Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
Riley
It’s been two days since I brought Torin here and wandered these desolate halls alone. A part of me wonders if I’m being selfish staying since a Door could open back home and the horseman could return. But I can’t bring myself to leave Torin here on his own.
What if he woke up and something happened to the Door that connects him to our world, leaving him locked here with no magic to open another Door, destined again to live eternity alone? At least I know that Mickey could always send someone to retrieve me.
“I need to go for a walk before I lose my mind,” I tell Kit.
Kit is all for it, so I carry her outside and then put her on the ground where she leaps and gallops off, following the same path Torin had used to lead us to the waterfall. She hops from one footprint to the next, left behind by Torin in the dead grass, as I follow her trail.
“I’m going to kick his ass when he wakes up,” I tell Kit.
She looks back at me and makes a happy noise that tells me she agrees with my treatment of the wounded. When we reach the ledge overlooking the waterfall, I sit down and listen to the calming sound of it with a little added curse at Kit any time she gets too close to the edge.
The sun shines down on me in this desolate world that is as beautiful as it is devastating. Is this the fate of our world?
How depressing.
I’m afraid that seeing me banish the horseman has made others believe that I can do it in the future, yet the magic I used… the strange magic I don’t even understand… was all out of fear for Torin. But if I had to use it again, could I? I don’t even know how I acquired it or whose magic it is.
Kit freezes as I hear the sound of footsteps behind me and my heart leaps into my throat. I shove myself back so I can turn to face him. “Torin?” I ask, but it comes out more like a plea than anything.
What I see standing there is definitely not Torin and causes Kit to scurry back to me and leap onto my shoulder while she assesses the newcomer.
“You… are not who I was expecting,” I mutter as I watch the peculiar creature chew a petrified leaf off a tree. It seems quite disgusted by this act, but that doesn’t stop it from eating another. “Torin… Torin said that his magic is what kept you alive… is he awake?”
Hope drives me to my feet, startling the strange creature that I’d only seen as a statue-like entity in the garden.
Now he stands tall, a beautiful being with a dragon-like face and scales that run down his neck and under his abdomen, while the rest of him is covered in hair.
Part of his neck is covered in a long red and gold mane that flutters in the wind in a way that makes it almost appear like it’s on fire.
His back and legs are much more horselike, but the long dragon-like tail with hair on the end and the two large antlers that stretch out above his head tell me he’s anything but.
“Can I ride you back to the palace?” I ask, knowing I’d get back there significantly faster.
He continues to nibble leaves while I slowly walk toward him. Even if I ran back to the palace, I’d be quite winded by the time I got there, especially in my bruised and sore state, but on the back of this thing, I’d likely get there in minutes.
The creature continues to be disgusted by every leaf he consumes, and then he turns to look at Kit. I’m not quite sure whether he’s eyeing her out of curiosity or hunger, so I stick Kit in my shirt so just her head sticks out.
Then I set a hand on the tall creature’s broad back as I question how the hell to get on the thing.
Hoping he doesn’t choose to eat me, I hook his face and tug him after me.
He easily follows me over to a rock that I climb on.
Then he watches me closely while I set a hand on his back.
His eyes never leave me as he patiently waits for me to slide up onto his back.
“There we go. That’s a good boy. Now go on. Go back to your owner,” I say.
He takes a step forward and then springs through the air, leaping and hopping before bucking me off in mere seconds. I hit the ground on my back, the air instantly knocked out of me as the creature stops and turns around to face me.
I freeze when it occurs to me that just because Torin and I are friends, it doesn’t mean this thing won’t eat me. He lowers his antlers, and I wonder whether I’m going to have to blast Torin’s blessed best friend right off this cliff to keep myself alive. Won’t that look good?
I try to scramble up to my feet but he’s on me first. Bracing myself to be impaled, I’m startled when he just uses me to rub his antlers on, like I’m scratching a good itch.
“You just threw me off your back. You are not getting a free scratching post!” I snap as I shoo him off. He’s determined or maybe as stubborn as his owner because he just scratches with more vigor; enough vigor, in fact, it nearly puts me back on the ground.
I bat him away, flip him off, and then take off at a painful jog back to the palace while wondering how my body is managing to actually hurt worse.
“My body hurts because of you,” I growl when I look back and see the creature casually wandering after me like it has nothing better to do than harass me.
“Fuck off. This is why I take subways!” I yell.
Before long, I can’t continue cursing out the creature because I’m too winded.
My life of loafing in my apartment and going to work in the library has made it so my once top track and field speeds have dwindled.
Once I left my unit, I really just… gave up.
I reach the palace where I’m invigorated as I dash up the stairs and run as fast as I can to the bedroom. Jerking open the door, I rush over to Torin’s bed.
“Torin? Torin, wake up,” I say, but the god remains motionless on his bed.
I shake him a little, convinced that he just fell back asleep after tossing his spare magic into the beast that left me in the dirt. It just exhausted him, so he went back to sleep…
But then why hasn’t his position changed at all? Why is he still lying exactly where I left him?
“Fuck! Torin… Torin, did you… did you take all of your magic and throw it into that… evil thing instead of saving yourself? Why the hell would you focus on him first? You might die, and instead of healing yourself, you focused on… him? What the fuck am I supposed to do with that thing? I need you. I don’t need…
” I trail off, well aware that what I need doesn’t matter in this instance because Torin can’t hear me.
Even though it’s only early afternoon, I feel so sapped of energy that I crawl into bed next to him, cursing him out the whole way.
Only Torin would waste what little power he’d regained to bring back his mount like the selfish asshole he is.
The ball of anxiety in my stomach is back worse than ever.
I swallow the lump in my throat while I tuck myself against Torin, cursing him until sleep takes me because I want him well aware that I’m pissed. The only issue is that sleep takes a long time since my mind runs wild as I lie in the darkness, my fears chasing me the whole way.
Soft touches stir me from my dreams. I can’t even remember what I was dreaming about, but it made me feel uneasy and anxious. So when I wake up, I’m disoriented, especially because I can’t see when Kit is still asleep.
Something brushes against my cheek and I realize Kit must have kicked me awake, but when I feel it again, my hand hesitantly reaches out and gently touches what was brushing against me.
“Torin?”
Only silence fills the room, but I can still feel the soft touch of his thumb as it travels over my cheek, telling me that he’s awake.
“Kit, wake up,” I say as I jostle her. She’s none too pleased but opens her eyes so I can see that Torin has his eyes slightly open.
When I check the time on my phone, I see that it’s a little after midnight.
“Torin… dammit.” My hand tightens on his.
“Why did you focus your magic on that thing instead of healing?”
“Because…” he whispers softly. I have to lean in to hear him better. “Because… I hate the subway.”
I stare at him and question how the hell I’ve spent the past six days of my life horribly concerned about him.
Then he smiles and tries to drag me closer, but he’s too weak to do so.
And even though I want to curse him out, yell at him, and tell him how angry I am, all I end up doing is rolling in tighter.
Kit is already back to sleep, so I can’t see his expression, but I can feel the soft brush of his fingers before they still.