Page 27

Neith

“O kay, so most of it should be fairly instinctual,” Reed says to Raiden.

“At first, try just to move your wings. Opening them and closing them is probably a good thing to start with,” Griff adds, going into full teacher mode.

We’ve stopped in the middle of the second field in order to help Raiden get at least a start on learning how to fly, which means that we’re a good way away from the road and that if someone were to drive down it, they shouldn’t see a bunch of supernaturals playing in a field, get suspicious or worse try and report us to someone.

Raiden’s face fills with concentration as he tries to do what Griff suggests. He does it within moments of trying, and his wingspan is so enormous that it’s awe-inspiring. I’ve seen reapers with their wings out before, but never up close like this, and it’s incredible. It’s easy to see why so many humans thought of them as angels, even depicting them as such over the centuries. They aren’t, of course; angels don’t exist, but reapers are probably the closest supernatural beings to what humans consider an angel.

“Whoa, man,” River says, smiling proudly. “See if you can flap them!”

Raiden chuckles and then does it just as easily as he appeared to unfurl them. We all watch as Griff and Reed give Raiden pointers until they manage to get him in the sky. He’s a little bit wobbly, which I’m sure isn’t helped by how windy it is up here, but his smile is so big and proud that it has us all grinning and cheering him on.

“I’ve only ever seen reapers in the books and a couple of times in person and they all have wings that are cream coloured, or some variation of it. Raiden’s are almost like an oil slick; they’re black, but every now and then, even in this dull light, they shimmer with navy, dark green, and I swear I saw purple too.”

Ransom nods, “Yeah. We aren’t actually sure why Raiden’s wings are different from other reapers.”

“So it’s not normal?” I ask, my eyebrows furrowing. I thought I just hadn’t seen a different color, not that it wasn’t supposed to exist.

Ransom shakes his head, “No, normally reapers have wings in variations of cream like you mentioned.”

“So if the Reaper Council do call him, they’re going to be even more interested in him?” I ask.

River nods, his expression serious for a change, “Yeah. It’s likely. We need to do some research or something to find out what it could mean.”

“We need to speak to a reaper elder,” Doc comments.

“Yeah, but do you know a reaper elder that’s not a pretentious asshole and who wouldn’t immediately run to tell the council?” Ransom asks.

Doc shakes his head, “Nope.”

“I can ask Sully,” I suggest. “He knows a lot of people, he might know of a reaper elder, or know of someone who knows a reaper elder who isn’t an asshole.”

Evander smiles, “That would be amazing if you could.”

“The reapers are so secretive with their information that the chances of us actually being able to find any information that we need in the books that are available about them is pretty fucking slim,” Doc adds.

“I can do that,” I say, as I pull out my phone and send Sully a message straight away. If I wait there is a chance that I may forget, and I don’t want to forget something as important as this. “Done.”

“Thanks, Neith,” River says, pulling me under his arm and kissing my forehead.

I smile, “No problem.”

Griff and Reed both land next to us.

“What’s no problem?” Reed asks curiously.

“I’m going to see if Sully knows a reaper elder that isn’t an asshole, who might be able to fill us in on the significance of Raiden’s wings being a different color than the other reapers,” I explain.

“That’s a great idea,” Griff replies with a smile.

“He’s picking it up really quickly,” Reed adds.

We all look up again and start to watch him. Raiden looks like he’s getting better already.

As rain begins to fall, Doc says, “I hate to say this, but we should probably head to the cliff if the weather is going to get worse.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Van agrees, then raises his voice so Raiden can hear him, “Sorry man, I know you want to practice some more, but we really should get going.”

“That’s okay, you guys carry on. I’m going to try and follow you from up here,” he calls back down.

“Just be careful not to go too high. It’s really windy,” I call up, most likely worrying about something that I don’t need to worry about.

“We’ll go up with him,” Reed reassures me before he launches himself into the air.

“It’s really good practice for him to fly in conditions like this,” Griff tells me with an excited smile and then follows up after them.

As we continue walking and get closer to the cliffs, our smiles are quickly wiped off our faces. It’s fucking cold and has now started to rain too. Glancing up at the guys flying, I see that they are handling the weather pretty well. Even Raiden is flying really well and has picked it up surprisingly quickly. If you didn’t know that he had never flown before, you would think he had been flying for years. Even with the wind smacking him in the face and the icy rain dripping down his cheeks, he still has a broad and proud smile pushing his cheeks up. I’m so freaking proud of him. The Reaper Council really concerns me, but I know that we can handle whatever they try to pull because I wasn’t making idle threats in the cabin.

Hell, for Raiden, I’ll even speak to Dimitri. Of course, that will only help us out if Dimitri doesn’t want to kill me, and if I’m being honest, I’m not sure what his intentions are anymore. The point is, I really am that serious and I will go to whatever lengths that I have to in order to ensure that he is safe.

You never know I could be wrong about the reapers, and they all could be lovely. They could be super understanding and not force Raiden to use his magic or do whatever else they might make him try and do just because he’s strong.

However, I’ve met another reaper now, and let’s face it, she didn’t exactly leave me with a good impression, and then there’s the whole hierarchy thing where anyone who has less power is treated like shit, even by their own families. So I’m not going to hold out any hope that they’re going to be nice.

After a while, we get to the edge of the cliff and walk parallel to it, the waves crashing on the deadly sharp rocks below, one misstep, and I’ll be getting firsthand experience of the freezing waves below.

Been there, done that. I have absolutely no desire to do it again, no thank you.

Finally, we get to a part that I recognize, and I move to the edge, the guys cautiously following me.

“Oh good, the tide is out,” I mutter.

River snickers, “You probably should have checked that before we came out here.”

I wince, “Yeah, probably.”

I begin to lean over the edge further so that I can make sure that we are in the right place, and it isn’t wishful thinking because I’m getting fed up with walking in the rain, but before I can lean over far enough to see anything, Reed grabs me around the waist and hauls me back against his chest.

His lips brush my ear, sending a shiver down my spine as he says, “Let’s not test just how fast my reflexes are.”

“You sure?” I ask, “It could be fun?”

He lets out a low rumble of a growl, “Your idea of fun and mine differ greatly.”

“Come on you two,” Evander interrupts, “let’s get down there. We have no idea how long we have got until the tide comes in and I am definitely not strong enough to hold back the sea.”

I grin, “Alright. When we fly down it should be pretty obvious where it is, it’s the only cave that we will all be able to fit inside.”

Griff grabs River, and Raiden, who had landed at some point during my exchange with Reed, takes off running toward the edge of the cliff, he grins wildly as he just jumps off, his wings pinned to his back before he snaps them out, allowing them to catch the air and stop his descent.

River whoops loudly, making Griff let go of him in his exuberance, and looks at Griff, “Come on? Throwback?”

“That was seriously fucking cool,” I say, a smile on my face.

Griff opens his mouth and starts to shake his head, but River starts running, puts on a burst of speed, and then dives straight off the side of the cliff.

I squeak as fear rushes through me.

Griff curses loudly, and then dives off the cliff after him, like Raiden he keeps his wings tucked in, allowing him to move faster, and he quickly catches up with River who is whooping loudly with a giant grin on his face. I don’t breathe until River is safely and securely in Griff’s arms.

“What the fuck are you playing at!” I shout down at River, who looks up at me with panic in his eyes. “Oh, now he fucking panics.”

“It’s a game that we used to play at the magical academy, Nene,” Evander says as he comes to stand next to me. “They used to do this all the time.”

“They haven’t done it for a while though,” Reed adds.

I sigh, “Okay, so it’s not quite as bad as him just throwing himself off and not knowing whether Griff would catch him or not.”

“He has impulse control issues,” Van adds, and then looks at me with a raised eyebrow, “a bit like someone else I know.”

Before I can say anything else and maybe admit that Evander might be right, Griff comes soaring back up and lands next to us.

He chuckles, “River is freaking out. He thinks you’re mad at him.”

I grin, “Well, I was. Reed and Van explained to me that you used to do it at the academy.”

Griff rolls his eyes, “Yeah, emphasis on the ‘used to’. We haven’t done that for probably nearly a decade. The man has far too much faith that I will fucking catch him.”

I shake my head and repeat, “Impulse control issues. At least you got some practice in?”

Griff shakes his head and chuckles before looking at Van, “Come on. The cave is massive actually, and really cool.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to let him stew for a while?” Reed asks, and I realize that he’s still got me in his arms.

Griff pretends to think about it for a moment making us chuckle before he shakes his head, “No, I think he has probably freaked out enough.”

He grabs Evander, and they both jump into the air and take off, dipping over the side of the cliff and then disappearing into the cave.

“I want to make him stew for a bit,” I grin, “why don’t you take Doc and Ransom down first.”

Reed chuckles.

“That’s cold, Neith,” Doc says, adding with a grin, “I love it.”

“Come on then, I’ll take you down,” Reed says to Doc and then grabs hold of him like Griff carried Evander and then jumps flying off the edge of the cliff.

“It’s so cool how easily they can do that,” I mutter.

“It is. It’s amazing some of the things that they can do,” Ransom replies.

Griff appears over the edge of the cliff, a broad smile on his face, “Now, he’s really freaking out. Doc told him that you were mad and needed a moment to calm down before you came down.”

My eyes widen, and I burst out laughing.

“No way,” Ransom laughs. “Take me down next. I want to see this.”

Griff chuckles as he picks Ransom up, and they head down to the cave with the others. I shake my head, trust them to wind River up more, I should have guessed that they would. I’m not even mad; he scared the shit out of me, especially since I didn’t realize that they had done it before and that River knew that Griff would catch him. The guys have just run with it.

Reed appears and lands in front of me, amusement in his eyes.

“The guys are really rubbing it in,” he tells me with a small chuckle.

I roll my eyes, “I better get down there before he really starts to panic.”

“Do you want me to carry you like Griff carried Van?” Reed asks as he moves behind me again and wraps his arms around me.

I glance down at the crashing waves below, I have every faith that Reed won’t drop me, but I will admit I am a tiny bit nervous, I’ve only flown with the dragons, Coen to be exact and he is a master at what he fucking does. Not that Reed isn’t, but yeah, I am definitely overthinking this right now.

I turn and wrap my arms around him, “Can we fly down this way, I feel like I’m going to want to hold on.”

Reed’s smile is soft, “Of course.”

He picks me up with ease and I wrap my arms and legs around him as he holds me tightly and then simply steps off the edge.

I honestly don’t know what I was worrying about. As the wind rushes past us my excitement builds, and I laugh of pure joy escapes me.

“This is awesome,” I exclaim, and Reed smiles down at me.

We do a few loops in the air, Reed taking his time to fly me down to the cave, which I really appreciate because there is nothing quite like this. It’s kind of like the rush that I got riding Mael, but not. It’s different in a way that I can’t quite describe.

When he sets us down at the mouth of the cave, I feel a wave of disappointment go through me that it’s over.

River rushes over to us, his eyes worried, “I’m sorry.”

I chuckle, “It’s okay. If anyone understands the no impulse control, it’s me, you just scared the shit out of me.”

He nods but I don’t hear what he’s saying because something catches my attention.

“Do you feel that?” Reed asks, his eyes widening.

“That’s a lot of magic. Where the fuck is it coming from?” Ransom asks, as he starts to build his own magic. His eyes widen and he opens his mouth, but before he can get any words out and maybe explain what’s going on there’s a sudden burst of light and I feel a weird sensation, almost like when I go through a portal but not quite.

“Where the hell are we?” Griff is the first to ask, when the light clears, his eyes scanning me and then our surroundings.

We all seem to be together still, which I’m really grateful for, but that’s the only thing that I can say for certain.

“We seem to be some kind of meeting room?” Doc says questioningly.

The room is stone built, with thick velvet curtains pulled across what must be huge windows judging by the size of the curtains alone and a massive table in the centre of the room, although it still leaves a lot of space to move around.

“How the hell did we get here?” Reed asks.

“I’m not entirely sure. It didn’t feel like portal magic,” Ransom says. “Similar but not the same.”

“We were in a cave,” Raiden states the obvious.

“It didn’t do this last time I was here, or rather there,” I reply.

“Is it possible that someone found the flash drive and they’ve set up some sort of trap for us so that we can’t escape?” Evander asks.

Ransom shakes his head, “I don’t think so, the initial magic didn’t feel like a threat.”

“I hope you’re right,” Doc replies.

“Well, what do we do? Should we leave the room? Try to work where we are and how to get back?” River asks as he starts to move around the room. He touches the table, knocks on it, and looks up at us. “Well, it’s real. I can touch shit. So, we aren’t in some kind of illusion.”

“River, you probably shouldn’t touch stuff,” Raiden points out, “just in case.”

“Fine, but that still doesn’t answer . . .” River’s sentence is interrupted as the door opens, and people walk in.

We tense, and I try to come up with a logical explanation as to why we are in their meeting room, but to my surprise, neither of them seems to notice that we’re standing here. It’s not like the room is so big that they can’t see us, so it doesn’t really make any sense why they are reacting to us.

There’s only two of them, the one with his back to us has big leathery wings folded on his back, sort of like Reed’s but threaded through with dark green shimmering patterns, his power is immense, and I tilt my head, as I stare at the back of his head.

Why does he look so familiar?

The second guy is far less impressive, he’s tall, skinny, with sharp features, and eyes too big for his face, I have no idea what kind of supernatural he is, but he has a blue tinge to his skin that darkens into dark blue as it reaches his fingertips, and around his mouth and eyes. His eyes freak me out, they’re manic, full of something that isn’t quite right.