“Riley told me.”
“What happened to him?”
“I don’t know, he just fell unconscious again,” I say, holding him out to Tommy. “Can you please take him to our room and keep him there?”
“Riley’s going to be pissed if you don’t take him,” Mickey warns.
“It took hours for him to wake up last time. What the hell are we going to do? Haul an unconscious man around with us?” I ask. “If he wakes up, he can come join me. Stay here and protect him.”
“You’re going to defeat the horseman alone?”
I don’t answer him, and instead, Quill and I rush into the palace and through the Door.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Torin
Once I reach the other realm, I can immediately feel the Door opening. I startle an undead woman who’d been standing near the couch as Quill and I tear through the front door and race through the city. The clouds start to creep in, almost like they’re aware of what is happening while I urge Quill forward. I’m disoriented by the endless stretches of buildings that I have no way to cut through while noisy cars surround me. Every step Quill takes has to be made with thought to avoid cars, bicycles, and people.
He dashes through the city, the sound of his hooves striking the ground echoing around me while I beg that whatever happens today, Riley will be fine at the end of it.
Have I ever feared for anyone as much as I fear for him?
I know without a doubt that I haven’t. I’ve never been so focused on a singular human in my life.
Lightning cracks and I see the black clouds roil above me. It’s darkest where I’m going. The horseman is coming and this time, he’s bringing all of his power with him.
And I’m still just a god with barely any strength, but I will use every last drop of it to keep Riley and the world he loves safe.
When I reach my destination, I see that I’m not the first there and tell Quill to stop. Imani gets out of a vehicle and hurries over to me.
“Where’s Riley?” she asks.
“His magic… something’s wrong with him…”
She seems to try to cover up the panic on her face. “What do you mean? We need him.”
“Well, you don’t have him,” I snap.
Imani appears uncertain, but I’m confident he’s safer where he is.
“You have me. Put up the barrier,” I say as I turn to examine the nearby cluster of houses and businesses. It almost looks like a small town compared to the chaotic city I just traveled through. The dilapidated buildings are covered in black vines. The horseman’s magic is stretching far, consuming everything in its wake while he grows in strength. How many people has he already taken in the time it took us to reach here?
She shakes her head. “No! The team isn’t here yet. You’re the only one here from Team A. And it’s only me and one other so far from Team B. Our barrier wouldn’t be strong enough.”
“It’s just going to keep spreading,” I say, and she has to see that. In fact, the worry on her face tells me she does.
Imani bites her lip. “Torin, you can’t fight him alone.”
“Put up the barrier,” I demand as a vine reaches for the car she’d just arrived in. The moment it touches the sleek black vehicle, it rusts and the tires rot. She jerks back when we hear the howl of a wolf.
She turns to the other woman and nods. “The barrier. Now.”
Quill rears anxiously underneath me before bolting right into the thick of it.
I know that stopping this horseman will not make up for the loss my own realm suffered. It won’t make those I promised to protect return from the dead. It won’t save those I loved and lost.
But hopefully… it’ll mean that this world with these people who took a strange god into their lives without hesitation will get to keep on living.
