Mythical Link ▸ Link Neal {Book One}

142

Christy clutched the phone close to her face as she waited for Eddie to pick up. On the third ring, he finally answered. She could all but cry at hearing the sound of his voice.

"Christy? Hey what's going on?" Eddie's voice was laced with concern, and a little bit of confusion because her southern drawl was so thick.

Especially when she was upset.

"Rhett and Link have been gone all day today, and neither of them have been answering my calls. Please tell me you've heard from them," she cried.

"Christy, you need to slow down. I can barely understand you."

"Have you heard from Rhett or Link at all today?" She basically snapped into the phone, her eyebrows furrowed. She couldn't understand how Eddie wasn't understanding her, and she clutched at her hair as her eyes watered with fear.

"Yeah, yeah. I heard from Link a little while ago. He was scared about driving through this nasty weather and asked me if he should pull over or not. God, I hope he pulled over," he said, and this worried Christy even more.

Christy sucked in a breath, her chest feeling like it was on fire. She'd been left with the kids all day, and it wasn't like Link or Rhett for that matter, to not answer their phones.

"Eddie... Eddie I'm scared," she whined, her chin wrinkling as her bottom lip trembled. "Something's... something's wrong with Lily. She's crying that her tummy hurts, like she's screaming. Eddie please," and as Christy said that, one of Lily's wails pealed through the house.

"Hold on. Hold on, I'm on my way over!"

"Please, please come quickly."

"I'll be there as soon as possible, and I'm going to be bringing a Mage with me."

Christy was at the door the moment Eddie had knocked. She had no idea on earth who Mage was or why he was bringing her with him, but she managed to shake it off rather quickly so she could comfort Lily. Once she pulled the door open, she was greeted by two familiar faces. Eddie wore a comforting smile on his face as he stepped forward into the house, revealing Drew who had been standing behind him.

Christy hesitantly glanced between the two before letting them in and closing the door, an eyebrow raised. She didn't see a woman with them, which perplexed her.

"Where's Mage?" She asked, and Eddie looked at Drew with his eyebrows raised.

Admittedly that was a strange name for a girl, Christy thought.

"Mage isn't an actual person, but describes a person," he explained as his voice cracked. Christy glanced between the two of them awkwardly, Drew lowering his eyes so that he wouldn't have to make eye contact. He had this look about his face like he had been hiding something for quite some time, but really wanted to spill the beans about it before it ruptured him on the inside.

"Drew... did you go through a 'change'," Christy whispered with her eyes narrowed. She quickly realized how intrusive that was and instantly corrected herself. "It's okay if you did, I promise I won't judge."

Suddenly, Eddie burst into hysterics, slapping Drew on the shoulder. Drew looked amused and confused at the same time, his lips drawn in a tight line. His piercing blue eyes darted between Christy and Eddie, and he saw that Christy was laughing also.

Not moments before, she was freaking out because there was something wrong with her daughter, and now she was laughing so hard that her stomach was probably ripping at the seams and her eyes were leaking with tears. At least Drew could offer some comedic relief, but that wasn't what he was there for. He reached out to touch Christy's shoulder and she abruptly stopped laughing.

"Christy, I have something that I need to tell you. I should have told everyone when I first started working at Mythical Entertainment. Hell, this should probably have been on my resume or mentioned in my interview. However; I didn't know how you guys would react to me dabbling in magic. When things started going down with Terra and the Alpha, and then finding out Link wasn't human, I've been feeling comfortable enough to show my true self."

Drew stopped talking and right before her eyes, the entirety of Drew's eyes shone a vivid bright blue. He brought his balled up fists to show Christy the white balls of light that encircled them, the glow matching the glow in his eyes. Christy gasped, throwing her hands over her mouth as she took several steps back. Drew lowered his hands and his eyes returned to their normal color, and Eddie took a step forward and held his hand out to her.

"Christy, please don't be afraid. Drew trusts us enough to show us what he can do, and I think we should give him a shot at trying to heal Lily. Before you had called me, and you're going to laugh, I was trying to open a can of tuna fish so I could make tuna fish salad and I sliced my thumb open on the can," he began to explain, showing her his thumb. He took another step toward her and she had backed up so far that her back was pinned against the wall at this point.

"I had a gash so thick and so deep that I could have needed stitches. I literally dialed 911 and out of nowhere, this guy shows up," he gestured to Drew who waved nonchalantly in response. "And he made me remove the towel I had wrapped around this sucker. There was blood gushing everywhere, Christy. It stained my shirt, my pants, the kitchen floor... And he took my hand into his and he did something, I wasn't sure what... But I felt warmth buzz through my hand and I watched as the gash sewed itself up. There wasn't a hint of evidence that it ever really happened. If Lily is sick, he can help!"

"There's one problem with that."

Everyone turned their heads to see Locke standing in the doorway. His cheeks were tear stained. "It's not her she's feeling. It's my dad." Locke's lips quivered and he dropped to his knees with a sob.

Christy darted toward him, scooping him up in her arms.

Buzzing whirred between Rhett's ears as he struggled with everything he had to stay conscious. He was losing so much blood that he didn't know if he could make it for the duration of the car ride, and he continually prayed in his head that he was going to stick it out long enough to pull off the stunt he was about to pull off.

The boys were nestled comfortably into their seats on either side of them, the both of them playing on their phones. Rhett was taking in as many breaths as he could, cherishing each one as if that was going to be his last one.

What he really needed was to get to a hospital, but he didn't think he was going to have the opportunity to do so. At the present time, it felt like he had no emotions and he was numb. If Teegan killing him meant that he was going to leave Link and his family alone, then so be it. There was nothing else Rhett could do. He eyed Teegan through the rearview mirror, and sucked up enough energy to force a few words through his throat.

"Where," he gasped, coughing. His lungs burned when he coughed, and a horrible fear slipped into his conscious that he was definitely bleeding internally. "Where are you taking me?" He sounded weak and broken, a sound he wasn't used to hearing from himself. He wasn't used to feeling helpless and at the mercy of another person's hands. The ghost of a smile kissed Teegan's lips as he continued to drive.

"We're going home, Rhett."

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