Page 54 of Forging Bonds: Part One

I nod, “That makes sense. It’s better to have something that we don’t need rather than have something that we need and don’t have. I mean, there’s always a chance that someone is going to think that what he’s doing is amazing and try to replicate it because people are idiots. So, even if we do get him soon, we may still need to reverse the effects of whatever he is doing to the hybrids.”

Doc nods, “Yeah, that’s exactly it.”

“Did you find anything else out?” Ransom asks, taking a sip of his coffee.

Doc’s expression becomes sad, “He was in an excruciating amount of pain. His insides were half-shifted, like his hands and features, and beginning to decompose. I have no idea how he managed to talk to us.” He looks at Raiden, “What you did for him must have been such an incredible relief.”

Raiden nods, his eyes sad, “A person has to go through an incredible amount of damage for it to affect the soul. That’s what those black smudges were on his ball of light that was his soul.”

“He had a lot of them,” Griff says. “Could you tell whether he had some of them before or if they were all caused by being turned into a hybrid?”

“They were all from being turned into a hybrid. Although I have no idea how I know that, it’s like the answer just popped into my head. It was instinctual,” Raiden replies, looking slightly surprised by his own answer.

“That’s cool,” I grin. “The instinctual thing, not the other thing.”

“It’s probably something to do with your magic being free. It’s allowing you more access to some of the instincts that have been suppressed,” River suggests thoughtfully.

Raiden nods, “Yeah, I think you’re probably right. It’s a handy new thing to have.”

Griff nods, “It really is.”

“Alright, let’s split up and get what we need to do, done,” Reed says, standing up and then looking at me. “What time are you going into town to meet the others?”

“I’m meeting them at Neera’s coffee place at two-ish, and then we’re heading down to Luke’s,” I reply.

“Luke’s?” He asks, sounding confused.

I remember that Doc and he had already gone to SID by the time that we had that conversation yesterday. So, I quickly explain the conversation that we had to them and why we’re going to Luke’s.

“That sounds like great fun,” Doc smiles. “Do you need a lift down there?”

I turn to Raiden, fluttering my eyelashes exaggeratedly. He narrows his eyes, his coffee pauses at his lips as he raises one eyebrow at me.

“What?” He asks, a smile playing around the edge of his lips.

“Could I pretty please borrow your bike again?” I ask. “I promise I will look after it and that I will buy my own as soon as we get some downtime, and by that, I mean that even though I know exactly what kind of bike I want to get, I’m going to need at least an entire day to immerse myself in all things bikes.”

Raiden chuckles, “Of course you can.”

“Thank you,” I grin, and then on impulse, and because they keep kissing me out of the blue, I figure that I should probably be able to do the same. I pull him down so that I can kiss him.

When I pull back, Raiden’s smile is huge, and his eyes sparkle like stars in the night sky.

“I don’t suppose you need to borrow anything from me?” River teases, heat in his eyes.

I shrug as I smile, “I don’t think so, but I’ll let you know if that changes.”

River’s smile widens further, “I’m going to hold you to that.” He pauses, and his smile becomes mischievous, “Totally unrelated, but if you start to lose stuff, don’t worry about it, I’m sure it will turn up.”

I burst out laughing along with the others as River just sits there, trying to look as innocent as possible and failing.

“You’re going to steal her shit so that she will kiss you to get it back?” Van asks.

“I’m okay with that,” I grin.

“I prefer to think of it as borrowing,” River corrects Van and then winks at me.

“Right, let’s get on with it,” Raiden says. “Come and find me before you go so that I can give you the keys to the bike.”

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