“Which begs the question, that if it was the compound leaders, why were they willing to risk the realm by sending us in the wrong direction and having us waste time getting to the castle?” Reaper asks.
“Unless they thought they were sending us in the right direction?” Farren asks with a frown. “Although I really don’t think that I believe that.”
“It’s a possibility, I suppose,” Rast agrees. “But I agree, if they did send us in the wrong direction, then it was done on purpose.”
I’m watching him, which is the only reason why I see him shiver slightly and bat at something that touches his face.
Except there’s nothing there.
I open my mouth to ask him if he’s okay, but something stops me. A flicker appears next to him and then immediately disappears, and I get a really strong feeling that if I asked him about it now, I would not get a very good response, and I could prompt him not to speak about whatever is bothering him again.
So I let it drop.
We carry on walking until we get back to the road and turn in the direction that the Others told us to go.
At least their directions were relatively clear and easy to follow. As we break through the trees, something niggles at me, but I can’t quite put my finger on what it is.
“Is the realm lighter?” Hades asks. “Didn’t you say this morning that there aren’t variations in the darkness here?”
Rast’s eyes widen as he looks up from the ground. “What the fuck?”
“Okay, so it’s not suspected then,” Loki says. He adds calmly and with a slight smile, “Good to know.”
I can tell that Rast is getting used to us because he smirks and answers calmly, “No, it’s not typical, and I have no idea why it’s changing now, after all of this time.”
“It’s because Farren is here,” Laikynn says in a very matter-of-fact kind of way.
“Would you care to expand on that?” Loki asks, his eyebrow raising.
Laikynn’s eyes fill with amusement as he says, “Not really.”
“Seriously?” Kill asks incredulously.
Laikynn nods, “Yep. It is not time for you to know.”
“I’m getting fed up with that answer,” I say.
“I know,” Laikynn replies and then simply trots off again.
They must be expanding their perimeter outwards every time that the realm lightens because I still can’t see Laikynn, his pack, or Poca, who has followed him out.
Poca is rather unsociable, and to be honest, I get that. He’s ancient. I’d be done with everyone else’s shit too if I were him.
“Well, I guess all we can do is carry on walking,” Khaos says. “At least with the light having improved, we’ll be able to see anything approaching even better.”
“Unless it’s cloaked,” Hades points out.
“Or just outside of our line of sight in the darkness,” Loki adds.
Khaos frowns, “Yeah, okay, good point. It may be lighter, but it’s not light. The comparison to what it was when we first arrived is quite the contrast.”
“No one is arguing with you there,” Rast replies with a frown. He looks at Farren, “It worries me that everything seems to be coming back to you.” Seeing Farren’s expression, he adds quickly, “Not because I’m worried that you can’t be trusted but because I’m worried about you.”
I smirk as he tenses as soon as the words are out of his mouth and Farren grins.
“You like meeee,” she sings.
Khaos claps Rast on the back, “Don’t worry about it, mate. It's inevitable that you’re going to be worrying about Farren. We all do.”
