Sawyer climbed in behind the wheel, grumbling as he started the engine and waiting for Ciaran to get in. Ciaran waved, but when Sawyer looked back at Cern, the old man was gone.
Just... not there.
Sawyer was still too mad to give that too much thought, because of course the old dick could disappear. Of course he could.
“Hey,” Ciaran said, smiling at Sawyer in a way that didn’t look entirely sane. “How about next time we don’t piss off the god of the wild things? Just a suggestion.”
The trees seemed to grab at the cruiser as they passed, twigs and leaves scraping and clawing, the wind furious.
“Christ,” Ciaran said, looking behind them as if they were trying to outrun the mountain.
“He can be pissed,” Sawyer said, not backing down. “He should be pissed. Because the whole cryptic schtick is bullshit. I’m sorry, but?—”
“He can’t say, Sawyer,” Ciaran cried. “Apples, remember? The treaty. There are things he cannot say.”
Sawyer slammed on the brakes, the cruiser sliding to an abrupt stop. He stared at Ciaran. “Oh.”
“Yeah, oh.”
Fuck.
Now Sawyer was even more pissed. Mostly at himself, because fuck. With a frustrated growl, he got out of the cruiser, the trees and wind and misty rain in a flurry of stinging rage around him. He put both his arms out, his broken arm and hand aching like a bitch, and he yelled into the storm. “I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry!”
And just like that, the wind stopped, and the trees were calm again.
Sawyer nodded, because yep, that actually just happened.
Okay then.
He got back in the cruiser, ignoring Ciaran’s bewildered face, and began the drive back into town.
“I’m still mad,” Sawyer said, pouting—and possibly sulking.
“I can tell,” Ciaran said.
“And I’m sure he could tell ussomething.”
Ciaran’s only response was to sigh.
So they drove in silence for a while, the swoosh of the wiper blades a metronome to the beat of Sawyer’s guilt. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have opened my mouth. I’m just...”
“Worried?” Ciaran supplied.
“Scared,” he admitted quietly. “And I can’t do anything. Everyone else can help. They can go down to see them, check on them, and I can’t even get in the water,” he said, holding up his stupid broken arm. “You know, you were right.”
“About what?”
“Internal skeletons are stupid.”
Ciaran snorted. “I know, right?”
“External armour would be so much more practical. And waterproof. I could go in the water even with broken bones.”
Ciaran slid his hand over Sawyer’s thigh, giving him a squeeze. “They’ll be okay,” he said gently.
Sawyer nodded, and he tried to smile. “I can get those orders out for you,” he said. “If you... if you want to go down to spend some time with Aurin and Salem.”
“Sawyer,” he murmured.
