Ever since losing my eyesight, I’ve had to rely on my familiar, Kit, for my vision. I can see through her eyes, which can be a bit disorienting depending on where she is. Since she’s off on the platform, I can still see the three of us, but from her point of view. The genet avidly watches us and is probably just happy she’s not getting suckered in for a ride.
“This is ridiculous. Why would I ever agree to be pinned in the maws of this creature? What have you done to me?” Torin asks me, like this is my fault. Like I could have possibly strong-armed a god onto a roller coaster against his will. All it really took was a smile and a “Won’t you please ride with me?”
What a sexy sucker.
I make sure to put on my most innocent expression. “I didn’t do anything to you! You willingly came with me!”
“Then why did I get on this?” he asks.
“You’re smitten with him for some disgusting reason,” Mickey declares. “No idea why.”
Mickey looks back at the row behind us which is filled with his undead. Since he’s a necromancer with extremely powerful magic, the people he brings back to life generally look alive. Unless someone had high levels of magic like I do, they likely couldn’t even tell them apart from the other living beings enjoying the rides. Of course, Mickey didn’t bring them out until he was inside the park so he didn’t have to pay for the group of them, but they sure eagerly got in line behind us.
The attendant checks our restraints and Torin turns to me.
“I have changed my mind. I would like to protect my testicles and get off?—”
And that’s when the roller coaster shoots off. I get to see the look on Torin’s face from Kit’s viewpoint a moment before we’re out of sight from her.
And I absolutely love what I see.
The problem is, once I’m too far from Kit, I no longer get to see anything but what she’s fixated on. What I once believed to be a curse started affecting my eyesight about four years ago. After completely robbing me of my sight, it continued to progress as a black stain that has since spread over much of my body, causing me significant pain and tremors every time I use high-powered magic.
But luckily I ended up being able to use Kit as my eyes. My connection to my familiar allows me to see what she sees… and right now she’s seeing all of the food stands.
“Please don’t take my testicles!” Torin shouts. Even though I’m seventy percent sure he knows I was joking… he still wants to be safe. The roller coaster whips us around a bend before slowing down.
“Oh, it’s done. Thankfully,” Torin says as I feel it creeping straight up.
“Not exactly, it tends to slow before going really fast,” I inform him.
“I would like to kick this beast into submission,” he growls.
“It’s fine, at least you can see what’s happening,” I say, since my only view is now Kit staring at the popcorn booth. She seems to remember us just as we get to the very top and the roller coaster dips over the edge.
“Who the hell invented this stupid fucking thing!” Torin yells, clearly not a roller coaster fan.
Torin’s hand smacks down on my leg, squeezing it tightly while the roller coaster begins its steep descent. I’m now laughing as it reaches a big loop, and suddenly, we’re upside down before whipping around another corner. It’s both disorienting and exhilarating not being able to see where we’re headed next. It does make it hard to brace myself and know which way I’ll be flung about, but I’m enjoying every second of it.
“I’ve reached the ‘contemplating my life’ section of this journey,” Torin shouts.
“Yeah? That’s good. Means there’s not much left but the ‘thrill that you’re still alive,’” I respond as we hit another drop, and all too soon the roller coaster is slowing to reach the end of the ride.
“That was amazing,” I say.
“Amazing, my ass!” Torin grumbles, smacking at the safety bars as they take their time to go up since it’s not quite done moving yet. Kit jumps onto my shoulder the instant they do go up, and Torin scrambles over Mickey’s lap to get off and grab the worker who is helping people get off the ride.
“I’m alive!” Torin announces to the startled man.
“Hey, aren’t you that god who saved our world?” the guy asks, not too concerned about our level of “alive” status.
Torin decides to try again. “I’m alive!”
“You sure are, dude. Can we get a picture?” he asks. Torin is too caught up in the thrill of being alive to care as the man snaps a selfie of them. Torin looks absolutely windblown, his hair is sticking straight up, his clothes are ruffled, and still, he looks extremely sexy.
“I want a picture too!” someone shouts, and then we’re having to usher him out while he’s walking like a wobbly colt trying his legs for the first time.
“Riley…” Torin begins.
