Chapter 8 #2
“I’m not sure anyone has ever said Mickey was a blessing, but I’m glad you think so,” I say as we reach our gate.
I find an area to sit and claim our seats while Torin heads over to the window and presses against it like a child looking out at something mystifying.
Leaving the undead to watch our bags, I walk over to see what he’s looking at.
“So… we are going to let that box of metal and junk eat us, and then we’re going to force it to fly and hope it doesn’t kill us?” Torin asks, obviously quite perplexed by this.
“Pretty much.”
“I think we should walk.”
“It would take us days to get there.”
“There’s a problem with this?” Torin asks, his face scrunching up.
“Yes.”
He scowls. “I see no problem. It sounds fun.”
“You’d carry me the whole way?” I ask.
“Nah, you’d carry me.” Torin grins at this idea, surely thinking of the horrible unicorn bullshit that I’ve tried my hardest to erase from my memory. Torin has tried his hardest to never forget it.
Sighing, I head back to my seat, but Torin stays a bit to watch the plane before returning to me. About thirty minutes later, Mickey comes wandering up looking exhausted and a little frazzled.
“I saw your smile, Riley. I saw that fucking smile as I was viciously whisked off,” he grumbles.
“I also laughed,” I inform him, secretly happy he’s made it before the plane takes off. I would prefer him with us on this adventure.
His eyes narrow. “Evil.” The waiting area is filling up and with no spot left for him, he flops down on my lap, like this is my punishment for smiling.
Mickey tears open a bag of M&M’s that I get a front row view of since Kit ditches my shoulder for Mickey’s lap and stuffs her face into the bag.
“No! Those are mine, you pesky little thing,” he scolds, pushing her back.
He pulls out an M&M that Kit is fixated on, which means I get to watch while he reaches over to where Torin is sitting next to us and pushes it right between Torin’s lips before fixing me with a glower, as though he thinks feeding Torin like a pet is enough punishment.
“You feel better now?” I ask.
“Not really,” Mickey whines as he leans back, crushing me a little. “This makes me feel better. I can’t believe you guys left me!”
“What did you want me to do? Jump on the railing and run after you?”
“Kind of.”
“Looks like they’re loading up,” I say while I stand up, dumping Mickey off so I can stretch before the plane ride. Torin apprehensively looks out the window. “It’ll be fine. I’ll be with you.”
“Gross,” Mickey mutters.
We both ignore him as I move closer to Torin. “Are you worried?”
“Of course not. Gods don’t worry.”
“It’s okay if you do,” I murmur, watching while one of the souls that had followed me bobs around.
I press a finger against it, wishing I could guide it back into the body it came from, but I can’t seem to figure out how just yet…
unless… I wrap my hand around the hourglass.
Could the strength I get from this help me? I’ll have to check when I get home.
I turn to Torin, who is watching me closely.
“I will suffer for you,” he announces.
I smile at him. “I promise, it’s not much suffering. You can just sit there and watch a movie or read a book. It’ll be fun.”
He seems unconvinced.
When it’s our time to board, I head over with our tickets, but when we walk up to scan them, Torin goes, “One ticket for the mile-high club, please. Well, two since I’m not doing it alone, if you get my drift.”
Mortified, I push him back. “He’s joking,” I assure her, then hastily pull him after me once the tickets are scanned.
Torin looks over at me and grins. “She was jealous of you. She wanted to join the mile-high club with me… ooh, or maybe with you.”
“I bet she wasn’t. They probably put an alert on us to watch our every move,” I say as I lead him through the tunnel and onto the plane. The moment he peeks into it, he shakes his head and turns around, causing a lady who assumed he was still moving to slam into him.
“Nah, I’m good. I will meet you there.”
“It’s significantly farther than you think it is,” I tell him, reaching back and taking his hand in my one free hand. He seems so bemused by this that he follows me to our seats. I push him into the window seat before putting our luggage overhead and sliding in next to him.
“Why is the seat in front of me so close? Why is the window so small? What if the plane runs out of testicles to make it work?”
I squeeze his hand. “You’ll be fine. You’re a god, right? You shouldn’t splat too badly.”
His narrowed eyes tell me that this isn’t the response he was wanting, but I just grin at him anyway.
“Mickey, when we…” I stop speaking when Kit looks at Mickey who is dead asleep.
He unsummoned Tommy and Joy just for the plane ride since Lt.
Lindsey refused to book seats for them and they both refused to be smuggled aboard.
As for my souls, some have decided to join our journey and are bobbing around.
I try to push them in front of Mickey’s face since he’s not planning on looking at anything.
“How is Mickey already asleep?” Torin asks. “We’re going to die and he’s just going to sleep through it.”
“It would probably be less terrifying that way,” I tease. “Torin, I promise we’re safe.” I squeeze his hand again, hoping it reassures him that we really will be okay.
“I’m not worried about myself, I’m worried about you,” he says as his hand that’s wrapped around mine tightens.
I freeze at his words before raising an eyebrow. “You definitely don’t need to be. I’m safe.”
“If we fix you, will you live forever with me?” he asks so quietly I almost can’t hear him over the sound of the plane.
I hesitate as I realize that the rest of the horsemen are around until the end of time. Is this curse really the only reason I continue to age, am hurt like a human, and am so weak? If we fix whatever has made me more human, will I live as long as Torin?
“Something to worry about another day,” I reply, but the look on Torin’s face tells me that today is that day.
I’m freed from more questions when the screen on the seat in front of us starts telling us what to do in an emergency. Torin is entranced by it, and then when it’s over, he turns to me and goes, “I would definitely put on your oxygen mask before putting on my own, even if she says otherwise.”
“Thanks, Torin,” I say as he beams. If he were a dog, his tail would be wagging so hard right now. It’s so ridiculous, yet I can’t help but smile.
The plane begins to move and Torin glances over at me. “Are my testicles safe from the plane?”
“Possibly.”
“Good, because I only want you to have them.”
“That’s not as romantic as you seem to think it is.”
Torin just laughs, and as the plane lifts off the ground, he drags me halfway into his seat so he can look down at the world and hold me tightly at the same time.
He leans a bit, taking it all in. “This place is just so different from mine.”
“Yours is very beautiful,” I say.
“It used to be. Now it suffers so much because of me—”
“No, because of me,” I interrupt.
Torin’s attention snaps over to me. “Don’t say that again or I won’t join the mile-high club with you.”
“We’re not joining the mile-high club,” I inform him.
He seems highly disgruntled by this and returns to staring out the window.
“I want to fix your world… I… I bet some people would join it… if you wanted them to. I know you don’t have the tech we do, but a lot of people would love that.
And with how good Mickey’s crew is at fixing things, I bet they could add some tech to it. ”
“Maybe. But right now, I like it just being us.”
“And Mickey.”
“He’s not a real human. He is an alien. Like the ones that probe people in the sex books you like to read with tentacles and stuff. Impregnate them with their eggs.”
“I would totally impregnate Riley with my eggs if I had any,” Mickey mumbles.
I refuse to engage as I die of shame right here in the middle seat of a plane.
“I could lay eggs in you if you’d like,” Torin whispers in my ear.
I shove him back and he cackles, pleased with himself.