Chapter Twenty-One
Riley
It’s been two days with very little change in Torin. He still hasn’t woken up, and his wounds are healing as slowly as a human’s. In that time, Mickey had me transcribe the entire book in English, which I did at Torin’s bedside before Mickey took both the book and document and ran off… well… got carried off.
Imani peeks in and walks over to me. “Hey.”
“I’ve been thinking,” I say.
“Which is a scary thing.”
“The doctor said that he’s healing so slowly because his magic is going toward keeping himself alive. Torin told me his magic revolves around people believing in him. I know you’re trying to keep what happened at the fair quiet, but there has to be a video of Torin fighting that man. If we release it… no, he’s not going to have people praying at some… shrine for him, but that would still cause people to believe in him, right? Maybe that’s all the belief he needs for his power to help him recover.”
Imani watches me for a second before shaking her head. “We’ve been strictly ordered to keep all recordings of it under wraps.”
I ignore her and grab my phone to call Lt. Lindsey myself.
“She’s here,” Imani says. “If you want to fight her in person, because you know it’s going to be a fight.”
“I will happily fight her in person,” I declare, well aware that she’s already chewed out Imani and Vinny for going to the fair alone.
Imani grabs my face in her hands. “I pray for your well-being.”
“Oh shut it, I will win this fight,” I say as I follow her out into the hallway. She leads me up a floor and over to a room where she knocks once before stepping inside. It houses two of the people who haven’t shown any sign of waking up. Lieutenant Lindsey is standing at the foot of their beds discussing things with a doctor. There is no family present, making me wonder if the families of the affected are in the same state.
While waiting for the doctor to finish, I find myself walking up to the man who was the very first victim. It’s as though I can still see the way the arrow went right through him, tearing the white orb out of him.
I set my hand against his chest and immediately feel this strange sense of emptiness from him.
My brow furrows while I question whether I really am feeling something as strange as that. It’s not like I have healer magic or any type of magic that would allow me tofeelthings.
“Strand,” Lt. Lindsey says, using my last name by way of greeting.
“I wanted to talk to you about something,” I say as I watch the doctor leave. “I need a video of Torin fighting that man to be sent to the news. I need it to get out there.”
She gives me a harsh laugh. “We are not releasing any footage from the fight.”
“He is a god who needs followers in order to heal and gain his power back. If we send a video out, he probably isn’t going tohave people praying to him at a shrine, but maybe just believing in him is enough. And right now, people are terrified; they’re unsure when another Door is going to open or what’s going to happen to those who haven’t woken up. They need someone to believe in?—”
“Absolutely not. We wouldn’t have had this many casualties if we’d gone as a team,” Lt. Lindsey says, inflicting her cold eyes on Imani who had informed me that she was nearly fired after this stunt.
“There’s absolutely no way you’d have sent the entire unit there on a theory,” I argue. “Are you listening to yourself? We had no way of knowing where the Door was opening. That’s why everyone was moving out in pairs to cover more ground and find it faster. There would’ve been absolutely no reason for you to send the entire unit to the fair when we had no way of knowing if the Door was opening there. And their city doesn’t have a Magical Interference Unit, so it’s not like we could have called ahead and sent anyone there. You know that if others had felt the Door opening there, it would have been called in, but it requires someone with high-level magic to evenfeelit.”
Lt. Lindsey’s narrowed eyes make me hold up a hand before she can even start.
“You know what? I’m not fighting you on this,” I say. “Go ahead and degrade the heroes who risked their lives to save as many people as they could. I’m not here for that. I just need you to realize that Torin is the only reason we held that man back. I know you’ve reviewed the footage. I know you’re aware that if it weren’t for Torin, many of us would have died. He’s weak without his power. He might not even make it. If another Door were to open right now… I’m not quite sure who you think would be able to stop them.”
“You,” she replies. “You’re the reason he left through that Door, not the god.”
I shake my head, firmly believing that she’s wrong. “Oh no, I would have been dead or left on the other side of that Door if it weren’t for Torin. Just because my magic had the final say doesn’t mean that Torin isn’t the reason. What does giving people a bit of hope hurt? You saw how fast that man was tearing through people. For every soul or whatever it is he takes, he gains another fighter. It was a matter of minutes before he’d taken down over a hundred that would have multiplied to take even more.”
Lt. Lindsey stares at me for a long moment. “I will only do it if you rejoin the unit.”
I hesitate, genuinely confused why she’d evenwantme to join, but she likely knows that I might be the only way she’s keeping that man from getting through the Door.
But at what cost?
She’s going to send me out to every fight she thinks I’ll be able to demolish in seconds like I used to. But if it means getting Torin back, I’ll do it.
