Chapter 18 #2
She looks startled but jumps up and rushes into action, insisting we get an ambulance here so they can get him into the busy city quickly.
Once the ambulance arrives, they have to practically peel Mickey out of my arms—which he refused to be removed from while we waited—since he seems a bit frantic.
“Riley, don’t leave me,” he begs when they hoist him onto the gurney.
“I’ll meet you there, okay? I can’t take up room in the back, but I’ll be there when you arrive,” I promise before hurrying over to an SUV that Kim seems to be planning to follow the ambulance in.
Before Torin gets in, he hesitates. “I think I’m going to go back,” he says. “Mickey seems okay… so I think I need to go back if that’s all right with you?” Story hangs back with Torin, telling me that he’s probably going to stay with Torin as well.
I look at Torin, wondering if he feels a connection to these people after having lost his own—if he feels the need to protect them…
to save them when he couldn’t save his own.
But how much will it hurt him if we can’t save them?
What if we fail to save them as he failed to save his people? I don’t want him to hurt even more.
But I know I can’t deny him this.
“Yeah, I’ll be over as soon as I’m done with Mickey,” I say. “Please be safe.”
“I will.” He leans in and kisses my forehead before rushing back inside the building with Story.
I don’t like it. I don’t like being apart from him. I don’t like leaving him in that world with a horseman he can’t even see, but I can’t leave Mickey and I can’t deny Torin this.
Vero shoves me into the SUV and it takes off before I can say anything more.
“I don’t understand why the necromancer would cry over people who are already dead,” Vero says. “He shouldn’t even be disturbing the dead, let alone crying over them.”
I fasten my seat belt while Kim speeds toward the hospital with just the two of us.
“Mickey rarely talks about his past, and the only time he mentions his deceased family is to make jokes about them. I think for a long time, the only people Mickey had in his life were his undead, which makes them very important to him.”
“The dead shouldn’t be returned to the living,” Vero says. “Their death is sacred and their eternal slumber shouldn’t be disturbed.”
“Why do you think everyone needs to believe the way you do? Why do you think that your traditions are the only ones that count? The undead are a huge part of Mickey’s life.
He loves them dearly, and to him, the idea of losing them is the same as us losing everyone in our family.
Just because they died once doesn’t make it okay for them to die again. ”
Vero doesn’t respond, but I do take note that he doesn’t find the car unusual like Torin did. Instead, he seems quite relaxed in it.
“Do you come from a world with vehicles in it?” I ask curiously.
“I come from many different worlds,” Vero says as he stares out the window.
“Are you like Torin in that your power comes from your followers?”
“Yes.”
“How do you keep the faith of followers when you’re jumping worlds?” I ask.
“I don’t. And I don’t care whether I have followers or not.”
I stroke Kit’s soft back while I think. “But won’t you be stronger if you have them?”
He scoffs before turning to look down at Kit, like he wants to look right into my eyes through hers. “No one wants to follow a god like me.”
“People need hope… in all forms of it. Just because you can’t stand others doesn’t mean you can’t save thousands. You can give people hope.”
“I only care about killing those who have wronged me. After that, I can wither away into nothing for all I care. That would be preferable.”
I lean back in my seat and look down at my bloody hands.
My mind is on Mickey and Torin, but it’s also a little bit on Vero.
The man obviously has some big plans, and if he manages to execute them, he seems to think he has nothing left for him in this life because the horsemen took what was important to him.
“If the horsemen can’t die, what do you plan to do?
Just exist to kill them every time they’re reborn? ”
He’s quiet, not even acknowledging that I’ve spoken. It makes me wonder if he’s not planning on answering me at all.
“Vero.”
“Do you have all the answers?” he asks.
“No, I feel like I have none of them,” I admit. “Fine, I’ll let you ignore the question. But… before you decide to just die off or wither away or whatever your plan is… come see me.”
“I would never go to you for help.”
I want to say something snide, but I bite it down and instead reply, “I’m sorry you feel that way.
I’m sorry I was involved in whatever happened to those you love.
And no, you don’t have to say anything. I’m well aware you feel that apologies fix nothing.
But can you tell me if I was one of the ones who actually killed them? ”
He’s silent for a long moment before he glances over at me. “I can’t tell you that… I don’t know which one of you killed them, but when I arrived, it was War who was hanging their bodies for me to see.”
“Torin ran across War when he tried to retrieve my horse for me, but he said he was too strong.”
Vero whips his head toward me. “You know where War is?”
“Do you want to die having accomplished nothing? Because that’s what’ll happen if you run off to tackle War right now.”
He stares at the hourglass pressed against my chest before slowly looking away without a word.
Special Agent Kim pulls up outside the hospital, so I get out and Vero follows me. I’m honestly not quite sure why he even came along, but it was possibly so he wouldn’t have to deal with anyone else, especially Torin.
I hurry inside, and the woman behind the counter sends us back to the ER while nervously staring at Vero. He does exude quite a presence as he marches after me. When we reach the room Mickey’s in, Mickey’s eyes immediately latch on to me, and he seems to let out a breath of relief.
“You doing okay?” I ask.
“They gave me something to calm me down. I feel like I’m floating. Am I floating? Have I gained the power to float?”
“I don’t think you have,” I say. “But maybe you just need to keep trying. Just don’t jump off any roofs to see if you can fly.”
Mickey grins before looking over at Vero. “You came! You were worried about me!”
“I didn’t want to go with the other one,” Vero says, confirming my hypothesis.
“You really do like us,” Mickey decides, which I’m confident isn’t what Vero meant or said. “I’ll be your friend.”
Vero’s eyes narrow like such a declaration has hurt him. “I have no friends.”
“Good! I’ll be your first,” Mickey says before the nurse comes in and explains that they’re going to get the wound cleaned and stitched once they confirm that the bullet isn’t lodged in his body anywhere.
So without further ado, Mickey is wheeled out…
much to his horror. In his ideal world, I would be spooning him on the bed while they took him away.
It’s really good they gave him something for his anxiety because he still tries to cling to me as they go.