“What if I just call the news and tell them that Torin is here visiting the wounded?” Mickey asks. “People eat up that nice shit all the time.”
We all contemplate this before Lt. Lindsey nods. “Call them. Media coverage of our new ‘hero’ can’t hurt.”
I turn to Torin. “Don’t say anything ridiculous, okay? Just… be yourself…” I pause. “Don’t be yourself. Be someone else. Be…”
“Like me,” Mickey says.
“Not like Mickey.”
I untie one of the leather fastenings on Torin’s shirt then hesitate and untie another… and then one more.
“Is he going to be naked?” Imani asks.
“Have you seen this chest?” I ask as I tilt him toward her.
Imani eyes him and then helps me undo one more. We stare at the barely shirted man and nod approvingly. “Let’s go visit some people.”
“Tommy, can you go get us some stuffed animals and flowers?” Mickey asks while he digs into my pocket and holds outmycredit card.
“Yes, sir,” Tommy says, and off he goes.
Once everyone else leaves the room, Torin and I walk back over to the man in the bed, and I set my hand on him. That strange feeling invades me again, as though there’s an emptiness… a void beneath my touch.
“Do you feel that?” I ask.
Torin comes over and sets his hand on the man’s chest, right next to mine. He’s quiet for a few seconds before looking up at me. “What do you feel?”
“It’s hard to explain… but like a void of some kind. Maybe an emptiness?”
He slowly lifts his hand before shaking his head. “I can’t feel those things. All I feel is a human clinging to life.”
My eyebrows must be furrowing because he puts a finger between them and kind of presses them up.
“Would you allow me to lock you away in my realm with me?” Torin asks.
I glance at him. “You know this world would fall to ruin without you.”
“Yes, but I will fall to ruin without you.”
I watch him for a long moment, but before I can say anything, Joy peeks in. “The news station we leaked information to is here.” She stuffs a plush cat toy in Torin’s hands and sends him into a room of a young girl. The girl seems extremely excited and Torin uses his charisma to quickly win her over, as he does with every other person he stops in to see. Once we head out of the hospital, the news crew stops us.
A woman rushes to the forefront. “The god who saved us all. Do you have some time to speak?”
“Of course,” Torin says, dragging me with him.
She introduces herself and then rambles on about what a hero Torin is.
“I couldn’t have done it alone,” he tells her.
“He’s modest too,” the woman says with a smile, immediately enamored with the god. “Can you tell us a bit about yourself? This mystery god who has come from another realm to save us?”
“Sure, sure. Let’s see. Ah!” And then he gestures at the spot next to him as a blue swirl of magic twists around and Quill crawls out of it, and I question why this is now switching to Torin bragging about his evil mount. “This is Quill. He’s such a darling. And this is Riley. My two favorite things. Riley is very feisty, but that’s the way I like him. He enjoys reading, especially books with lots of di?—”
“Ha… let’s focus on you,” I say, wondering how the hell we’re going to get followers when we just have Quill, who has started trying to eat my hair and even gets a big mouthful which he tugs on.
“Ow, stop!” I yell when the monster pulls harder. The beast won’t let go, tugging it while I try to bat him off.
“Quill, I know you like him, but you can’t eat him! We’ve already gone over this!” Torin says in Shaarunen as he tries to defend me from his carnivorous mount while the cameras keep on rolling.
