Page 23 of Muted Voices (Broken Ashes #1)

I get myself comfy on my bed and then take a deep breath. For some reason, this moment feels truly monumental for me. I think it's because Ty actually head-hunted me. He saw that I was good at what I do, and instead of then assuming that I was cheating or something equally ridiculous, he wanted to employ me.

That makes me feel strangely proud.

Having centered myself, I rip open the large envelope and tip it upside down so that the contents fall on the bed. The first thing that catches my eye is an ID badge like the ones that River, Ransom, and Griff showed me at Bobby’s, except this one says my name and somehow already has a picture of me on it. I’ve never had one before, at least not one that came in a special leather wallet with a shiny badge too. HID gave me the bare minimum so I could work cases.

Another card in the pile confuses me, and I fish it out, frowning in confusion when it looks like some sort of bank card. It has my name on it and everything, but it wouldn’t make sense for it to be a bank card.

“Maybe, to save confusion, you should read through the paperwork?”

“Jeeze, man, is this going to become a regular thing with you?” I ask Winston.

He shrugs his little raccoon shoulders and watches me with eyes filled with amusement, “I’d say so. I rather enjoy watching you jump.”

I chuckle, “Fantastic. Is there any point in me asking you questions?”

“You can ask, but I most likely won’t answer.”

“Well, at least you’re honest,” I reply, deciding just to roll with it. He’s not a threat after all, and I kind of like the furry bastard even if he is a little bit sadistic, “I don’t think I’ll bother then; a waste of breath.”

“Smart girl, I’m just going to sit and watch, maybe nap a little bit,” he replies.

I smile, “That sounds good to me.” We’re silent for a while as I read over the job description, which is as I expected, but then I can’t help but keep glancing at him out of the corner of my eye.

He sighs and peeks one of his eyes open, “Is there something you wanted to say?”

I shrug, “I’m just curious about you, that’s all. You know that I saw the others earlier?”

My words have both of his eyes popping open as he regards me, “They let you see them?”

I nod, “Well, I asked them to come to me. I wanted to thank them for helping me; I know that I wouldn’t have gotten here if it weren’t for all of you.”

His little furry eyebrows rise, “They came when you called them?”

“Yes, although I’m beginning to think that my interaction with them was even more weird than I initially thought it was,” I reply, putting the papers down and giving up pretending to read them.

“Yes, it is rather, but then there’s no by the book in this situation, and it’s not unheard of. If they’d spoken to you, then that would be a different thing entirely,” Winston starts to explain, and when he sees the look on my face, he throws his tiny hands up into the air and stares at me incredulously, “Seriously, child, they answered you?”

I nod, “Well, kind of, the moose spoke into my mind.”

Winston rolls his eyes and settles back down on the bed, “I should’ve guessed, of course, bloody Wallace couldn’t help himself.”

“Wallace?” I grin, Winston already having gotten over it and now has his eyes closed again, “The moose is called Wallace?”

“Well, what did you expect him to be called?” Winston replies, his eyes still closed.

I shrug, “Alright, good point.”

It’s clear that Winston is now done with our conversation, as tiny snores fill the room despite the fact that he was awake seconds ago. The little dude can fall asleep quicker than even I can.

There’s no point in me waking him up. I think I’m lucky enough that he answered me the first time, and besides, I’ve nearly finished reading through the information, and I haven’t found out what the black card is for, and I’m crazily curious about it. Maybe it means I’ve got top high-level security clearance or something that would be cool. It would be nice to be legally allowed into those computer system areas rather than breaking in like I usually do.

I’m wrong, really wrong, and that’s proven on the next page at the bottom where it explains that Ty is aware that I will not have any access to my bank account or anything like that because I’m dead and will be for as long as it takes to sort out the corrupt members in HID.

That’s a whole other problem though, because I know for a fact that there’s no way that they will willingly accept help from SID and that the big boss is actually corrupt himself, so that presents an issue of how we weed out all the corrupt members, although I suppose the place to start would be take the boss down because presumably he has files and information on the various corrupt people he has working for him.

I have been thoroughly distracted.

I dismiss my thoughts and focus back on what has been written, I have to read the sentence several times before it truly sinks in, and then I exclaim loudly, “What the fuck?”

“Bloody loud you are,” Winston grumbles; since I’ve obviously woken him up, he glares at me before he disappears.

Okay, note to self: don’t wake Winston up unless I really have to; he’s super grumpy otherwise. I don’t spare him any more thought though, because my mind goes straight back to looking at this little black card. It’s a bank card, and Ty has already loaded it with this month's pay since he knows that I have nothing and can’t get anything. That’s surprising in itself. It's far more considerate than my other boss ever was, but what had me exclaiming out loud was the amount of money that was supposedly on the card.

It’s more than I have ever seen in my life and more than I could possibly spend in a month, even after I’ve bought myself a new wardrobe and maybe a pair of sneakers.

Hell, I could be really extravagant with what I buy, and it won’t put a dent in it.

I spend a while staring at the piece of paper before a knock on the door distracts me. I carefully put the card down so I won't lose it or break it, but I do grab the letter with the amounts on as I get up and head toward the door. I fling it open and shove the letter into the shocked face of Raiden.

“Are these numbers right? This isn’t like a haze the new girl kind of thing?” I ask him.

“Er yeah, well actually, that’s half a month's pay since you’ve come on halfway through the month. If you need more though, I can always see if Ty would mind giving you an advance. I’m sure that he wouldn’t mind.” Raiden replies.

“What?” I exclaim, completely dumbfounded, “No, this is more than enough. I don’t need any more.”

“Oh,” Raiden replies, seemingly confused until it clicks that I am genuinely shocked about how much it is, “how much did they pay you at HID?”

“A hundred dollars a job,” I reply.

“You’re fucking kidding?” he exclaims.

“Nah, I knew it was shit, but I didn’t know it was this shit, and SID agents were getting paid so well,” I reply, and now that I’m not waving a letter in his face, I realise that he’s holding a tray of food. “Oh, lunch, thanks.”

“Actually, this has been outside your door for a while. I was just coming to let you know that we’re leaving in ten,” he tells me.

“Oh shit, okay,” I reply, as I grab the plate off the tray, “I must have been too absorbed in reading, and Winston showed up for a bit. I’ll eat and grab my boots and jacket, and I’ll be down in five.”

Raiden smiles, “Don’t rush. It’s just Evander who likes to make sure we always leave on time.”

I chuckle, “He hasn’t let up on that over the years then?”

“Nope, not even a little bit,” Raiden grins.

“Well, in that case, I might let him sweat it a bit. I always enjoyed pushing it to see how long I could make him wait before he lost his shit.”

Raiden chuckles, “You’re going to keep this whole household on its toes. I can feel it.”

I grin as he turns on his heel and heads back down the hallway. I hope he meant that in a good way. I take a massive bit of my sandwich as I put the plate on my bed and then grab my boots, pulling them on one at a time while I finish eating my sandwich. I grab the second one as I walk past the bed to the closet, where I hung up my jacket that Doc summoned for me. It now has even more sentimental value to me. It's been a very long time since someone did something that kind for me, and if I’m being completely honest, I got the butterflies when he summoned it for me. Of course, he is super fucking gorgeous, so that contributed to the butterflies too.

Although, I do get them around all of the guys, so I’m pretty much fucked.

I do consider taking some extra time to get ready, just to make Evander squirm, but I want to go and see this guy and hopefully get some answers. I don’t know how we’re going to get any answer about why I’m so weird otherwise. This Sloane guy was the only one that Raiden was able to think of who would be able to help. I certainly don’t have anyone that we could turn to for information.

“I thought you’d make us wait,” Van says with a smile, standing by the front door with the others.

“Not this time,” I grin and then add, “Hey Doc.”

“Hey, Sugar. How’re you? Did you eat?” he replies, concern lacing his tone.

Those stupid butterflies take flight again at the sound of his concern, and there’s no denying it: I am attracted to my new team member.

You’re attracted to all of them; my inner voice gloats happily.

Fuck.

“I’m good. I did eat, did you?” I reply, raising my eyebrow.

He smirks, “Yes, I did, and I even took a nap.”

“Wait, you did?” Reed asks, sounding slightly shocked.

Doc grins, “Yeah, I did. I can listen.”

Reed rolls his eyes, “You never have before.”

Griff smirks, “That’s because we asked him. It turns out he just needs a beautiful woman to ask him, and then he behaves.”

It takes me a second to realise that they’re talking about me, and I just roll my eyes in response.

“Let’s head out. We don’t want to keep Sloane waiting, and he’s already going to be salty enough since he’s not expecting us,” Ransom suggests as we all head out of the front door and to the giant van.

I guess Doc is transporting us again. I wonder if these guys ever actually drive somewhere? I mean, they must. Surely, it’s draining to use Doc’s magic all the time.

“Why would it matter how long we took if he’s not even aware that we’re coming?” I ask as I take a seat between River and Van.

Ransom smirks, “Because, somehow, he always knows that we’re coming to see him, and he always says you kept me waiting.”

I grin. I kind of like this guy.

“We’re heading to a supe-only hangout, so stay on your guard, and don’t accept anything from anyone,” Doc tells me, pretty much the same thing that guys told me earlier.

His magic fills the air as I say, “I know, don’t worry, I’m not new. I know how to deal with supes and the things you’ve got to watch out for from the more unsavory ones.”

“Is that from your work with HID or from before?” Evander asks, clearly fishing for more of my past and what happened.

To be honest, I’m surprised that he’s left it this long to start fishing. There’s a lot of unfinished business between us, and I know that at some point, we’re going to have to sit down and clear the air properly. Not only that, but I’m going to have to deal with his family too, and they’re going to be pissed that I didn’t stay in contact. It wasn’t like it was easy. There were many times that I wanted to run to them and ask for help or just for one of Rose’s mumma bear cuddles that made everything right.

But I refused to put them in danger, and a massive part of me was actually ashamed of just how far off the beaten track I’d ended up.

I didn’t want them to know then, and if I’m being honest, I don’t want them to know now.

I do know that I owe Evander the truth though, and I can answer his question easily enough.

“That was from before. As you can imagine, I dealt with a lot of supes working with Dimitri,” I reply.

“That’s something I wanted to ask you about,” Griff starts.

Doc’s magic has dissipated, so I know that we’re at our destination, but I don’t say anything. I’m curious to see what Griff wants to ask.

“Yes?”

“Anyone who I’ve ever spoken to always refers to their time with Dimitri as working for him, but you don’t, you say with. It's almost like you considered yourself an equal. You also referred to him as Dimitri and appear to be more angry than scared. That’s a very unique reaction,” Griff states.

“There wasn’t really a question in there, my giant friend,” I reply with a smile, and then when I can see that he’s not going to drop it, I sigh and add, “I worked with him, a lot, in fact, we were what you would consider friends, just friends before anyone gets any ideas. He got darker and darker, and I couldn’t do it. I tried to walk away, but he wouldn’t let me. The friend I knew had completely disappeared, and I was forced to work for him in a capacity I didn’t want to. That’s why I turned him in, but I’m also not going to then or now ever refer to him by his last name or quake in fear; he doesn’t get that from me, and he never will.”

Silence reigns in the van as they all absorb what I’ve just told them, more questions stirring in their eyes, and I’m done with my sharing portion of the evening.

“Wow, okay, I was not expecting any of that,” Reed admits.

I smile, covering up any unease I feel at talking about this subject. There’s a lot that I haven’t said, obviously, and I only gave them the very basic version of what happened.

“Well, I will answer some questions. Now, let's go and see what this Sloane has to say,” I suggest, not so subtly closing the subject.

Thankfully, they get the hint.

Doc shakes his head, “It’s going to take some getting used to, you knowing when we’ve reached our destination or when I’m using my magic.”

I smirk as Ransom opens the doors, and we all start to file out, “Don’t worry, Doc, it’s not just you that I can recognise magic. I’ll call you all out at some point.”

“Great,” River chuckles, and actually sounds like he thinks that it’s a great thing, and he can’t wait for me to call him out on it.

I have this feeling that River likes puzzles, riddles, and mysteries, mainly because that’s a supposed trait of kitsunes; like their fox counterparts, they are extremely curious, and that for kitsunes comes out in their love of all things mysteries, which for River, I am a big mystery.

I just hope he still likes me even if we manage to solve the mystery of me.

As unlikely as that may be.

Jeeze, Neith, that was a very girly and woe is me thought, cut the shit and grow a pair.

I’m watching my feet as I step out of the van, mostly because I really don’t want to fall on my ass, and my feet have a habit of doing that to me. We've spoken about it, but they’re still insistent on tripping me up every now and again. I’m also using it as an excuse to gather my thoughts since apparently talking about Dimitri has made me feel a bit more vulnerable than I'd like, but also so that I can check my weapons.

It's because of this reason that I don’t realise until we’re smack outside that I know where we are. When I finally look up, it’s to see a very familiar Irish pub in front of me and some of my favorite bouncers staring at the guys like they might not let them in.

Oh, this is going to be fun. My whole mood lifts, and I have to force myself to stop bouncing on my toes and give my excitement away.

Joey spots me, and his eyes light with recognition as he starts to smile, only to frown when I shake my head slightly. I want to drag this out for a bit; I am curious to see who this Sloane is that they’re meeting in Sully’s bar. Thankfully, Joey knows me well enough that he just goes with it and doesn’t give away that he knows me.

“I guess you’d better come in,” Joey says and steps to the side to let the guys through.