I wave like a dork, and River and Coen snicker.
“Hello again,” I say.
“You should be dead,” he replies, still staring at me.
I nod, “Yep. But why should I be dead according to you?”
Reed groans, “Neith, that was confusing even for me.”
“You got bitten by a Hunt Hound,” he replies. “You should not have been able to survive that.”
“Oh, I shouldn’t have survived a lot of things,” I say as I cotton on to what he’s talking about. I pull my necklace out from my shirt. “You mean this guy? That’s what he is, a Hunt Hound?”
Baz’s eyes widen, “Where did you get that?”
“The imps. They gave it to me when I got back,” I explain.
“I don’t know how the imps had the ability to gift to you, but it means that you have somehow gained the loyalty of one of them. They are formidable creatures, you must be very special,” Baz explains, his eyes watching me intently before they shift away again.
I fight a blush, he’s not calling you special, idiot.
The Voices snicker.
“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Raiden replies. He grins, “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to Neith not doing anything that she’s supposed to do and throwing curveballs at you every five minutes.”
Baz’s gaze moves back to me, and he smiles, changing his face from intimidating and sexy to downright sunshine adorableness, well there’s a contradiction.
“It sounds interesting,” he replies.
“Oh, it’s certainly that,” Doc chuckles.
I frown, “Should I be offended right now? You’re all bonding over my inability to do anything normally.”
Griff pulls me under his arm and kisses the top of my head, “No, you shouldn’t be offended, we love it.”
River pulls me away and lifts me up, spinning me around and kissing me before he says, “He’s right. You’re awesome. I’m hungry.”
“Dinner is ready,” Ethel shouts from the kitchen.
“Perfect timing,” Reed grins. He strides off into the kitchen, the rest of us following, although Baz is moving a bit more cautiously despite River’s almost constant stream of chatter.
When I walk in, I grin. House and Ethel are awesome. The table is bigger, and there is an extra place set for Baz, they knew he was here. Most likely from the second that he set foot on the property.
Maybe even before. They probably knew that he was coming.
“Take a seat anywhere,” Van offers Baz with a warm smile.
It is strange how it doesn’t feel as strange as it probably should, having Baz here with us, but I’ll just go with it. The Voices are excited, so excited that they’ve become louder, and even less discernible than usual.
Baz
The difference between my life an hour ago and now is such a contrast that it's taking a while for my mind to catch up.
It doesn’t help that it doesn’t feel weird at all. If I didn’t know any better, I would have said that I knew them before I lost my memory, that I was a part of this family unit that they have.
Of course, that may be wishful thinking on my part, a creature like me can never be a part of a family like this.
Something stirs, a long-forgotten memory, and I try to grasp onto it with my magic. Just when I think I might have actually gotten a hold of something, it slips through my hypothetical magical fingers.
