31. Tempi

CHAPTER 31

TEMPI

W ith the morning comes a feeling of sleepy contentment. I don't know how long Midas and I had made love, but I wake up entangled in his arms, his leg wrapped around me, my face smooshed into his chest. It's such a nice position, I don't dare move until he sleepily stretches and kisses my forehead.

"Good morning," he rasps.

I tilt my head back. "Good morning," I answer back.

My voice is a little hoarse. I'm not looking forward to facing everyone in camp. They had to have heard everything that happened last night. I'm blushing already thinking about it.

He smiles gently at me before leaning down to press a chaste kiss against my lips. "You're blushing," he says.

"Just thinking about how everyone will look at us when we come out of the tent," I murmur, flushing harder.

"I like it," he declares. "It makes your skin shine even brighter."

I'd almost forgotten my skin has a glittery sheen to it in these other worlds. It's such a strange thing to forget considering everything else. Still, it's not useful. I don't even know what it means, let alone if it's some sort of actual power. I'm sure it's just a side effect of the portals or something.

Together we get dressed, and it feels. . . different. I feel lighter, and I can't help looking over at Midas every chance I get, taking in his body, burning him into my memory. Just in case. I wanna remember everything about the man.

"I'm going to go out and see if there's food," Midas says. "You finish getting ready."

I nod and watch him go, sighing. " Dios mío , what are you doing, Tempi?" I muse to myself. If I'm not careful, I'll be the fool in this fairytale. Falling in love in a world not my own doesn't seem wise, but damn it if I'm not halfway there. Midas just feels. . . well, he feels a little bit like home. I haven't felt that feeling in so long, not since I lost Gilroy and Bella. Maybe it's the different world, but that feeling is so much stronger here.

Or maybe it's Midas. Maybe he's the reason it feels so different.

I step outside the tent finally and stretch, relishing the clean air here. There's no smog, no air pollution. There're no sounds of overwhelming city, only the sounds of the Merry Men and their people getting ready for the day. It's calm, and though it feels almost strange, I like it. How lovely to wake up to something like this every morning.

Across the camp, I catch sight of Midas grabbing a plate of food from the man who'd found us. He starts walking toward me, a bright smile on his face. He's wearing his crown now and seeing him wearing it reminds me that I wore it last night. I flush again and his grin widens. It's such a sweet moment that I almost miss it.

That first telltale sound of whooshing.

My eyes widen. "Midas!" I cry, feeling the gravity of a portal start to gently pull at me.

His own eyes widen, and he drops the plate he'd been holding to sprint toward me. He's fast, so fast, and I'm reaching out for him as I start to be dragged more violently backward. I grab onto a tree, but my strength isn't that high against a magic portal. Some of the Merry Men catch sight and watch with wide eyes. A few try to help but immediately back away when the gravity tries to pull at them.

My fingers slip. . .

Just as Midas leaps toward me. I go through the magic portal first and he disappears for a second, before reappearing as he leaps through after me. I breathe a sigh of relief that he made it, that I didn't leave him behind there. My heartbeat thunders hard in my ears as we swirl and come out the other side. I slam into the ground first. I have just enough time to roll to side before Midas crashes to the ground beside me. He's panting hard as he presses himself up on his hands and knees.

"That was fucking close," he grunts. "Fuck."

"It was," I agree, pushing my hair from my eyes. "I should have gone with you to get the food."

He hits the ground with his fist. "I forgot. I'm such an idiot. I was so consumed with. . ." His voice trails off and he glances at me before sighing. "It's fine. I made it. That's all that matters."

My chest tightens and I look down. "Sorry if I made you forget your priorities."

His strong fingers on my chin jerk my gaze back up. "You're my priority, Tempest. Those words didn't sound how I meant them to."

I nod, but in my heart I don't believe his words. He still needs to get back to Under. Besides, what am I going to do once that happens? I don't belong in his world. We haven't discussed any of that. Leo and Ben are still in Under, hopefully okay. I have to get Leo home at least, right? And Midas, he has a job to do in Under. He can't just run off to my world with me.

"Don't," Midas chastises.

"Don't what?" I ask

"Don't give up before we've even had a chance," he murmurs. "I beg you."

I blink. "How did you?—"

"It's written across your face, Tempest." He presses his forehead against mine, his crown pressing against my flesh. "We'll figure things out. It was my fault earlier. I was just frustrated with myself, not you. I don't regret what we did, and I won't ever."

I swallow. "Okay," I rasp.

"Okay?"

I nod and repeat the word again. "Okay." Finally, I look around us and flinch. "Midas."

He looks in the direction I am and tenses the same as I do before slowly easing to block me. In front of us, sitting like a dog, is a large brown bear. It's eyes flicker with intelligence as it tilts its head.

"Such a sweet moment," the bear says, and I jerk again at hearing a bear speak. "Welcome, friends. Welcome to the Hundred Acre Wood."

I stare at him, really stare. "Are you. . .You're not Pooh Bear, are you?"

The bear tilts his head. "Have we met before?"

"No. No, we haven't," I reply, glancing at Midas in worry. No world we've been to yet has been like the stories. Something tells me this won't be either. I don't even remember all of this story, only the bare minimum, and clearly Winnie the Pooh isn't a cute little bear in a little t-shirt.

The bear seems curious as he studies us both. "Are you hurt?" he asks us.

"No," Midas answers. "Is there someone in charge? Or are you in charge?"

The bear giggles. "Me? Oh, no. I'm not in charge. You mean Christopher Robin."

I grimace. "I don't know if this is a good idea," I whisper to Midas.

"Christopher Robin can help," Pooh says. "Come with me. Come on." When we hesitate, the bear's expression hardens. "I won't hurt you. I would never hurt you. Come with me and I'll take you to Christopher Robin. He can help. I promise."

"What's the worst that can happen?" Midas asks.

"Oh, I don't know. A pony can try to sacrifice us. We could be eaten by a sea monster. We could be imprisoned by an angry cat in boots."

"Good point," he nods. "But what else are we going to do? We have to at least see what we're working with until another merge opens."

I crinkle my nose. "Fine. But don't say I didn't warn you. This feels off."

Pooh waits patiently for us to finish talking before he tilts his head. "Are you ready now?"

I nod. "Lead the way, uh. . . Pooh."

He ambles off and both of us follow after him. He's massive, like a grizzly bear but bigger. He's just brown though, like any normal bear. Which is strange. How much will be like the stories and how much will be different?

We follow after Pooh for about ten minutes, trailing through the woods. He follows a path he's clearly walked a hundred times. The ground has been successfully worn and old bear prints break up the ground every so often.

"The hollow is just ahead," Pooh says, continuing forward.

The air suddenly feels stale, and then the scent of something rotting hits my nose. I cover it and gasp, trying not to breathe the smell in.

"Come on," Pooh encourages.

The smell only grows stronger as we follow him, until we break through the tree line and see the large stumps turned hollows. At first, I can't figure out exactly what I'm seeing, not until Midas grabs my arm and stops me.

"Tempest, look," he says, pointing to the hollows.

"These are my friends," Pooh declares. "Everyone, say hello! We have visitors. Christopher Robin will be here any moment and we'll be able to really greet them."

In the hollows, there are creatures, but none of them move. They lay in various states of decay, a tiger, a pig, an owl, a donkey. They all lay in puddles of rot. The scent is coming from them.

I make the sign of the cross on my chest. " Ay, Dios ," I whisper, horrified. "Are those what I think they are?"

"This is Piglet," Pooh continues as if we haven't stopped, and he hasn't noticed our horror. "He's a little shy. He'll say hello shortly. Tigger is over there. Owl, he's busy at the moment. And Eeyore, well Eeyore is a bit under the weather as he always is."

My fingers squeeze Mida's forearm. I don't know what to do. Pooh seems to not understand the creatures are dead. Either he's lost his mind or there's something here we're not seeing.

"What have you brought me today, Winnie the Pooh?" a voice calls before a little boy appears from the opposite side of the hollow. He can't be older than eight years old. His eyes take in me and Midas where we stand, eyeing us with irises too green to be natural.

"New friends!" Pooh declares. "We always need new friends."

"They're the wrong kind of animals to be friends, Pooh. Remember?" Christopher says, shaking his head. "We've been over this."

Pooh's head droops. "Oh. Right. Well, then, they'll make good food for the Hundred Acre Wood then."

"Fuck," I curse under my breath. "Any ideas Midas?"

"Nope," he answers, pulling off his glove. "Just stay away from my hand," he says as Pooh starts to stalk toward us.

"Yes, The Hundred Acre Woods always needs to be fed," Christopher says. A glow starts emanating from his hand and spreads out before shooting outward. "Let me wake up our friends to help."

The power spears into all the dead creatures. The sound of rattling bones meets my ears, and the stench of rotting corpses grows stronger as one by one, the animals all stand and step from their hollows.

Horrified, I back away, my eyes on their rotting bodies. Like zombies, they amble forward, their eyes glowing with the same green as Christopher Robin's.

"Stay back!" Midas growls at them, but Pooh stalks forward. "Is this how it is in the stories?"

"No," I croak. "They're just toys in the stories. All the worlds, they're not real in my world. They're just stories. And none of them seem right! This isn't right!"

"Clearly, I'm real," Midas says. "As are these creatures."

"Clearly. But in my world you're not. The closest we get to magic is an espresso machine! I don't know how to handle this," I growl.

Now would be a good time for the dormant power inside me to appear. That or the magical control of the portals would be nice. But nothing like that happens.

"The Hundred Acre Wood needs fresh life to sustain it," Christopher Robin says, watching us carefully as the animals converge on us. "Unfortunately for you two, you've come when it's hungry. This won't be too painful if you don't fight."

The zombie tiger lolls it's head toward me and meets my eyes. "Just hold still. This won't hurt at all," it says in a singsong voice.

"Hold still," the pig adds.

The owl unfolds from its hollow and flaps mangled wings. "It hungers. We hunger."

"Oh, fuck this," I say, shaking my head. I grab Midas' gloved hand and jerk him into a run just as Pooh roars and charges toward us.