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“Well, Raiden used the link to the tether,” Doc starts to explain.

Raiden winces, “Sorry about that. I just wanted to make sure that you were alive. We had no idea where the Draconian team was, and since we are now thinking that Kylen is trying to kill you, we were worried that they might have you and that Coen couldn’t do anything about it.”

I wrap my arms around his waist to stop his rambling, “Thank you for caring so much about me. I am eternally grateful for the tether, and I like feeling the piece of your magic inside me.” I burst out laughing, “Okay, I was trying to sound all sincere, but that just sounded dirty.”

His chest vibrates underneath my head as his laughter rumbles free, and the others all join in, laughing at my unintentional dirty joke.

Raiden’s hand reaches down, and he tilts my face up before he smiles and kisses me gently.

When he pulls up, he says, “Thank you.”

“So, Raiden checked and found out you were alive at least, but we couldn’t really tell anything else,” Evander starts, carrying on the explanation, “and we still couldn’t find you anywhere, that’s when we ran into Mabel, we even asked Castle, and it couldn’t tell us anything.”

“Then River went all alpha, and here we are,” Griff finishes with a grin.

I grin at River, “Thank you. I was getting really bored of walking by myself.”

“Even with your marching song?” he asks with a smirk.

I nod, “Yep, even with the song.”

“Let’s start walking back,” Evander suggests.

Doc sighs, “I wish I could just transport us back, but I can’t do it without the van.” He frowns, “Well, I might be able to now, but I don’t want to try that here, and it’s also not something that anyone should know that I can do.”

I nod, “Yeah, don’t do that, I think we’ve exposed enough of all of your extra talents, let’s not add to it.”

“Agreed,” River says firmly.

We all start walking, River holding one of my hands, and Griff holding the other one. I feel absolutely tiny walking between them, and I love it.

After a few moments, Raiden interrupts the silence, “It wasn’t a trial for the Choosing, we know that because Mabel said that two tasks for the same person don’t happen on the same day. We also couldn’t do the activation spell to watch you, so no one saw the task.”

“I’m really pleased about that, I don’t think that it would be a good idea for the supernatural population to know that the unicorns are in this area, oreven that they definitely do exist, as I think that many supes think like us and thought that they were all gone. Their blood and horns are worth millions on the Obsidian Market, but I just thought that it was fake stuff. I had no idea that it was real,” I reply.

“Oh, absolutely. There would have been a lot of people out here looking for the unicorns, and they wouldn’t have been safe,” Griff agrees, squeezing my hand.

“It also means that no one saw your interaction with the unicorn and the mark that it left on you, that’s a really good thing. Especially since the unicorn provided you with the leather cuff so it clearly wants you to keep the mark hidden,” Ransom adds.

“Which means that the mark is obviously important,” Reed adds with a slight frown.

“The problem is that we have no idea why,” Van says.

“None of it explains why I was pulled here using a portal either,” I add. “The unicorn looked as surprised to see me as I was to see it, so it can’t have somehow called me to it so that I could help it.”

The guys are all silent for a moment as they try to think over what it could all mean.

“It’s strange, and is yet another thing that we can’t really look into until we’re back home and have no cameras on us or curious and dangerous people that we need to worry about,” Doc points out.

“I’m pretty much done with this whole Choosing thing now,” Reed mutters, running his hand through his hair, before adding, “not that I was exactly interested in it when we first arrived.”

“How many days have we got left now?” Griff asks. “The days have sort of morphed into one, and I have no idea where we are in the week.”

“It’s Wednesday so we have two more days of trials, then a rest day and then the scroll room thing where we find out what team you’re going to be on,and the perks if you win and all that,” Doc explains, and then adds, “I’ve been counting down the days until we can get out of here.”

“That’s smart,” Van tells him.

We carry on walking, and my thoughts turn to the decision that the scroll is going to tell us. Whose team I’m going to be on. I am no longer worried that I won’t be put on the guys. I pause my thoughts. Okay, so maybe I am a little bit worried that I’m going to be put on the Draconian team, but that worry is nowhere as big as it was when we first arrived. Kylen isn’t even trying to win the game or even play it properly, from what I can see.