Page 61 of Forging Bonds: Part One

“It might be a good idea for you to shift so we can see if the bursts of magic really did burn through the enchantment on your tails,” Ransom suggests.

River nods, takes a step away from Neith, and then effortlessly shifts. Sure enough, he’s got nine tails, all visible.

“He’s bigger, right?” Reed asks.

“Definitely, he’s usually waist height, which is pretty big for kitsune, but his shoulders are now at Neith’s shoulders,” Raiden replies. “Kitsune’s never get that big. They are bigger than the Earth Realm foxes, usually closer to the size of a wolf, but they aren’t ever this big, at least not that I have read about.”

“Well, that’s probably got something to do with his magic as well,” Ransom points out.

“Agreed, we’ll get to the bottom of it and why all of us are feeling different things in our magic,” I reply. “Now that we have determined that River’s magic is not going to be a danger to him or us, and we are fairly sure that his magical flares were a part of his emerging new gifts, we need to put this on the back burner too. We can look into it obviously, but we need to try and look into the Choosing more and find out what we can.”

“Agreed,” River says as he shifts back. “My magic has settled down a lot, and I don’t think that it’s going to become uncontrollable like it did before.”

“We need to get that enchantment back on, your tails,” Griff says suddenly, a sense of urgency in his tone.

“A vision?” Doc asks.

Griff shakes his head, “No, but a very strong feeling.”

Ransom pulls a vial out of his pocket, “I had just finished it when Neith yelled that you were in trouble.”

River frowns, “Neith did? How did you know?”

Neith shrugs and pulls a confused face that is absolutely adorable before she replies, “I had a vision, I think. I couldn’t see anything, and then I saw you moving through the woods, and the ground around you was shifting like there was something moving underneath it, and then it cracked open, and you disappeared again.”

River’s eyebrows lift, “Yeah, that happened. So, you must have had a vision. That’s pretty cool.”

“Yeah, I didn’t like being vulnerable like that though. I hope it’s a one-off occurrence, and I’m incredibly grateful that it happened while I was here and safe,” Neith replies.

I have a feeling that her having a vision was directly linked to the fact that the person who was in trouble was River and not that it’s one of her innate gifts that is developing. I share a look with Raiden, who is clearly thinking the same thing, but when he opens his mouth, I shake my head slightly. We don’t want to get River’s hopes up and be wrong.

“I wouldn’t worry,” Griff says. “If it is one of your gifts, it should only be your first two or three visions that will give you loss of sight. After that, you’ll be able to almost split your vision, so you’ll be able to see what’s happening in the vision, but you will also be able to see what’s happening in real life.”

Neith nods, “Well, at least that’s somewhat reassuring.”

“Why did you bring it with you?” I ask Ransom.

Ransom shrugs, a small frown drawing his eyebrows together, “I don’t know.”

“Well, that’s a whole lot of weird for today,” Doc grins. “Let’s get the enchantment back on River and then head back to the house. It’s nearly dinner time.”

“I could eat,” Neith grins.

Ransom nods and looks at River, “Since your magic has switched it up on us, I’m going to need you to add some of your blood to this so that it still works for you.”

River nods, “Yeah, of course. No problem.”

Chapter Twenty

Neith

Iwatch as River slices his wrist and drips blood into the vial that Ransom holds up. Ransom then says a few words over the top of it before handing it to River, who smiles and takes it like a shot.

“Why don’t you shift so we can see if it worked?” Doc asks River.

River immediately shifts, only showing the normal number of tails that everyone else can usually see. Of course, I can still see all of his tails, and I’m actually really glad that I can; I like seeing them all.

“Great,” Van says. “Let’s head back to the house. Now that Doc’s mentioned dinner, I’m hungry.”

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