Chapter Fourteen

Sheldon

It wasn’t hard to find the Other World gateway after we returned the rental car. We stood outside of it, in a line of others who had recently gotten off their flights. Travis stood with his shoulders squared and his arms crossed. He didn’t like the idea of the gateway any more than I liked the idea of flying across the ocean to London.

“Are you going to be alright?” I asked. “You smell like you’re going to fight the guardians and wage war.”

“I’ll tell you later.”

“Just tell me before you wage war, alright?”

“I’m not waging war,” Travis frowned.

“Do you want to fly there and I’ll take the gateway and we’ll meet up?” I asked him.

“No,” he shook his head.

“I’m sorry I don’t like metal birds,” I said and someone behind me laughed.

“Next!” The guardians of the gateway called out.

“Now or never, Trav,” I said, reaching out for his hand.

He took my hand. I nodded at the elves holding the door open and led the way. Tugging Travis off the main path, I took a second to adjust to the new sounds. I rubbed behind my ears as birds chirped back and forth to each other and people chatted along the path. Grass and wildflowers grew tall under our feet, surrounding the path most taken, and helping travelers not to get lost.

“Are you okay?” I asked Travis again now that we didn’t have a giggler eavesdropping behind us.

“Let’s just get going, okay?”

“Alright, but I can’t help if you don’t tell me what it is,” I said, starting back to the path.

“My dad’s wolf ran and hid over here or got so lost over here or something when he was---” Travis stopped short. “Well, anyway, he was stuck over here, and they had to come rescue him.”

Fuck!

I’d forgotten that little tidbit of Travis’s family tree. His father was Grady Moore’s favorite bespelled captive. I hadn’t known about his wolf fleeing to the Other World, but I couldn’t blame the furry guy. Stay with a monster or ride in a mostly peaceful world?

“If you get stuck, I’ll just stay with you,” I shrugged, trying not to make a big deal of it. “We’ll just live here until they figure out we never arrived in London and someone comes looking for us.”

Making a big deal of other people’s anxiety usually wasn’t a way to help anyone. Travs shot me a hard to read look as I headed back to the path and waved for him to follow me.

“I won’t let you get stuck,” I tried once we were on the path hand-in-hand.

“I’m not afraid of getting stuck,” he said.

“Is it your wolf?” I asked.

“Sort of. People come and go all day and night through these gateways, but they’ve always made me feel off.”

“Generational trauma,” I nodded.

“I don’t think it works like that,” Travis laughed.

“It can when magic is involved, but look,” I pointed ahead to a semi-circle of gateways. “We’re just about out of here. Faster than flying, huh?”

“Not as many lines,” Travis admitted.

“Don’t worry. It’s not my favorite either, but it’s not like we could’ve driven to London from Heartsville.”

“That’s what the Moonscales should fund.”

“Cars that drive on what?” I arched a brow.

“No, bridges across oceans.”

“Could you imagine how much maintenance that would take and how many people would probably drown until they figured out how to maintain such a thing? I’d rather spend weeks on a ship than ride over a bridge like a guinea pig.”

“You’re as bad as Scott,” Travis laughed.

“What do you mean?” I stopped mid-step to ask.

“The way you worry,” he smiled.

“Says the man,” I said and stopped myself.

“Who gets the creepy-crawlies from the Other World? Yeah,” Travis smirked, “that’s me.”

“Other World has been around longer than bridges that cross the ocean that aren’t even invented yet,” I teased and pulled him forward toward the door marked LONDON.

“Do you know where we’ll come out?” he asked, but I didn’t have an answer besides London.

A green-haired guardian elf opened the door, and I sprinted through tugging Travis behind me, before he changed his mind and we had to walk all the way back to the other door.

“In front of the visitor’s building,” I answered as my ears buzzed with engines of too many passing cars.

“Smart ass,” Travis said, sliding his hands over my ears.

“How far are we from the flat?” I asked him.

“I’ll send for a car,” he said.

“That far, huh?”

“Unless you want to ride the bus. They’re just as loud as the street, if not louder. There’s the trains too, but same problem,” he said, still covering one of my ears as he fished his phone out of his pocket.

“Probably a good idea. With this much noise for hours, I’ll be laid up in bed all day tomorrow with my fingers in my ears,” I said, hoping I hadn’t already put my brain through too many laps.

Once he sent the text, Travis covered both of my ears. I didn’t know a thing about London, but the city smelled like dragons and the metal that came along with them. There was a bakery nearby and people talked too much inside the visitor’s building. Turning to face him, I buried my face in Travis’s chest and let his scent overwhelm me. I breathed in, focusing on his heartbeat thrumming through his chest and fingers.

“I probably should’ve ordered grocery delivery ahead of time,” Travis said.

“Huh?” I blinked, not changing my comfy chest-buried position.

“You’re nuzzling like it’s bloodshake time,” Travis whispered.

“Oh, yeah, that. You couldn’t have ordered early if you wanted to. We barely knew where we were going after we turned in the rental car.”

“Maybe,” he said.

“I’ll be fine. I had one before we left. You smell thirsty, though.”

“Car’s here,” he said in lieu of an answer.