“Looking for whatever it was that we’re supposed to find here,” River tells him.
I open my mouth to explain our reasoning when there’s a huge rumble of thunder and a flash of lightning, so bright that I have to close my eyes. I feel something press against my palm, and I instinctively close my hand around it. When I open my eyes again, I glance down to see a hagstone in my hand. It buzzes ever so faintly with magic, and then it just fades away again.
Huh.
“What’s that?” Doc asks, still blinking to get his eyes to adjust to the darkness again.
“Well, it looks like that’s what you were supposed to get,” River says as he moves close and studies my hand. “A rock?”
“It’s a hagstone,” I explain. When they both look at me questioningly, I carry on, “So you see how the rock is completely smooth, but there’s this hole in the middle?”
“Yeah, it doesn’t look natural,” Doc replies as he takes it off me and studies it, before handing it over to River to study.
“It is, it’s worn away by another pebble tumbling in the ocean for years. The lore behind hagstones says a couple of things. One is that if you look through the hole, then you can see through the veil to Fae, and another is that you can see the Fae folk through it. At least that’s what I remember. I always loved them. I did think that they were just stories made up by humans though,” I finish explaining.
“Well, if Winston wanted you to get it, then maybe they aren’t just stories after all, although I don’t really know why he wants you to have it or what purpose it will have. The imps are Fae folk, and you have no problem seeing them,” River points out, with a confused frown.
“Good point,” Doc mutters. He hands the hagstone back to me, and I put it in my pocket. He continues, “Come on, I am thoroughly fed up with being wet now.”
Chapter Five
Neith
Inod as the wind picks that moment to start howling, it cuts straight through my jacket, and a shiver works its way through me.
River gently pushes me toward Doc, and before I can protest that he’s going to be left on the moors by himself in a worsening storm, Doc has transported us back to House. It does make me feel better when he immediately disappears again to get River.
“Everyone has gone for a shower to warm up, and then we’re all meeting in the kitchen,” Van tells me.
“Sounds good to me,” I reply. “I definitely need to warm up.”
“Normally, I would say we can talk about everything that has happened in the morning, but we have no way of knowing what is going to happen next, and chances are we’re going to end up busy, so it’s probably best if we speak about it now,” Van explains.
“Agreed. I already tried to tell you about the Voices not being the dead a couple of times, but then something popped up,” I reply.
“Exactly,” Van agrees, not seeming surprised in the slightest that I’ve tried to tell him and had to stop.
River and Doc appear, and I smile. “I’ll be back down in a moment. I need a hot shower and comfy clothes.”
The guys nod in acknowledgment.
River shivers and says, “Oh, definitely. A hot shower sounds amazing right now.”
We leave Van downstairs, and we all head up to our rooms to shower.
∞∞∞
I may have taken slightly longer than I was supposed to in the shower, but I didn’t take as long as I could have, so I suppose I’m calling it successful.
Before I head downstairs to explain myself, because I am aware that most of what we need to talk about is something to do with me, I make sure that I grab Styx’s shirt. I’m damn glad that it’s still where I dropped it on the floor, because it had occurred to me that it could have disappeared again.
If it had, it wouldn’t have made it impossible to explain to the guys what went on in my dream, but it would have made it a little bit more difficult.
As I leave the room, I make sure that the hagstone hasn’t done a disappearing act and is still resting on top of my dresser. I’m not really sure where else to put it, so for now, that’s where it’s going to have to live.
When I get down the stairs, I smell something absolutely delicious, and I know that despite the fact that we have already had dinner, House and Ethel have made something else for us to eat while we talk. They definitely know us well.
I pat the wall in the hallway before I walk through the kitchen door, “Thank you for looking after us, House.”
