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"What?"
"I don't want to think about cleaning with you naked and panting over me."
Kal laughed. "I didn't say we were done, big guy. The cleanup comes later."
"Now that's what I want to hear."
CHAPTER FIVE
KAL
Our footsteps echoed off the damp cave walls as we trekked deeper underground. The air grew colder and more stagnant, smelling faintly metallic. Stalactites hung from the ceiling like jagged stone teeth, dripping water that plinked into shadowy pools below.
I kept one hand on the slick wall to steady myself as the path sloped gradually downward, the ground alternating between loose pebbles and smooth worn rock. The strobe lights Thorsten had installed to illuminate the way flashed rhythmically, casting our elongated shadows in a dizzying dance.
Up ahead, the cavern opened into a larger chamber housing the portal. Our small work lamps seemed puny against the vast darkness. Strange ambient sounds reached my ears - the flutter of leathery wings, skittering claws, the groaning creak of stone. It was easy to imagine this as the gaping maw of some colossal beast.
As we drew closer, the towering oval of the portal emerged from the gloom. It seemed to absorb the meager light rather than reflect it, a void of deeper blackness rimmed by an intricate network of cables and machinery. I shivered, the sheer alienness of the gate filling me with trepidation. We were venturing into the unknown, with no way back.
Thorsten grabbed my hand tightly as I nervously studied the portal control panel. The indicator lights blinked steadily, calming me somewhat. I knew that Thorsten was confident in his plan and I had faith that he could make it work. But despite this faith, doubts lingered in my mind.
I couldn’t help but worry about the difficulties we might face when crossing over to the Titan world. What if things didn't go as planned? Would we be able to return home safely? A wave of anxiety swept over me as I glanced at our children and that's when I remembered why I was doing this.
My worry for them had been growing with each passing day, especially since I noticed some of the local kids here avoiding them.
I hadn't mentioned it to Thorsten, but this isolation had been one of my reasons for my decision to leave Sahara and cross through the portal.
I wanted Loki and Thor to have a chance at fitting in where their father hailed from; yet, I couldn’t ignore the fact that, even there, our family might not be fully accepted either.
But if that happened, I was confident Thorsten and I would carve a place for our family in either world.
I checked on my dad, asking. "You doing okay?"
He nodded, though his face was pale.
"You sure you wanna go through with this?" I pressed.
William scowled at that. "What, you trying to get rid of me or something?"
"No, 'course not," I said quickly. "Just, you know, giving you an out if you want it.”
Part of me hoped he might decide to play it safe for once and stay behind. But knowing him, fat chance of that happening.
"I ain't staying in this dusty old world without my family," he said stubbornly. "You boys are all I got left. So like it or not, you're stuck with me."
Yep, just as stubborn as I figured. But honestly, his insistence on coming along made me feel a little better. We were in this crazy thing together, for better or worse.
"Alright," I said, clapping him on the back. "Just don't come crying to me when your arthritis acts up in that frigid titan world."
He barked out a laugh at that. "Do you think I hadn’t been listening to your husband…mate… prattle on and on about his home? I know it isn’t all cold there."
I gave him a reassuring pat on the back, happy to have him here before I checked up on my sons, asking "You boys doing okay?"
Thor nodded, his long white hair framing his face. I stroked it gently, then brushed back a loose strand of Loki's dark and white striped hair from his eyes. They looked so much like their dad, though Thor had my light green eyes.
"Got all your toys?" I asked.
"I gave mine to Loki," Thor said.
