Each room I peek into looks like something out of the Louvre. Everything is beautiful with rich colors and while there isn’t a lot of décor, each piece is elegant and extravagant. I’ve truly never seen anything like it.
“Kit, this place is… breathtaking,” I say before something hits me. “But why is it so quiet?”
She looks around curiously as I walk down the hall. Honestly, the idea of running into something never really occurred to me before I just threw myself through a Door and into another realm.
Like really… what the hell am I doing? What if I can’t ever get back? What if the Door closed behind me and I’m forever lockedin some realm that doesn’t have electricity or pizza? But maybe I should be more concerned about why I was so willing to throw myself through that Door. My life has spiraled since this curse or whatever it is descended on me… and I refuse to face that…
“Fuck.”
I hurry down the long hallway, knowing that maybe if I start shouting, someone will come and then I’ll explain that I know Torin. But what if they think I’m an enemy who has snuck into this lavish palace? I can’t fathom a place like this doesn’t have guards.
“Kit… you know how sometimes I do really foolish things without thinking? This might be one of those times,” I decide.
Kit doesn’t seem overly concerned, too busy looking around at everything.
“Torin?” I call, but I don’t hearanything. Does he live alone? I can’t imagine that chatterbox managing to live anywhere that he can’t harass people. Maybe they’re all outside.
“Torin?”
I find a massive door that looks like it’d lead outside and I grab it, nearly breaking my back with the first tug. Why the hell would anyone make a door so heavy? Like how does a normal person open this door? Or does only a god live here? I put all of my weight into it and manage to open it just enough to squeeze through.
“Torin?” I call out. “Kit, it’d be my luck that he already went back through the Door and I’m wandering around his home like an idiot. And I’m going to be real honest… I have no idea how to find my way back to the Door.”
I hesitate as I discover that instead of going out the front door, like I assumed, I’ve made it out the back that opens up to a sprawling garden of flowers growing out of control, each more beautiful than the last. But there’s something beyond the horticulture that has snagged my attention.
I slowly walk down the five steps that drop me right into the garden and have the urge to reach out to a flower, but I know better than to touch something I don’t recognize.
Among the cobblestone walkway is a unique statue of a huge creature, lying on its stomach right where the sun hits it, legs folded under it. It looks like it has the body of a horse but the head of a dragon with a long lionlike mane and tail. Two antlers that resemble an elk’s stretch out. I carefully hold my hand out to it and press against the stone, expecting it to be cold, but I’m surprised to find it warm.
It’s beautiful… but haunting at the same time, and I can’t quite tell why. I withdraw my hand, unsettled by the heat of the stone that I’m trying to convince myself has been warmed by the sun.
Still, I push through the garden that opens up to a beautiful fountain with the figure of a rearing horse and a woman astride its back. When I reach out, I find the stone cold to the touch, much like a regular statue would feel, so what made that other one so different? Water cascades down from her hand, back into the pond.
“I thought a stranger walked these halls, and yet it is a nosy human who doesn’t belong.”
Grabbing my heart, I jump and spin around to face Torin, who is watching me closely. I hadn’t even heard him walk up behind me. “Fuck. I assumed it was one of your godly guards come to murder my ass.”
He raises an eyebrow. “I hope people I keep in my service will not murder a friendly stranger the moment they see someone.”
“Me too, but I had no idea!”
“Why’d your nosy ass pass through the Door? What if you can’t get home?”
“I… just…” I pause before grimacing. “Very good question.But it’s not my fault. You said five minutes and it’s been over a damn hour.”
Torin shrugs. “I don’t actually know how long five minutes is. You say it often when you want to sleep longer and then you proceed to sleep for a very long time.”
I hesitate. “I can possibly see how you think five minutes is a longer period of time,” I mutter. “This place… I assume this is yours?”
“Of course it’s mine. Stop snooping around and come with me.”
“Can I get a tour?”
“After we find what I’m looking for,” he says as he starts back. I notice he pauses next to the statue of the creature, tracing his hand almost lovingly over its face.
“Is… Is that a statue of an animal you had?”
“Statue? No…” He looks at the “not a statue,” hand still on it. “His name is Quill.”
