Page 39 of Darkening Truth

“Surely that’s not a good thing?” Reaper asks.

Monty shrugs, “Well, that’s where the issue lies, they don’t know whether it is or not.”

“We are still going to the Dragon Realm though?” Kill asks.

Monty nods, “Yes, that is a certainty, you are definitely going. The key fragment is there as well as something else that you need to find, and Crem and Remeus are there and need to be dealt with before they get their brothers out of the Underworld.”

“Something else?” I ask.

Monty just looks at me, and then continues talking as if I didn’t ask a question, “Plus, it’s looking like your trip there is not going to be a quick or simple one. You’re going to need to use this extra time that you’ve been given to prepare. I will work on something to make your journey easier. By the time that they think that you will be going, I should have it ready for you.”

“Thank you, Monty. That is very much appreciated,” I tell him with a smile.

He returns it before his expression becomes serious again, “You’re very welcome, but I have a feeling that you may need more help than I can give you.”

“Well, that’s ominous,” Loki says, his eyebrow raised.

Monty grins, “Yep.”

With that very blunt last sentence, he disappears in his usual Monty fashion. Leaving us with more questions than answers.

I look at Hades, “Is he really gone, or is he doing that thing where he hangs around for a bit?”

Hades thankfully knows exactly what I’m talking about and doesn’t look at me like I’m going crazy. Instead, his magic swells slightly, and he shakes his head.

“He’s gone,” he replies. “There’s no one around that shouldn’t be.”

“What’s going on?” Storm asks.

“Before I got pulled into the nightmare and all of that went down, I was pulled into a different kind of dream, and I pulled Zev in too,” I start.

Loki’s eyebrows wriggle, “Oh, I like where this is going.”

I burst out laughing, “Dirty bastard, not that kind of dream.”

“Shame,” Loki replies with a twinkle in his eye and a smile playing around the edge of his lips.

“You were saying?” Mayhem says, trying to get the conversation back on track, although he’s smiling too.

“Right,” I say, refocusing, and then with the help of Zev, we tell them all about the dream.

As soon as we get to the bit about the trapped supernaturals, the condition of the realm and the fact that if we don’t save them in time, then the balance is going to be thrown off, everyone sits up straighter, and their expressions become serious as they remember what Hades said about it last night.

Hades looks at Zev, “There’s no way that this could have been a simple dream and nothing more?”

Zev shakes his head, “No. To be honest, I’m not sure what kind of dream it was, but it wasn’t just a dream. The reaction that Farren had to it was a big indicator, and then the way the dream behaved. It wasn’t just a dream, and the threat of the balance being thrown off is a very real concern.”

“Well fuck,” Khaos growls.

I clear my throat, getting Hades' attention, “Are ghosts possible? I mean, without them going batshit crazy and causing fuck loads of problems.”

Hades immediately shakes his head, “No. Souls, or ghosts as you said, can’t survive outside of the Underworld Soul Side.”

Chapter Fourteen

Farren

“The kid was a ghost,” Zev states.