“It’s lasting for a little bit longer than his more recent ones,” Doc says with a worried frown.
A golden bubble forms around us, and I look at Ransom. He shrugs, “Just in case. We don’t know if there is anything or anyone else out here with us, and we don’t know what he’s seeing. I would rather know for certain that we are the only ones who know whatever it is that Griff is having a vision about.”
“Good idea,” Van replies, although he doesn’t take his gaze off Griff. “Did he stop walking by himself?”
“No, I stopped him. So, there might be a part of him that is still aware,” I reply, guessing that’s where Van’s going with his line of questioning.
After a few more moments, Griff’s eyes clear.
“Can we have the good news first?” Ransom asks.
“How did you know that there was good and bad news?” Griff asks.
Ransom shrugs, “Lucky guess.”
Griff nods, “Fair enough. The good news is that I think we’re heading in the right direction, although I’m not sure about the exact location of the cave.”
“Awesome, wait, is that the bad news, that you don’t know exactly where it is?” Baz asks.
Griff shakes his head and then looks around, “Actually, no. The bad news is that the old ways are returning, which is a good thing. At least that’s what I picked up from the vision, but along with the old ways, the old threats will return as well, and we will be hunted.”
I shrug, “Sounds about right.”
“Wait, do you mean that you and Neith will be hunted because you are true mates?” Reed asks.
Griff frowns, “Not exactly. Apart from telling me, or well showing me that we are heading in the right direction, and that true mates are a part of the old ways, the warning that we were going to be hunted was directly linked to just Neith and me. I’m not one thousand percent sure that it means that it’s us specifically who are going to be hunted, but it wouldn’t surprise me, given our past experience.”
“Yeah, that’s a good point,” Van says with a slight frown.
I mean, we should probably be more concerned than we currently are, but Griff is right. At this point, we’re being hunted by a few things. What’s one more, and the chance of us all being hunted because of some sort of old ways is pretty slim, although for us, I suppose it’s not impossible.
“You don’t seem to be as concerned as you should be about the fact that you’re going to be hunted,” Baz comments. “I know you’re being hunted by a few different people, but the old ones will make them feel like child’s play.”
“I wonder if that’s what Winston was referring to when he hinted that there was another threat?” I ask.
“It’s possible,” Griff says.
“Let’s focus on one thing at a time. We’ve got the warning, which means that we can be aware of it, and we can do something,” Van trails off. He shakes his head, “Honestly, we will just deal with it when we know more about it. There is absolutely no point in worrying about it now. We need to see if Griff and Neith are true mates, and if they are,then that’s probably a good sign that they at least are going to be the ones that are going to be hunted by something else unknown.”
“Hey, with any luck, it will be something that we already know we’re being hunted by,” River grins, hopping from foot to foot.
“I actually understand your logic,” Raiden replies.
River clutches his hand to his chest dramatically, “You sound surprised.”
“Come on. It’s this way,” Griff says. He looks at Baz, “What do you know about the old ones?”
Baz shrugs, “What most people know. They were those who came before us. We are descended from them, but several different species that were abundant back then are no longer around today. Most have been completely forgotten over time.”
“Like the ones in my vision? Do you think that was a vision of the old ones?” I ask suddenly, and the Voices mutter excitedly.
Baz frowns, “I would be very surprised if it were, the old ones haven’t existed for a millennium. Having said that, if you and Griff are true mates, which is a sign that the old ways could be coming back, then there wouldn’t just be signs here, there would be signs everywhere, and your vision could have been one of them.”
“I have to tell you, dude, most people do not know that,” Coen points out. “But then again, everything got a bit fucked up after the war and the shutdown of Trieneliea, so maybe you learned that before then.”
Baz nods, although he looks like he’s deep in thought.
“We need to try and get in touch with Winston and see if he can answer any of our questions,” Reed suggests. “At this point, even if it’sjust one thing that he can help us with, that would be amazing. I’m getting pretty fed up with the half answers now.”
