“I could draw some if it helps you read better,” Vinny says.
Imani ignores all of that. “What is this book for?”
“It was on a Door crosser who came into Torin’s world. We want to see if it could give us any clues about the one who is crossing over here,” Riley explains.
She hums in thought before glancing in the rearview mirror. “You know who would be good at this?”
“Mickey,” Riley mutters.
“Mickey,” Imani echoes. “I’ll swing by and pick him up. We’re not too far from his place.”
Mickey is less than thrilled to get into the car while his undead pile into the trunk as the neighbor watches.
“Are there seats back there?” I ask, pointing behind us.
Riley shakes his head from the other side of Mickey, who grudgingly crawled into the middle. “No, trunks are generally used for transporting groceries—or dead bodies if you’re a serial killer.”
“How many dead bodies have you transported in a trunk?” I ask Riley.
“Just one but there’s always the option for another,” he says, quite deadpan.
“That’s kind of sexy.”
“Am I here just to sit between the two of you while you make mating calls at each other?” Mickey whines.
“No, we need you to figure out what this book means,” Riley says. “I guess we’ll read it to you in English. Can Tommy write it down in English and then you see what you can figure out?”
“Do I have to?” Mickey asks.
“Do you want to save the world?” Imani asks.
“Not really.”
“Well, if you don’t, you’ll get to have an eternal nap,” Imani growls.
Mickey sighs and slumps back in his seat. “You’re so evil. Fine. Lay the first page on me,” he says as he closes his eyes. I’m more than convinced we’ve already lost him, but Riley nods for me to do it. I read the first page before stopping, but Mickey doesn’t open his eyes.
“He’s sleeping,” I declare. “I have lulled him to sleep. It seems to take very little.”
Mickey opens his eyes, looks at me… then Riley… then back at the book, his face scrunched up. “Keep reading.”
“What’s the first page say?” Riley asks.
“It’s the ravings of a power-hungry man, but I need more to understand it. Keep reading.” So for the entire drive, I read the book and Mickey sits there looking like he’s dead asleep. A fewtimes, I wonder if I’m reading a bedtime story to a man who isn’t even with us. But whenever I stop, he cracks an eye open.
I still haven’t gotten to the section about Riley’s ailment, but Mickey seems to want to hear it in chronological order, and I wonder if that has something to do with decoding it.
“We’re here,” Imani says.
“Where did you get this book?” Mickey asks.
“Off the body of a man… a possible god slayer who came into my world,” I explain.
He looks thoughtful. “I don’t think he was a god slayer. This book… it’s the ravings of a god who believes he can reach… something by draining four worlds… he speaks of power, but I don’t quite understand what power he gains from it. He talks about four riders. Each is sent out to destroy, and in return, he eats the power of the slain. Once four worlds have been stripped… Torin… was your world stripped?”
I stare at him for a second before glancing over at Riley. The guilt I feel over the death of my people eats at me, and I find it difficult to admit to anyone other than Riley. I couldn’t save a single one of them, and I know that, but still, I don’t want to face it. “Yes.”
“The magic left behind by the person, even after Torin killed him, spread across them like a virus,” Riley explains.
