Page 32 of Chaos Unleashed

He’s mad as fuck.

“You can’t tell us, can you?” Khaos asks, clicking on before the rest of us.

Monty tilts his head to the side, “Apparently, you're not the only one that has a silencing order put on them.”

“Well, isn’t that interesting,” Grey says.

Monty levels him with a scowl, “Not the words I would have used. Have you got everything?”

The rest of us all nod and then move to stand in front of him.

“Alright, did you have anything else that you needed to tell us?” Storm asks impatiently. All of us are feeling the added pressure now that he’s confirmed that we’re running out of time, more than we realised, and we knew we were pushing it as it is.

“Yes, you need to push yourselves hard; after you rest tonight, the next place is going to be the cabin; you mustn’t rest until you get there.”

“Only two rest stops? It’s still a long ride?” Khaos questions.

“I’ve drawn up a shortcut,” Monty starts to reply and then gets interrupted by Grey.

“This is my realm; I would know if there was a shortcut to the castle from here,” Grey surprises me by being honest.

“I’m well aware this is your realm, Hades, but you know full well that if the fates hadn’t deemed it necessary for you to know, then you wouldn’t know that the shortcut existed,” Monty replies.

I expect Grey to argue with him, so it surprises me when he just sighs like it’s something he’s been reminded of a thousand times and then replies, “Fair point, I suppose. Damn, fates.”

“Indeed,” Monty replies. He clicks his fingers, and a small scroll appears in his hand, which he gives to Khaos. “That will show you the shortcut. It should knock a day or two off your journey. You’ll still be pushing it to get to her in time, but at least the odds will no longer be impossible.”

My heart tightens painfully; I’m not too fond of the way he’s worded that; it means that there’s a very real possibility that we’re going to be too late to save her, and I don’t think any of us would be able to live with ourselves if that was the case.

“You must rest tonight and then not stop again until you get to the cabin marked on the map. That is very important,” Monty tells us again.

“Got it, Monty, thanks,” Storm replies.

“Oh, Loki, here,” Monty smirks as he throws me a leather pouch.

Frowning, I pull the strings so that I can look inside, and when a delicious scent hits me, I ask, “What’s this?”

“Something to make the things you catch taste better,” Monty replies with a smile.

My eyebrows hit my hairline, “How did you know?”

Grey chuckles, “There’s not much point in asking him that; he’s unlikely to tell you.”

Monty’s smile gets bigger, “He’s right.”

Grey chuckles as he holds his hand out, and Monty grasps his forearm with the traditional respectful greeting. Before Grey can say anything, Monty’s eyebrows dip as he frowns at Grey.

“What? Did you see something?” Grey asks, peeking my curiosity, unlike when Zev sees something, there were no outward shows of him seeing anything.

Monty shakes his head, “Oh, I don’t think I like that at all. I mean, what are they thinking?”

“Care to elaborate?” Khaos asks.

Monty shakes his head, “Nope, you’ve got to get going and I need to have a word with the love of my life I have some, what the fuck, questions to ask her and her sisters.”

Just like that, he completely disappears, with no fanfare or anything; he’s just gone.

“Should we be concerned?” I ask in the silence of the shop.

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