Page 49 of Forging Bonds: Part Two

She frowns slightly but nods, “If I can help, then of course I will. What is it that you need help with?”

I pause, checking in with my instincts and the voices, and neither of them gives any indication that my idea is a bad one, so I explain to Ribit all about Coen and what’s going on. The guys look at me, clearly surprised that I’m giving so much away, but none of them stop me, and they all chip in here and there adding their own parts to the explanation.

By the time that I’m done with the explanation of what is happening to Coen Ribit looks murderously furious.

“I’ll kill him for you,” she says with absolutely no hesitation.

I grin, “As much as I would love to say go for it, I can’t. We don’t know enough about what is controlling Coen to make sure that we won’t hurt him if we just kill Kylen. That was my way to solve it.”

Ribit grins, “I knew I liked you.” She takes a deep, calming breath, and the rage in her eyes dims a bit. “Alright, what do you need me to do?”

“You’ll help?” Reed asks.

She nods, “Of course I will. Not only do I consider Neith a friend, but well, let’s just say that someone being forced to do things against their will is a touchy subject for me.”

Her expression is filled with rage and pain, and I know that this is a subject that she doesn’t want to talk about, so I don’t question her. I simply nod.

“Thank you,” I reply. “Kylen wears a necklace around his neck. I am ninety-nine percent sure that it is what is allowing him to control Coen. The trouble is, we need to know what we’re dealing with before we can break the spell, or whatever it is that’s controlling Coen,” I go on to explain about our plan to make a duplicate. “So do you think that you can get close enough to him that you could get a really good look at the necklace, and describe it to us well enough that we can do some research on it?”

Ribit immediately nods, “Absolutely, I can do that. I’ve been around for a long time, I might even recognize it and be able to help.”

“That would be amazing if you did,” Reed replies. “But even if not, just a really good description of what it looks like would be helpful enough.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Ribit replies. “Wait here, it shouldn’t take me too long.”

“Wait, do you know who we’re talking about?” Raiden asks.

Ribit nods, “Oh yeah, the cunt that leads the other team. He’s a real fucking piece of work, Castle really fucking hates him, and so do the people that work here.”

“I’m not surprised at all,” Evander agrees.

“We have never had a member of a team come to the Choosing and behave like he does. It’s like he doesn’t want to win, and he’s not taking itseriously at all. There are serious consequences if the Choosing isn’t respected and he is teetering on the edge,” Ribit replies.

“There are?” I question, with a confused frown. “I can’t remember anything about that.”

“That’s because it’s been thousands of years since the Choosing has had to dish out those consequences,” Ribit replies. She looks at me, “You have a trial tomorrow, you guys all need to get your sleep. Give me ten minutes and I will be right back with your information.”

“Thank you,” I reply.

Within moments, she has disappeared.

“She’s certainly unique,” Doc says with a smile.

I nod, “Yeah, she’s awesome.”

“Do you know what her story is?” Raiden asks. “She’s incredibly strong for a ghost that has been around for so long.”

“Remember, only we can actually see and talk to her,” I reply. “She manages to interact okay with the other people here, and everyone knows that she’s here, but it’s not like she can communicate with us.”

“I forgot about that,” Griff replies. “How is it that we can see and speak to her as if she is alive, well almost, we can’t touch her.”

“I can. I shook her hand the first time we met, and then I held it while watching you guys in the trial,” I explain.

“What?” Ransom says, his eyebrows hitting his hairline and showing his surprise.

I nod, “Yeah, I didn’t actually realize that she was dead and a ghost until I was talking to Mabel and asking her to apologize to Ribit because I was super weird the first time we met.”

“When are you not?” Van teases.

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