Chapter 2 #2
Torin reaches over and places a hand on mine before addressing Vinny.
“I don’t believe the horsemen are inherently evil.
Instead, I question if there is a reason they joined the god in this.
The horsemen are meant to be independent beings that are not destined to interfere until the world is ending. ”
“Does that mean the world is ending?” Vinny asks.
“No, it doesn’t fit with the prophecy,” Mickey answers.
“This… leaves me much to think about,” Lt. Lindsey says.
Torin’s sharp eyes turn to her. “If you decide to do anything to Riley or tell someone who will do something to Riley, I will hunt you down and I will—”
I clamp a hand over his mouth. “You’ve always been very detailed about what you’d do to someone who chose to go against me… I just really don’t think Lt. Lindsey needs to hear it. She knows.”
Torin is now holding an item that looks like a pick and is miming what he’d be interested in doing. Lt. Lindsey just ignores him, which seems to flabbergast the man… and me. I think if a god started showing me his torture techniques, even I would be a little concerned.
“I am not working against Riley,” Lt. Lindsey finally says. “What I have learned may be less than desirable, but if this means that Riley has the strength of the man who came here, there’s a possibility that he can stop this from happening again. I will just have to stay on his good side.”
“I’m on all sides of him,” Torin says in some weirdly possessive and suggestive way. Like does he think Lt. Lindsey is over there wanting my back while Imani wants my front or something?
“Well… this was fun. If we find out any more life-changing things that could ruin my life in any other way, we’ll let you know,” I tell them.
“Is this our cue to leave?” Vinny asks. “Feels like a cue to leave.”
I shrug. “You don’t have to leave. I just… don’t know what else to say.”
“What about, ‘Why does Mickey get to live here and we don’t?’” Vinny asks.
“Mickey just like… moved in… without permission,” I say. “But there’s a horse stable you can move into.”
Mickey looks over from the chaise he’s lounging on. “It’s because I’m special, Vinny. My love life is booming as much over here as it is back home.”
“There’s… no one here,” Vinny says.
“Exactly.”
I think Vinny pities him so much he goes over and gives Mickey a soft pat on his back, which Mickey seems to enjoy.
Once the three of them leave, Mickey wanders off before I get to talk to him.
“He’s kind of good at sneaking off, isn’t he?” I ask Torin from where I’m leaning against the window, hoping the breeze will kick up so I have some cool air. Dealing with them definitely didn’t help cool my body down. I felt like I was dying just sitting there.
“He would’ve been a thief in a different life… but instead of stealing stuff, he’d break in, get tired and then just like… live with you… kind of like he’s doing here,” Torin declares.
“True,” I say. Then I head down to the wing of the palace that Mickey is living in. The door to his bedroom is closed, so I knock.
“Come in,” he calls, so I push the door open and freeze when I look inside. Mickey is lounging on an electric recliner, playing a video game on a giant TV. “Oh, it’s you. Close the door so the cool air doesn’t escape.”
“Do you have an air conditioner in here?” I ask in disbelief since we’ve been sweltering outside of this room. “Where did you get the power for the TV?”
“Well, we did have a generator going, but now we’ve strung it up to some solar panels. They collect the unused energy during the day so I can use electricity at night as well.”
I unplug his AC.
“What the hell was that for?” Mickey asks, face scrunching up in disgust. Kit makes a disgruntled noise since she’d been planning on sprawling out in front of the AC.
“Spite.”
“It’s hot out.”
“Yes, I’m aware!” I grab the AC and begin hauling it toward the door.
“You’re so fussy. If you wanted one, you should have told me.”
“I didn’t know you had all of this! While I’m over there with tiny little rechargeable fans.”
Torin, who followed me in, is busy staring at the TV. How gracious of him not to break Mickey’s TV like he did mine. “Can this thing show the video of me riding on Riley’s naked back?” Torin wonders, asking the least important question here.
“It sure can,” Mickey says as he reaches over and does something that immediately pops up the video. It’s like he had it primed and waiting, just to cause me mental anguish.
Torin laughs in delight while I glower at them.
“Turn it off or the TV is going with me too,” I demand.
“I will get you a TV and an AC, so stop being so fussy. Joy, can you have Misty get that arranged?”
“Sure,” Joy says, looking irritated that I unplugged her source of air conditioning. Like do the undead even need AC?
“So what did you come down here for if it wasn’t to enjoy my AC?” he asks as he replays the video for Torin’s entertainment.
I grab Mickey in a headlock and peel the remote out of his hand. “We… were thinking… about going through the Door into the god’s realm.”
“Yeah? Sounds like a horrible idea,” he says.
“I’m aware.”
“I have a better one. What if I send some of my undead through? They can scout out the area and start mapping it so we at least know where we’re going when we enter.”
“But what if they alert the god that we’re coming?” Torin asks. “I don’t want to give him time to prepare for us. I think we need to just go in and find Riley’s horse and get out of there.”
I decide to pull a Mickey and slump down on his bed while holding my new fan that I picked up and will also be putting in my room. “I don’t want a horse.”
“How could you not want a horse? I’m going to be honest… I tried taking Death’s horse after he died,” Torin says. “He was just so fucking cute, so I tried conning him into coming with me. I made plans to capture him… and then the next day he was gone, and I was heartbroken.”
I stare at him as I realize what this means. “Perfect. You can have him, and I will just… be around him. Problem solved.”
Mickey looks less than convinced. “Is it solved? Because you have to go into the god’s world to get him. And that sounds like a huge fucking problem, especially since you said your magic didn’t work in that world.”
I pick up the pendant around my neck and twirl it. “I’m not sure why. It works here.”
“Conquest said something about how your magic is connecting to the souls of the people you touch,” Torin says.
“It works here in my realm, but I wonder if there’s some kind of disconnect.
Could there be a barrier around the Door or something that severs you from that connection?
Maybe things like your pendant don’t work over there as well. ”
“So I have to go in blind… and there’s no way to change that?” I ask.