Neith smiles, “I was never frightened of you. You weren’t the bear that attacked me.”
The bear hums and nods his massive head again before speaking, “Thank you. I am Esben, but you may call me Ezzy. I prefer it.”
My eyebrows rise in surprise.
Neith however, doesn’t seem shocked that a mystical and immensely powerful spirit guide wants to be called Ezzy, and she just smiles and nods her head.
“You got it, Ezzy,” she replies, before her expression becomes serious again. “Are the others okay?”
The big bear huffs, “Yes. As Winston mentioned earlier, the creature that stole time from you is proving to be more elusive than we had anticipated, and they are still hunting it through the grounds of the other home. It is keeping them rather busy.”
He turns his attention to me, and I force myself to remain where I am. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that he is an ancient, extremely powerful being who could end me before I even realize that it was happening.
I have no idea how Neith was standing there so relaxed while his attention was on her, although she had absolutely no fear of Reed, and the majority of people fear him. I think that it’s highly likely that she simply doesn’t possess the fear gene, or likes the adrenaline rush too much, or something as equally out there and unexpected. It’s Neith, I sort of expect the unexpected when it comes to her now, although that would make it expected, I guess.
“It is because they are hunting on the grounds that you were not able to transport back to the house. Although we were all extremely surprised that you almost made it through. We underestimated you.”
I nod in response, but I don’t really know what to say to him, and I don’t want to risk offending him, so I decide that respectful silence is probably the best way to go in this situation.
I am surprised that they locked the place down with their magic, and that I almost managed to get through it and to the house.
Although it does explain the adverse effects that I was experiencing though. Thank fuck.
Chapter Fourteen
Doc
Thankfully, the bear seems to agree with my respectful silence, because he simply nods and turns his attention back to Neith.
“You will let us know if there is anything that we can do to help with finding this creature at the other house?” She asks him immediately.
“We will, but you are walking your own troubled path. We can walk this one,” he replies.
Well, that’s somewhat concerning and vague. Why is it that any time that we have a conversation with the spirit guides, I end up feeling a sense of foreboding dread? We all know that they know more things than they are telling us. Which makes sense because, as far as I understand it, that’s their job, they know things and guide whoever it is that they’re looking after. I know that most of the time they can’t share what they know, but it is worrying when they say things like Ezzy just did.
How bad has it got to be for a spirit guide to say that we have a troubled path to walk?
“Do you know what the creature is?” Raiden asks. “We did try to ask Wallace and Winston, but they disappeared before giving us an answer.”
Ezzy chuckles, “Yes, those two would much rather keep you guessing than admit that we don’t know.”
“You don’t?” Reed questions with surprise.
“We have a vague idea, but it shouldn’t be possible. That’s why it’s taking so long to hunt it, we want to capture it and not destroy it. It requires more delicacy,” the bear replies.
“Understood,” Van replies this time. “It is always more work to capture something than it is to simply hunt it.”
“Is it confined to the grounds of the house?” Neith asks. “Is it stuck inside the wards?”
“That is our best guess, yes,” Ezzy replies. “If it weren’t, then it wouldn’t make any sense as to why it’s still on the grounds and why it hasn’t disappeared back to wherever it came from.”
“So the people in the town are safe from it?” Neith clarifies.
It hadn’t even occurred to me to ask about the safety of them, but of course, Neith remembered.
“They are all safe,” he replies with warmth in his tone.
“Thank you. I might just send a message to Kar and Neera to tell them to be safe. Not that I don’t think that you guys have this handled, but I would rather be safe than sorry. My experience is that if you’re dealing with something that shouldn’t exist or shouldn’t still exist, whichever the case may be, then you can never really be too careful,” she explains as she pulls out her phone.
