Chapter 14 – Want to see my tree house?
Unique was floating. She was afraid to open her eyes to see where she would end. In her mind, she was only concerned about Sion. She had to warn him about his envious sister.
"Ungh." She groaned when her body hit something soft and hard at the same time. She lay completely still on there, trying to imitate a rock. Hopefully, she hadn't angered or hurt anyone.
"You know... We really should stop meeting like this," Sion's voice said.
Her eyes shot open to see Sion’s pained expression. Unique would have hugged him if she weren't already lying on top of his body. He pushed her off carefully and held his hand to his ribs.
"I think you might have been the cause of more broken ribs than anyone else in the world history." The words were said as a joke, but she could see him struggle to talk. The healing must already have started.
"Sion..." There was so much that she needed to tell him, but there was no time. "We have to go!"
"What? Where to?"
"I'll explain later... Can you transport?"
He shook his head. "Not with a broken rib. I have to wait until it's healed. But how do you—“
"There's no time to explain. Just run."
He jumped to his feet and took her hand. They ran from the carnival place, forcing their way through the walking humans that were out for a stroll on a lovely day. Angry shouts were given, but they didn't take notice. They were in a hurry. Minutes passed and soon the sounds of their footsteps on the pavement were the only sound they could hear.
Sion halted and looked at her with a puzzled expression. "Where do you want to go?"
Unique bit her lip. Where could they go to hide? She had no clue.
"Come on, Unique. Talk to me. What happened?"
She looked into his handsome brown eyes. "We need to find a place where we can hide in safety."
"What are we hiding from?"
"Other Gods."
His jaw dropped, and he widened his eyes.
"It's not what you think – Don't worry." She averted her eyes to her feet. Her right foot was tapping impatiently at the ground.
"Well. We could always go to the caves?"
"No! No caves. It needs to be a human filled place. We need to hide among the humans. That's our only chance."
"But the caves are the only place where the other Gods can't see us."
"I don't care. Not the caves." Unique didn't know why, but she had a feeling that if they went to the caves, then they wouldn't be far from Envy. And she didn't have any desire to go back to Envy's hiding place.
"Well. The humans have houses they've built around the altar of Gods?"
"Would it work?"
"I'm not sure. I don't think anyone can just intrude on their holy houses though."
"It's not good enough. We need to find a place to hide from the banished Gods."
"Unique, that's—“
"Don't argue with me now, Sion! I am scared, and I need us to be safe. Please just help me now," she yelled. Tears were starting to form.
He clammed up and nodded. "Alright. Can you transport?"
She shook her head. "I don't think so."
"Alright. Let me transport you then. You have to hold extraordinarily tight because if I lose you during the transportation it'll be near impossible to get you back."
She nodded. She'd do anything to get them both to safety right now.
Sion stepped closer and placed his arms around her. They were face to face with barely an inch between them. He looked down. "Put your arms around my neck."
Unique raised her hands and did as he asked. It was odd, but just having his arms around her made her fear disappear. She felt safe. Perhaps Sion was...
The thought didn't get to finish before he transported. Her eyes clenched shut, and she clung to his body. Her arms rested on his bulging muscles as he tensed up.
This time was more pleasant than when they fell to earth. She rested her head on his pecks and hoped they’d soon be landing. Mmmn. This was nice…
“Unique?” Sion asked.
“Mmn?”
“We’re here… You can let go now.”
She opened her eyes to see them on solid ground. She jerked away from him too fast. His hand caught her arm, and he stopped her from falling.
“We really need to stop meeting like this,” he joked.
Unique rolled her eyes. Oh yeah, Sion’s back. She couldn’t hide a small smile though. The crisis was averted at least for now.
“So, where are we?” she asked.
He grinned and backed away, his hand finding hers. “I’ll show you.”
The ground was covered with grass, and the sky was barely visible for the large oak trees that towered above them. Sion pulled her arm to keep walking. “We’re not quite safe yet.”
She forced her feet to keep moving. But her eyes kept going to their intertwined hands. What was happening to her?
He led her over to the tallest tree and stopped.
“Why are we stopping?” she asked.
“Well. We kinda need to go up.” He pointed up. If she squinted, she could see the outline of a flat platform further up.
“Are you crazy?” she screeched.
He burst out laughing. “What? You don’t want to see my tree house?”
“Why are you laughing at me again?”
“Never mind. Look, babe. We gotta get up there. This part of the earth is the closest to Haims but still in the Human world. We have to be up there, to be safe. Once we’re there… None of the other Gods in Haims or on Earth can find us.”
“Why is that?”
“I’ll tell you once we’re safe and you’ve told me everything about what happened to you. Deal?”
She nodded. There was no other choice.
“So how do we get up there?” she asked.
Sion frowned. “Well. It’s been a few years since I was last here, and the tree has grown a lot. There’s a little trigger up there which will make a ladder fall down to us. If you stand on my shoulders, perhaps you can reach it?”
“We can try.”
Unique was happy that her dress weren’t that long. That meant she might even be able to do this. Sion kneeled down, and she climbed up.
“Hold tight to the trunk. I’ll be slowly straightening my back now.” Sion’s hands wrapped around her ankles as he stood up.
Unique wasn’t that afraid to fall, but she didn’t dare look either. Her eyes were closed as they’d been so often this past hour. She tried to breathe slowly to be balanced. This had to work, she had so much to tell Sion about. God, she hoped Envy wouldn’t drop by now. That would be bad. Her heart started racing at the thought. Why was she so afraid of the other Goddess? It made no sense.
“Unique?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s not that I’m complaining about my view from down here, but could you maybe find the trigger?”
She looked down to see him staring straight up under her skirt with a naughty smirk plastered on his face. Their eyes met, and he waggled his eyebrows and returned to stare at her panties. At least, she hoped it was her panties. Oh no. What if something showed? She’d die in embarrassment.
“Unique… I’m serious…” he said once more with a sigh.
Right… The trigger – her hands felt around for anything. “How am I supposed to—“
Her fingers found at smooth surface sticking out. Using her finger, she pressed down. She’d barely managed to react before she fell. Sion had stepped away and caught her in his arms before hurrying to the side. Seconds after, a ladder made from rope and wood spiraled down, hitting the earth with a loud thump.
“There it was.” Sion grinned. Unique hit him with a flat palm on his chest.
“Don’t do that again.”
She was rewarded a warm chuckle, and he motioned for her to get moving.
“Ladies first.”
“Nuh-uh. You’re not getting the chance to view up my skirt again.”
He laughed but walked over and started climbing. Unique waited for him to get a bit further up before she checked if her underwear hadn’t revealed anything to him. Thank Goddess – it hadn’t. She shot Sion a sour glance before crawling up the ladder after him.
The tree was tall, and her arms started to ache always halfway up. It would take double the time to crawl down again though, so she just kept on climbing.
“Alright. Give me your hand, and I’ll pull you up.”
She looked up to see Sion holding out a hand towards her. She took it, and was thankful when her feet finally was placed on a flat surface.
“Thank you. Now tell me, what’s—“
She stopped talking as she took in her surroundings. The tree house was a magnificent building. The house wasn’t painted but seemed to shine nonetheless. Her mouth dropped at the large windows that revealed a splendid sight on the other side.
“Yeah. I know the effect it has,” Sion muttered. He didn’t meet her eyes. Instead, he walked over to open the door. “We’re safe here.”
“But how…?”
“It’s a long story, Unique. One that can wait. Now, I need to know what made you so afraid.”
She nodded and walked past him. Unique tried to hide her excitement over the luxury inside. It was a thousand times better than their motel room. Why hadn’t Sion taken her there to begin with?
Sion closed the door after him and sat down in a large chair. Motioning to the coach on the opposite side, he looked at her with an amused expression.
“Right. I’ll tell you,” she said and sat down on the forest green couch. Then she started to tell him everything.