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“Ow!” I looked at him with astonishment. “W-What was that for?”
“Didn’t we just talk about you being a sacrificial lamb? And what’s the first thing you suggest?”
“Being a sacrificial lamb…” I slowly muttered with a pout.
Fuck. That’s a habit that’s going to be hard to fix. I just know it.
Lauren actually smirked a little before she sighed.
“Stopping time would be extremely costly to you. Your energy levels are already low, to begin with. I wouldn’t advise doing something so risky when your journey is only reaching the halfway point,” she advised. “You don’t know what’s on the other side of the lagoon or what Malifer may be facing. He’ll need your aid, and if you're not in a good state, to begin with, you’ll become a liability rather than an asset that can face whatever enemy hopes to stop you guys from locating and acquiring the crown.”
“She has a good point,” Colton acknowledged.
“You also can’t move much when you stop time. Your voodoo doll form runs by different rules which is why you had more freedom, but in your current state, you’ll need to remain here if you stopped time and that’s simply counterproductive,” Lauren further elaborated.
“Could you manage to stop time?” Colton inquired. “To do it without affecting Lexianne? That way, she can go ahead and find Alpha Malifer while we stay here.”
“Why would ‘we’ stay here?” she inquired with a brow raised.
“Well, I wouldn’t leave you alone,” Colton stated like it was obvious. “And from this stage onward, we can’t follow Lexianne anyways. I have to be here and make sure you’re breathing and safe from any surprises.”
“You’d be frozen too, Colton,” I muttered with a slight smile, which made the puppeteer assassin begin to blush before he quickly added, “Well, I’d hoist us to a safe spot before being frozen so when you return, we’ll be out of harm's way.”
“I could stop time,” Lauren noted but her expression was grim as she added, “but it would require a bargain.”
“Really?” I hadn’t even thought about that.
“If I stop time, I’m not stopping simply this sector of the valley,” she confessed. “Everything from outside to where we left the voodoo fleet, and the valley itself, would be included,” she revealed.
“Why?” Colton questioned with haste as we noticed the flames were getting far too tall for our comfort.
“I have a strong feeling these flames are from a third party, which means when Lexianne enters the core of the valley, she may potentially confront someone other than Malifer,” she guessed with seriousness. “If that’s so, that means that individual may call for backup. Possibly Baker or a whole pack full of wolves or shifters that can overpower Lexianne. I don’t question her strength, but even the strongest shifters of our world can fall if bombarded by a magnitude of force.”
She was stating pure facts.
“Freezing everywhere but the core of the valley where Lexianne and Malifer are will ensure literally no one can enter the valley, which includes the core.”
“Doesn’t that mean no one can escape?” I clarified.
“As long as you teleport while in the core of the valley, you’ll be okay. It also means your enemy can do the same, but seeing as you’re the current ruler of the valley, you’ll be able to return here.”
“Can you make it so that both Lexianne and her Astra can come back here?” Colton offered, which was an intriguing question.
“I could,” Lauren confirmed. “They’re of the same essence. It shouldn’t be a problem.”
“So what if you make it so that time will freeze until either Lexiboo or her Astra returns to these sacred waters? That way, Lexi can work on getting rid of this potential third party if they’re actually present by teleporting them outside of the valley, and when they’ve ensured the enemy can’t return, she can encourage her Astra to come trigger time again in the valley?” he offered the example. “Then we can go back, get Goldibitch, and regroup with the voodoo fleet where we can stay on guard for potential battle in case a shifter war is upon us.”
It sounded like a good plan.
“But what are we going to bargain?” I asked Colton, who was already grinning.
“I have an idea, but you gotta get in the water and I and Lauren have to suspend ourselves above the lagoon,” he explained. “That will keep our bodies a good distance from the flames so when we return, we can figure out how to combat them.”
“When Lexianne gets the crown of the valley she’ll send something that also holds her essence to extinguish the flames,” Lauren offered.
“Meaning it can’t be Astra Lexianne?”
“No.” Lauren shook her head. “It has to be another entity seeing as Astra Lexianne would be triggering the movement of time.
