We’ve scoured every inch of this city with no results.
Just a few minutes ago, Imani sent out an alert to reconvene back at the department, so I immediately set to work convincing Torin that the fastest way there would be by subway. He’s disappointed and gives his wolf many pets. I also pet the feline because even if riding it wasn’t the best experience I’ve had in my life, I do like the creature.
They enjoy the attention but thankfully aren’t upset when I send them back into the earth. They would have been sent back anyway once I touched someone else, even just bumped into them, since I’d lose my necromancy power.
“I already miss them.”
“Sorry,” I say.
Torin sighs and looks down into the subway. “Disgusting.”
“I know, but it would have taken an hour or more to ride there, and this will only take twenty minutes.”
“An hour sounds better to my ears.”
“Well, it’s not,” I say as I lead him down and onto the subway. It’s pretty empty besides a woman with a crow familiar, so we take a seat and I open my backpack to pull out the book that might have the answer to my curse. I get one sentence read before Kit is watching the crow who is also very interested in her. It’s doing a little dance with its wings spread and its head bobbing.
“Kit, focus.”
She quickly looks back where I have enough time to finish reading the same sentence before she’s watching the crow again.
“Kit, we don’t have much time. I need to read this.”
She huffs and looks back, allowing me to at least finish the page before she falls asleep just like that, dropping me straight into the darkness I loathe.
I grit my teeth and slam the book shut. “Fuck.”
“It’s okay. Don’t get upset. Let me read it to you,” Torin offers as I feel him reach for the book.
“No. Forget it. I didn’t want to read it anyway,” I say, feeling frustrated. The answer to my problem is so close, and yet… I don’t even know what the answer is. I already read much of the book yesterday, but so little of it even makes sense to me. I can understand the language because of the lady’s magic that allows me to speak with Torin, but that doesn’t mean I understand the words.
And I definitely can’t understand them if Kit falls asleep one more time while I’m trying to read. It pisses me off. All of this just… pisses me off. The Magical Interference Unit over heredragging me into this with some big idea that I’m useful when I can’t even do anything anymore.
“Stop,” Torin says as I feel him tug on the book. I stubbornly hold on to it briefly before he takes it from me. “Riley?—”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Hmm…” he murmurs. And then, after a moment, he lays his head on my shoulder. I’m so irritated that the second he does it, I want to tell him to get off me, but I don’t even know why. I choke down my frustration and try to calm myself while my attention turns to the sensation of Torin leaning against me and the warmth of Kit on my lap. How could I possibly be mad at her? And… really, I know it wasn’t her I was mad at. I just get so frustrated that I’ve found avoidance to be the best.
“Are you tired?” I ask Torin.
“My head is. My brain is so massive that sometimes it’s really hard to hold up,” he says before switching to Shaarunen so we can’t be understood. “Same with my dick. It’s so massive to have to carry around all day. It’s a burden I must bear.”
“You are absolutely ridiculous,” I decide.
He chuckles.
“I can’t see where we are, so pay attention. We want off at Sixteenth Street. They’ll announce it, but I might miss it.”
“Okay,” he says, and for the rest of the subway ride, we sit in silence—him leaning against me and me lost in my thoughts, fingers trailing through Kit’s fur.
When we arrive, Kit wakes up and my world of dark becomes a world of light again. I quietly leave the subway, and Torin follows me up to the surface, down the block, and across the street to the department.
Imani sees me when I walk in. “We still have a few we’re waiting for. Go have a seat somewhere. I’ll call you when we’re ready.”
“Okay,” I say as I wander, looking for a quiet area before I end up at my old office. It’s Vinny’s office now. Kit doesn’t follow me inside; instead, she perks up when she notices a familiar she used to play with when I worked here and didn’t rely on her every second of the day. And since losing my sight, I’ve practically forced her to be my eyes. I feel like such a dick. She hesitates before running back to me.
“No, go on. Go play,” I tell her.
