Chapter 20

[x] indicates inner voices

Nyline could barely move, her entire body felt like a dead weight, and a pounding was taking up residence behind one of her eyes. Nausea swirled in her belly as she forced her body into a sitting position. Every muscle that moved felt like needles and when she opened her eyes, her vision was blurry. The vague outlines of people standing around her, at a distance, made all the hairs on her body stand on end.

"What did you do?" A voice she would recognize anywhere with its unhappy undertone, her Uncle, spoke close to her. However, she didn't move towards the noise as she tried to clear the fog and pain from her mind.

"I didn't do anything. We were just talking, and she was fiddling with the rosebushes." Gabriel's voice spoke from further away sounding breathless. "What in all the gods happened?" Concern and awe washed across her mind like a wave pool making her stomach flip and she worried that she might be sick.

A hand hooked itself under her arm and pulled her up suddenly. The blood rushed up into her brain and she felt her legs buckle, but the hand holding her didn't let her fall. Though, she didn't feel like she could stand, and her eyes still wouldn't focus. There was a whistle.

"Now, there's the red head that we spent out childhood looking for." Rebecca's very loud, and very annoying voice basically screamed at her. Nyline pressed her free hand into her eye. [Red head? What red head? She's the only red head that's here right now.]

["Oh, no she isn't."] That soft voice spoke in the back of her mind making her stomach flip again, only this time calm washed over her, and she felt a little less off balance. Then the inner voices started, and she felt as though she was being hit from all sides as the voices from all six scout sets started chattering to each other loudly. She felt her body slump more as her mind fell further into the haze.

"Nyline?" She turned her unseeing eyes onto where the arm was holding her. He released her suddenly and she surprised herself by staying upright. Two hands pressed against her face and she knew it was her Uncle by how he held his memories back from her. "What's wrong?"

"My head, my body, everything hurts." She bit out on a breath as she felt her body get heavy again, and a new wave of dizziness washed over her. Her knees wanted to buckle once but she managed to stay upright. "I can't see," She mumbled as she tried to raise her arms and rub at them to make the blurriness go asway.

Uncle John made a shushing noise before she felt the aether enter her mind. It was like a balm on a fresh burn as it soothed all the rough edges and calmed her nerves. Her body slowly started to feel lighter, like she could move it and the pressure behind her eye was slowly dissipating. After what felt like minutes but was probably only seconds, her arms were able to lift and rub at her eyes as she continued to try and clear them.

"Can you still not see?" Her uncle whispered as she blinked several times, her hands going back to her eyes. She shook her head as she made the motion of looking down at her hands but only slight outlines. Her breath hitched in her chest. Was she blind?

["Take a deep breath."] Her breath hitched again at Gabriel's soft soothing tone in the back of her mind and she looked towards where she thought he was. ["It's going to be alright."] Those tears that she had been holding back welled up in her eyes as she looked back towards where her uncles outline was.

"Don't cry," He chastised in a soft tone, "You're not going blind. Just take a deep breath and give me a second." His hands were on her again as they took her head and he ran a single thumb over one eye then the other. "Open." Nyline did as instructed and opened her eyes slowly. The moon was bright in the sky as she blinked several times before she focused onto her uncle's solemn face and finally focused.

"Wh-what's wrong?" Her voice chimed and her hand instantly went to her throat. That had been her voice? She swallowed as she looked at her uncle with fear in her eyes. She did not sound like that, that couldn't have been her voice. Panicking, she reached forward and grabbed onto his arm, but stopped and jerked away as she saw that her skin was no longer a deep ebony but a light ivory color. Freckles doted her skin on her arms, the backs of her hands and as she pulled up her sleeve, she saw that they went up and onto her shoulders. Pulling her hands to her face as she felt her breath start to come in and out faster than before. Why had her skin changed?

Darting her eyes to the side she saw Gabriel standing a few feet away from her, his scouts in a lose formation around him. Their eyes looking weary as they regarded her. The sound of Rebecca's inner voice made her turn to see Damien and his scouts in much the same formation standing a few feet away. Something in the corner of her eye made her turn, before she turned, again, then she stopped touching her head before pulling some of the bright red locks in front of her face. Panic crawled up her throat again as her breathing increased and her ears started ringing.

"Take a deep breath before you pass out." Uncle John's hands landed on her shoulders, his face just a short distance from her own. Her hands knotted themselves together as she tried to find it in her to stop her racing heart.

Calm and warmth washed against her mind, and whereas she felt panicked at that thought alone, the emotions that Gabriel sent her made her breathing slowly start to even out. Her hands were in her oversized shirt now as they rung the fabric together. She felt like she should run. Use her movement skill and get the hell outta dodge as quickly as possible, but where would she go? And what would she even be running from? Her arms and hands started shaking as she glanced around again, taking in the judging looks of all of the scouts around her.

"Nyline." Her uncle spoke once more in a calm, demanding voice, and her eyes refocused onto him. "Listen to me." She sucked in a breath and held it as he continued speaking in a soft tone. "You broke the spell that Stephaney put on you."

"Mom?" Her voice squeaked and she felt her hands start to twist tighter and tighter. "What do you mean?"

"The one she put on you to hide your aether. you broke it." His voice soft with a hint of sadness Nyline took in another sharp breath.

"What? How? I didn't do anything. I just wanted to make the flowers bloom like in you…" Her eyes grew wide as she slammed her mouth shut. John took a second to look her directly into the eyes.

"We can discuss what memories you still have of mine later. Now is not the time." He took one long breath in and let it out slowly as he straightened and looked around the area. Nyline followed his eyes to see that the garden, once covered in ice, was now flourishing. The roses were blooming, the grass was lush and green. Wildflowers popped up randomly, and the large fountain was now naked, its snow just puddles inside of the bottom ring.

The whispers of the sets of scouts talking to each other started to creep back into her conscious. Her eyes darted between each of them as the urge to start running started to overwhelm her once more. Damien's scouts were all judging her. Rebecca and Ryan were talking about how different she looked. Nathan and Angelica were passing those little mental pictures back and forth, but she could still understand the general meaning- is this her full aether levels? The soft whispers of Jakes mind, he was extremely sad looking at Nyline, as if he had just lost a war that he had been waging for his entire life. She looked at him and their eyes connected, she could feel her heart in her throat before he glanced at Damion. Who was just blankly staring at her as if he had never seen her in his life.

Gabriel's scouts on the other hand were a little more confusing. It seemed that two of them, one that she thought was Dashiner, were discussing bets. Bets that were specifically about her: her aether levels, her abilities, her strength, and many more. The one she knew was Dashiner flashed a smile when their eyes connected, and she heard the words clearly: [You want in on the bets?] She pulled her eyes away from him, her heart beating faster in her chest as she looked at the one that was named Delta, the one scout that was always next to Gabriel no matter what. She was talking to someone very far away, giving a step by step recount of what had been happening. The other two females were just discussing what types of potential that she could possess and how it could affect the kingdom in both good and bad ways. Her eyes found the ice blues that she had been looking into for the last few hours and when their eyes connected, his face lifted into a smile.

["Everything I ever could have wanted… Perfect in every way…"] Those words were not meant for her and she knew that, but none the less they were crossing Gabriel's mind and into the bond that they shared. She couldn't help but feel warmth in her chest as she heard the train of thought.

"We need to leave," Uncle John spoke suddenly, and she looked up at him, the change in his tone making the hairs on the back of her neck and arms stand on end. Quickly he reached out and grabbed Nyline's arm as he started to drag her bodily towards the castle, before he used his movement skill and landed on the roof. Looking to simply go over the castle instead of through it.

"Where are we going?" Nyline breathed as she rushed to keep up with him. He stopped without answering her and looked at the two princes and their scouts.

"You two should also get out of here, with great haste." They both watched him with blank expressions on their faces and Nyline could tell that every scout in the area had just stopped chatting with their mate and was now solely focused on Jonathan.

"Would you elaborate on that a little?" Gabriel spoke taking several steps towards them. The look on his face clear as day, saying that he didn't want to leave Nyline.

"The daemon's will be showing up shortly." Nyline's head snapped to him.

"What are you talking about?" She breathed and he finally looked down at her, his eyes cold and calculating, just like the scout he was.

"Right now, isn't the time for a discussion, I already told you that."

"John…" Her voice was a whisper. "When will you tell me? Why haven't you already? I don't understand." Nyline felt the stress of everything starting to weigh on her shoulders from when Damien had showed up all the way up to this point. She stopped walking and looked up at him with pleading eyes. "Please tell me what's going on."

"I promise to tell you later," He whispered his eyes shutting as he looked away from her. Dismissing her in a single movement.

"John," She rasped, her voice cracking. "If I don't get to go back home with you, I need to understand what is going on…" He spoke then without looking at her.

"You're aether attracts daemons. They are drawn to you due to your blood." He cringed slightly as if those words had caused him some type of pain and he took a breath in. "When you were born, they came in droves and over ran the entire kingdom." His voice had turned monotone as he spoke them as if he had rehearsed them over and over again in front of a mirror. "That's how you ended up with me in the human world." Nyline took a breath in.

"No," she gripped her hair slightly at the scalp. "That's not what the memory I have shows. It's wrong. All of this is wrong." His eyes grew wide at her sudden outburst. Nyline felt pain building in her chest and she felt as though it was caving open. "It can't all be my fault…" She whispered, her eyes returning to her uncles, who, was looking at her with such sadness in his eyes, that his words could only be true.

["The records in my kingdom say differently."] Gabriel's soft tone entered the back of her mind once more and it sounded sad and torn. It was as if he were mirroring her own emotions. ["There was no flux in darklings or lesser daemons in this area on the night of our birth. There's more to this story that we don't have yet. Let us leave for now. You and I, or you and Jonathan can always come back at a later date."] Her eyes turned and caught Gabriel's as his words resonated with her and she swallowed the tears that she so desperately wanted to cry. In that moment, she knew all too well that Gabriel wouldn't have judged her if she had, and that made her chest warm.

"Nyline," Her uncle said her name as if it wasn't the first time, he had spoken it and she snapped her head towards him. We need to leave. Anger replaced her confusion and sadness as the words burst from her chest.

"Where are we supposed to go?" She shouted her voice cracking, "My entire life in the human world was a lie, this is my parents, MY kingdom and I can't stay here. Where are we supposed to go? What are we even doing at this point?" Her uncle looked down at her completely unphased at her sudden outburst, fully aware that she was on the brink of really losing it.

"Vaccoon," Gabriel's voice spoke in a strong sure voice and everyone looked at him. "Jonathan you know that our protection spells will defend against anything duke or below." Jonathan regarded him for several seconds, emotions passing over his face before it set in a line.

"We could go to Dunhule?" Damien spoke in a very small, soft voice. Every eye turned on him looking at him as if he were crazy, even his scouts looked horrified at the notion. Jonathan pinched the bridge of his nose looking beyond annoyed. There was a whistle and a scout landed next to Nyline. She was tall and slim, with more freckles than the ones on her own skin. Her eyes were green, and they glowed softly as she graced Nyline with an ever so small smile. She had strawberry blond hair that was cut so it was just brushing her shoulders.

["This is Sigma, please keep her with you until this is resolved."] She didn't look at him to know that he was alert and on edge. She couldn't blame him; she was on edge too. Only she was also at the point where she felt like any additional stress, and she was going to snap like a twig. Part of her wanted to fight him for assigning her one of his scouts, but at this moment she felt like it was just too much trouble. So, she turned her eyes onto her uncle. His eyes were downcast, looking at her as if his heart had just ran away.

Before she could open her mouth and ask what was wrong when her muscles locked up as if getting ready to use her movement skill. She had enough time to look behind her before she took an involuntary step backwards. "Assssshhhhhhhssssss." The smoldering head that had tried to eat her in the kitchen was now floating a few inches away from her face looking delighted as it gave a large sniff of the air before its rancid tongue snaked out licking its lips. "Little thing, smells like the other little thing that I almost ate earlier," The head bobbed closer to Nyline, "Oooooohhhh it is the same little thing that came into my territory earlier." It gave a shrill giggle that made all the hairs on Nyline's body stand so straight that it was painful. "This thing guesses it is a good thing that this thing did not eat the little thing." The head shook itself as if it had shoulders and it was scolding itself lightly. "The master would have been very, very angry if the little thing had been eaten." The head turned those black holes onto Nyline again. "Now, little thing, come with this thing so I can offer you to my master." It was right next to Nyline's face as she felt rooted to the spot. "Good plan, yes, yes, yes?" It grinned at her showing rows of blackened and broken teeth.

As if snapping out of a trance she took two large steps back before she planted her foot on the side of the roof and used her movement to shoot herself towards the ground. Rolling on impact she stopped her eyes going back to the roof. The faint rustling noises were all Nyline needed to know that Sigma and her uncle had just landed next to her in the same position.

"No, no, no, no, no; do not run from this something. This something is sorry that it tried to eat the little something. It is truly. This something just wants to make sure that the little something is safe." The head nodded and to Nyline's ears it did sound remorseful; she just wasn't sure what to do about it.

"Who do you think it's master is?" Nyline breathed as her eyes tracked the smoldering head as it slowly made its way over the roof.

"Do you honestly want to stay and find out?" Jonathan's voice was clipped and curt making Nyline flinch. "Game plan. Gabriel's right, Vaccoon is going to be the best bet for the moment, but we're taking Damien's airship." Gabriel shot Jonathan an annoyed look.

"Air ships can easily fall from the sky."

"Not wrong, but it's a sure a hell of a lot faster than running on foot." Gabriel's lips thinned but he said no more. "Damien get to your airship and have them prep for launch. Gabriel, are your scouts skilled enough to be a distraction." Gabriel laughed at that and John only smiled a little. "Good. Nyline, and Gabriel's scout, were heading into the forest and going to the long way around the city towards the air ship. We'll try and arc it so that we miss a majority of the hoard."

"You heard him." Gabriel's voice was soft but commanding. "Make sure she gets to the airship and don't leave her side for any reason." Sigma only nodded once before she pressed her hand against her chest then touched the of middle Nyline's back. For just a split second a blue cord appeared linking the two together before it vanished.

The connect skill was good for traveling distances, keeping track of the person, and ensuring their safety. Nyline glanced at her uncle expecting him to do the same, however his eyes weren't on her but on Gabriel.

"Alright," Damien spoke in a loud voice, "Nathan, Rebecca, get to the airship. Jake, Angelica, and Ryan you're with me." They all nodded before Nathan and Rebecca vanished. Jake took the extra seconds to use his connect skill with Damien, his face set in determination.

"You're with me," Jake spoke softly. "Angelica, scout twenty feet ahead, Ryan behind." The two nodded at him before they also vanished leaving just Damien and Jake standing there.

Nyline opened her mouth to speak but her words lost their breath as a large beast jumped onto the roof of the castle. It roared loudly before it reached down and picked the smoldering head from the sky, popping it into its mouth. There was a loud crunch noise and then blood ran down the monster's chin.

Nyline could just stare as she looked at the large daemon that had the skin of a bright red lizard with thick horns sticking out of its shoulders and knees, the two large horns that stuck out of its head had a couple of skulls in different stages of decomposing. Its black eyes shot between the people standing in the courtyard below before they focused on Nyline. She took an involuntary step backwards as it roared into the sky sending blood splattering onto the grass.

Without saying another word Nyline turned and used her movement skill to reach then vault over the large stone wall that was directly behind her. She knew without looking that Sigma and John were directly behind her.

"Hold." Jonathan spoke. Sigma and Nyline both stopped and looked back at him, the command resonating in the space. There was just a second as he investigated Nyline's face as if committing every detail to memory. Then he shoved something into her hands. "Keep this with you." He muttered before he turned and used his movement skill.

Nyline's heart fell out of her chest and onto the ground as it tried to exist outside of her body at the sight of the scout's knife in a leather sheath in her hands. She felt as though she wanted to scream, to holler, to refuse to move. This could not be happening. It should not. She had not accepted any mate. She did not.

He had not used his connect skill to keep track of her.

He gave her his blade.

She clutched it closer to her chest as she sprinted forward intent on catching up to him and physically restraining him if she had to. Her heart gave another painful beat.

This couldn't be happening.

Scout skill

Lesson Three

The Connect Skill

The Connect skill is often used in duties of escorting or in event of a high danger situation. It is a skill that is often taught later in life and isn't normally a skill that is used often. The physical use of the skill is connecting the scouts aether to the other persons. While the connection is kept up, the scout will always be able to locate the person their connected with. The skill will also inform the scout if the connected person has succumbed to any illness, injury, or death.

Whereas it is rare, due to lack of use, when a scout excels in this skill, they will also be able to feel emotions from the connected target all the way to being able to hear and speak to them like mates do while the skill is active.