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“Why the hell not?”
“This isn’t a purse; it’s a portal,” the mage said, more patiently than I would have. “Interfering with its integrity could collapse the whole—”
Tomas wasn’t listening. He was reaching out again, before Louis-Cesare knocked his hand away. So, Tomas punched him, and the two disappeared, probably wrecking more of my girl cave in the process.
I sighed.
Ranbir was then joined by Ev—I couldn’t bring myself to call him Evelyn—who appeared to be trying to get out.
“Let her handle this,” Ranbir said.
“She is so small,” Ev protested, eyeing me.
“She’ll be fine.”
“How do you know?”
Ranbir cocked an eyebrow. “I’ve seen her fight.”
Well, great. Now I had something to live up to. But there were no convenient flying rickshaws at the moment, because sensible people stayed the hell out of here.
Of course, there was another option.
“Give me the blindfold,” I said and Ranbir passed it over.
I ripped off one of the bus’s windshield wipers and tucked it through my belt. I backed up, giving myself a little room and a few seconds for a pep talk. Then I took a running leap, got a foot on the bus’s fender, catapulted up to the indentation for the wipers, and finally hit the roof. Before throwing myself off—
Onto the unicorn’s broad back.
It.
Was.
Pissed.
Fortunately, I’d expected that, and held on like a limpet, burying my arms up to the shoulders in the huge, sparkly white mane.
I stared at the pink, cartoon flowers while the beast bucked like a bronco on steroids. And then took off down the street, slamming itself into parked cars and, when that didn’t work, running onto sidewalks, trying to scrape me off on the sides of buildings. That was fun.
But it didn’t work, either, although less because of any great ability on my part and more because sheer terror had locked my hands in that mane. I didn’t think I could have let go if I’d wanted to, and I didn’t want to. Did I mention that it was a very large unicorn? It stood the height of a Clydesdale if not taller, and was built like a brick shit-house.
I was not going to tire this thing out, I realized. I was going to have to put the damned blindfold on. Of course, that would be easier without the kibitzing.
“I’m coming out.” That was Louis-Cesare, in his stubborn voice.
“Do not come out.”
“We talked about this!”
“Yes, we did. We agreed that I was smaller and less likely to be noticed—”
“I think it has noticed!”
“Do not come out,” I said, through gritted teeth. “I’ve got this.”
“I’m coming out!”
Shit.
