He disappears, and I don’t think I will ever get used to how quickly he can do that. I glance back over my shoulder at Ransom, “When you checked the wards around the property, did you find anything to suggest that there was a breach? I remember you mentioning that you were reinforcing the wards, and I felt your magic go out, but I don’t know if you found anything. I was sort of focusing on not freezing to death.”
Ransom smiles, “Yeah, we actually all got distracted by the fact that you were injured. I did check the wards, and there were no breaches that I could find. There were no spikes of magic or anything like that, either. It is possible that the lake and the kelpies have always been here but have managed to conceal themselves until now.”
“Really?” I ask, “But you guys have been here for a while, how are they surviving if you are the only people on the property? Isn’t their main food source, people?”
Raiden shakes his head, “No. They prefer to eat people, but they are scavengers and will eat pretty much anything. So, any animals that used the lake as a water source and any fish living in the lake would sustain them too.”
“Okay, that explains how they have survived, but it still doesn’t explain why, if they have been here since before you even owned the property, then why would they make an appearance now, and try and eat me?” I ask.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Neith
The guys all look just as confused as I am.
“I have no idea, but as I said when we were at the lake, the imps are behaving oddly too,” Evander says, “That’s obvious since I can count on one hand when I have seen them around the property and by that I mean in the woods, they never come up to the house, and they never interact with us. Yet, they spoke to you and sent you on some weird kind of mission.”
“We still don’t know the reason why they sent you or even where they sent you when they made you do that task,” River adds.
“Actually, I spoke to Winston just before Raiden and I left this morning, he said that it sounded like the imps sent me to a placecalled Luesidious, I have no idea if I am pronouncing that right. Have any of you heard of it?”
“I’m back,” Doc says unnecessarily as he pops back into the front room with all the food.
The guys quickly get up to help him, and the conversation is momentarily forgotten as we all work at unpacking the food, spreading it out the table and getting plates and cutlery. It remains quiet as we all start eating, before Reed picks the conversation back.
“So, we know where the imps sent you,” Reed starts.
“We do?” Doc questions, having appeared after I told them the name of the place.
I nod and repeat, “Luesidious. Do any of you recognize it?”
Unsurprisingly, everyone shakes their heads.
“No, I’ve never heard of it before,” Griff replies. “Did Winston tell you anything else useful?”
I shake my head, “Nope. He pretty much told me the name of where they sent me, and then said leave it with me and disappeared.”
“Well, that’s helpful,” River mutters sarcastically.
“We’re going to look into it when we get some spare time to go to the library and look into everything else,” Raiden tells them.
“Good idea.”
After that, the conversation changes and moves on to lighter topics. The guys splitting off into different groups to talk about different things and we just enjoy the meal together.
As soon as we are done eating, I find that I am unable to stop myself from yawning repeatedly, so I decide to head up to bed. I have the poker game with Sully tomorrow, and Reed mentioned getting a start on my sword training as well, so I’m going to need as much sleep as I can get. Especially since today has already taken its toll, and my body has had a damn good workout and is going to be sore as hell tomorrow as it is.
I say goodnight to the guys, and head up to my room, while they stay up and mention something about watching a movie.
They have actually had a somewhat relaxing day. Shopping or sorting out their garages. I envy them, honestly, because apparently, it’s my fucking destiny to get attacked at every single opportunity that could even remotely present itself. I mean, I have always been pretty accident prone, and because of the whole dying and coming back to life thing, I often put myself in extremely dangerous situations, usually for a case. But the last few days that I have been with the guys have been really insane, and I’m just hoping that it calms down.
Even if it’s just for a day, at this point, I will take a day where nothing actively tries to kill me.
As I trudge up the stairs, my legs feeling heavier with every step that I take, it occurs to me that I never asked the guys how they found me or even how they knew to come and look for me, although I’m assuming that some sort of magic played a part.
I am also starting to realize that the spirit guides must only show up for certain things because none of them showed up when the kelpies were trying to eat me. If I’m being honest, I have no idea why I have them or what makes them appear and help when they do. Frowning, I try to think back to when they have appeared and if there are any connecting factors that could at least shed a little bit of light on when they help.
They all showed up in the woods when I was on the way here, and they helped me get to the guys. Winston then showed up in my bedroom and scared the shit out of me, but I think that he was just saying hello then. I also get the feeling that Winston doesn’t tend to do what he’s supposed to do.