Mythical Link ▸ Link Neal {Book One}

144

"That's part of my damned good reason," he said quietly but fiercly as he raised his eyes to look directly at Christy. "The Alpha's got Rhett."

Christy sent the kids off to bed, even though they were protesting up a storm. The adults were able to meet in the living room in silence, and Link was under the spotlight. He explained how he had a vivid dream of finding Allison's body in a house he'd never been in, and when he explained it to Rhett, he knew exactly where the house was. They decided they would go to that house to try and find the body, when they were ambushed by Jackson. Jackson gave a little curtsy at the mention of his name, which nobody thought was funny.

Link went on to tell how he had frozen time and people with his scream, and that he somehow found himself traveling back in time ten years and meeting a younger Mercedes, who he explained was Terra's aunt for those who gave him a confused look. He told them that he met Allison, and he told them everything he had learned from Mercedes regarding the little girl's death. Then he told about how he learned in a few short minutes how to unfreeze time and people, and travel back to the present time where they went back to Link's house where they had planned to keep Jackson for an interrogation.

That didn't go as planned because they were greeted by the entire crew who had planned a surprise party, with everything in the house all fixed up. However, the party was cut short because Rhett had some unsettling news delivered to him by the sheriff and he was angry and upset. Rhett found out about Jessie being the Kitsune by Jackson, while simultaneously it seems Link had hit her while driving through the torrential rains. He'd called Animal Control and went to tell Rhett what was keeping him for so long, and Rhett went absolutely postal and left the house.

That was the last Link had heard from him, and Jackson and Link embarked on a heroic rescue of Jessie from Animal Control.

"And my dream actually came true in a sense because I was impaled through my abdomen before I woke up, and I felt a sharp pain as if it had actually happened for real. I screamed Rhett's name, which Jackson says means something very bad." Link concluded his explanation, taking a few deep breaths. He took in their pale and horrified faces, and he lowered his eyes, feeling an emptiness in his heart. He had no idea if any of them even believed his story, but for all it was worth, it was out there and he at least had a story to tell.

"So you're meaning to tell me that you rescued a fox from Animal Control that you hit, thinking it's Jessie?" Christy asked incredulously.

"Yes. I can prove it to you right now. Jessie!" Link called, swiveling on his heel to face the stairs and without falter, a slim fox scampered down the stairs and darted for Link's feet. She curled herself up beside them, resting her chin on the toe of his shoe. She looked up at Christy and Christy cried out. "See? Now what wild fox do you know of would respond to an actual name? Jessie's name no less?"

"Oh my god. Oh dear god... Jessie," she said, dropping to her knees and taking Jessie's face into her hands. "Her leg is injured," she pointed out, noticing the makeshift splint that Jackson had put on her leg while he had her upstairs.

"Yeah, that's my fault," Link said somberly. Jessie made a clicking noise with her mouth and wrapped her tail around Link's ankle, and he took that as a fox's way of giving a comforting hug. He reached down to scratch between her ears. Both Barbara and Jade, Rhett and Link's dogs, got along with her just fine. It was as if they knew it was her.

"That explains so much," Eddie mused, having a few moments to himself to think everything through and to let it all sink in. He brought his hands over his face, sucking in a deep breath. A lot had happened, but it all made sense to him now. He suddenly looked at Drew, which sort of startled Drew. "Are Mage's affected by time warps?" Eddie posed the question that Drew was hoping for, and he clasped his hands together.

Link looked toward Drew with an eyebrow arched. Did Eddie just ask him if Mages were affected by time warps? How on earth did Drew become a Mage? It was going to be his turn to ask questions, because he was really curious and a little startled that Drew was suddenly a supernatural himself.

"Nope. That's why I remembered exactly what was going on, and what we were doing and why before time froze."

"What does being a Mage entail? I've heard of Mages in World of Warcraft but never thought I would actually see one in real life."

Drew looked pleased that people were asking him questions, and he licked his lips before answering.

"It's a lot like what you see in the game actually. We can cast spells, we can even travel in time, which is precisely why we're not affected by time warps when they occur. There are classes of special abilities that one Mage can possess, and mine just happens to be light," he said as he opened his hand, casting a glowing blue orb from his hand that floated a couple inches above it. "All of us are healers universally. I came over because Christy was panicking about Lily feeling sick, but she wasn't really feeling sick." Drew closed his hand and the light disappeared, his smile fading. "She was feeling Rhett, wasn't she?"

Link could only nod his head, his throat tightening.

Eddie clapped his hands, sitting forward in his seat.
"Well I have to admit myself, I think that's wicked freaking cool Drew," Eddie then looked toward Link. "It's also wicked cool that you can freeze time with your scream."

"He's a gifted one," Jackson cut in casually, examining his fingernails.

Christy eyed him warily.

"Why do you sound like you know something?" Drew asked curtly. He didn't like the man the moment Link said that he had almost stabbed him with a knife.

"Because he does. He knows exactly what I am."

This caused an uproar, everyone flying out of their seats all at once.

"Then would you kindly enlighten us so we can take the Alpha down, for crying out loud," Drew shouted.

This only made Jackson smirk, and Drew clenched his fist at his side.

"Take it easy, sweetheart. It isn't my place to tell your friend what he is. Especially with the circumstances tied to it. It would be better coming from somebody like him."

"You mean Mercedes?" Eddie ventured, and Link's eyes widened.

"Mercedes! She's the same as me! The day we went to the convention to find out where Mike and Alex found those rocks, we heard somebody scream, and it sounded so haunting!"

"Like yours," Christy said in barely a whisper, wrapping her arms tight around herself. Link fished his phone out of his pocket, quickly going on Google to find out if there was an obituary written in the paper for Tessa yet. Services were going to be held for her on Friday, and then the burial was shortly after. He closed out of the app, shuddering as he drew in a breath.

"Friday we're going to find out what I am. Then maybe we can stop Teegan once and for all." He looked around at everyone's face again, and they seemed far less than convinced. He was just going to have to take what he could get when it came down to discoveries and work with it as they came.

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