»Today I thought of you.
Of the way your lips would part to allow the nicotine that
invaded your lungs to escape but would never open up enough
to allow the words I know you held inside to save me, to save us.«
M. K. Wilde
I woke already sitting up. A hushed voice was echoing in my head: Do you trust me? And then I remembered a lucid pair of eyes and blazing lips…
»You kissed me!« I dived at my face with both palms, covering the place where his lips met mine.
»Oh,« He muttered. »that. Mortals cannot travel between dimensions awake. So I gave you a little goodnight kiss.«
»A what now?«
He slowly turned his head examining the surroundings. »A modest sleep spell. Think of it as an anti-version of the Sleeping Beauty.« The words all left his mouth as if it were an every day conversation. »I call it a goodnight kiss.« He turned over, his eyes wide with amusement.
I gritted my teeth against the urge to vomit, my rage raising in waves and my nails digging in the palm of my hand, trying to surpass the need to hit his ignorant face. How can he dismiss a kiss just like that?
»What?« He asked in a most unnatural way. »Do not worry, I did it quick and carefully, I was not going to kill you.« There was sheer crudeness in his voice, intentionally or unintentionally.
»It could kill me?« I spat out the words. I couldn't even mouth the word kiss, the thumping anger was still present in my mind.
»You do not actually believe a mere mortal could survive a supernatural kiss of mine, do you?«
I wish I could say I was surprised by the arrogance in that sentence, but I wasn't. I shook my head and looked around. Where the hell were we anyway?
I saw…nothing. There was no city, no houses, no roads, no mountains, no trees. I shuffled the surface with my hand, touching the dust around me, letting the grains of sand slip through my fingers like time. We were in a desert.
»What is this place?« I asked.
»I told you,« He stepped closer to me. »the Inbetween.«
»It's a desert.«
»No, it is like a desert.« He brushed the sandy floor with his feet and wandered away from me. »You will get eaten if you stay there.« He yelled from the distance.
I wasn't going to take any chances in an unfamiliar surroundings, so I rushed towards him. He seemed awfully calm and sure of himself, strolling around the wasteland in nothing but a blue hoodie, a pair of old jeans and a troubled mortal by his side.
»Why are you helping me?«
»What kind of an owner would I be if I would not take care of my investment?« He didn't even bother to look at me.
He needn't to explain what was the investment, I clearly understood that he was talking about my soul. And that's all I was to him, a fucking investment. He was my owner, and yet he was my servant. What contradiction.
I decided not to allow myself to be annoyed by the Master of Mischief and rather spent my precious time observing the ambience. There was still a lot of sand, but slowly a few rocks began to surface. They were large and strange, too big for a full grown man to lift them, so I wondered…What or who had moved these rocks, since I saw drag marks that stretched for kilometers.
I wasn't quite sure what time of the day it was supposed to be. It wasn't particularly hot, or cold. There was no sun in the sky, no moon, not even the stars. There was light, don't get me wrong, but there was no source. The sand crackled beneath our feet as we walked the unknown path. And then a 'plump'.
Sand doesn't make a plump sound, that's strange…
I looked at my feet and there it was. The most beautiful thing I've ever seen. A person could easily mistaken it for a lake, but it wasn't. The floor was covered with a few centimetres of water, and if you walked through it, it seemed like you were walking on water.
I knew it was water, because when I stepped in it, echoing rings occurred around my step, but the more I looked, the more I saw…a night sky. Only, it was upside down.
I took another step and disturbed the eternal blue with gleaming lights of the Milky Way. It was like night sky in the summer-,no, more like the reflection of it on a silky surface of the deepest ocean.
I didn't notice at first, but the light around me went dark, turned into the days' mistress. I was so mesmerized by the pure beauty of shimmering stardust on the Nyx's coat, I even forgot his presence. How could you not feel in love with such fairness of nature?
I could not take my eyes from what appeared to be fairy kisses on a cloak of darkness…
»It is called the Reflection of Oladelgo,« His voice vibrated in the air. »it shows you the sky in a mirrored way. The way gods look upon it. From above.«
I kneeled down and caressed the cold fluid. »It's so beautiful…« I whispered into the damp air.
Luc squatted next to me and gently traced his fingers on its surface, which reminded me of the unlucky kiss… »I know that I am mortal by nature, and ephemeral; but when I trace at my pleasure the windings to and fro of the heavenly bodies I no longer touch the earth with my feet: I stand in the presence of Zeus himself and take my fill of ambrosia.«
His voice embraced my body like tender kisses.
»Ptolemy.« He added.
I ran my fingers up and down the water, it answering me with sweet nothings. »I don't even know what color it is…Blue or black…«
He smiled. »You know, Greeks did not know the color blue, or to be precise – they did not have the word for it. So, they called the sea – the wine-dark sea.«
That made me chuckle. »Like Japanese, for them green is just a shade of blue.«
»Exactly,« He stood up and offered me a hand.
Together, we walked across the engraved stars in the wine-dark sea. A light breeze tickled my bare skin, kissing all soft places and curves.
A sound, much like a wolf howl, shook the air and revealed a forest of large mountains. Strange eyes were watching us from the shadows of the already dark surroundings, creatures big and tall, with pointy ears like a fox, or with a clefted tongue like a snake, stared at us from afar.
I licked my lips and swallowed. »What are those?« I sputtered.
»Wanetas'.«
A small yellow frog leaped towards me and stared with its big green eyes. »Oh, she's so cute. I didn't know they had animals here.«
»They do not.« He grabbed my hand and pulled me back. »This is a Waneta.«
»What?« I glanced at him in disbelief. »I thought you said they were like guardians. What the hell can a little frog do to a crazed angel?« I snorted.
Suddenly that cute, little frog got covered with giant boils, each bigger than the last one. Soon she lost the shape of a tiny frog and turned larger, and larger…Until she was twice our size.
»Um,« I shifted back, almost tripping over myself. »Luc?« My voice trembled.
»Did I mention a Waneta means shape-shifter?« He spoke from behind me.
»No…« I growled through my teeth, bumping into his torso with my back. »What now?«
»Now,« He took my hand into his which was searingly hot. »we run.«
Author's note: Hi you guys! At the moment I'm at the seaside in Croatia and the Wifi is terrible, so I'm posting what I wrote today...It's not much, but I hope you like it :) Anyway, comment, vote if you liked the chapter, I always love hearing from you!