I wait for a few minutes for a response, but I still don’t get one, and we really do need to get going. Sighing, I turn back around, and I head in the direction of the kitchen and Ethel again.
“I thought you had already gone again, dear?” Ethel asks the moment that I walk into the kitchen.
“I did. I didn’t want Zephyr to think that we had gone for a long time and hadn’t said goodbye or something,” I explain, and she hums in response. I have no idea what that hum means, so I simply carry on talking, “Do you know where I can find a pen and a piece of paper?”
A drawer to the left of me opens, and Ethel says, “You’ll find what you need in there. I’ll let Zephyr know that you’ve written him a note.”
“Thank you,” I say gratefully.
I quickly write out a note, saying what I said to the wall, and telling him where we’re going. I’m not sure why it doesn’t feel odd that I want him to know where we are, and most importantly, I want him to know that we’re coming back.
It’s really important to me that he doesn’t think that we’ve abandoned him.
I do really want him to hang out with us more, but I couldn’t ask him that last night because I was too busy embarrassing myself to ask him. So I add that into the note too.
It still seems weird to just leave him.
“Ethel, will you make sure that Zephyr doesn’t feel too alone?” I ask her, sounding unsure in the request.
There’s surprise in her tone as she replies, “Yes, of course. I’m sure House and I can come up with some things to keep him occupied. He’s quite good at poker, and we haven’t had a game for a while. He gets rather absorbed in his predicament and trying to find a way to fix it. It would be nice not to risk opening the basement in order to have a game, but since he can now apparently come up here, it will be a nice change. It’s been a good few years since we’ve had a game.”
The kitchen cupboards open and close, which I’m going to assume means that House is happy to help, too.
“So he was here before I was then, but I thought you said that he hasn’t been in the basement for that long. Didn’t you also say that he’s only been able to come out of the basement recently? Is that because Ransom put the wards up, or could he literally not leave the basement?”
“I cannot tell you,” Ethel replies simply. “I can tell you that I knew him before he was using our basement as a refuge.”
Well, at least that kind of explains the poker comment.
“Yeah, I figured,” I say, and then, because I feel like I’m feeling too much when it comes to this situation, I don’t ask her anything else about Zephyr despite my burning curiosity, and instead say, “I’ll see you when we get back, Ethel, House. Send the portal for us ifsomething happens here and you need us back. I’m assuming that you guys can do that?”
“Yes, we can. I’m sure that we will be fine,” she reassures me. “Have fun.”
As I leave the kitchen, I wonder if Zephyr himself would fill me in on the particulars of his situation, but considering I offended him yesterday, I think it’s going to be a while before I can ask him something like that.
I have no idea how long I’ve taken, but no one has come for me, so it can’t have been fifteen minutes. Just in case, I jog to the other side of the house where the portal room is. I’m ready to head to Scotland. Hopefully, I’m not going to embarrass myself there, although the chances of me not embarrassing myself are pretty slim to be fair.
The Voices murmur in agreement.
Assholes.
“Hey, is everything okay?” River asks as I rush through the door to the portal room.
“Yep, all good,” I grin. “Let’s go.”
“I checked the weather forecast, it’s pretty fucking cold, and it’s going to be snowing, we’ve got a bit of trek before we get to the point where we can cross over into clan lands, so I would suggest that everyone wraps up warm,” Griff tells everyone.
“There’s a room down this hallway that’s full of winter jackets and shit, right?” River asks.
Doc nods, “Yeah, come on. Let’s see what we can find. I’m relatively sure that since it’s House, there will be things in our sizes.”
Thankfully, he’s right, and we’re soon all wrapped up like burritos. I’m actually almost too hot, which I suppose makes sense since we’re still inside.
“Alright, let's hurry up and get through the portal. I’m sweating,” River grumbles, echoing my thoughts, as he pulls at his collar.
To be fair, he hates wearing clothes at the best of times. I can only imagine that bulky jackets really do piss him off.
“So it just works like a normal portal?” I ask as I stare at the swirling vortex before me.
