Page 39 of Whispered Warnings: Part Two

“Obviously,” I reply.

Ransom bends down and picks the parcel up, which distracts me from anything else that I was going to say.

“Well, I’ve scanned it, and nothing concerning has flagged up, so it should be safe,” Ransom says as he closes the door behind him.

We all follow him into the kitchen, and he puts it on the table.

“There’s a gift tag,” Griff says as he points to it.

Ransom leans closer, “It’s not in a language that I recognize. Neith, you could understand the imp’s language, maybe you can read it as well?”

I move so that I can see the gift tag and then sigh, rolling my eyes, “Apparently, it’s for me, and it’s an apology from Flin for sending me off to another realm. He assures me that it was imperative that they sent me, but yet again, he doesn’t explain why he sent me.”

“Of course he doesn’t,” River replies. “I can see why you find him so infuriating.”

“Yep. I swear next time he is in the same vicinity as me, I am going to grab hold of him and keep him by any means necessary until he tells me why he sent me there,” I growl.

“I can also see why he dropped it off and didn’t wait until someone answered the door,” Van says into the silence after my little rant.

I shrug, “If this isn’t a long letter explaining exactly why he sent me to another freaking realm, then my statement still stands.”

“Fair enough,” Reed replies.

“I’ll help,” Raiden offers.

I grin, “Deal.”

After a moment, when I make no move to do anything about the package on the table, Griff raises his eyebrow at me in question.

“Are you going to open it?” he asks.

I pull a face, “What if it’s a trick, and I get sucked into another realm?”

Ransom is shaking his head before I have even finished speaking. “I’ve scanned it very thoroughly. After what happened with the ward, I didn’t want to do just a quick scan and risk there being something dangerous in there. There is absolutely no magical signature whatsoever.”

“It’s safe to open?” I clarify.

Ransom nods, “Yeah. I understand your hesitation though, would you like me to open it.”

I sigh, “No, I’ve got it. On the off chance that they have somehow managed to conceal the magic that will take me to the same realm that they sent me to last time, it’s probably best that I go since the air is supposed to be toxic.”

“What!” Reed exclaims, very loudly. He’s not quite shouting but it's close.

“Neith, what do you mean toxic?” River asks.

“Winston told me that I shouldn’t have been able to breathe there,” I reply. “But I’m fine. There are no bad effects, and I’m all good.”

“Doc is going to have a coronary,” Evander mutters.

“I think we all are at some point,” River adds.

I pull a face, wrinkling my nose, “You’re welcome.”

While they are all finding me very amusing, I decide that I had better just get it over with and open the present. Asael hasn’t turned up. He always turns up when I’m in danger, and usually before I realize that I am actually in danger, so I’m going to assume that the fact that he hasn’t turned up now means that I am not about to be sucked into a dangerous situation.

I have to admit that it is very beautifully wrapped, and I carefully unwrap it, pulling off the lid on a homemade box as gently as I can. Nestled inside on the moss is a wooden carving of a wolf, the details are absolutely stunning and the longer that I study it the more certain I am that it’s a carving of the creaturethat bit me just before a went through the door—my shoulder tingles in remembrance of the bite.

I could take the fact that they gave me a carving of something that tried to eat me as a threat, but just like I did when I was actually in Luesidious, I don’t feel like it’s meant as a threat and I’m just intrigued by the little carved creature instead.

---