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 Ican’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.
