Unless, of course, like most things in my life at the moment, he is not what he appears to be.
Something to add to the figure it out list. That list is getting really long at this point, and if I think too much about it, I’m going to get overwhelmed, so one thing at a time.
I need to get back to the others and fill them in on what just happened. If I were thinking about it properly, then I could have just opened up the bond lines so they could listen, but it didn’t even occur to me.
There is a lot going on right now, and my mind is kind of overwhelmingly full.
“Come on, Poca,” I say as I open up a door to the Void.
Except it’s not the Void, is it?
That’s going to take some getting used to.
“You’re back,” Aldrastos says with surprise and relief in his tone as Poca and I step through into the Void and back to where the group is.
I nod and chuck him the thing he asked me to get, and he stares down at it, dumbfounded.
While he’s staring at it, I explain what just happened to the guys, “Guess who I ran into.”
“What?” Kill asks. He raises an eyebrow, “I thought I said not to go looking for trouble?”
“I didn’t!” I reply. This time, they all give me raised eyebrow looks, even Aldrastos, who has apparently gotten over his shock that I brought the bone back. I point at them all, “Okay, first rude. Second, I really didn’t go looking for trouble. It found me, although it’s not technically trouble. Well, it is, but I wasn’t in any danger.”
“Farren,” Storm says with a smile. “What happened?”
“I was just about to come back here, since I’d gotten the bone and proven Aldrastos wrong.” I side-eye him, and I swear he tries not to smirk as his lips twitch, and he narrows his eyes at me. I continue, “Anyway, Fitz came through the door.”
“Fitz?” Loki asks, sounding as confused as I was. “Hasn’t he lost his marbles?”
“Apparently, that was a strategic move on his part to make people leave him alone,” I explain.
“Oh, that’s clever,” Khaos mutters, sounding impressed.
“He wasn’t surprised to see you in Aldrastos’ office?” Hades asks me with a slight frown.
I smile as I realise that he’s not in his glamour anymore and is in full Hades mode, I have to say I prefer it, although I understand why he needs to use it in certain situations.
You know, to make sure people don’t lose their shit when they see him. He doesn’t need to use it here, this is an ancient realm.
Refocusing I answer Hades.
I shake my head, “No, that was the weird part. He knew I was going to be there, and he knew that you guys wouldn’t be with me.”
“I didn’t think that Fitz got visions,” Zev says, his eyebrows drawn down.
Aldrastos shakes his head, “He doesn’t.”
Reaper raises his eyebrow and asks, “How can you be so sure?”
“I was looking for the team that would be able to help this realm. I did my research on the teachers as well. It’s not hard. The information is given to every new headmaster,” Aldrastos explains.
“That’s handy,” I reply, and then carry on because I really don’t think that we should be spending so much time out in the open when this is supposed to be a dangerous realm, even though it’s the Void and doesn’t feel dangerous to me. “So, according to Fitz, the Warrior Teams who didn’t pass their trials aren’t dead like everyone thinks they are. Crem has them in the Dragon Realm. He’s hoping that some of them will fight with him, and any who don’t can’t fight against him in the upcoming war because he’s kidnapped them. They’re alive, so he wants to use them for something, or at least needs them alive for the time being. Fitz said that we had to rescue them.”
“The Dragon Realm, again?” Loki asks, throwing his hands up in the air, “For fuck sake. They need to police their borders better or sort their shit out and get on the right fucking side. Do they not realise that if there is a war, it will most likely be fought on their lands, considering that Crem is there, and that’s where they’re building their army?”
“Crem has most likely realised that, which is why he’s there. If the Dragon Realm’s numbers fall because of the war, which they definitely will, then they will be easier to conquer, and he can take over therealm as well. He has always been a good strategist,” Hades adds thoughtfully.
Sometimes I forget that at one point, the princes and Hades actually got along. They worked for him and helped him run the underworld. Until they turned against him and betrayed him. I’m not entirely sure when the switch happened, but I imagined that it happened gradually over time, and that they slowly decided that they wanted more power. They wouldn’t turn against each other. Their family bond is too strong, or at least it used to be. Azreal clearly stood up to his brothers, and it cost him his life. So there’s a good chance that they’re loyal out of self-preservation if nothing else.
