Page 52 of Forgotten Arcane

“Good,” Sully replies. He looks at his watch again. “I’m really sorry, but you guys really need to get going.”

I grin, “We’re going.”

We’re silent as we push our way through the now busy bar and back to the van.

“Well, that was an info dump,” Griff says as soon as we’re back outside the house.

“That might be downplaying it a bit,” I reply, making the guys chuckle.

“So, what’s the plan?” Coen asks as we walk into the kitchen. “Is there a plan?”

I smile as they all look at me, “I want to go and see Pete, but if it’s okay with Van,” I turn to look at him as he raises his eyebrow curiously, and I continue, “I think it might be a good idea to go and see your parents. We were going to go and see them anyway before we got pulled into the Choosing, because of the whole you’re royalty thing, but I would also like to ask them a bit more about Pete.”

Van nods, “Yeah. That’s absolutely fine with me. To be honest, after they’ve seen what we all went through in the Choosing, they’re going to be demanding that we visit them anyway.”

All of the guys have huge smiles on their faces, all of them well used to dealing with Callia and Eamon, more Van’s mom than dad. She’s awesome and treats everyone like family.

“It’s good to know some things haven’t changed,” Coen grins.

Van chuckles, “Dude, it’s my mom. As long as she’s alive, she’s going to be the same.”

“She’s awesome,” I reply. And then frown, “Although, it has just occurred to me that it’s going to be the first time that I have faced them since I disappeared on them after you went to college.”

Van pulls me under his arm, “Don’t worry about it. They adore you, you know that, and if they start asking questions that you don’t want to answer, then there are enough of us that we can easily distract them.”

“Thank you, guys. I would really like to see them, it’s been far too long, but I also feel like I need as much information about Pete and my arrival as I can possibly get before I go and see him,” I pause and they wait, sensing that I have more to say, “I think that maybe I’m stalling a little bit.”

Doc pulls me from Evander and hugs me tightly, “That’s okay, Neith. You can stall as much as you need to. This is a big fucking deal, and it’s entirely up to you how you handle it.”

Griff nods, “Doc’s right. Unless you tell us you need a little push, we'll follow your lead.”

I chuckle, “Be prepared for that one, I feel like I might be asking you not to let me run away at some point. It’s not something that I should run away from.”

“It doesn’t mean that you don’t want to though,” River adds, with understanding.

“Exactly,” I reply. “I know that we’re most likely not going to get much time off after this week. So I know that I either need to go and find him this week, or put it off for possibly a lot longer, and I don’t think I want to do that. Just give me a couple of days and I’ll figure it out.”

“Sounds good to me,” Reed replies with a smile.

“Don’t forget that HID is still a problem. Potentially a much bigger one than they were if they somehow watched the Choosing and know that you’re alive,” Doc reminds us with a worried expression.

I frown, “Or if we’re right and the Blue Fucker is the one that is getting them to give him supernaturals so that he can try to turn them into hybrids, and experiment on them, and he’s the one that wanted me when they killed me with the bazooka, then he’s probably told them that I’m alive, and he most likely still wants me,” my eyes widen as my mind puts the pieces together. “Think about it, HID was absolutely certain that I was dead because I was, I had no heartbeat, I got blown up by a fucking bazooka. His hybrids keep dying. If they had the ability to come back from the dead, then he could keep the experiments going for longer.”

“Fuck,” Coen curses. “We can’t let him get his hands on you.”

“I can’t go back in a cage again,” I reply, trying not to freak the fuck out.

“We won’t let you,” Reed says firmly. “We won’t let that happen, but I have to say I think that the risk of going back to your hometown to talk to Pete is too big. There is still a big possibility that they are watching your house closely. Especially now, if they know about the Choosing, then they’re going to be watching your hometown to see if you go back.”

“Shit, I didn’t even think of that,” I frown. An uneasy feeling niggling in my stomach. “You’re right though, I can’t go back there. They all saw you or will know that I’m on your team, so none of you can go back and pass on a message to him either. How are we going to find him?”

Everyone is silent as they try to work out what we should do, and my mind is just blank. I’m not coming up with anything that could help us.

“We’ll figure it out,” Raiden replies. “There has to be a way that we can find Pete without going back to your hometown and putting you at risk.”

“He’s right, we’ll keep thinking about it and one of us is bound to come up with something,” Griff adds.

I nod, “Yeah, okay.”

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