Page 40 of Truth
So I could get home, curl up in my bed and, I don’t know, sleep? Another pain shot through my uterus and I gritted my teeth. Maybe it was the blood I consumed from the men? I hadn’t predicted it to give me the period from hell, but honestly, I feel like my whole existence is an unpredictable mess. Like I’m a wild turkey in a Thanksgiving Day hunt. I could live or die at any moment. I could end up on a platter for all to feast on or lost in the woods for days.
We stared across the water of the Lion of Lucerne, the mournful stone monument surrounded by water and trees almost seemed peaceful under the dark sky. “How are we going to get to it?”
The more I stared at the mourning lion, the more I knew that behind it held the key to so many paranormal lives. I could feel it. The energy pulsed through the air, hitting me like a wall, nearly knocking me back with the force of it. I checked my watch, noting the time as it slowly slipped away, bringing us closer and closer to the portal opening.
Sterling stood with his hands on his hips, staring at the lion. “We could swim and climb up. Or climb down from above.”
“I’m not the best climber.” I confessed.
“I’ve seen you trip over absolutely nothing.” Oak shook his head in disappointment as he remembered the one or five times he had seen my clumsy gene strike. “I brought rope. Sterling will go down, then Michelle. I’ll lower you to him, then I’ll go in.”
I batted my lashes, “Will you carry me up there, too?”
I was only half joking. I knew it was a ridiculous request, but damn if the thought of walking up to the top makes the muscles at the top of my thighs clench and shoot pain upward. He watched me for a few moments, before turning and lowering to a knee, “Hop on. If you weren’t looking so paper pale, I would make you walk yourself, just so you know.”
“I always look paper pale.” I pointed out.
“She’s not wrong.” Sterling stated as Michelle turned to him, batting her eyes. Right before she opened her mouth, he held up a hand, “Nope. You’re walking.”
“Chivalry is dead.” She pouted.
“It’s not dead, I’m just not leaving my scent anywhere on you for that wolf to flip out about. You reek of him. ”
Wolf? I fucking knew her and Horo had a thing going on.
The trudge up to the top didn’t take as long as I thought it would. Maybe it’s because I wasn’t walking myself, or maybe Oak used a little of his super speeds to get us up at a faster pace. When we reached the top, he took his pack from Sterling, then took out a mallet and a metal hook, before getting to work securing a contraception into the ground and threading the rope into it.
“Are you sure this is safe?” Sterling questioned.
Oak snorted, “I’m sorry, remind me what I do for a living again?”
“Just because you decide to do flips hundreds of feet in the air for cash doesn’t make it safe.”
“I guess you will have to just take a risk then.” Oak pushed the words out as he swung the mallet.
“I don’t take risks.” And this time it was my turn to snort.
“You don’t take risks? Don’t you play the stock market?”
Sterling blinked a few times before he spoke, his voice dripping with arrogance, “Play? You talk like it’s a damn board game.”
“Careful, Libs. He gets sensitive when his money is questioned.” Oak joked before making one final swing of the mallet and tossing it aside. “The rope should hold. Though I doubt we could get tons of people up this way. The quickest way out would be to jump into the water and meet on the shore. Agreed?”
He was looking at all of us, his beautiful green eyes nearly piercing into me and making my heart flutter. “Agreed.”
“Agreed.” Michelle echoed as she stretched her neck to look down at the water below.
“I prefer not to get wet.” Sterling grumbled and even though I was feeling really off right now, like my body was working against me, I couldn’t help but smile. I hoped Sterling never changed. In twenty years, I could only hope to still be just like this, with my sweet Sterling bringing me coffee while complaining about the privileges he has, Lenin making me tea, Ellis cooking meals with me, Oak soothing my worries, and Justice’s unwilling protectiveness around me. These things blanketed me with content. Made me whole.
Sterling bent down and picked up the rope, running the material in his fingers a few times before he walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down. He hesitated for a few moments before stating, “Just like the Jackson’s barn as kids, right?”
Oak grinned at the memory, “Just like the Jackson’s barn.”
Then Sterling dropped himself over the cliff, the continuous tug on the rope the only thing telling me he was okay. I let out a slow breath. Of course, he was okay. He was immortal. Still, worrying was a part of me. Caring for them was a part of who I am. Their life was now woven within my own, and I never wanted that to change.
Michelle went next, needing little instructions before she fearlessly went over the edge and disappeared. Oak walked over to the side and peered down at my friend for a moment before looking up. “She’s there. You’re up, babe.”
Oak never used any sort of pet name, and it instantly gave me a warm gooey feeling. My core pulsed, and I had to rub my face to clear my thoughts. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”