Page 13 of Forging Bonds: Part One

"They aren't mine, Ethel," I remind her.

"Uh-huh," she replies, and then repeats, "bye Dear."

I smile, "Bye, Ethel. Bye, House, see you soon!"

The doors open and close, and the lights flicker while music starts playing from somewhere, and I grin.

I love this crazy house.

Heading out of the door for the third time today, I pat the side of House before I go, silently promising that one day I will live here more than I will be away. I don't know if that's possible with working for SID and everything else that I have got going on in my life, but I hope that one day, maybe when I'm retired if I ever live that long, I hope that then I will be able to live here.

"Take two," I say with a smile as I climb back into the van and turn it around, heading back down the driveway.

"Let's hope we don't get distracted again, or we may never get home," Doc chuckles.

River grins, "To be honest, it makes a nice change from me getting distracted and ending up going off on random side quests. At least we all did it together this time."

"Usually, we all just end up chasing you, so you don't get in trouble," Reed points out with a smile.

River shrugs, "Well, yeah, that too."

After a moment of silence, Doc's words are still echoing through my mind, making my thoughts spin and prompting me to ask, "What would happen if we didn't go back for the Choosing?"

"Huh?" Van asks, looking confused.

I try to clarify my thoughts so that I can explain it better to them, "Obviously, I want to go to the Choosing now because I want to save Coen, and this is the best opportunity that I'm going to get to get close to the Draconian Team, but if it wasn't for that, what would happen if we just stayed here, and didn't go back?"

The guys are silent for a moment as they think over my words.

"I suppose we could find a different way to help Coen," Griff muses.

"What about the dragons? Could Draith help?" Reed asks, looking at me.

I shake my head, "He is really tied up with politics and their own laws. He wouldn't be able to do anything without solid proof, which we don't have. We only have the change in personality and circumstantial stuff, and that's not enough."

"Even though Draith knows Coen as well and will be able to tell the difference too?" Ransom asks.

"I was thinking about that. Coen told everyone that it was what he wanted and, even when questioned separately, said that he was happy with the Draconian Team, right?" I ask, and they nod, "Well then, however they made him do that, they probably did the same for whenever he spoke to Draith, made him behave normally or something, so Draith won't realize that there's anything wrong either," I explain my theory.

"I think you're probably right. It's the only thing that makes sense. Especially now that we know that Draith and Coen were friends, he would have noticed otherwise," Reed agrees.

"Exactly," I reply.

"Wait, we've forgotten about the original question and skipped straight to how we could help Coen if Neith didn't have to do the Choosing," River reminds us.

"Shit, you're right," Evander replies, running a hand through his hair.

"Do any of you know what would happen if we stayed here and just didn't go?" I ask when everyone stays silent.

Evander shakes his head, "I have absolutely no idea."

"Call Ty and find out," Doc suggests.

Ransom nods, "He's right, there's no harm in asking."

"I would have thought that he would have told us if it was possible since no one wants Neith to go through it," Raiden adds.

Van starts to go through the bag by his feet, and I'm assuming it's because he's trying to find his phone to call Ty.

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