Vero looks less than impressed while Torin ignores them to check me over. I assure him I’m perfectly fine, but only once he’s examined every wound and has determined that none are life-threatening does he seem able to move on.
He heads over to a flat area to start remaking the Door he’d just destroyed. I walk up behind him and wrap my arms around him in a hug. “Are you sure you have the power to do this? You’re not draining yourself too much?”
“I’m more worried about you,” he says as he pauses what he’s doing to glance at me. “You look exhausted.”
“They took away the hourglass… it was just… a bit much for me. But I’m okay now, I promise.”
Torin tilts my head back before sneaking a small kiss. With a smile, he kneels on the ground. “Will you please stay here?”
“You know that’s the last thing I’d ever do.”
He bites his lip and slowly nods, like he’s lost in thought. “I was extremely anxious. I was terrified something had happened to you. I’d never felt that way in my life.”
“I’m really sorry. I would have felt the same way. I’m glad you had Mickey and Mickey’s cute little friend to keep you company.”
At the mention of Mickey’s bat, Torin cringes. “That thing just… it haunts my nightmares, Riley.”
“Are you badmouthing Toast again? He is just a sweet little boy!” Mickey protests as Toast crawls up a little higher on Mickey’s shirt. Torin recoils when he sees it.
“Did you bring that back from the dead too?” Vero barks.
“It’s like he’s really sexy but everything that comes out of his mouth is so sassy—and not sexy sassy,” Mickey says.
Vero scowls for a bit, and I give Torin’s cheek a kiss. “I’ll stop disrupting you so you can focus.” I walk over to Vero. “Can I check on your wrists?”
He glowers and stands stoically while I have to practically pry his arm up to undo the bandage. He’s already bled through it and is showing very little sign of healing.
Mickey leans over to get a look. “Ouch, that looks like it hurts. Do you want Tommy to give you a backrub? It won’t help your wrists at all, but it feels really good. He was a medical examiner in a past life, so he understands all the many parts of the body.”
“I would like to send your dead off on a flaming pyre so he can join his ancestors,” Vero says.
Tommy’s face scrunches up, and I have to question if it’s the first time I’ve seen him look disgruntled by something. “I am very happy here.” And then he hurries off so Vero can’t suddenly light him on fire.
“You scared Tommy off! No one’s ever scared Tommy off!” Mickey says as Joy returns. She tosses me the bow and tosses Mickey the first aid kit.
“I have returned. You may all praise me,” she instructs.
“Thanks, Joy,” Mickey says.
“That was terrible praise,” she mutters. “I deserve better.”
Deciding that everyone can just be fussy, I set my bow down before popping open the first aid kit Mickey placed on the ground. Mickey grabs Vero’s hand and pulls it forward to inspect his wrist, reminding me that even if Mickey acts like an absolute fool sometimes, he did require a medical degree to become a medical examiner and graduated at the top of his class. Though he earned his degree through the Magical Interference Unit, which followed a slightly different path, he still knows way more about this stuff than I do. So I watch while he sets to work examining it, cleaning it, then going, “If I stitch it up, will it heal faster? Don’t quite know how you gods work.”
Vero scoffs like he’s offended Mickey would even bother asking for ways to heal him. “I don’t need your help.”
“Yes, but the idea of stabbing you with a needle sounds thrilling,” Mickey says.
Vero narrows his eyes as Mickey brandishes the needle.
“I can’t numb you, though… does anything like that even work on gods? I generally don’t have to numb the people I’m working on.”
“I need nothing to numb the pain. I am not weak.”
“Splendid,” Mickey says, sliding the needle in while I grimace. Vero doesn’t grimace, though, he simply looks disgusted that this man has chosen to touch him.
It’s all going quite well.
“I also brought everyone clean clothes since you all look a bit rough,” Joy says, but before she can hand them out, I hear someone shout, “Mickey!”
