Page 64 of Forging Bonds: Part One

“Give it a few minutes, and then try again. If he doesn’t answer, we’ll go and look for him at the academy and hope that the Draconian Team isn’t there,” Doc suggests.

They all carry on talking about options while I pull my phone out of my pocket and check my messages. As soon as I read the message that I’ve received from Navy I know that I need to take it seriously.

Interrupting the guy's conversation, I say, “Navy has just messaged and said that we need to put the bags that we packed by the front door. She said she’s not sure why and that now we’ve met, the vision is getting spotty.”

“That can’t be good,” Ransom frowns.

I shake my head, “No, but I already know better than to argue with Navy. If she says that we need to get our bags and put them by the front door, then we need to do it.”

“Yeah, I agree with you,” Van says. He looks at the others, “Alright, everyone, go and get your bags. We’ll do what Navy said and then I will try to ring Ty one more time. If he doesn’t answer, then we’ll go over to the academy.”

Everyone nods, and then we all head toward the stairs, splitting up on the landing to go to our separate rooms. I’m glad that I actually packed my bag when Van suggested that we do it and I didn’t procrastinate like usual, otherwise I would have to shove everything in a bag right now and I would definitely forget something vital.

“Oh, hello,” I say with surprise as I open my door and find the same fox that followed me through the woods curled up on my bed in his solid form.

This time, he doesn’t just stare at me out of one eye. He sits up on the bed and watches me curiously as I move over to where my bag is resting next to Betty and Asael. I glance back at him curiously, waiting for him to do something like talk or move, but he just stays sitting in the middle of my bed,watching me. I shrug and just carry on with what I’m doing. I figure that he will talk to me when he wants to.

Picking the bag up, I start to turn away before I think better of it and grab both of my weapons too. If we have to leave in a rush then I want to make sure that they’re with my bags, where I absolutely won’t forget them. Not that I’m likely to forget them.

Glancing around my room, I try to think of what I’ve packed and if there’s anything that I could have missed.

Do I need pens? I scoff, of course I fucking need pens. You always need pens. There is nothing worse than needing a pen and not having one. What if I need to do some sort of really hard mental puzzle, and I need a pen to work it out so I don’t forget halfway through what I was trying to do?

I nod decisively to myself.

I definitely need a pen.

What else could I be overlooking? I think I have enough weapons with me. I mean, one of my bags is just weapons, and I’m surprised that the guys haven’t mentioned the missing ones from the weapons room that they have here. So what else could I need? Oh, I know. I leave my bags and Betty and Asael by the door to my bedroom as I head toward the giant closet. Despite the fact that I did what I considered to be a huge shopping spree, the closet still isn’t full or even halfway full.

On a whim, I decided to buy two sets of stilettos, they aren’t my usual style of shoe, not because I don’t like them, but because I very rarely go anywhere to warrant wearing them. I have a pair at my little house that I had to abandon, and they were used purely for if I needed to go undercover or flirt with a target before I took them out. My intention in buying these two pairs, though, was that I had a brief thought about maybe one of the guys taking me on a date and wanting to look more girly than I usually do, and the second reason was in case I needed to go undercover.

Turns out there was a third reason that I hadn’t thought of.

A weapon.

I grab one of the black ones, swing it in my hand a few times and then smile, yeah, that will work. There may be a task or whatever they’re called that says that we can’t take any weapons in with us. The stiletto will do a lot of damage if the situation calls for it and if it’s wielded correctly. I know that from experience. It’s also not technically a weapon which means that no one can say shit about me taking it into a task. It can be fucking painful too.

I grimace. Yeah, the feel of a stiletto going through an eye is not something that you easily forget.

The fucker deserved it though.

I quickly zip it into my bag and then stand back up. I’m aware that the fox is still watching me from the bed, but if it’s not going to talk to me, I’m just going to go on with what I was doing. My eyes narrow as I look around my room, hoping that inspiration will strike and I will think of something else that I need to take.

My healing herbs.

I know we have Doc, and I know that the guys can heal, but I can’t, and if I’m in a task by myself, which we have been told is going to happen, then I want to know that I can put something on whatever wound that I have sustained, that means that I’m not going to get some sort of nasty infection, and that is going to help it heal quicker, or at least take the pain away until I can complete the task and get back to the guys where Doc can heal me.

With this in mind I head to my desk and pull out all the things that I will need, and then add them to my bag as well. To be honest, I’m a little bit disappointed in myself. That should have been one of the first things that I packed, not something that I added at the last minute.

As I glance back at the desk, my eyes land on the little carved statue of the wolf thing that bit me, the one that the imps gave me. I don’t know why. Ican’t explain it, but I feel like I need to take it with me. My hand wraps around the little statue, and although it’s small I do wonder how I’m going to carry it with me. It heats in my palm, and I drop it in shock before bending down and staring at the statue that has turned into a small pendant instead. It even has a chain attached. I reach my hand out to pick it up before pausing.

Is it really a good idea for me to pick up the shapeshifting gift that I got from the imps, who sent me to another realm. The same gift that everyone scanned and told me that it had absolutely no magic in it when it clearly does.

On the other hand, I was thinking that I didn’t know how I was going to carry it on me, and I got some weird instinct or something that made me want to take it with me in the first place. I frown, unless that was the imps tricking me into wanting to take it, when really, if I do, it’s going to cause me some sort of trouble. Although they aren’t trying to hurt me, if anything, they are now trying to protect me.

Chapter Twenty-One

Neith

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