Page 53 of Forging Bonds: Part One

Van chuckles, “That’s some kind of logic. I’m not sure what kind of logic, but it’s definitely some kind of.”

“Thank you,” I reply primly before a smile takes over my expression.

“I’m going to go for a run,” River says. “It’s been a while since I have properly stretched my legs.”

“I want to practice more. My magic is instinctual and somewhat familiar; there is just a lot more of it, but my wings are still something that I want to carry on practicing with and with the weapons, too. I want to build up my stamina. So that I don’t tire quickly,” Raiden says. He looks at Griff, “Are you up for that?”

Griff nods, “Absolutely. I want to challenge you, so we’ll try two swords at once today, and we’ll see if we can throw in some of your magic, too. If you are able to use all three at once, then you will be formidable.”

Raiden nods, looking excited, “Yeah, that sounds great.”

“Do you mind if I come and help you guys?” Reed asks with an excited smile. “I definitely missed out yesterday, and since I rarely have my glamor dropped, it’s probably a good idea for me to practice, too.”

“That’s true. Everyone knows how strong you are, but you keep your glamor on for other people’s comfort. You don’t have to do that with us anymore, and you’ll need to use everything at your disposal in the Choosing,” Evander agrees.

“Ransom, do you want to come with us?” Griff asks.

Ransom nods, “Yeah, I could do with stretching my magic a bit, it's been unsettled recently.”

“Mine too,” Van agrees. “I think I’m going to go and work off some magic in the pool.”

“In the woods or in the house?” River asks him.

“The woods, probably. I think my magic needs to be connected to the earth better. Ever since what happened in Ireland and nearly getting eaten by the big fucking thing that I have forgotten the name of, my magic has been on edge, big time,” Evader replies.

“Yeah, my magic is doing a similar thing. That’s why I want to go for a run. I will come with you to the pool and then carry on around the property. I can check the perimeter while I’m out there. I know that we’ve got the strongest barrier most likely ever, but I would still like to check it,” River replies.

Doc’s eyes narrow slightly, “Out of curiosity, is all of our magic playing up?”

I am surprised when all of the guys nod that their magic is acting differently and not how it usually does.

“Well, that’s interesting,” I mutter. “Do you guys have any idea why?”

They all shake their heads and then look at Raiden to see if he has the answers that they don’t.

He shrugs, “I’m not sure. It could be that we’ve been under threat a lot recently and our magic has reacted to that.”

“Possibly,” Evander replies, “but we’ve been in dangerous situations and for extended periods of time many times before, and our magic hasn’t played up like it is now.”

“That’s true,” Reed replies. “But we haven’t dealt with someone who started a war, destroyed a realm, and is trying to mess with the natural order of things.”

“And the Choosing. We’ve never been threatened with something as magical and ancient as that either. It could be a mixture of the two things that is making our magic react,” Doc suggests.

“We’ll figure it out, just like everything else,” River says, as he stretches his arms above his head and winks at me when he once again catches me staring at his exposed stomach, I just smile in response.

“Agreed,” Evander replies, utterly oblivious to River’s and mine’s exchange.

“Did you manage to find anything out about the hybrid?” Ransom asks Doc, changing the subject.

Doc nods, “Yeah, actually we did. Using one of the things that I told you was time-sensitive, but I won’t bore you with the explanation of how it works. I managed to isolate things in his blood that shouldn’t have been there and extract them using a mixture of magic and science. I’m hoping that we’re going to be able to identify or break down what exactly it is.”

“That’s great. So if you manage to do that, then you might be able to reverse engineer something that could help any alive hybrids that we find and turn them back to normal?” Raiden asks.

Doc frowns slightly, “In theory yes that’s possible, but it takes time. A lot of time, even with all of the magic that we have, it still wouldn’t be possible to make it as quickly as we may need it. We can make it quicker than if we just had science, but it still takes a long time.”

“So, you’re not going to do it?” I ask curiously.

“No, we’re still going to do it. We have no idea how long this problem is going to go on for, and while I know that we all hope that we can get it sorted sooner rather than later. There are no guarantees that we’re going to be able to do that. It would be better if we were working on it and then didn’t need it, than if this ends up going on for years and we didn’t start the process as soonas we could. We would end up wasting time and losing lives that we could have saved,” Doc explains.

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