I hesitate as I find that… Iamhaving fun. “It is… tolerable.”
He beams at me. “You’re loving it, aren’t you?”
“Love is a strong word.”
“Ha. You’re hilarious.”
“Could you guys talk a little less? It’s kind of hard to read when you’re all blabbing away,” Landon whines.
“Hmm…” Asmodeus begins. “I could place you on the limb of this here tree and we will return in two days for you… if we remember you. You should be safe from most wildlife at this height. Bears and cougars do climb, but if you see one, just play dead. It’s not guaranteed to keep you alive, but honestly… you don’t look very delicious. Like if I was a cannibal… I don’t think I’d eat you first, if you get my drift.”
Landon slowly lowers his book. “Excuse me? I amverydelicious. Just ask August.”
“He is very delicious,” August says. I can see the muscle strain going on because of the bag of books. How can anyone enjoy another human enough to torture themselves in this way? And does he not understand that the farther he carries the books, the farther he’ll have to carry them back?
“So… if you had to eat one of us first, whowouldyou eat?” Lex asks.
“That is an excellent question,” Asmodeus says, and like… is it? “I definitely wouldn’t go for August; while he doesn’t have bulky muscle, he’s like lithe muscular, which would still make his meat a bit tough. I would want to keep Lex around to cook it in case I can’t get a fire started… so I guess I’d eat Ellison. I bet unwrapping him from that suit and all of those layers would be fun.”
“Thrilled to know that if you become a cannibal, I’m your first pick to murder.”
Asmodeus smiles at me, like this is, in some messed-up way, a compliment.
“Is that the only way you want to eat him?” Lex mutters under his breath. Asmodeus doesn’t hear, but I sure do. My face heats up and I charge ahead to catch up with August.
CHAPTER TWO
ELLISON
“Okay… I know I haven’t actually used my legs in… a while, but it feels like Deus has been walking a very long time,” Landon says.
I look down at my watch that states we have walked four point two miles.
“It’s looking less pretty the longer I walk. Why are there so many hills?” Lex complains as he carries Zacia.
I eye August who has whipped out his superhero smile, like that’s going to fix all of this. “August… are you sure you know where you’re going?” I ask.
“I… I do. We walk this every year. I know exactly where we are. Ha ha. Don’t you trust me?”
“Gosh, you guys don’t trust my beautiful August? Howdareyou,” Landon snarls.
“You’re the one who noted that we’ve been going too far even though you haven’t walked inmiles!” Lex says.
“Howdareyou,” Landon snaps, then lifts his book up again until Asmodeus disengages his hold and Landon falls to the ground with a “What the fuck!”
“Sorry, my arms just gave up,” Asmodeus says before holding them in front of him and examining them like they’re mystifying. “They have gone numb and are no longer a part of my body.”
“I’m not that heavy!”
“He carried you for over three miles,” I say.
“Has it been that long? Damn…” Landon dusts himself off. “Honey. Honey bunny. We all know that you are magnificent… but do you think that maybe we’re lost and we should resort to using Ellison’s map to find the tents and food? I’m quite hungry.”
“Yes… fine,” August reluctantly agrees.
I reach toward my back pocket before patting my other pockets and realize with horror that the map must have fallen out at some point during this journey. Quickly, I pull out my phone, but there’s absolutely no service and the map won’t even load.
“August… August, I don’t like the look on Ellison’s face. You know shit is bad when his face looks like that,” Landon says.
