“I mean… I can’t see. I’m…” He grits his teeth. “I’m blind.And right now, I can’t see.”
I stare at the man. “Must be something with the magic of this place.”
“No… I’m blind. As in I cannot see… I can’t see without Kit.”
I narrow my eyes, trying to comprehend what he’s saying. “Without your vermin?”
“She is a genet, not vermin. And yes. I… I use magic to see through her eyes. I see what she sees. And without her… I’m extremely disoriented. She must be outside, so I can’t see anything.”
My jaw drops. “So this whole time… everything you’ve seen has been through your familiar’s eyes?” I gaze at him in disbelief because I haven’t noticed any behavior at all that would make me think he was incapable of seeing.
“Yes,” he says, jaw clenched. “The others don’t know, so donottell them.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why do you hide it?”
Riley ignores the question. He’s a very capable person… the people out there highly respect him even though it doesn’t seem like he works with them. I can’t imagine they’d simply decide not to respect him if they learned his secret. This human is quite peculiar indeed.
Suddenly, the building shudders and the walls begin to crack. He reaches for something to hang on to, so I take his arm and pull him close to me.
“Can you look through my eyes?”
“No, just Kit’s.”
I grab his hand and set it on my hip, hooking his fingers in the fabric of my pants. “Don’t let go of me.”
The walls shudder again, and I feel the magic inside him fluctuate. He grimaces and I feel the way his hand tightens on me.
“What’s going on, Riley?”
“I… I don’t know. This magic inside me is unlike anything I’ve ever felt. I need to get rid of it. We need to get out of here.”
“I’m going to keep walking. We’re heading up the steps; I’ll tell you when we reach the last one.”
I start moving forward, gently pulling him after me. I want to run, but he’s struggling enough just taking the steps that we have to move slowly, even as I see the way the walls begin to crumble. I’m not sure what’s going to happen when this place falls apart, but I’m not dying to find out.
“Something is not right with all of this,” he says.
The thing is, I know it’s bad if Riley’s saying this, and he can’t even see what I do. If hecouldsee what’s happening, he would know it’s well beyond “not right.” “I think you’re correct for the first time in your life.”
“I would be glowering at you right now if I could waste my concentration on it.”
“We’re at the end of the stairs,” I say.
“The magic is calling me this way.” He waves to my left. “The issue is… do wewantto go that way?Something feels very wrong with this magic. I don’t like it and I’m not sure I care to listen to it.”
I look left and discover an impossibly long hallway. It appears to extend farther than I can see. The paint on the walls is peeling and shriveling up, and the candles hanging on the walls flicker.
“Aren’t you a god? Can’t you just poof us the hell out of here?”
“I’m a god who can’t seem to use any of my power,” I say.
“Useless pair of dumbasses we are,” he mutters.
“I have faith in this pair of dumbasses.”
