Mythical Link ▸ Link Neal {Book One}

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Link had Terra in the car and was driving her home. The crew was disappointed about the party ending so abruptly, but what's Link to do? He thanked each and every one of them with a hug for fixing up his house and making sure it was protected in the future. He hadn't noticed before, but they had all of his windows replaced, a new dining room table and chairs, a new couch along with the new curtains.

They also had the wood flooring refurbished so all of the nicks and claw marks were gone, and they also had all of the rooms professionally clean and tidied. He honestly couldn't be any more grateful. Link took a deep breath, casting Terra a glance. She was twiddling with her fingers again.

"What's the matter?" He asked, and she looked up sharply.

"I'm worried. Does Rhett seem different to you?"

Link blinked several times, pausing to think about it. Now that she had mentioned it, he couldn't help but think that she had been right. He seemed to be more in charge of things, but Link didn't know why he couldn't acclimate to it. Rhett seemed angrier, like he wanted retribution also.

"Yeah, he does seem different," Link agreed quietly, gripping the steering wheel. Dusk was falling on them, and it was beginning to cloud up like it was going to rain. Link sucked his bottom lip into his mouth, feeling an ache in his heart. He felt truly sorry for his best friend, and he wished there was more he could do. He wished this was all one big dream and that he would wake up and none of this will have happened.

"He isn't going to kill Jackson, is he? He looked beyond livid," Terra asked, honestly feeling a web of fear for seeing Rhett like that. A little fear just meant that she respected him, right?

"I don't think he will," Link said. "He needs the guy for answers, and I've never known Rhett to want to harm a fly," he paused, noticing hesitation that crept into his voice. He wasn't so sure anymore, and that scared him.

A few raindrops began to splatter the window as he turned into Terra's driveway. Terra unbuckled herself and stepped out of the car, but before she shut the door, she poked her head in.

"Thank you Link. Please keep an eye on Rhett for me. For us. He's got something planned and he didn't tell me what it was," she said before closing the door.

Link blinked, lowering his eyes to his hands. He watched as Terra safely made it into her house before he flipped the windshield wipers on. The rain pelted the vehicle like makeshift bullets as he veered out of the driveway. He wanted to ask Terra when the funeral for Tess was, but he forgot. He decided he would look it up on the internet when he made it back to the house. He needed to pick up Rhett, first.

The rain was relentless as the sky opened up, the torrents splattering everything around him. He drove slower, ten miles under the speed limit as to keep from losing traction. He was already starting to feel himself hydroplane, and he gripped the steering wheel as he stared ahead at the road with a gaze of steel. There have been many predicaments where he nearly lost his life, but he didn't plan on driving in a rainstorm being on that list anywhere.

It appeared that the roads were flooding up fast, water flowing freely across the road in mini streams, and he was feeling the fear and tension bubble up in his chest. He found himself gasping for breath, thinking of people that he could call for help. Rhett had tossed his cellphone out the window, so calling him was out of the question. He could always call his house phone to see if Rhett would answer, but there wasn't going to be a guarantee when he was dealing with Jackson.

He couldn't call Christy because she was home with all five of the kids. All day long, she had been. Poor Christy. That woman deserved a medal for how wonderful she was. He called the next person he could think of, praying with every ounce of his being that he would pick up.

"Hello?"

"Hey Eddie. Is it raining bad where you are?"

"Like the gods just busted the world's largest dam in a freak boxing match? Yeah," Eddie quipped, and Link shook his head.

Too much panic flooded him to even find it within him to laugh.

"Look, I'm driving in this crap and I don't know if I should pull over or not. The roads are starting to look pretty bad and I've already almost hydroplaned twice."

"Link," Eddie began in a lecture tone of voice like a college professor about to read off notes on the board. "Haven't you ever heard the saying turn around, don't drown?"

Link tried to swallow the impending lump building up in his throat but it was becoming increasingly difficult, like he was doing the chubby bunny challenge and he accidentally had a marshmallow lodged in his throat. He nearly choked trying to respond to Eddie.

"I think I'll just pull over," he croaked.

"Good idea," Eddie mused, and Link hung up. While he had his phone in his hand, he thought he would check over his notifications really quick to see who he had missed calls from. Apparently he had eight missed calls from Christy. His eyes widened and the lump in his throat grew even larger and morphed from a marshmallow to a hard boiled egg. How had he missed those calls from his wife? How hadn't he heard his phone ring? He didn't have it on silent or anything. He was definitely in the dog house when he showed his face.

Link looked up from his phone briefly, thinking he had only been looking at his phone for a few seconds and he screamed, tossing his phone and jerking the wheel abruptly to the right. The tires screeched and the back end completely pivoted around as the car squealed to a halt. His heart was thundering in his chest and he held his hand over his heart, his eyes wide and his mouth wide open. He was breathing heavy, nearly in hysterics. He'd just missed hitting a deer in the middle of the road, but he felt the tires catch on something as he was spinning.

Maybe he had nicked the poor animal somewhere and he whimpered, reaching his shaky hand toward his seatbelt as he unbuckled himself. He had to at least remove it from the road if he did indeed kill it, or if he didn't, it didn't deserve to get hit again. But then it would be slowly dying in the middle of the road also... Link cried out again, throwing the car door open. He stepped out into the rain, and it only took him a few seconds for his hair to go flat to his head and his clothes to feel heavy and sodden.

He narrowed his eyes and tilted his head to the side as he walked slowly toward the middle of the road, looking over his shoulder to make sure no cars were coming up from behind him. The road was quiet from as far as he could see, and his shoes sloshed in the building puddle as he walked toward the animal that was lying on its side. From where he was standing, he could see it breathing heavy, it's stomach rising and falling rapidly. He definitely had injured it, and his stomach churned. He held his hand over his mouth as he stopped in front of it, his eyes watering.

The headlights were casting enough light so that he could see that it wasn't a deer, but a fox. A gorgeous colored red fox with deep amber eyes. He crouched next to the fox, his eyes scanning the area around him again. Wisps of evaporation flowed upward toward the sky as if the sky was drawing it in like a magnet, and he felt himself becoming shrouded in the cloud. He lowered his hand to the back left leg which was crossed over the right, and he could see clearly that a bone was out of place. He cried out once again for the hundredth time, fumbling in his pocket for his phone. He then cussed, realizing he had left his phone in the car.

He had to call somebody. He didn't know if he should call the police or animal control, but he settled on calling animal control and shrugged out of his cardigan before throwing it over the fox. Link looked into the fox's eyes, and maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him but he thought he saw a flash of gratefulness in the animal's eyes. He touched its head gently.

"Don't worry. I'm gonna get you taken care of. I'm so sorry," he said, before sprinting to his feet and running toward the car to make the call.

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