Mythical Link ▸ Link Neal {Book One}

Ninety Six

     Rhett clenched his jaw, metaphorically biting his tongue. Rage bubbled up inside of him, his neck and the apples of his cheeks growing hot to the touch.

     The mention of Terra, the woman who had almost killed his best friend twice, was enough to shoot waves of homicidal tendencies through him. He had to turn his head away from Link, his hands on his hips.

     The look in his blue eyes was of confusion and innocence. Rhett knew by that look that he was implying that they needed to protect her, and that was something they were going to need to talk about when they made it back to the house.

     Paul had went upstairs to retrieve Link a glass of water, and as he approached Link with the glass in his hands, Link's eyes lit up like a child being presented a basket of candy. He eagerly took the glass from his hands and brought the rim up to his mouth, letting the water nestle into the cracks of his dry lips before letting it proceed to trickle down his throat.

     Baker watched as impatience festered in his chest, knots forming in his stomach over everything that was going on. There was a man sitting in front of him that survived something that he shouldn't have survived, and he wasn't qualified to be able to determine what he was. He only had experience with werewolves, and he never imagined that there had been anything more out there in the world of supernaturals. He hardly believed the existence of werewolves until he lost his wife to one, and now he's being presented with a supernatural mystery that required his attention.

     From the sounds of it, the scene at the hospital was only the beginning of this gruesome tale. Without any extensive knowledge, he felt like they were so far off from having the upper hand.

     Christy held Link's free hand in her own, drawing circles over the top of his hand with her thumb. Her teary eyes had finally dried, but her eyes felt dry and scratchy like she used sandpaper to dab at her eyes rather than tissues. She thought all of her troubles would come to an end once they figured out how to heal Link, but it only brought on a whole other laundry list of issues.

     Hearing and witnessing first hand that the man you've loved since college wasn't human had not been an easy pill to swallow. Where would she even begin to figure out what Link truly is? Who would she have to look to for help? What would this mean for him? Had Jessie been right to ask if he was dangerous? There was no telling what could happen, and the mere prospect of having to figure all of this out was absolutely daunting.

     Link lowered the glass after he'd finished the water, peering into it with confusion gripping his heart. He was aware ever since childhood that he was strange, but he never hoped to imagine that he would be quite as strange as this. To the point where they don't even know what he is. The fact that he isn't even human caused him to blink several times, and all he could do was look up at Rhett with the same amount of confusion laced in his eyes as was in his heart.

     Rhett sighed deeply. "We should probably go now," he said, his shoulders slumping. The exhaustion that had evaded him after his visit at the abandoned house struck three fold, and his eyes began to feel scratchy and fuzzy. The only relief he could seem to find was closing his eyes.

     Baker nodded his head, heading toward the stairs. This lead everyone to follow, Christy and Rhett helping Link off of the bed. To their surprise, he gently pushed them away with a slight smile on his face.

     "I feel totally fine now guys, I can walk on my own," he spoke softly as he walked ahead of them, as if nothing had ever happened. Christy skipped off after him as he began to ascend the stairs, leaving Rhett to slowly follow after them. He couldn't help but wonder for the millionth time how all of this was possible.

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     "Can somebody please pinch me. Pretty please," Alex begged, peering at the faces of his co workers gathered around the kitchen table. Jessie had settled them in the kitchen with mugs of coffee while she tended to scooting the kids off to bed, so they wouldn't have to hear any more about this conversation.

    It had already been too late, as they were in the room when Rhett said that Link had died and had come back to life. They heard about the werewolves, and they heard that Link wasn't human. Commotion could be heard from upstairs as Jessie tried to quiet all of their frantic questions.

     Mike swiveled in his seat to look at Alex, then he took his thumb and pointer finger and took up an inch of Alex's skin on his arm and squeezed. Alex howled in pain, drawing his hand up to his arm to swat Mike's hand away, glaring at him.

     "Hey, you asked," he said point blank with a shrug, and Alex only shook his head while staring down into his coffee. Stevie fiddled with her thumbs in her lap, keeping her eyes downcast. Chase stirred his coffee with a spoon absentmindedly, propping his elbow on the table as he rested his chin in his hand. Eddie was restless, his leg bobbing up and down feverishly as he rubbed his hands together. He looked like he was getting ready to burst, Alex watching him apprehensively.

     "None of this seems real. Who takes 4 amps of electricity and survives it? Why on earth did they try to do that anyway?"

     "It was the only way to cure Link from the infection caused by the werewolf." Jessie's voice sounded from the doorway and everyone looked up at her. She leaned against the doorframe with her arms folded over her chest, her brown eyes looking tired.

     "How," was all Stevie could choke out.

     "Rhett would do a better job explaining all of this than I possibly could," Jessie said tiredly, heaving a heavy sigh. Now that everything was out in the open, there was an explanation that was needed to clear the water.

     Rhett opened the front door and let Link in, Christy following after him. Rhett turned to face Baker, and Baker placed a hand on Rhett's shoulder.

     "You are a trooper, you know that?" Baker said, and Rhett smiled appreciatively. He just wished there was more he could do to stop Ponytail from whatever it was that he was doing. He only nodded his head, and

     Baker headed off toward the cruiser. Rhett stepped into the house and shut the door, and he moved into the kitchen where everyone was situated. All of the crew members that had shown up at the house were engulfing Link in a massive group hug. Jessie ran up to Rhett and threw her arms around his neck. He embraced her tightly, and they all sat in silence for a while. Rhett cleared his throat, garnering everyone's attention.

"We need to talk," he said with a sigh.

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     Everyone took a seat around the table, a few of them having to grab a chair from the dining room. They fit snug around the table, keeping their eyes on Rhett as they waited for him to speak. Link gazed around at everyone's faces, noticing how everyone kept glancing at him as if they were expecting something to happen.

     "Remember how we all swore that what we saw would never leave the walls of our studio?"

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