Page 208 of The Lost Ones

“Can I tell you a secret?” I mutter.

“Of course Sweetheart.”

“She makes me nervous. Not because she’s done something to make me feel that way or because she’s a goddess although that should be a reason. No she makes me nervous because she’s female.” I admit that quietly.

“Oh Sage. That’s completely understandable.” He says hugging me tightly.

“I know but it still sucks I don’t like that women make me feel unsafe, mostly thanks to my step mother.” I add.

“I get it Sage. Men with beards still make me nervous some times, thanks to my father.”

“That’s why you have a beard?” I ask, deliberately not asking what happened between him and his father.

“Yeah. It was suggested to me by a friend. So it desensitises me to them and it’s been working really well.”

“I’m glad.” I say softly.

“Thank you Sage. I’ll tell you one day but I’m just not ready yet.”

“I get it Hunt. Really I do.” I reply earnestly. “Come on let’s get packed up. It’s driving me nuts that I don’t know what’s in the envelope.”

He chuckles, then squeezes me once more and we set to work clearing the rest of the camp. It’s not long before we’re on the road again.

“I think it might be a good idea to ride a bit harder since we’ve got quite a long way to go. Everyone ok to go a bit faster?” Kysen says.

“Absolutely.” I grin excited.

Obviously the last time we had to ride faster was when Levi’s life was in danger and I didn’t get to enjoy it. Too preoccupied with thoughts of him. It’s actually a surprise that I managed to stay on at all. Especially considering that in reality I haven’t been riding for very long at all.

The others all confirm that they’re good to go and Kysen nudges his horse into a canter. Dave automatically follows the others as they start to move faster. I grin as the wind whips through my hair. I’ve always been a bit addicted to going fast and this is the best feeling. I glance to my left and see Ghost gliding along beside me weaving through the branches with ease and those that he can’t miss he just turns into glittering dust and ‘ghosts’ through them reforming again when he’s clear.

It’s a truly amazing thing to witness. A caw from my right has me turning in that direction and giving my attention to Knot who is also flying beside me. She can clearly tell how impressed I am with Ghost and his dispersing gift and doesn’t want to be left out. At least that’s the impression I’m getting from her.

She glances at me again to make sure that I’m still watching her and then flies towards a thick branch not altering her flight path to go around it. I seriously hope she’s got a plan because I have no idea how to fix ravens. Just before she reaches it her eyes glow and pink magic reaches out and takes out the middle of the branch so she can fly through. I expect the end of the branch to come crashing to the floor but it just floats in mid air. Seemingly attached to nothing both ends of the now severed branch glow with her pink magic. Once she’s through the branch turns back to normal and I can’t help but look behind me to see it for longer.

That is so cool and definitely as impressive as Ghosts trick. I hear her click and chatter happily at my approval. They are so damn cute and I’d love to know more about them. The horses have a surprising amount of stamina but Kysen chooses that moment to slow their pace and give them a bit of a break.

“We’re about an hour or so out from the village, I’d guess.” Kysen says, “I thought it would be a good idea to let the horses rest in case we need to leave in a hurry.”

“Good idea.” Levi compliments.

“Do they have classes about familiars at the academy?” I ask Kysen, figuring now is as good a time as any to ask.

“There is but it’s all theoretical since no one has actually had one for a long time.” Kysen says. “They still teach us as if we do though with the hopes that familiars will come back. The teacher is a bit erm well kooky I guess is the best word. She’s going to absolutely love you. She’s hilarious.” He grins.

“I can’t wait. I’m not sure if Ghost and Knot will want to be on show though.” I speculate, “also wouldn’t it be better if people didn’t know I had them and whilst we’re on the subject wouldn’t it be better to keep our strength and the fact that I’ve got purple hair and several of the guys are alphas or far higher up the hierarchy than the should be?”

“Hell no.” He says sounding confused. “That would paint a target on your back. Besides how are you going to reach your full potential and gain proper control if you’re hiding some or most of your gifts. Or in Levi’s case not using your full strength. The only reason why you need to hide your supernatural appearances here is because otherwise you’d be stopped for hierarchy challenges every five minutes. You won’t have to worry about that at the academy though they’re banned on school grounds.”

“Thank fuck.” I mutter.

It did confuse the hell out of me at the last academy that we had to pretend to be weaker than we were. I understand that it was probablydangerous for the Director to know since she was such a psycho but it did us no favours with the students and could have become a big problem.

“That’s what we were instructed to do at the Earth academy. Erin and her guys were too.” Levi tells him.

“Don’t forget Cole,” Jax adds, “he’d been there for longer than we had and he was hiding his real strength and gifts too.”

“That’s true but I never got around to asking him if that was because he was told too or if he just decided to do it. Everyone had suspicions the Director was dodgy.”