Page 54 of Chaos Unleashed

“Me too,” Khaos replies.

One by one they apologise to each other, fortunately no one is going to hold a grudge against anyone else for what has been said during these arguments, we all understand that the words are coming from a place of deep worry and fear for Farren.

“Good, we can’t be that far out now,” I reply, speaking for the first time in a long time.

“She’s alive,” Khaos suddenly says.

“What!” Loki exclaims, startling his horse, who should really be used to his antics by now. “Why didn’t you say something?”

“Because everyone lost their damn minds and started arguing,” he replies.

“Hang on, if she’s alive then why are you so pissy?” Reaper asks.

“Because Storm woke me up before she could tell me where she is,” Khoas replies.

“Shit, sorry man,” Storm apologises, sounding genuinely regretful.

Before Khaos can reply, I spot a clearing up ahead. “Guys, I think we’re here. This must be the last rest stop before we get to Farren.”

All previous conversations are stopped as we scour the surrounding area to make sure that it’s safe. I can’t help the wave of relief that I feel when the little cabin comes into view. It means that we’re so much closer to Farren. This is the final step before we get to the castle and get her out. We haven’t really come up with a solid plan to rescue her. I guess it’s pretty much sneak in if we can since the princes probably have the entire realm’s Helliers at their disposal and guarding the castle, the whole place will be crawling with them.

In no way are we capable of taking them on and the Princes, so stealth is going to be how we have to play this. We’re counting on Hades and Khaos’ knowledge of the castle to help us out and get us to the cells as quickly and stealthily as possible. I’m not going to lie, and I’m kind of hoping that we run into at least one of the princes and manage to take them out, not only for the horrible things that I know they’ve done to Farren but also for this realm and what they’ve done to it.

It's pretty apparent to us that no one has been here for a long time, although any footprints or animal tracks would have easily been washed away with the rain. I’ve used my magic to suss out the place, and I can’t sense anything inside either, living or dead. Something piques my magic’s interest just as I start to pull it back; not wanting to take any chances, I let it loose again and scan the entire place from top to bottom just in case I missed something the first time around. This time, it doesn’t even ping or anything; there definitely isn’t anything in there, and there must’ve been a mouse or small animal of some kind that it got locked onto; that’s the only explanation I have.

“Anyone find anything?” Hades asks.

“No, nothing at all; it’s empty and has been for a while,” Reaper replies, although he’s got a slight frown between his eyes.

It makes me wonder if Ryu picked up on something I don’t bother asking though because everyone else is replying that they didn’t pick up on anything either and I just want to get in so we can make a solid plan, eat and then try to get some rest so that we can get Farren.

“Good, gather what you need from the horses,” Storm orders. “The little stall here isn’t big enough for all of them, so we’ll let them rest in the trees. They’ll have more room, and they’re still close enough to us to get to quickly if we need to.”

“Got it,” Loki agrees, with no smile and no teasing.

We’re all losing parts of ourselves to the worry for Farren. Loki is the most notable out of all of us, but he and Killian were the closest to her, and their bonds were the strongest out of those of us who had bonds with her. As I lead my horse over to the woods and gather the things that we’ll need for the night, I can’t help but wonder what the bond is; it’s like none that I have read about before, and although it has never been my area of interest before I do have a fair amount of knowledge about it.

I hope that I’m going to need to look into it in the future and that we’re going to get Farren back. Ironically enough, even though we’ve been a functioning team at Black Onyx for a while now and have been doing jobs, nothing has been like this and there’s a small part of me that’s hoping I can barricade myself in a library with Farren for a while before we have to deal with any more deadly situations. I suppose my brothers can be barricaded in too, I might miss them eventually and there’s no way that I’m cruel enough to keep them from Farren after this.

I don’t think any of them are going to want to be apart from her after we get her back, and it makes me smile wondering how far she’s going to let us take it before she curses us out and tells us to give her some space.

“Mayhem, you ready, dude?” Rival asks, looking at me concerned. “Are you okay? I know none of us really are, but you’re my twin and I can only remember one time that you were this quiet,” looking more vulnerable than he has in a long time he adds, “I really don’t like it.”

Guilt instantly consumes me, and I pull him into a tight hug, “Shit, I’m so sorry. I didn’t think.”

He hugs me back just as tightly and replies, “It’s okay. I get it. Trust me, I get it, but just don’t stop talking to me, okay? I can handle you being mute with everyone else but not me.”

I nod, “Yeah, I get it. I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m just so fucking worried about her. Even if we do get her back, she’s been here for weeks, and after what they will have put her through, she’s not going to be okay. That scares me.”

Rival swallows thickly as he glances away; when he looks back, it’s clear to see my own fear reflected back at me; he feels the same.

Grimacing, he replies, “Yeah, I know. But she has us and we’ll help her through it anyway that we fucking can.”

I nod but don’t voice my agreement as I grab my bag, and we both jog across the boggy ground, catching up with the others just as they enter the house, ending up only a few steps behind them.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Mayhem

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