Page 39

Neith

I was so tired last night after the massive and very busy day that I didn’t even have time to worry that my nightmares would come back, thanks to my most recent panic attack.

Again, I’m pretty sure that having the guys in the bed with me helped prevent the nightmares from resurfacing, and if any did, I don’t remember them.

My eyes catch on the cuff around my wrist, obviously I didn’t take it off to sleep.

Not only did I forget because I pretty much showered with my eyes closed I was that tired, but it also wouldn’t have been a good idea, because the cuff would have still been off this morning, which would mean that within twelve-ish hours of been told by the unicorn not to show anyone, I would have already told most of the supernatural world that I had a tattoo thing from a unicorn.

I mean it’s highly likely that not all of them would understand or even notice the mark, but the ones that would are the ones that I wouldn’t want to know about it, the dangerous ones.

I would most likely be hunted. Of course, there’s a big chance that I’m going to be hunted anyway, HID is going to know that I’m alive, and we’re going to have to deal with that whole thing when this ends.

There is a small naive part of me that is hoping that they either won’t find out I’m alive, or that they decide I’m too big of a threat and leave me alone.

I know that’s naive especially since we’re fairly certain that the Blue Fucker is the person that was interested in me and is having HID give him supernaturals. It makes a lot of sense.

The more I think about everything that has happened since we arrived here, the more worried I am that when we leave and everything finally slows back down, or at least as slow as it ever does, when that happens, I fear that everything that has happened is going to come crashing down on top of me.

If that happens, the nightmares will pick back up regardless of who is with me when I sleep, and things are going to get violent.

The guys' walls are going to have holes in them. Especially since Betty is sentient now, and I will probably find her in my hands regardless of where I put her, and if I’ve asked her to come to me.

If I’m having a nightmare, she will appear.

Oh, and I scream.

“Huh, maybe I should get everyone earplugs,” I mutter accidentally aloud.

“Why?” Ransom asks curiously from just ahead of me.

I wince slightly, “Sorry, that was an inside thought that became an outside thought without my permission. It happens a lot.”

Van chuckles, he’s well aware of my inside, outside thought issue. He dealt with it for years before we parted ways. That’s probably not the accurate way to describe what happened when Van left for the magical college, but that’s what I’m going with right now.

“Are you going to explain?” Reed grins.

Van looks back over his shoulder and smiles fondly, “You probably don’t want her to. You’d end up falling down a rabbit hole that no one will get out of again.”

“Well, that was rude,” I smirk.

Van’s eyebrow rises, “Am I wrong?”

I shake my head and try not to smile, “That’s not the point.”

“It was my point,” Van retorts immediately, and I burst out laughing.

We walk for a bit longer, listening for anything that sounds vaguely suspicious or threatening. All I can hear is the usual sounds that you find in the woods, and nothing that I find particularly concerning. However, that doesn’t mean that we aren’t being watched or stalked.

The voices are murmuring quietly in the background of my mind, and show absolutely no sign that there is anything wrong, which reassures me further that we are currently alone and not under threat.

The longer that we walk though the more twitchy I get.

I really don’t like not knowing what is expected of me and what is going to happen, it makes me far more nervous than if I was doing something.

“Huh, that’s odd,” Doc mutters.

“What?” River asks.

Doc pauses, making us all do the same as we wonder what he’s talking about.

He looks up at a tree to our left, a particularly tall and judging from the size of the trunk, an incredibly old tree.

Studying it, I try to find what he thinks is odd about it, it just looks like a tree to me, albeit massive, and then I see it.

Far up on the trunk, and well into the canopy of the tree, is a hole.

Possibly used as a nest for whatever creatures live in these woods, but there is something glittering and glinting inside, and from what I can tell from my vantage point, this far down, it isn’t an animal or something that should be inside a tree.

At least it shouldn’t be from what I know, but we have no idea what realm we’re in, and therefore, we don’t know what is normal for this realm. So, for all I know, sparkly glittery things high up in holes in trees are perfectly normal.

“Oh, I see,” Ransom says, as he points up at the hole.

“Yeah, that doesn’t look like it belongs,” Raiden agrees. “It could be something to do with Choosing?”

“Maybe, I guess there’s one way to find out,” Reed says, and then frowns. “I can’t fly up there, I don’t think any of us will be able to, our wingspans are too wide, and the trees are too close together.”

“Damn it, you’re right,” Griff grumbles, staring up at the sparkly thing.

It only takes a moment before they’re all discussing how to get to it, with suggestions about spells, throwing someone, and everything else in between. I can’t help but smile at the way that they are overcomplicating it, and decide to leave them to it, and grab it myself.

I have always been good at climbing, mostly because I have always enjoyed being ‘up’.

Anywhere, I always like to be high. I have no idea why, I just do.

In fact, in my little house back in the town where Pete is, I did sleep in a hammock for a while.

I loved being high up, but I missed being able to spread out, and when I had a nightmare, I kept falling out of it, so I reluctantly went back to sleeping in a bed.

I have climbed too many trees to count, but this time I try to coax some of that reluctant magic of mine forward, which comes easily, but again is still only a small portion. I’m not sure how I know that only a small portion of my magic is responding to me, but I do, and I’m not questioning it.

Using the extra boost that my magic has given me, I easily climb up the massive tree trunk, wishing that I were barefoot, since I absolutely adore climbing trees with no shoes.

“Erm, I don’t think we need to figure it out,” Ransom says, with a smile in his voice.

“What, why?” Doc asks curiously, he must look up and see me nearly at the sparkly hole, sounds dirty, because he says, “Oh.”

“Careful, Nene, we have no idea what it is,” Evander calls up.

“Don’t worry, I’m not just going to stick my hand in and grab it, without checking it out more,” I call back. “I have no desire to lose a hand.”

“You know, you guys are talking so loudly that there is a good chance that if that is a creature or guarded by something, you have definitely let it know that you’re there,” River points out.

I roll my eyes, not that any of them can see because I’m now throwing myself up over the branches as I get closer to where the sparkle is coming from.

“I would just like to point out that I didn’t start yelling loudly first and that all of you were talking pretty loudly before I did,” I call down, since it’s too late now and anything that was going to be disturbed has been by this point.

“She has a point,” Reed chuckles.

I decide to ignore them since I’m now almost to the hole.

Moving a lot more cautiously than I was moments ago, I edge up as slowly as I can move.

I only have a brief moment to marvel at the fact that I’m clinging to a tree, ridiculously high in the air, and I’m not struggling, before I force myself to refocus.

It would be just my luck to die because my brain had gone off on a random tangent and forgot what I was supposed to be doing.

Actually, when I die for real, I bet that’s the way I go.

A noise from below pulls me out of my once again wandering thoughts.

Sparkly thing in the tree. Could die. Focus.

With that short reminder ringing through my ears, I peek inside the hole, my eyes widen, and I can’t help the giant smile that crosses my expression.

“Well?” River calls up from below.

“Give her a minute,” Ransom replies.

I know that the suspense is killing him. I’m actually surprised that he isn’t up . . . My thought cuts off as River suddenly appears next to me, perching on a nearby branch, clearly having started climbing when he asked the question.

His grin is huge, and I burst out laughing at the adorable expression he’s wearing.

He shrugs, “Sorry, I got a bit impatient.”

I grin and shake my head, “Of course you did. Look! It’s a fucking gemstone of some kind. It’s huge!”

I move out of the way so that River can get a good look inside the hole, and his eyes widen just like mine did. It’s big enough that I would struggle to carry it in one hand, it’s a sphere and completely smooth.

“I have never seen a gemstone that looks like that before,” River mutters. “It almost looks like a cross between moonstone, amethyst, and obsidian, but with sparkles and its own glow.” He glances at me, “It is glowing, right? You see that as well?”

I nod, “Yep, it’s definitely glowy. Do you think we can touch it?”

River shrugs, still perched on his branch and not wavering in the slightest. “I don’t know. Can you get on the branch next to you, and I’ll see if I can get a better look?”

I nod and shift around so that I can hook my leg over the branch that he suggested. I pull myself onto it with far more ease than I’m used to, and it’s a surprise. Although it has just occurred to me that I was gripping onto the trunk of the tree, and there wasn’t really anything to hold onto.

How the fuck was I staying up?