Page 212 of The Lost Ones

“None of these alleys look familiar.” I say starting to get a bit frustrated with it now.

“Ok. Lets pick one and see where it takes us. The village is bigger than I thought and bigger than it shows on the map too. Its obvious that no one official has been around to update the maps for a long time.” Kysen says.

“There’s bound to be more alleys around here and we haven’t been searching for that long. If worse comes to worse we will just find somewhere to stay and start again in the morning.” Maverick reasons.

“You mean a real bed and maybe even a shower?” I say my mood improving immediately.

We’ve been washing in rivers when we stay near them and we’ve tried to stay near them as much possible so Jax can keep his strength up. Rivers are by no means the same as hot running water though and at this pointI’d kill for a moderately warm shower, hell anything that’s not ice cold.

“That settles it, regardless of whether we’ve found the guy or not we’ll find somewhere to stay for the night.” Jax says firmly. “You should’ve said something Little star.”

“It’s not a big deal honestly, I just want to wash properly and sleep on something that’s not quite as hard. I’ve never been camping before this.”

“That’s fair. We’ll have to get a room all together but obviously with more than one bed.” Levi says thoughtfully as we walk through an archway. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to split up and I highly doubt that anywhere would have enough rooms for us anyway.” Levi finishes.

“I don’t care so long as there’s a bed, maybe a hot meal and somewhere to bathe.” I say, I wasn’t really struggling with it but now that there’s the option for the alternative I realise that I crave it desperately. My eyes widen as a thought occurs to me and I clutch Kysen’s arm and open my mouth.

“Yes, we have proper showers. Some parts of this realm may look dated to you but its not completely backwards everywhere and apart from the very poorest of places everywhere else has indoor plumbing. Not what your used to though since its all run by magic.” He chuckles.

“Thank fuck.” I say dramatically.

“That’s really interesting.” Mav comments, “How does it work?”

“I actually don’t know. We’ve had it for so long that I don’t even really question how it works. Sorry Mate.” He apologises.

“Don’t worry about it I’m sure there’s a book I can find to help me.” He chuckles.

“Guys, that’s it!” I interrupt pointing to the alley where I saw Nyx give the envelope to Monty.

“Are you sure?” Levi asks.

I study the area more intently.

“Positive.” I confirm.

“Alright lets go and check it out.” Hunt says sniffing the air.

It seems like such a natural thing for him to do that it doesn’t seem weird to me when he does do it.

“I can’t smell anything that’s not right or suspicious.” He confirms and the rest of us follow him forward.

The alley is a slightly wider than usual space between two shops. Its cobbled like the street and looks just like your average alley. The only thing that stands out as different is that it’s surprisingly clean and empty for an alley. There’s no trash or even dumpsters its just empty.

“Cleanest alley I have ever seen.” Kai comments echoing my thoughts.

“Come on lets check it out anyway just in case there’s something we missed.” Hunt suggests.

“Do you smell something?” Jax asks.

“I’m not sure. I think there’s something just a bit off but I can’t put my finger on it.” He replies tilting his head and taking a long inhale.

“Maybe try it in your wolf form?” I suggest, “Does being in your human form dull your senses?” I ask.

“I have no idea, they didn’t cover that at the Earth realm academy at least not yet.” He frowns, rubbing his beard.

“Yeah it does. You’ll find you can smell a lot more as a wolf.” Kysen replies.

“Its dangerous how little they taught us there. How were the teachers ok with, withholding so much information from us?” Mav growls and a small thrill goes through me.