And off the subway goes, leaving us standing here in battle position.
“This is fine. This is very much fine,” I mumble to myself.
“You seem lifeless; clearly these things have sucked the very life from your bones,” Torin declares.
“Trust me, it wasn’t the subway that did that.”
“Come, servant, we will use these legs we were given and walk to our next destination.”
“Okay,” I say, lulling him into a false sense of security so he releases me just as another subway car stops in front of me and I swiftly walk right through those open doors. It’s rather crowded, but there’s enough space for us as the “god” stands there looking absolutely flabbergasted that I went against his wishes.
I give him a grin and pull out my phone, prepared to text Imani that I lost the godly creature somewhere on the subway line, when he slides his hands in between the doors just as they are closing and forces them open.
The recording of “Please stand clear of the doors” begins going off as he takes one step and then another into the car.Alleyes shift to him, and I canfeelthe way the crowd tenses up. Seeing nonhuman beings isn’t unusual, but even though Torin appears human, there’s something different about him.Something that makes it impossible to look away. Tension fills the subway car as the realization hits the crowd that the lives of every single person here are in this man’s hands.
I don’t blame them. While they haven’t experienced it, I saw it in the way he handled the hellhound, moving so quickly I could barely track him, not to mention the strength it took to cut the beast’s head clean off.
And Imani is just letting him go with me?
Does she realize this too and is trying to keep me near him in case he’s here with ill intentions? Does she still think I’m the person I used to be?
What a joke.
The doors shut and he steps up to me while everyone holds their breath. It’s like they are now convinced this man is here to murder me, and they’re not sure whether they want to run or watch.
“You dare leave me, Torin the Great God of?—”
The subway takes off and Torin immediately loses his balance. He grabs me by the front of my shirt, ripping me right off my feet before we go sprawling into the crowd of onlookers who get to catch our bodies, and Torin nearly depants a guy as he goes down.
And I just… start laughing.
Here I am, clinging to a stranger while Kit hangs on, nails digging into my shoulder. I’m deliriously laughing at a god who has his arms wrapped around a man’s waist, his face smashed right up against the man’s junk as the subway chugs along toward its final destination without a single care in the world.
“You dare laugh at me?” Torin barks.
“This is karma for trying to be so badass for no reason at all. Your face when you fell!”
“Tell this beast to slow the fuck down!”
I manage to choke down my laughter long enough to apologize to the man who caught me and then head over to help Torin up. By the time I reach him, the subway car has stopped and the doors have opened.
Torin rushes for the open doors only for them to shut in his face and off we go again.
“What a disobedient creature!”
This time, I grab him and press him against a bar, which he hangs on to like it might save his life.
“I will assassinate this creature as soon as it stops moving.”
I stand in front of him while I try to fight off my smile. “Torin, it’s fine. It’s just moving fast, so you lost your balance. It’s nothing to be so embarrassed over.”
His eyes narrow. “I’ve never been embarrassed once in my life.”
“For sure,” I say as I pull out my phone and order pizza for delivery while he’s busy cussing out the subway.
Then I snap a picture of Torin hugging the bar for dear life and send it to Imani.
Me: I don’t think he’s going to make it. What do you think happens to us when we lose a god on the subway line?
