Page 26 of Muted Voices (Broken Ashes #1)

“E verything okay?” Reed asks, watching me closely.

“Yeah, it's all good. Let’s head home. I don’t want to be running on empty when we go and check out those woods. I want to make sure that we get answers for Navy,” I reply.

“Sounds good to me,” Doc says as we head down the hallway, and he opens the door, his dark eyes filling with amusement, “after you.”

“Why thank you, Sir,” I joke as I step out of the door, “bye Joey, I hope you have a good one.”

“Thanks, Neith. I’m sure it will be nice and quiet now,” he jokes.

“You say that like it’s my fault that it gets loud,” I laugh, knowing full well that sometimes it really is my fault.

“You.” Someone states, and I pause, the guys stopping too as a supe with dark straggly hair, yellow eyes, and the obvious signs of being addicted to one of the supe drugs points at me.

Ah shit, I recognize him from a past life. He was involved in one of the cases I worked on, and the bastard got away.

“Hello, Joshua, was it?” I reply calmly.

“I killed you,” he says, looking a little spooked, and I can feel the guy's eyes on me.

I raise my eyebrow and smirk, “Well, you clearly didn’t do a good job.” I then add, speaking to the guys, “This fucker is wanted in pretty much every state; one of you might want to arrest him.”

Evander jumps on it while the others still look confused, and I can’t say I blame them.

“I’ve called it in. A pick-up team will be here in five.” Doc says.

“Do we want to know what he meant?” Griff asks, his eyes studying me closely.

I shrug and decide to play it down because he did, in fact, kill me, and he definitely did a good enough job. Fortunately, I know enough about him to know that he’s known for hallucinations, and that plays in my favor. I always make an effort to read up on the people who kill me for situations like this, and in case I’m feeling a bit stabby. Tit for tat, an eye for an eye, a big toe for a big toe, you know the sayings.

“He tried to kill me, and he hurt me badly enough that he thought he had killed me. As I’m sure you can appreciate, I don’t particularly like remembering it, so if we could drop it, I would appreciate it,” I reply.

They share a look, but none of them push it any further.

Thankfully, it also helps that the transport for the guy who killed me and is now staring at me like he’s seen a ghost has arrived, and the guys quickly explain to the two agents who he is before they take him away.

After they’ve taken him away, we head back to the van. The guys are all talking amongst themselves, seeming to understand that I need a moment to process and gather my thoughts. We learned a lot in our meeting with Sully, but I wasn’t prepared for any of it. I was prepared for him to say I’m just a weird human or that I’m imagining it, and that would’ve been fine, honestly. That’s not what we were told though, and although there’s not much that I can do about the whole supernatural thing until the supernatural side of me decides to make an appearance, I still need to process that it’s a possibility, and that may take a while.

“Are you okay?” River asks me gently, and I realise that the van is empty and we’re back at home.

I stand up and stretch, “Yeah, I’m okay. It’s just going to take me a second to get my head around it, and honestly, I don’t think I can handle that today.”

“That makes sense,” he replies thoughtfully as he walks me to the house and through the front door.

“Something has been bothering me,” I start.

River glances at me, “Yeah?”

“Well, what if somehow someone at HID knew about the whole supe stuff, and that’s why they killed me?” I ask.

“You mean tried to,” he corrects, and I nod, “they may have, but how could they possibly know?”

I frown, “Yeah, that’s a good point. I think it’s more paranoia on my part, and if they knew for certain that I was a supe, then that would explain why they tried to have me killed.”

“Not really, it’s a pretty extreme reaction,” he points out.

“Yeah, true.” I reply and then shake my head, “You know, actually, there’s no point pondering it anymore. I imagine that when we get into the case, we’ll find out why.”

“I’m sure we will,” he replies and then starts bouncing, and before he’s even said anything, I start smiling. I can’t help it; he just has that effect on me, “I know, why don’t we watch a movie? We’ve got popcorn so long as you didn’t eat it all, and we can put a comedy or something on and just ignore all the serious shit.”

I think for a second, “You know, actually, that sounds perfect. I’ve got one condition, though.”

He nods seriously, “Okay, shoot.”

“Everyone has to wear their PJs. I don’t want to be the only one wearing mine.”

He chuckles, “Deal. I’ll go and tell the guys to get ready; you go and put your Pjs on and meet us in the front room.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” I grin as I turn and head straight up the stairs.

I find Doc waiting outside my door with a pile of clothes in his arms.

“Hey, Sugar,” he greets me happily, “I summoned you some more clothes since you’ve only got one outfit. Now you’ve got your card though we can go shopping if you’d like so you can pick out some stuff that’s more your style.”

I smile, “Thank you, I really appreciate it. I’ve had to go commando today, and while I don’t mind that occasionally, I do prefer to wear underwear.”

Doc closes his eyes tight for a couple of seconds, and I swear he groans quietly before he opens them again and pierces me with his gaze, “You’re going to be the death of me.” Instead of letting me reply to that, he says, “Do you know when you want to go? We might be able to fit it in tomorrow?”

“Actually, if someone can lend me a laptop and Ransom can do his thing, then I’d much rather do it online and have it delivered. I’m not too fond of shopping. I get hungry too quickly and bored.” I reply as I take the pile of clothes off him and open my door, dumping the pile on the bed.

“Yeah, that’s fine. I’m sure that we have a spare laptop around here somewhere.” He says.

“Great. I also don’t think it’s a good idea for me to be seen in too many public places at the moment,” I point out.

“Yeah, good point. I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Go get your PJs on,” I order, seemingly randomly, and when he looks confused, I catch up to my brain and realise that he wasn’t a part of River and my conversation, nor can he read my mind, so he has no idea what I’m talking about. “River promised me that we could watch a movie to take my mind off everything that we learned tonight since I don’t want to deal with it right now.”

Understanding fills Doc’s eyes, “I completely understand. I think I’d handle it the same way. I’ll meet you downstairs.”

“Thanks, Doc,” I call after him as I admittedly watch his ass as he walks out the door.

He’s fucking hot. They all are.

Right, that’s enough of that. I really hope that Doc’s conjured me up some comfy pjs because I need fluffy oversized comfort right now. When I don’t find any, I’m disproportionately disappointed.

“Here, you might need these. I hope you don’t mind, but you seem like you’d rather go for comfort,” Doc’s voice interrupts my pity party, and I turn around and see him back at my door with a new pile of stuff and draped over his arm a big fluffy jumper.

“You know you might be my favorite,” I tell him as I hug him, smooshing the clothes between us.

Doc’s chuckle makes a shiver run down my spine, and I step back before I do something entirely inappropriate and ask him to distract me with sex instead.

“I’ll take that,” he grins and then leaves me with the pile of clothes as he yells, “Hey guys! I’m Neith’s favorite, she just told me!”

There’s a variety of yells in response that I can’t make out, but the sounds fill me with happiness, and I quickly close my door so that I can throw on my comfy new PJs.

**********

Trying to gasp for breath, the panic riding me hard, I grab Betty and pull the trigger. The familiar sound of her going off wakes me up fully, and I realise that I’ve shot a hole in the wall.

Shit.

Not again. The guys are going to be so fucking mad.

I am obviously too tired to actually do anything about it now though, because my eyes are falling shut again, only to ping back open when the door crashes against the wall.

“Neith!” Raiden yells, sounding panicked.

“Are you okay?” Doc demands.

“All good. I had a nightmare,” I reply stiltedly, my eyes half open.

“Is that a hole?” Reed asks, sounding confused.

“You had a nightmare, and you shot a hole in the damn wall?” Evander asks, sounding amused despite the fact I’ve damaged his house.

I nod, aware that my eyes are now closed, “Uh huh. I'm super sorry; I’ll fix it tomorrow. You guys have plaster and stuff, right?”

I’m in that weird place between being awake and asleep, and I hear River ask, “Has she gone back to sleep.”

“Yeah, it looks like it,” Griff replies.

“Well, I guess we'll leave it till morning then.” Ransom suggests somewhat questioningly.

I don’t hear anything else. I’m too busy dreaming about donuts.

**********

After a very heated debate last night about what they’re all going to do to become my favorite, which I found highly amusing and also did absolutely nothing to stop these un friendship like feelings from growing, we finally ended up watching the movie, and I didn’t make it upstairs until the early hours of the morning. Thanks to my bed though I fell asleep easily, and I’ve woken up this morning feeling relaxed and refreshed.

Then I see the hole in the wall, shit.

I forgot I did that.

I wonder how mad the guys are. Wanting to get it over with, and admittedly, really fucking hungry, I quickly throw some clothes on, aware that we’re going to check out the woods this morning so making sure I dress accordingly. I don’t allow myself to take my time or get distracted because I need the guys to know that I’m sorry and really good at fixing holes in the wall.

“Good morning, Neith,” Evander greets me, looking amused, which is not what I expected. I glance around at them all to see similar looks on their faces.

I don’t know why they look amused, but I decide to carry on with my pre-planned apology speech anyway. “I am so sorry that I shot a hole in your wall. I’d love to tell you that it won't happen again, but honestly, I do it pretty regularly. The good news is that because I regularly shoot holes in my walls, I’ve become really good at fixing it, so if you have the stuff or can get the stuff, it will be as good as new in no time.”

They all stare at me for a second, and then Doc says, “Come and eat.”

I frown since that wasn’t a reply to anything that I said, but then again I am starving, so I do as I’m told and sit down. The guys said that they couldn’t cook, but they can definitely cook bacon and eggs, yum.

“Neith,” Ransom starts, as I’m taking my first bite, and I can’t help but think, here it comes, “did you forget that we have magic? Specifically, me? I can fix it in seconds. It’s not a big deal.”

“It's not?” I can’t help but question.

“No, it's not. We were more worried about you,” Griff admits in his gruff voice.

I smile, “Aw, thanks guys. I’m good though. It’s always because of a nightmare, and I can never remember the nightmare once I wake up.”

“Oh, okay,” Evander says, clearly not liking my reply for some reason. “Let us know if there’s anything that we can do though.”

I nod, not bothering to answer since I have a mouth full of bacon. As soon as I swallow though, I frown, “Erm, I didn’t have any bullets in Betty.”

“You must have,” Raiden replies.

I shake my head, “I didn’t. I took them all out when I first got here so you guys wouldn’t think I was going to go on a rampage or something. I haven’t used Betty, so I didn’t put any back in her.”

“Are you telling me that you managed to shoot a hole in the wall with a gun that had no bullets?” Reed asks, his eyebrows raised.

I nod, “Apparently. It’s not like it's easy to forget reloading a gun, so unless I somehow did that in my sleep, which would’ve been difficult because I gave the bullets I had to Van, then there’s no other explanation.”

Van frowns, “It could be your magic? Maybe it reacted to you being under threat and created the bullets.”

I grin, “That would be a pretty cool gift to have, creating bullets out of thin air. Imagine how much more room we’d have in our bags for snacks if we didn’t have to take bullets.”

They all stare at me until River says, “I have no idea how to respond to that, so I think we should just move on and chalk the magic bullets up to well magic, and specifically, Neith’s magic.”

“I agree,” I reply, because I’m hungry and want to carry on eating, and I don’t want to start answering questions.

“Okay, just let us know if anything weird happens, okay?” Reed reluctantly agrees.

“You got it.” I reply and then change the subject, “When are we leaving?”

“In about ten minutes,” Evander replies, and then adds, “Which reminds me, Ty sent me an email this morning and mentioned that Navy would really like to see you, she’s invited you and us to her graduation ceremony next week.”

I smile, “Can we go?”

“I don’t see why not. You guys seem to have a bond already, and you haven’t spent any time together or know each other at all,” Van replies.

“I think she must have seen something. Regardless though, she felt like one of mine. I can’t really explain it.”

“No, we get it. The guy’s felt like my people pretty fucking quickly,” Raiden admits, and I smile.

“Exactly,” I reply. “Come on, let’s go. I want some news, good or bad, to tell Navy when we see her next week. She deserves answers, proper ones.”

“I agree,” Doc says, his face severe.

“Was the hybrid’s body like the others?” Reed asks him as we all start to stand up and clear the table.

“Yes, unfortunately. He was tortured and injected multiple times with what I can only assume is the serum that they’re using to try and turn supes into hybrids. They aren’t built for it though, and their natural magic fights against the invasion, and they’re torn apart from the inside out. Their last moments are agonizing.” Doc replies, shadows in his eyes.

“Fuck,” I curse. “We need to bury this psycho.”

Ransom tilts his head, “You mean capture and arrest?”

I shrug, “Sure, that’s what I said.”

“Neith,” Van starts.

I cut him off, “Yeah, yeah, I’ll behave and do it by the book unless I get permission otherwise. Let's go.”

The guys all follow me out of the kitchen and toward the front door. I’m already armed, and they must be too because we head straight for the van.

“Everyone ready?” Doc asks.

“Yeah, do you ever drive anywhere though?” I ask as I feel Doc’s magic fill the air.

Griff chuckles, “Yeah, we do. It’s just that recently, the cases have required us to use Doc instead. It’s easier and quicker, and some of the situations have been time-sensitive, like, for example, the crime scene with Navy’s big brother.”

“Ah, okay. That makes sense. Is there a plan for this place?” I ask as River opens the back doors.

Everyone stays put though, and looks at Van.

“It’s pretty simple. We’re going to comb the area as thoroughly as possible and hope that we find something. Guy’s use your magic, River; you especially see if you can find that same scent that’s been on the hybrids.” Evander orders.

“Got it,” I reply.

We all hop out, and I have to admit that while the place looks beautiful, there’s a sense of sadness, and almost like a sickness about it.

“Does anyone feel that?” River asks.

“The earth here isn’t happy,” I reply as I stare at the tall trees.

River’s gaze pierces me, “Yes, like it's unwell.”

“Well, that’s a sign that we’re on the right track at least,” Griff says, as pulls on a backpack that I hadn’t noticed.

“Where did you all get the backpacks from?” I ask as I realise that they’ve all got them.

“They’re kept in the van so they’re ready for things like this,” Reed explains, “We’ll get you one. For now, you can borrow what we have; there’s plenty.”

“Sweet, thanks, guys,” I reply.