“Nope.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Nash doesn’t either.”
“What about Alexei?”
“Haven’t seen him—” Orla broke off to say something to Ivy, leaving me hanging and stewing all rolled into a big ball ofwhat the actual fuck. “River’s okay, though.” She came back, fielding my next question without me having to say it. “He likes having Axel around again.”
“That’s cos he likes all his friends to look like me.”
“Axel doesn’t look like you.”
“Coulda done. Eleventy years ago, but it’s still valid.”
“If you say so. Listen, I need to go and finish Ivy’s nails, but call me again if you need to, okay? I’m here for you. We all are, and we hate you being gone as much as you do.”
I hadn’t realised how badly my angsty heart needed to hear that. I sniffed, glancing up as a fox crossed the car park in front of us, heading for the bottle banks. “Love you.”
“Love you more.”
Orla cut the call. I blew out a breath, missing River so much it hurt. Folk and Saint swirled in my fatigued thoughts under a neon-bright sign, telling me something was truly fucking wonky in their world right now, but I was too far from home to do anything about it.
I waswaytoo tired for a trek around ASDA too, but I’d committed and here we were, a fact I regretted as I discovered shopping with Ranger was a theme park I hadn’t bought a ticket for. “Stop nicking stuff.”
“I’m not nicking it. I’m moving it around.”
“Why?”
“Why not?”
I had no fucking clue. I foraged myself a dinner of bananas and a packet of grapes.
Ranger bought three bags of Wotsits and a kilo of chicken breasts, and I ran out of energy to wonder why until we crossed into IKEA territory again and he tossed the meat to the waiting fox.
“You lanky old softie.”
Ranger crouched to watch the fox. “Get fucked.”
I wish. I leaned against a lamppost, texting Riv and waiting on him to ride back to Orla to fetch his fucking phone, a reality that could’ve stretched out for days, but this time the dragon gods heard my prayer and he popped up on our thread ten minutes later.
Ranger was still watching the fox eat the cute little chicken picnic he’d laid out.
I ate a banana and texted one-thumbed.
Rubi:We can video call if you miss my face that much. You don’t have to collect doppelgängers
River:Fuck off
Rubi:Rude
River:What are you even talking about?
Rubi:Khaleesi said you were with Axel
River:So?
Rubi:He’s my twin, innit?