out.”
“Winston said that they were searching for the threat that stole time from me and that had escaped them. Maybe they’ve locked the grounds down somehow?” Neith asks.
“What?” Coen asks, looking as confused as the rest of us, “Neith, Love, you’re going to have to explain.”
She nods and quickly launches into an explanation about the imps and the necklace they gave her, and the beast from Luesidious. By the time she gets to the end of it, we have some answers but also some questions.
So it’s pretty much business as usual.
“Winston!” She suddenly yells, making all of us wince.
After a few moments and no sign of Winston, she adds with a worried frown, “I guess he’s not going to show up.
” She tries to call for Wallace too, but he doesn’t come either.
“I hope they’re okay. It’s not like them not to answer, usually at least one of them does. ”
“I’m sure they’re okay,” Raiden reassures her, “we only saw them a few moments ago in the woods, and they did say that they had a lot going on back at the house, trying to find that creature who stole time from you. I’m sure they’re just busy.”
She nods, “Yeah, that’s true. If anyone knows what is going on with Doc though, it’s likely to be them.”
“We’ll figure it out,” I tell her, as I pull her closer to me.
She calms something inside me that has been raging for far too long.
“Have you tried teleporting to somewhere else other than home?” Raiden asks thoughtfully. “Like from one side of the room to the other, something simple? It would be a good way to test whether your teleporting is not working completely or just isn’t working to go to the other house.”
“That’s a good idea,” Van agrees, his arms crossed over his chest in his usual, ‘I’m worried’ stance.
I shake my head, “I didn’t get that far. I felt really ill, and then you guys all appeared.”
Neith stands up, and I reluctantly let her go. She smiles as she sees my disappointed expression and then says, “Try to do it now. I want to know how worried I need to be.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I grin. I know I probably shouldn’t, but I like that she worries about me. So long as she isn’t really worrying about me. I guess what I’m trying to get at is that I like that she cares enough to worry about me, but I don’t want her worrying about me.
Fucking hell, I’ve confused myself.
I’ll admit that I am stalling slightly, maybe more than slightly, for the simple reason that I do not want to feel like that again.
They’re all staring at me expectantly though, so I take a deep breath, and feeling nervous for maybe the first time since this part of my magic emerged, I call on it to move me from one side of the room to the other.
“Thank fuck for that,” I mutter, letting out a relieved breath as the tension drains from me, and I appear exactly where I wanted to be.
“So your magic is still working, but you can’t go back to the other house?” Griff clarifies.
I nod, “It would seem that way, yes.”