Chapter Twenty-Six
Nico
“She shouldn’t have brought me back,” I say, worry seeping into my tone. I never would have asked her to risk herself in order to bring me back.
“It happened for a reason,” Zev says calmly. “I know Farren, and I know that she would do it again in a heartbeat, even with the risks involved.”
“He’s right,” Kill agrees, his arms folded over his chest. “None of us like that she’s put herself at risk, but there is a reason why it happened.”
“We already know that you weren’t supposed to die when you did,” Mayhem points.
“Something tells me that it’s more than that,” Zev says as he seems to realise something and smiles.
“I hope you’re right, and I hope that she doesn’t suffer because of it,” I reply.
“Are you sure that she’s okay?” Hades asks, changing the subject back to Farren.
I nod, gathering my thoughts and pushing my emotions back down where they belong.
“Yes, I’m sure. I think it’s extreme exhaustion from using so much magic,” I explain.
I find it curious that none of them have asked me how my magic is monitoring her vitals since it’s not obvious. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful, I’m just curious.
I definitely would have asked if the roles were reversed.
“Is it safe to move her?” Hades adds. “We should move, like Laikynn said, but if it’s not safe to move her, then we’ll just have to fight whatever comes our way.”
“I’m good with that,” Loki grins sharply, the happy-go-lucky facade dropping momentarily.
“A blood bath sounds rather enticing,” Rast adds, his eyes flashing to his beasts.
I grin, I knew that these were my kind of people. I just hope that they don’t blame me for whatever happens to Farren. Although I deserve it, and I will never forgive myself if something happens to her because she brought me back.
Honestly, I will take myself out if it saves her.
Whoa.
The strength of my conviction behind that thought is startling, and I have no idea what the fuck I’m supposed to do with it.
Ignore it.
That’s what I do with most confusing things.
Not healthy, but whatever.
I clear my throat, “Yeah, we should be safe to move her. As I said before, I’m monitoring her vitals, if anything changes, I’ll know.”
“Let’s go then,” Storm says. “We’re still on the dirt-packed road, we haven’t hit the cobbled stones yet, so we’ve still got a while to go.”
They all watch me with sharp gazes as I stand with Farren still in my arms.
“Does one of you want to take her?” I ask, trying not to let my true feelings about letting go of her show in my expression.
I don’t want to hand her over. I don’t want to let go. Something tells me that once I do, I’m not going to get to hold her in my arms for a really long time, and apparently I don’t like that.
Maybe my emotions are all crazy because she brought me back.
I try not to roll my eyes at my own thought. In theory, that could be a reason if it weren’t for the fact that I was having a hard time keeping my attention off her while I was dead.
Kill shakes his head, “I don’t think she would let us. Let us know if you need a break or anything though.”
I nod, trying not to let the relief show on my face. I don’t think I do a very good job though, because Rast raises his eyebrow at me.
After we’ve been walking for a few moments, Rival falls into step with me.
I smile, “Let me guess, you’ve got a lot of questions.”
He smirks, “Just a few.”
“Have at it, man, I’ll answer any that I can,” I reply.
“How did you die?”
“Rival!” Mayhem immediately chastises. “Brother, we’ve talked about this, that falls under the category of questions that are not appropriate to ask.”
Rival immediately shakes his head. “You said I couldn’t ask someone how their loved one died, and I didn’t, I asked Nico directly how he died.”
Mayhem just shakes his head, “Still inappropriate.”
Rival frowns, “Sorry. He’s right, my brain sort of got ahead of me and blurted it out before I really thought it through.”
I smile, “Don’t worry about it. Something tells me that I will probably share that story with you at some point, but I’m not quite ready yet. It’s not a pleasant thing to re-live.”
“Understandable,” Rival replies, and then falls silent.
“You can ask me something else though?” I prompt.
I can’t stand the silence, especially not now.
I don’t know why, but I add, “It’s nice to have someone to talk to who will respond.
I think Rast may need a little bit more time to get used to the fact I’m here.
In case you haven’t figured it out yet, he’s not great with big emotions. ”
“Nico,” Rast warns, although he’s smiling.
“Yeah, I sort of figured that out,” Rival agrees with a smile.
“Wow,” Rast chuckles. He becomes serious again, “I have a question. Do you know where the souls are going? The ones that die here? The good and the bad?” I shake my head.
“Not a specific place. I know that the good are somewhere. They haven’t been eaten by the Abyss creatures or anything like that.
As I said before, I also know that I did know at one point, but when I stepped through the light and ended up back here, that knowledge was left behind. ”
“That’s interesting,” Hades says. “It wouldn’t surprise me if that was a failsafe, a way to make sure that those souls remained safe, and that no knowledge of their whereabouts could be shared with anyone.”
“That’s a really good theory,” Rival agrees. “What about the bad souls, the prisoners that have died here, or anyone else who is a native that needed to go to the punishment side?”
“Well, the souls can’t die again, at least that’s what we’ve always been told, but I know that a good portion of them have disappeared since the first lot escaped.
I don’t know what happened to them, and I also have no idea where the bad inhabitants of this realm go,” I reply with a frown as something niggles at me.
“I bet the compound leaders know,” Khaos replies.
I shrug, “Probably, they are the originals after all, and they remember how this all truly started. You would be hard-pressed to find a native that’s managed to survive since the beginning, it was thousands and thousands of years ago.”
“So our best bet of finding out exactly what happened, and the answers to any questions that we have about this realm and the beginning of the end, is to talk to one of the souls that escaped the punishments side of the realm?” Kill asks.
I frown, “Technically yes, but these are dangerous people. They’re also what you would consider ancient beings, some are even what the ancients would consider ancient, which means there are supernaturals that you have never seen or heard of before, and that you wouldn’t know how to deal with.”
“You really have been following us for a while. You immediately knew that we were going to kidnap and torture one of the compound leaders,” Storm says.
My eyes widen. “Well, I didn’t think that you were going straight for a leader, but I did think that you wanted to do something along those lines.”
“We’ll put a pin in that,” Loki says with a skip in his steps.
I can’t believe he’s so excited about facing so much danger.
I frown. “I’m not sure I like the sound of putting a pin in it. That would suggest that you’re going to come back to the idea later on.”
Khaos grins, “You’re not wrong, wait until Farren finds out that there’s a torture opportunity on the horizon.”
“She’s wanted their heads since she learned about how they treated Rast,” Storm grins.
I start to protest, but actually, when I really think about it, I owe the fuckers for some things, and I would love to get the opportunity to repay them.
Mayhem’s smile is nothing short of feral as he says, “They’re souls, right? It doesn’t matter what kind of supernatural they were in life, a soul is a soul, and that means it's mine.”
“Dude, that was scary,” Loki says, although he doesn’t look scared at all and just grins.
“Wait, why don’t you check Farren’s soul?” I suddenly ask.
Mayhem looks surprised. “She didn’t give me permission. I will only check her soul under dire circumstances. You and Laikynn have both said that she’s not in any danger, and that she’s just in a deep restorative sleep because she used so much magic. If that changes, I’ll check her soul.”
I smile, “Fair enough.
Everyone falls silent again, as we all carry on walking.
It’s interesting to see the two very different sides to Mayhem in such close succession.
He was just grinning at the amount of torture he could inflict on the compound leaders in order to get them to tell us what we want to know, and then in the next sentence almost he was saying that he wouldn’t check on Farren’s soul because she hadn’t given him permission and he wants to respect that.
I think that says a lot about the kind of person he really is, and shows how much of a contradiction he is, they all are really.
I’m surprised that Rival hasn’t asked me any more questions.
I thought for sure that he was going to come out with a whole list of them, but he’s only known me for a short amount of time, so maybe he’s just letting his brain compile a more comprehensive list and simply asked me the most pressing questions that he had.
The giant beast that belongs to Farren carries on walking beside me, and I have to admit that in the whole time that I have called this realm my home, this may be the safest that I have ever felt. I doubt whether even the Abyss creatures would attempt to attack us at the moment.
We are incredibly well guarded by the creatures, Laikynn’s pack and Farren’s creatures.
Speaking of Farren’s creatures, that reminds me.
“You know that Oryn is an Abyss creature, right?” I ask casually. I’m sure they do know, they must, but I just want to make extra sure since Oryn is currently riding shotgun on the beast that’s guarding Farren and me, and no one seems to have said anything about it.
Everyone freezes and stares at me in shock.
“Or not,” I mutter as I stop walking too and turn back to face them, Farren still comfortably snuggled against my chest.
“I’m sorry, I could have sworn that you just said that Oryn was an Abyss creature?” Loki asks incredulously.
“Nico, are you fucking with us?” Rast asks, his eyebrow raised.
“You can’t see it, but I’m flipping you off right now,” I retort, earning a surprised laugh from the others. “I may have been dead for a while, but I do know when it’s appropriate to make a joke or not.”
“Well, that’s an improvement, you didn’t before,” Rast teases.
I try not to smirk, “The point is I am not fucking with you.”
“So, Oryn is an Abyss creature?” Khaos asks, double-checking just to make one hundred percent sure that he did hear me correctly.
“I thought you guys knew,” I reply. “He flies around Farren and sticks close to Poca and Meri, so you’ve seen him. Even if you don’t recognise what sort of creature he is, Laikynn and Rast know what many of the Abyss creatures look like.”
“We can’t see him,” Storm replies with his eyebrow raised slightly.
“Oh,” I reply. “That makes more sense, except it doesn’t make sense that I can still see him even though I’ve crossed back over to the living side.
” Looking at Rast, I add, “You know the flying ones, he’s one of those.
He’s no threat to Farren and by extension to you guys.
I think if he was, he would have done something about it by now. ”
“You realise that means that Farren somehow managed to bring an Abyss creature into the Fae Realm?” Rival points out immediately.
“I just,” Rast starts, pauses for a moment, and then starts again. “Every time that I think I have a grasp on what’s going on, and what Farren is capable of, something else happens that throws me through a loop again.”
“Welcome to our world, mate,” Reaper tells him, clapping him on the shoulder.
“She saved Oryn,” Laikynn says as he once again simply appears from the darkness.
“Why?” Hades asks and then shakes his head. “Scratch that, she saved him because he was a creature who was in pain.”
Laikynn nods, a smile in his eyes, “Yes. It was when she came to the realm to heal, she found him and healed him. Oryn owes her a life debt, although I do think that there’s more to it than him sticking around simply because of the life debt. He likes her.”
“Of course he does, it’s hard not to like Farren,” I reply, again without fully thinking about what I’m saying before I say it.