“Yes, we can do that,” he replies, a curious lilt to his voice. “There is no one around for at least a few miles, you should be safe to discuss what you wish to. Since it’s sensitive information, I feel the need to remind you that we, of course, will be able to hear you.”
He said remind me like he’s already told me. It makes me think that he’s known that I have been with them.
I nod, “Yes, I have a feeling that what I wish to discuss with everyone, you already may be aware of.”
“Perhaps,” he replies and then disappears into the darkness fully this time.
“What’s going on?” Rast asks. He looks at Farren, “She’s going to be okay, right? You don’t know something since you were dead?”
“Those are two different questions. I have no idea if Farren is going to be okay, but Laikynn said that she would be, and she’s asleep and not dead right now, and she restored the balance, she didn’t throw the balance off by bringing me back, so that suggests that she will be okay. As for your second question, it’s because I was dead that I know things that I shouldn’t.”
“I feel like I’m definitely going to need a snack for this,” Zev mutters.
“Already on it,” Loki replies, handing him some jerky and keeping some for himself.
“You guys are emotionally eating now?” Khaos asks with his eyebrow raised.
“Damn straight we are,” Zev replies like it’s a no-brainer. He holds some out to Khaos, “You want some?”
Khaos hesitates for a second and then sighs, “Yeah, go on then.” He looks at me, “Alright, spill whatever fucked up thing we have to deal with now.”
“Hey, we don’t know for certain that it’s a fucked-up thing,” Rival says.
“It could be a good thing,” Loki says, sounding vaguely hopeful.
I wince.
Rival points at me, “Judging from his expression, it’s definitely not a good thing.”
Storm raises his eyebrow, “Well?”
“It’s not great, but it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise since you’ve already figured some stuff out,” I reply.
“It’s about the compound, isn’t it?” Rast asks, as always surprising me with how quickly he’s put two and two together.
I nod, “If we’re waiting here for a while, then there are things that you need to know.”
I go on to explain to Rast about the ritual they did, and that it never should have worked. There was no reason for it to work.
“Which means that someone or something that has a lot of fucking power and influence managed to interfere with it, to make it work without the compound leaders realising that they were interfering,” Rival summarises quickly.
“Exactly,” I reply. I’ve had a lot of time to think about it, and that’s the only logical, while admittedly improbable, thing that made sense to me.
“Why do I feel like that’s not everything?” Hades asks me astutely.
“Because it’s not,” I admit. I look at Rast, this is going to affect him more than the others. “We were lied to, like you always suspected. Everyone back at the compound is being lied to.”
Rast nods, “I’m not surprised, but I am going to need a little clarification.”
I look at the others, “So, I know that Rast has explained some things but hear me out for a moment. We grew up learning how the compounds came to be. The collapse and subsequent darkness didn’t happen a couple of years ago hell, it didn’t happen a couple of hundred years ago. This has been our lives for a long, long time. The compounds were formed by the survivors, right? The natives of this realm. They grouped together, put up wards, kept these small pockets light and ran them like towns, with a few people in charge to make sure that everything ran smoothly, and then they exchangedand bargained between compounds, while making sure that any of the escaped prisoners were killed on sight.”
“I don’t like where this is going,” Rast says, his fists clenching at his sides, and a heavy frown on his face.
“Me neither,” Reaper says, his arms crossed over his chest and looking as formidable as he is.
“They aren’t the citizens from this side of the realm,” I continue. “The compounds were slowly and methodically overtaken by the escaped souls from the punishment side of the realm, and now every leader, every second, every commander, everyone you can think of who has a modicum of power in the compound is one of those escaped souls. That’s why we don’t see them that often when we leave the compounds, even though they are supposedly the second biggest threat that we face. They’re afraid of us.”
They stare at me.
