Page 3 of Whispered Warnings: Part Two

“What’s going on?” Evander asks carefully, his weapon still in his hand, just in case.

I’m unsurprised when it’s Winston that steps forward to explain what is going on.

“We are all here to help close the breach and to lend our magic so that no more creatures can come through like those Scavengers,” Winston explains.

“Are they the only things that managed to get through?” Doc asks.

Winston nods, “Yes, but if it is left open then more will come, and that would not be good.” His eyes dart to me.

“What?” I ask.

“We need this place to be secure, Neith. We have already mentioned how dangerous it is for you,” Winston explains.

I frown and pull a face but don’t say anything because now is not the time.

Ransom nods, “Great. We need to get this done quickly. Since there are a lot of us that are putting my magic in, I’m going to do it one at a time with the guys, then each of the spirit guides. After that I will then do the rock trolls as a group, the same with the sprites,” his kelpie snorts, and he smiles, “then the kelpies and finally Neith.” He looks at me and adds, “That way, you can see what everyone else does, and you will know what to expect. As I said before, it is really important that since you are human, you do not touch the ward while it’s in this activation mode where I am funneling the extra magic in it. Once I have closed it back off and fixed it, there will be no issues with you passing through it.”

“Okay, that makes sense. Don’t touch the ward that I can’t see anyway until you tell me it’s safe to,” I reply. Then add, “And thanks for including me in the lineup.”

I’m not entirely sure that’s the complete reason why I am last, I think it may be because I have the least amount of magic, if any, to lend the ward.

Ransom continues, “Doing it this way also means that I can build up the layers and make it extra strong.”

Turning to Mael while everyone gets organized, I ask, “You called them, didn’t you?”

Mael glances down at me, intelligence in his sapphire blue eyes as he nods, confirming my theory.

I reach up and gently stroke the side of his face, “Thank you.”

“Alright, one after the other, you guys lay your hand in mine, and I will start building the layers. I already added my layerwhen we were on the way here, but it won’t hold for long without everyone else’s.” Ransom explains to everyone and then looks at the groups of creatures, “If you guys can get one of you to touch me and then all hold hands, I should be able to siphon from all of you.”

The creatures all nod that they understand but don’t verbally reply and I’m guessing that it’s because we wouldn’t understand them.

I watch with rapt interest as the guys lay their hands on Ransom’s forearm, and I feel the magic build and then suddenly release when he makes a hand gesture and sort of flicks the built up magic at the space in front of him, which I assume is where the hole is.

I’ve already mentioned that I don’t know as much as I would like to about warlocks or many supes, but I do know that they are supposed to use trigger words or incantations, and Ransom is obviously doing a very complicated thing right now, and yet he’s simply gesturing. His lips aren’t moving, and although he is concentrating really hard and has a little dip between his eyes to prove this, he isn’t tense at all.

It’s pretty fucking amazing to watch.

As he cycles through all of the creatures willing to lend their power to keep this place safe, that uneasy feeling that I had when we first arrived here disappears. I can feel the strength of the ward grow. Ransom is incredibly powerful, he isn’t even tiring, and he should be by this point. I know that everyone else is lending their magic, but that doesn’t mean that he isn’t doing anything. He still has to shape it, mold it, and direct it into the right place, and he is doing that bit all by himself.

“Are you ready, Neith?” Ransom asks, looking back at me and holding out his hand.

I smirk as I pick my way through the underbrush toward him, “Thanks for including me but I’m probably not even going to give you a whiff of power to add to the ward.”

Ransom is honest in his reply as he says, “Maybe not yet, since your supernatural side is only just beginning to reveal itself, but I would still like the ward to recognize you. Especially since with everyone’s help, I have made it a lot stronger and added an alarm of sorts that will let me know if there is a breach again. I had an alarm built in before, but this one is more complicated and therefore stronger. The ward now needs to be able to recognize you so that you can come and go as you please and don’t need one of us to escort you.”

“Ah, that makes sense,” I reply. “Let’s do this.”

As I go to grab his forearm like everyone else has done, he grabs my hand instead and winks at me as he squeezes it once, making me smile. “This may feel weird. I would normally tell you that you shouldn’t feel anything, but we know that the normal rules don’t seem to apply to you since you can feel magic when you aren’t supposed to. If at any point it becomes painful, you tell me. Doc is going to be keeping an eye on your vitals anyway, just in case, so he should know if anything goes sideways.”

I nod, a small flutter of nerves in my belly.

I feel Ransom’s magic build in the air and a small tug on something, but it doesn’t really do much as it feels like whatever it is that Ransom is trying to access with his magic is resisting him.

Chapter Two

Neith

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