Chapter Sixteen
Neith
I set the ground in front of me on fire, creating a wall that none of them can get past, and instructing it not to harm the horses, and then I jump through it, landing on their side and grinning at their shock.
I’m not letting them realize that they could just go around the stables and follow Styx that way.
If they’re too busy fighting me, then hopefully they won’t realize that they can do that.
Or, if they do, it will be too late, and Styx will have managed to get far away from this place.
Asael sings through the air, as my muscles bunch and I block strike after strike, blood splatters across me as I fight to keep them all distracted and give my friend a chance to escape, because that’s what she is, I know that as sure as I know that Navy, Neera, and Rana are my friends.
More than that, but I don’t have a name for what they are, so friend is what I’ll call them until I have a better word for it.
I fight to give Styx the chance to escape, to gain her freedom.
∞∞∞
One minute I’m stabbing one guy in the balls with Asael, grinning at his screams of pain, and the next I’m sitting up in bed and breathing heavily as the alarm blares, telling me that it is very definitely time to wake up.
I groan as I fall back onto the pillows.
Quickly taking stock of my body, I realize that although none of the wounds I got while fighting those fuckers to give Styx the chance to escape are still on me, I definitely feel like I’ve been fighting for a while, and my whole body aches.
Which is really fucking inconvenient, considering that we’ve got such a big day today. One that definitely doesn’t involve me soaking in a bath to try to relieve the pain in my aching body.
Damn it.
It does make me hopeful that Styx is real, and that she managed to escape.
I suppose I won't know for certain either way unless my magic decides to send me back. Speaking of magic, that was some freaky new magic that I displayed, and if I’m going to hope that Styx is real, then that means that I have to admit that was real too.
I should probably tell the guys about everything that happened, and especially the maybe new magic that I have, but then we’ll get distracted, and we really don’t have the time to do that right now.
Besides, it's not life-threatening, so I can tell them after we’ve done the sales job instead.
Especially since I’m not entirely sure that it was real, and wasn’t just a really vivid dream.
For all I know, I could have just been fighting for my life in my tangled-up covers, which has happened before, so it’s possible.
The Voices mutter, and I hum in agreement, yeah, that doesn’t quite sit right, but we have the job with the wolf sales today.
It can wait.
So can my realization that the Voices are not the dead like I originally thought.
That’s a whole new thing that I will deal with later.
Right now, I need to have a shower and try to get some of this soreness gone.
Going into another potentially dangerous situation right now isn’t ideal, but there’s not really much I can do about it.
I know I can handle it, I’ve been in worse condition than this and still done the job and succeeded. I would just rather not.
Hopefully, my healing will kick in soon, and it won’t be a problem. If it doesn’t, then I won’t have any choice but to tell the guys now so that they can pick up the slack. I don’t want to be the weak link.
I hate being the weak link.
As I get up, I can’t help but groan out loud again. Holy shit, every single muscle in my body hurts. Even muscles that I didn’t realize I had.
I’m glad that no one stayed in here with me last night because there’s no way that I would have been able to hide this.
A shower had better help.
I can’t help but glance down at my body to make sure that the huge slice across my stomach that I got just before I woke up is gone.
Oh, thank the goddess, there’s nothing but bare skin.
Looking back at my sheets, they aren’t stained with blood, so I haven’t bled in the awake world and then healed.
It would appear that the broken skin wounds haven’t followed me into the awake world, but the soreness from fighting for so fucking long has.
I quickly gather my clothes that I’m going to need to kick ass today. Which is pretty much the same outfit that I was wearing in my dream.
Rummaging through my shirt drawer, I realize two things almost instantaneously: the first is that the shirt that I gave to Styx in my dream is not in my drawer, and I know for a fact that it was there, I saw it yesterday when I was getting dressed.
There is nowhere else that it could be. The guys have no reason at all to take it.
Even if they did like my shirt, it wouldn’t fit any of them.
The second thing, I pull out of the drawer and hold it up.
No fucking way.
My brain short-circuits as I try to make sense of what I’m holding.
Styx’s shirt. Complete with blood splatter.
It doesn’t make sense. I burned it. I know I did, it turned to dust.
As my brain tries to wrap itself around the fact that it’s here, I remember that the color of the fire that burned Styx’s shirt was a new one that I haven’t played with before. Maybe that has something to do with it?
That still wouldn’t make sense. How does something burn to ash in a dream and then appear in the awake world in my chest of drawers? And where the fuck is my shirt? Does that mean Styx still has it?
This is so fucking weird.
I carefully put her shirt back into the drawer and then take my clothes into the bathroom and jump into the shower.
It only takes me until I’m stepping back out to realize that I should probably tell the guys about this sooner rather than later.
Styx’s shirt appearing in the awake world is a pretty big indicator that the dream wasn’t just a dream, which means everything that happened in it needs to be discussed.
I quickly pull on my clothes, deciding that it might be better to just show them the shirt and then explain as much as I can. We won’t be able to deal with it now, but considering things are making the trip back from the dream world with me now, that’s a pretty big deal.
I really don’t want to worry them, but they should probably know that I woke up feeling like I had been fighting all night too.
“Neith!” River calls from outside the door, making me jump and drop Styx’s shirt. “Ethel said I needed to come and get you, or you wouldn’t have time to eat before we had to go, and I’m not arguing with her, she’s scary.”
I chuckle, “I’m coming.”
Pulling the door open, he immediately pulls me into his arms, and I sink into his embrace. I’m still sore, really fucking sore, and cuddles from River always make me feel better.
He doesn’t hold me for as long as I would have liked, and after thoroughly kissing me, he hurries me downstairs.
I smile as I realize that he wasn’t joking about being scared of Ethel.
She’ll like that.
When we get to the bottom of the stairs, I realize that in my haste to get snuggles from River, I completely forgot to pick the shirt back up from the floor. I’ll have to go back up and get it after breakfast. I can’t think on an empty stomach anyway.
“Morning, Nene,” Van greets me with a smile, as he kisses me quickly on the way past me to his seat.
“Good morning,” I grin. “The food looks amazing, Ethel and House. Thank you.”
“Of course, dear. You need a good meal for what you will be doing today.” She waits until I’m seated before she adds, “Drink up, dear, you need to stay hydrated.”
I nod. She’s right, although it’s a little bit odd that she’s reminding me since she doesn’t usually.
It’s Ethel though, so I decide to just go with it.
Picking up my drink as she told me to, I take a sip.
Immediately, warmth spreads through my entire body, and all the soreness that was plaguing it disappears completely.
How the fuck did she know?
Before I can ask her or start to tell the guys about what happened, Zephyr, the supernatural who is in the basement for his own protection, appears in the kitchen.
“Zephyr, what are you doing up here?” Ethel asks, in surprise, as I stuff my face.
I am suddenly fucking ravenous.
Zephyr shrugs, “I wanted to introduce myself properly.”
“I’m River.” River waves from his seat with a huge smile, which Zephyr immediately returns.
The guys all introduce themselves with interest. Zephyr is certainly a curiosity, and the Voices seem to like him.
I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but it’s better than them warning me about him. Especially since he is currently living in my house. Well, he’s living in his house in my house, but it’s the same thing.
Kind of.
He stays for a while speaking with us and adding his apparent expertise to the plan for today when Van goes over it again.
“How are we going to get to the location?” Reed asks, “I get the feeling that Doc might not be too keen on teleporting us all after last night, and it will be really conspicuous if we turn up one by one and someone realizes that we don’t have a vehicle.”
“Good point,” Coen agrees. “I hadn’t thought that far into it.”
“Just take a couple of cars from the garage. The location isn’t that far away, and you’ve got plenty of time to get there,” Ethel suggests, like it’s a no-brainer, and I suppose that it would be if it weren’t for the fact that none of us realized that there even was a garage.
“We have a garage?” I ask.
Ethel chuckles, “Of course we do. Just go around the left side of the house, and it will be there. You will find it adequately stocked.”
“Why do I feel like the van is going to be there?” River asks with a knowing glint in his eye.
“Because it is,” she replies simply.