In fact, they all look really amused.
“Well, I'm not sure if we should trust him completely, and I don't know whether this new development of mine is something that should be kept between just us,”I explain.
“Good point,”Storm agrees.“Does it feel like a threat?”
“No,”I reply.“I can't explain it, but it isn’t anything we need to worry about. It’s just something that I can feel.”
“And it warned you?”Hades asks curiously.
I nod,“It told me that people were listening. Actually, that's not entirely accurate, it didn't really tell me in words.”
“Confusing, but okay. Is it telling you anything else?”Rival asks curiously.
I start to shake my head and then pause.
Surprise floods me as I realise that, actually, it's telling me a lot.
I swallow my surprise and reply,“I know that Laikynn is to my left and about ten feet back. Poca has found Oryn, and they are about fifteen feet to my right. We have a pack of about twelve creatures, like Laikynn, surrounding us on all sides, and beyond that, we are being stalked by something that feels completely unfamiliar to me.”
They all stare at me in shock.
Zev is so focused on me that he’s not watching where he is going, and I reach out my hand, stopping him from bashing into a tree. As I pull my hand away, the back of my hand brushes against the tree, and the tree briefly glows.
Fortunately, Adrastos is in front of us and didn’t see the glowing tree. I think he’s probably had enough surprises for at least an hour.
“I thought that was limited to our dream,”Zev says with a furrowed brow, his confusion evident.
“You did say that the dream didn’t behave like a normal dream,”I reply.
“Now that we know that the dream took place in the Void, or rather, this realm, it would make sense if some of your magic really transferred over into it,”Rival replies thoughtfully.
“Wait,”Khaos starts.“What if it wasn’t a dream? What if somehow Farren’s magic pulled you both in?”
Zev frowns,“I would agree and say that’s the most likely scenario, but it had dream-like qualities. For starters, we could see clearly, it wasn’t dark like it is now. Plus, I woke up when Farren kicked me out.”
“Maybe not then,”Khaos admits.
“I have no way to explain how Farren touching a tree made it fucking glow, but I do know that it most likely attracted shit that it shouldn’t, so we should get moving, quickly,” Aldrastos interrupts.
I wince, “Shit, sorry. If I had known, I wouldn’t have touched it, obviously.”
I have no idea how he saw the tree glow. He was in front of us, but who knows what kind of supernatural he is? Maybe he can see behind him, or his magic picked up on it, or something.
Aldrastos looks momentarily surprised that I apologised but simply nods in response and then takes off at a jog.
I guess he really is worried that we’re going to be attacked. Which, to be fair, his fear isn’t unfounded, considering that we are being stalked by something that I have never encountered before, and that is only being kept at bay thanks to Laikynn and his pack.
If it tries to attack any of them, then I will be getting involved.
I don’t care how fucking deadly the creatures of this realm are supposed to be. Laikynn is my friend, and I will do what I need to do in order to protect him and his family. After all, that is what he’s doing for my family right now, the least I can do is return the favour.
Aldrastos picks up the pace even more, and we all do the same. I don’t know whether he’s picked up on what I have or whether he’s just fed up with the rest of us getting distracted and figures that if we move faster, then it won’t happen again.
He’s underestimated us.
However, this is a serious situation, and we shouldn’t be allowing ourselves to get as easily distracted as we are. We are being chased by something, and it’s not Aldrastos’ fault that we are now so used tobeing in life-threatening situations that it isn’t really a big deal to us anymore.
That being said, we haven’t let our guard down. I am still acutely aware of what is going on around us, and I know that the guys are as well. We are simply not freaking out as much as we probably should in this situation.
