“I don’t know. For some reason, she didn’t follow me through the Door. I’m not sure if they got to her.”
I look at Riley, but the man is already convinced he’s going through this Door, and I can’t help but question why. He knows that he’s hampered by his own magic. Any time he tries to use it, he’s stricken with pain and is weakened by it. And I’m a god who relies on my followers for my power—which I have few of—so my power is limited.
“Excuse the three of us while we step outside for a word,” I say as I wave Riley and Mickey to the door, leaving Joy and Tommy in the room with Story. They follow me out into the hallway where I turn to them. “The risk we are taking?—”
“I need to go,” Riley cuts in, looking determined.
“Why?” I ask, and I realize that weeks ago, I would have gone without a second thought. But now that I have him… now that I know I could lose him, I find myself incapable of just diving right into something like this. Especially with so much risk.
Riley refuses to look at me, and he even holds Kit facing himself so she won’t try. “You don’t have to go.”
“You think I would leave you to wander into a strange and hostile world without me?” I ask incredulously. Honestly, the shit this man spouts.
“I have to go.” Riley sounds so desperate.
“Saving this world wouldn’t change anything that happened in Torin’s,” Mickey says quietly. “That might sound cruel, but Riley, you can’t do this because of guilt. We aren’t some chosen ones destined to save it all. There are other people. I know people aren’t exactly lining up to help with things that don’t involve them…”
Riley proceeds to pretend like Mickey said absolutely nothing, acting like we don’t even exist. But my finger slips under his sleeve where I can run it down the stain on his wrist.
“What if I go alone?” I suggest.
Riley looks like he’s ready to give me a gentle strangle. “We’re not going through this again! I’m not leaving you to run off and do things alone. If you don’t want to go, that’s fine. I’ll be careful. People usually can’t tell that I even have magic since it’s so strange.”
“No, I’m going with you,” I insist.
“I’ll go too,” Mickey says.
Riley shakes his head, probably contemplating how hard it would be for Mickey to join us. “Mickey, you’ll die if you can’t use your undead to do things for you.”
“Then I will die with the people I love,” Mickey saysverydramatically. Riley merely gives him a look, and I notice Kit is also giving him a look. “But before we go, if you could touch the lady who can turn into a unicorn so you could carry me around, that’d be superb.”
Grinning, I say, “I agree.”
Riley ignores both of us and heads back inside the room. “Story, we’ve agreed to go with you. But before we go, we need you to tell us everything we need to know about your world.”
I notice that in the time we’ve been gone, Story has turned even more pale, and the color in his lips has almost disappeared.
“My world is very different from this one,” he says.
“Tell us everything we need to know to blend in.”
Story seems wary but gives Riley a nod. “We will not get punished for this?”
“Punished for what?” Riley asks. “You’re free to speak here. We rely on magic in this world, and everyone in this building can use magic freely, which means we need to understand how to act in Obsian. Are you okay? You don’t look well.”
“Yes, I’m fine. Thank you,” he says. “We are tested three times in our life to tell if we have magic. At birth, at age five, and again at age fifteen. If we do have magic, we are removed from the capital immediately.”
“Even as an infant?” Mickey asks.
“Yes. We are placed outside the walls of the capital. So we rotate every night who walks the walls to check for the infants that are branded and discarded, but it’s not always possible to find them all before it’s too late.”
“Why the hell wouldn’t they alert you? Or hand them over?” Riley asks in disbelief.
“Because they want them to—” Suddenly, his eyes shift to a pale gray color as he grimaces and bows his head. He gasps and reaches for his head, like pain has set in, and quickly stands up. “I need to go back. I’ve been away from her for too long.”
“Who?” Riley asks.
“My sister… I need to go back…”
