“Number one, you’re not going in alone. There’s nowayI’d let you go alone. Number two, how are you going to find the horrid horse when you don’t even have any pull toward it? And number three, you know we fight best together.”
“We rumble in bed best together,” he says with a grin.
“Ew,” Mickey mutters. I don’t really blame him. Then he continues, “All three of us will go.”
I throw my hands up, feeling exasperated. “Why areyougoing?”
“Because,” he says as he picks up his controller to return to his game like he thinks that’ll stop this argument.
“Mickey, stay here. This isn’t safe.”
He glances over at me. “Exactly. If it’s not safe, I should go.”
“We could die,” I say. “That’s why I don’t think we should even go at all. We’ll just stay here and see how things play out.”
“You could die if we don’t go,” Torin counters.
“You don’t know that,” I snap. “So let’s just take the risk and keep moving. Let’s scratch going through the Door for now.”
“No,” Torin says sternly. “I’ve lost everyone I cared for once; I’m not going to do it again.”
“I’m really not that great. There are significantly better people out there who I promise you’d enjoy way more than me,” I comment as I get up and wander over to pester Mickey some more.
“Definitely ones who are less sassy,” Mickey concurs.
“See? What about Mickey? He’s cute and loveable,” I say, patting him on his face while an undead holds up his drink so he can drink out of the straw without setting his controller down. “Never mind, I can find you someone better.”
Torin rushes out and slams the door, leaving Mickey and me inside.
“I didn’t think you werethatbad,” I joke.
“You made himmad. I’ve never seen that happy man so mad,” Mickey says.
I sigh and sink down on his couch.
“Why are you doing this to yourself?” he asks. “You’re saying shit to distance yourself from him.”
“I am not.”
Mickey pauses his game, and instead of turning his head, he has Tommy swivel his chair around so he can face me.
“Yes, because telling him that you should just die alone, oh and before you do, you’re going to go find someone new for him who is superior to you is very healthy.”
“Why don’t you just play your game and soak in your AC and stop making sense. It annoys me.”
He just shrugs and swivels back to his game while I get up, leaving his fan behind as I hurry after Torin.
The issue is that I have absolutely no idea where to find him in this giant place, but I have to assume that if he’s upset or angry, he’d go find Quill, his unique dragon/horse mount. I head outside but see neither of them.
“Kit, can you smell where they went? Just like… track them down?”
Kit sniffs the air and then proceeds to bite my ear for some reason. I’m not sure if it’s a “This is fun” or if she’s also telling me that I’m a trainwreck.
I decide that maybe he went out for a ride, and since he seems to like the waterfall overlook and often sits there when he needs to think or relax, he might have gone there. Because I touched Mickey last, I could call a mount out of the ground to ride out to the overlook, but that sounds absolutely dreadful, so I jog toward it.
Since Torin doesn’t have all of his power back, most of my trek is desolate as I follow a trail created by Torin during his many years of walking. The plant life that once blossomed beautifully has been turned to petrified grass and flowers, blackened and brittle. Kit decides she wants to run too and springs off my shoulder, which means my view is now inches off the ground. It’s disorienting, but it’s happened enough that I can handle it… although it does slow me down.
I arrive at the overlook with a majestic view of a large waterfall, but Torin and Quill aren’t there. Is he still somewherein the palace? Possibly a room we don’t often frequent? Or is he hiding from me?
