Chapter Eleven
River
“It’s also worrying,” I agree. “Why? Why is there so much secrecy surrounding Neith? Enough that very strong supernaturals are being silenced.”
Everyone looks confused. None of us know what is going on and how we can help in this situation. Hell, we don’t even know what the situation is. Not really.
“I don’t like not knowing,” Raiden frowns. “I like knowing what we are up against, so I know the best way to combat it or, in this case, help.”
“We know man,” I reply gently.
“Sully said that she is going to need us, and that makes me worry too. She isn’t weak, so if she needs us, then that suggests that things are going to happen that are really fucking dangerous. I don’t like that. I don’t want her in danger,” Griff adds.
“We will figure it out,” Van says with confidence that I don’t think any of us feel, not even him. He adds, “Together.”
That is at least something that we can all agree on. Together is what we do best, and now we have Neith that is a part of that.
“Anyone want another beer?” Doc says as he gets up, draining the last of his current one.
“I’ll take one,” I reply.
Once he’s back, Van clears his throat, looking a bit awkward, which immediately makes me pay more attention. Van never looks awkward,
“What’s up?” Reed asks, his eyes narrowing slightly.
He seems to think about it for a moment and then shakes his head, “Nothing.”
I frown slightly, “Are you sure? It’s us.”
Van smiles, “Yeah, I know. It’s all good, I realized that it wasn’t something that needed to be said.”
I admit that I am curious now, but I don’t think that he’s going to tell us. If Evander decides later down the line that it is something that he needs to bring up, then he will. That’s how we work.
“It’s going to be interesting figuring out the dynamic with an extra member,” Ransom mutters.
“Two,” Doc smirks. “I have a feeling that I am going to be coming on more jobs with you.”
I raise my eyebrows, “What about the lab?”
He loves that place. We usually only see him on the jobs where someone has died, and he’s there to pick them up or if we go into the lab for whatever reason. He comes on the occasional job with us, but it’s rare. Of course, we see him plenty outside of work, and he spends most of his weekends here with us unless he’s working on something interesting in his lab. He has his own room and everything, he just hasn’t officially moved in, well I suppose he has now, I smirk.
“I’ll still be there, but I will be with you guys more.” He sighs, “I know what you are all thinking, and I meant what I said earlier, I did need the push that Neith gave me, but I have been toying with the idea of switching it up so that I work more with you guys as part of the team for a while now. I guess I have just been nervous to step away from what I have known for so long,” Doc replies.
Ransom raises his eyebrows, “And?”
Doc chuckles, “And I wasn’t entirely sure that you guys really wanted me here and fully in the team.”
There it is.
We should have known. Like the rest of us, Doc has some shit in his past that has deeply affected him, and it has been a while since we pushed the issue of him being a part of the team because we didn’t want to pressure him. But he could have thought that we weren’t asking as much anymore because we no longer wanted him on the team.
“You silly fucker,” Reed says in his blunt way that has everyone, including Doc laughing.
“Somehow, Neith being here has already changed things for the better, and she doesn’t even realize that she has done anything,” Ransom mutters.
“It’s Neith,” Evander says like that is all the explanation that we need and to be honest, I am starting to understand that it is.
The ringing of Van’s phone has us all raising our eyebrows. It’s really fucking early in the morning. I frown, hoping that we aren’t about to get called on a job because not only have we had no sleep, but Neith has only been asleep for an hour, if that.
“It’s Ty,” Van tells us since we are all looking at him curiously.
“Maybe they have found something in the woods?” Griff suggests.
Evander shakes his head, “I don’t think so, one of the agents would have rung me not Ty himself.” He presses answer, automatically putting it on speaker so that we can all hear.
“Hey guys,” Ty says, and we all reply. “Is Neith there?”
Van raises his eyebrow slightly, “No, she has gone to bed. We haven’t slept yet.”
I’m reasonably sure that he threw that in there to make sure that Ty wasn’t about to send us off on a job. We won’t go; it wouldn’t be safe for us too when we are as exhausted as we are. If Ty gets the underlying message, he doesn’t say anything, and it becomes pretty clear why.
“I spoke to Sully, so I know that you are aware that I knew Neith’s parents,” Ty starts.
Surprise flashes through me. I had completely forgotten that piece of information in everything that has happened, and I am reasonably sure that Neith has as well since she hasn’t mentioned it.
“Yes, we are aware,” Reed replies with a frown. None of us are really sure where he is going with this conversation, it’s not immediately obvious.
“Her parents were really good friends of mine, we were best friends, all of us,” he gets this wistful tone to his voice, before he clears his throat and continues, “it’s because of that, I need you know something.”
“Know what?” Doc asks as we all share a look.
Ty is usually fairly laidback and easygoing, at least as far as bosses go, but he’s currently talking in a way that is a lot more serious than he usually does unless it has something to do with a case. I have a feeling that he is about to confirm all of the things that we have just been talking about, or at least some of them.
“She is going to need you. Her life has been dangerous and hard, more so than you guys are probably aware of yet, but it’s going to get a thousand times harder.”
Fuck.
There was no messing around with that sentence, no sugarcoating it. Ty has said it how it is, and I can feel a sense of foreboding come over us all. He is the second person to tell us that she is going to need us, Sully being the first, and Neith doesn’t seem like the kind of person who needs help often.
“Is there anything that you can tell us to help us help her?” Raiden asks. He easily articulates what the rest of us want to say.
I always find it amusing that people overlook or don’t notice that he is a freaking genius and easily as intelligent as Doc simply because he is a reaper, and therefore, he can’t be anything else but deadly and at the risk of becoming insane. The mistreatment of reapers makes me mad as hell, but nothing will make me as angry as the way that reapers have treated Raiden. Now is not the time to allow that anger to arise, so I tune back into the conversation.
Ty sighs heavily, and I know that there are things that he wants to say, but I am assuming that, like Sully, he can’t say what he wants to.
“When it comes to Neith, throw away the rule book and everything that you think you know. She is unlike anything that you will have ever come across and anything that you will ever come across,” Ty replies, somewhat cryptically, sounding like he’s talking through clenched teeth. He doesn’t give us a chance to reply or ask any questions as he adds, “It is extremely important that HID do not find out that Neith is actually a supernatural.”
We all straighten, tensing, and Evander asks, “Is she in danger?”
“She will be as soon as her supe side makes a full appearance,” Ty replies, and I am actually surprised that he was able to answer that one.
“Why?” Reed demands.
A choking noise comes from the other end of the phone, and we once again share a concerned look.
“I can’t say. I am really sorry guys; you know I would tell you if I could. We promised her parents that we would look after her, and I feel like we have failed her so far. I know that the fates have a plan, and I fear that . . .” Ty trails off.
“Ty?” Van questions.
His voice is different when he answers, lilting, it sounds like his voice but not at the same time.
What the hell?
“The darkness brews, the light pushed back, the voices whisper don’t fall off track, pain and sadness the pressure mounts, don’t lose sight of what counts. Death, death, death.” When he speaks again, his voice is normal, and he continues his previous sentence like he hadn’t stopped to freak us all the fuck out in the middle of it, “no one will survive what’s to come.”
Evander shakes his head warning us not to say anything, we can discuss it after the phone call has ended, but the fact that he carried on the conversation as he did makes me think that he wasn’t aware that he stopped the way he did.
“We’ve got her,” Evander says instead.
Ty’s voice holds a smile as he says, “I thought that you might. I saw that Doc is there with you, have you finally made a decision?”
Doc smiles as if to say to us, ‘see I was thinking about it before Neith came into our lives and turned everything upside down’. I shake my head with a smile, we believed him because he told us that was the truth, that's all we needed.
Doc clears his throat, “Yeah, I am officially on their team and living in the house. I will still be available for autopsy and lab work and all of that, but I will be participating more in jobs as well.”
“Understood,” Ty replies, “I’m happy for you guys.”
“Thanks,” Van replies with a smile now that the conversation seems to have switched.
“Before you go, I need you guys at the training academy on Monday, bring Neith,” Ty says, throwing us another curve ball, “it will be good for everyone to see you all officially as a team.”
“Why do I feel like there is something that you aren’t telling us?” Griff interrupts, his eyes narrowing slightly.
Ty sighs again, “Because there is. I need to warn you that a couple of the other teams are aware of her track record at HID and have shown an interest.”
We all tense, and I can barely stop the growl building in my chest from escaping.
“She’s ours,” Evander practically orders, a fierceness in his voice that has even my eyebrow rising, although I can’t argue with the sentiment. It feels right in a way that it probably shouldn’t.
Ty chuckles, his voice lacing with knowledge as he replies, “You mean on your team?”
Evander swallows, “Yes, that’s what I meant.”
That doesn’t ring quite true, and we all know it but none of us want to look into the reason behind why that doesn’t quite sit right.
“Don’t worry, I am discouraging it, but there are several teams that have shown an interest in her now and have come to me asking if she is on your team,” Ty says. “If any one of them puts in an official request to have her on their team, then Neith is going to have to go through the Choosing to see which team she is better suited for.”
Silence reigns as we all try to control our reaction, I feel a rumble of a growl start to grow in my chest and we are all clenching our jaws or fists.
“Fuck!” Evander curses explosively.
“I know with complete certainty that she will get chosen for your team, but it’s not something that we want Neith to go through. The Choosing is for supernaturals, Neith is mostly human at the moment, so there is a very strong chance that she wouldn’t survive it.”
There is no way in hell that she should be anywhere near the fucking Choosing, even if she were a supernatural, I would still not want her anywhere near it, it’s fucking brutal.
We all look at each other with anger, the most prominent expression on our faces, and a pit of unease settles in my stomach. Wouldn’t it be a better idea to keep Neith away from the other agents for a while and let the novelty of her wear off and their interest in having her on their team wane?
Van seems to read my mind as he says, “Are you sure that it’s a good idea to have her come to the training academy with us, if some of the teams are looking to have her on their team wouldn’t that just increase their interest in her?”
“Yes, I do think that she should be seen with your team. As I said, the interested parties need to see her with your team and realize that you are serious about her being a part of it. If you left her at home while you came here, that would send the message that you don’t consider her fully on your team, and therefore, they will pursue wanting her on theirs. Considering there are a few teams that are interested in her and you are unwilling to let her go, that means that the Choosing will get triggered,” Ty explains his reasoning behind wanting us to bring her to the training academy, and as much as I hate to agree I can see the merit behind his reasoning.
That doesn’t mean I have to like it.
“Fine, we will all be there on Monday,” Evander replies and then hangs up.
“I don’t like this,” Reed mutters.
Doc frowns, his forearms tensing as he clenches and unclenches his fists, “Me neither. I don’t like that Ty had a vision that he was completely unaware of as well. He just carried on talking straight after it like nothing had happened.”
“If it even was a vision,” Raiden says and then clarifies, “it is entirely possible that someone was using Ty to give us a message.”
“Fuck,” Griff curses, huffing and crossing his arms over his chest.
“Did you write it down?” I ask.
Raiden rolls his eyes, “Of course I did. I will research it when Neith and I are looking into the creatures.”
“Good idea,” Van says, still frowning.
“What if she gets pulled into the Choosing?” Ransom mumbles, having been quiet up until this point.
“Then we will have to help her as much as we can and hope that she is strong enough to withstand the tasks and that the scroll deems her best suited for our team,” Doc says firmly, almost as if he is willing it to happen that way if that’s the way it has to happen.
“I really fucking hope that it doesn’t come to that,” Ransom frowns, his expression grim.
He is right to be worried about it. The Choosing is a series of tasks, some that the person has to face individually and some that they have to do with the teams that are petitioning to have the individual join their team. The idea is to get the person working with each team to get an idea of where the person fits best. The scroll, which is exactly what it sounds like apart from being older than dirt and imbued with ancient magic, then picks the team that the person is best suited to based on the performance in the tasks.
These tasks test a supernatural's skills, physically, mentally and emotionally, they are designed to push a supe, and the team that they work with to the very edge of their abilities.
Therein lies the problem: they are designed for supernaturals, and Neith isn’t one. They can and have been deadly for supernaturals that have a massive advantage over Neith.
The Choosing isn’t always used to pick out the teams, supernaturals at the training academies can choose their own teams, and that then gives them the flexibility to disband the teams and move on, if it doesn’t work out. You don’t get that choice if the scroll has put you with your team. Its magic binds you and the rest of the team members together, and it’s for life. The Choosing is only used in cases where two teams are fighting or have shown an interest in one individual, and although it does still happen, it doesn’t happen as much as it used to before the war, in fact it is now pretty fucking rare. Back in Trieneliea, going through the trials was more common than simply choosing your team. Supernaturals wanted the reassurance that they were with the people that they were fated to be with because the things that they had to face over there were so much more dangerous. The Choosing was attached to their Warrior academies, whereas it’s now attached to the training academies for SID.
The trials usually last for a week, and while they are taking place, all teams involved stay in a pocket realm to ensure that there is no cheating and no outside influences. The trails also take place there. The Choosing draws a huge supernatural crowd and is magically projected so that they can watch it unfold over a week. It would be a bad idea for Neith to be involved for many reasons, her being a human being the main one. Another reason, though, is that she is supposed to be dead, and although the agency can shield her somewhat, we know that someone supernatural wanted Neith. If they were to watch the Choosing, then they would see that not only is she alive when she should definitely be dead, but that she is also doing things that a human shouldn’t be able to do.
She also can’t die, if she dies and comes back to life for the majority of the supernatural world to see then that is going to paint a massive target on her back and again, allow the supernatural who was after her in the first place to actively start searching for her again.
This has the potential to be really fucking bad, and I hope that Ty is right and bringing her to the training academy is the right idea.
“I don’t want to take her to the training academy,” Griff says into the tense silence that has descended over us all.
“I don’t think that we have much choice,” Ransom practically growls.
“Ransom is right. Ty didn’t sound like he was going to back down on this,” Van replies with a frown.
“Do you think he knows something that we don’t?” Raiden suddenly asks, his brain one step ahead of us like usual.