Chapter 187: Sawyer
After practically giving Heather a heart attack by showing up at her door, we were all piled in Rhys’ office in our usual spots. It was kind of weird to see Heather in these meetings instead of Leon. She had never wanted this life. At least, not since she had kids anyway. I hadn’t known her well as a child. Not like Rhys and Caleb had anyway. But I knew well enough that she was only in this to get Leon back, and I couldn’t blame her for that.
I put on a fresh cup of coffee and took my spot in the corner. I liked it there. I could see everything in the room. Everyone in the room. Heather took her usual spot across the room from me, closer to the door in one of the comfy green chairs. Rhys sat behind his desk in his usual spot, and Grace was curled up in the other green at the edge of Rhys’ desk. She tended to like to be closer to everyone unless Rhys was in a particularly Alpha mood where he demanded her to be close. Then Alana had a kitchen chair that she kept near the door, in case she needed to make a quick escape. She was the newest member to the meetings other than Heather, so she still looked like she felt she didn’t belong there. Then there was Michael. He sat in the middle of the floor with his knees drawn up to his chest. Michael never really contributed much to these meetings, so I often wondered why he even bothered to come most of the time, but something seemed to have changed in the last few days with him, and he seemed a little less dark, and a little more open.
And then there was Maizie. Maizie who was laying on her stomach, flipping through some papers that I couldn’t see. Her dark hair was pulled into a long braid down her back. She always had this devil may care attitude, but yet she also always saw the angles the rest of us couldn’t. I was always in awe of her, and I wished that our paths crossed more than they did right now. I usually only saw her in meetings and sometimes dinner, but she was such an intriguing individual it was hard not to want more. I was glad that she was close with Grace. Grace needed more friends, but I was glad she had a few people that she trusted now.
“Well, I guess, we should get started,” Rhys said drawing my attention away from Maizie and back to him as he stood up to start the meeting, even though it was not necessary to be formal with this group at all. I missed the days where it was just him, me and Leon. Those meetings were always casual, and usually about business things, not how might we die today. “Thanks for coming, I know it’s early. We were going to let everyone sleep, but I guess sleep is alluding all of us.”
He was right. Every single person had said they were already awake, which was crazy. I mean, I hadn’t been until Rhys and Grace had woken me up, but still. It was a weird energy that we all felt but couldn’t explain.
“Is everything okay?” Heather asked uneasily.
“I don’t know.” Rhys answered, surprising me a bit with his candid response. “Grace and I were sucked into the Land of the Gods last night while we were sleeping.”
The words hung over everyone in a heavy silence. I mean, honestly, what the hell was anyone supposed to say to that? A quick look around the room told me that everyone’s attention had piqued. Maizie rolled herself into a sitting position, and was sitting looking much more alert. Much more like the Maizie I knew, not the Maizie I had seen sitting at the counter this morning.
“I assume there’s more to this story than that?” Heather asked hesitantly. “Do you want to fill us in on what happened?”
Rhys looked at Grace who gave him the nod to continue, which I found odd. I wondered what they had discussed when they were alone after leaving my room. If there was more that happened, and they had decided not to share everything or something.
Rhys quickly gave a rundown of what had happened. How he had ‘entered’ the dream and was able to see Grace talking to the Moon Goddess. How he was told that he wasn’t invited there, but Grace’s soul had brought him along. How she warned him that what he was doing might not be enough. And then said that we had no idea what was coming, but we needed to be more prepared. Then told them that it was coming, twice, and then disappeared into thin air.
I could tell he was trying to be a detailed as possible, which was hard for him. He was usually the one getting every detail, not relaying every detail. In fact, I had never really been in a situation like this where every detail mattered quite like this.
Then he stated how the air changed, and they were attacked. He said he tried to go to the same area he had ‘entered’ the dream/realm/thing in, thinking maybe it was a portal, but they just ended up deeper into the woods with the creatures they couldn’t see closing in on them. Then they had come back bleeding and completely at a loss for what had happened.
“Did I miss anything, Gracie?” Rhys asked, there was an exhaustion in his voice that I wasn’t used to, and it made my stomach clench a little.
Grace shook her head with the same exhaustion written all over her features. Worry filled me. Grace had been through so much. She had finally started to get her feet under her. I hadn’t seen her this tired since she first got here. This dream and all the things leading up to it, seemed to be really weighing on both of them.
“So, what does literally any of that mean?” Michael asked, speaking up for the first time.
Maizie raised her head, and my heart stumbled. I knew before she said anything that she had reached the same conclusion as I had.
“They were either the protectors of the realm... or there are more Gods than we realized at play here.”
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