(BL) Hunting The Field Guide novel Chapter 434

Chapter 434: A gut feeling

Kellen and Rhys got home only a few minutes after each other. Kellen was in the middle of taking off his shoes and jacket and sleeping into his house slippers when he heard the door click behind him.

Turning, surprise on his own face, he was greeted with the slightly surprised look on Kellen’s face, before his expression melted and stepped into the apartment, closing the door behind him.

"I thought I was going to beat you home, but apparently my conversation with your parents held me back more than I thought." Rhys said, leaning in to kiss Kellen quickly before he began pulling off his own shoes. Kellen blinked, before he felt his shoulders relax.

"Oh? What were you talking about?" Kellen asked. "How does Dad look?" He shifted, moving towards the kitchen but Rhys reached out, grabbing him and pulling him back against his chest.

"Your Dad looked better. Waaay better than the last time we saw him. Tom being such a piece of shit was a great distraction I think, plus he has his wife, er, soon-to-be ex-wife to look after. With Charlie mostly healed and a healthy weight, he has less to fuss over. Now both him and Charlie are bonding while fussing over a fuming and grieving woman." Rhys chuckled as he pressed his lips against any skin available to him that Kellen offered him. "Your Mom was saying she’s been having a hard time. Between her own work, her reaching out to others at her Class or higher, and all the fuss with the E.A.G. she’s had her hands full. But, she has two wonderful Guides looking out for her." Kellen felt himself relax.

He hadn’t been able to keep up with them with how close of a deadline they had to get the next round of Guides, as well as Brent, back out on the front lines. They had been crunching hardcore, and any moment that wasn’t spent with his students was then spent with Brent hammering out the details of their plans.

Sometimes Kellen didn’t get home until late into the evening. Today was an exception, as Brent had a prior engagement that he couldn’t shake, nor did Kellen want him to.

There was also the fact that Gwen was going out to the front lines with this next batch as well. Kellen would normally have been excited for his sister. Over the moon. He had been up until this point. Now?

Whenever he thought about her going to the front line a thick, viscous feeling filled his gut. It wasn’t just dread, but something more than that. Kellen hadn’t told anyone about this feeling yet, mainly because he was concerned that it was just him overreacting. With everything going on the front lines right now, it would make perfect sense for Kellen to be worried about his younger sister going to the front lines. No matter how competent she was, she was still a baby in Kellen’s eyes.

He had seen how excited Gwen was though, and he had held his tongue about warning her. She had been briefed about how dangerous the front lines were right now especially. Everyone was, including his people. He was just...he was worried about whether this could be connected to his vision.

He thought he was ridiculous for even considering it, since they weren’t similar symptoms at all. If anything, this was closer to what he normally felt when he was about to go into a gate. If he had even an inkling of what he was feeling right now, he’d call off the whole trip. Everyone would have bitched and moaned, but they would have all shut up when they weren’t the ones leaving the gate in body bags after a sudden burst in monster aggression.

That was another reason he was trying to talk himself out of thinking it was anything. The other reason was that he’d quietly spoken to Hill and looked over the schedule for the Espers and Guides. Hill had walked him through what gates they were going to, where they would be, and Kellen from his previous time on the front lines could tell that everything was safe. He didn’t even have the same feeling when he thought about those gates in particular.

But still, the thought of Gwen going to the front lines made his guts churn.

He strangely didn’t get the same feeling when he thought about Brent going to the front lines, but did get some strange feelings about his Field Guides. It wasn’t as strong, or as concrete but every once in a while it was like a spear would jab him in the guts and he’d have to pretend like everything was okay.

Kellen knew that this wasn’t normal behaviour, but he’d also spoken to Rhys about how his powers worked. Long before Kellen started having reactions like this. Kellen wasn’t displaying any of the signs that Rhys normally did. His reaction prior, where his head started throbbing and he collapsed, was closer to what Rhys went through then what Kellen was going through right now.

Kellen was afraid to talk to Taylor about it because he knew that she would insist that he go get retested. Kellen already knew that they were in discussion with an international supplier to get their own machine. Probably machines if Kellen was honest with himself, but Kellen was trying really hard not to think about that. He was desperately holding out for when he had no other choice.

Should he talk to Rhys about it? About this new development? He should, but he was worried that it was going to send Rhys spiraling like it had the first time. This was a very important time right now, and he didn’t want to bother him with his problems. He felt like it wasn’t a big deal. He was just being an overprotective older brother and teacher. That was all it was.

"Hey. Your mind is elsewhere. Where is my sweet, syrupy sugar going, hmm?" Rhys was a sap, but listening to the concern in his voice had Kellen hesitating. He reached back, grabbing onto the hands that were holding onto him, squeezing his hands tightly. He struggled for a long moment, fighting himself about what he should do. Rhys didn’t interrupt.

He remained silent, strong, holding Kellen up even though he wasn’t on the verge of collapsing. He was just...there for him, and Kellen loved that.

His yellow eyes were calm, patient. Almost as if he had anticipated this conversation. Kellen tried to chalk it up to him having time related powers, but there was also the possibility that he hadn’t been able to hide his concerns as well as he thought. _{freewebnoveℓ.com}