Page 57 of Chaos Unleashed

“Zev, Khaos, and I can prepare food for you so it's ready for you when you get out.”

“Ryu and I will stand guard, I can promise you that you will be safe. We will simply eat anyone who comes near.” Reaper offers.

She looks at us all, her eyes misting with unshed tears, and says, “Yes, please.”

Farren

And that’s how I end up in a corner of the cabin in my own makeshift shower, my men using their magic to help me without a second's hesitation. I wash quickly, not because I don’t feel safe but because I don’t want to take full inventory of the new scars that are left behind.

Not right now.

The only thing that I do acknowledge is my missing finger, and that’s because it’s pretty hard to ignore, especially since I need to take the grungy makeshift bandage off it. I steel myself as I unwind it, the warm water soothing the rest of the aches in my body. When the gap is revealed, not even a stump is left behind. I must admit that I allow a couple of tears to fall, mixing in with the water.

I know it shouldn’t matter, not in the grand scheme of things, I survived which is not something that I thought would happen, I’m back with my men and shockingly H is here as well. It’s turned out far better than I thought it would. But still, I allow myself to mourn the loss of it for a moment before I shutter my emotions again and start to think of it as proof that I went through hell and fucking survived. The healed space where my finger used to be is proof of that.

It's going to take a while for that to sink in, but it will, and I will remind myself of it for as long as it takes. Storm and Kill’s magic has obviously sensed my upset because two incredibly cute tiny puppies with razor-sharp teeth and wispy bodies break away from the main part of the shadows. They both rub their cheeks against mine and then play in the water, splashing each other and making me chuckle as they start to play fight. It’s incredibly cute and gives me the best distraction.

“I’m done showering,” I say, “Thank you, Mayhem. Can you guys keep the shadows up while I get dressed?”

“Of course,” Storm replies.

The pups that were messing around in the water melt back into the main shadows as soon as the water turns off. It doesn’t take me very long at all to get dressed and I touch the shadows that are surrounding me so that they’ll let me through.

“Feel better?” Reaper asks as he’s the first to see me. He pulls me under his arm, and I tuck myself in, revelling in how safe I feel.

“Yeah, loads,” I reply. “I’m starving, though, which is weird because I stopped actually feeling hungry a long time ago.”

There’s a chorus of angry growls that sound out throughout the room, and if they react that strongly to me not getting any food, they’re really not going to like anything else that I have to say.

Clearing his throat, Storm gestures to the seating area they’ve set up on the floor in a semi-circle around the warmth of the stove. “Alright, let’s sit down and eat.”

That’s all the encouragement any of us need, and we all take seats and start to dig in. I end up between Loki and Reaper, and they both eat one-handed, with a hand on each of my thighs. Their reassuring presence is making me sleepy, but I know that we need to talk about a few things before we go to sleep for what’s left of the night.

As if he’s heard my thoughts, Poca huffs like he thinks that it can wait and then lays down behind me so that I can rest on him. Meri ends up underneath the veil of my now clean hair again, and Oryn is sitting on the other side of Poca, resting his head on him as he watches everyone closely.

Once everyone is starting to slow down I figure I may as well start the questions, “So, what the hell are you guys doing here? I’m guessing you can get into the Underworld because of Hades or Grey or whatever, and while I’m interested in that, I’m interested in how the hell you’re here in this cabin.”

The guys all share a look as if deciding who should start talking first; I’ve really fucking missed them, more than I let myself feel while I was trapped, and it’s just amazing to have them now.

“Monty sent us. We found an exact replica of his store in one of the villages on the way here. He told us that we could only stop two more times and that the last place that we could rest would be this cabin. He said we were running out of time to get to you.” Kill explains.

I frown, “You know, I’m not even surprised that Monty has a shop here and knows things that he shouldn’t.”

“I don’t think he knew that you were going to be here though, he was panicking himself about us getting to you in time.” Grey adds thoughtfully.

“Well I think that it would probably be a good idea to visit him again to see which door out of the Underworld that we should take, so we can ask him then,” Zev suggests.

“We’re going to have to be really careful travelling back. The princes are going to have everyone looking for Farren since she escaped again,” Rival warns them.

“The princes are dead, they won’t be sending anyone after me,” I say.

“What did you just say?” H asks, his eyes wide.

I sigh, “They’re dead, well I think they are.”

“Who killed them?” Storm asks.

“I think I’m slightly offended by that, but not entirely because they are demigods and difficult to kill, and I’m just me,” I reply with a teasing smirk.

---