I cleared my throat and looked at Chuck. He blinked back at me. No help for me there, then. I felt like I should be standing in front of a kindergarten class. The subway lurched forward, putting any thoughts of standing out of my mind. “Well, I said my name is Eira.” I paused awkwardly, looking at my shoes, wondering how much I should tell them. The whole I was supposed to kill you both originally but didn’t didn’t seem like it would inspire a lot of confidence, and I wasn’t going to tell them about Robert. That was just too personal.
What was left? “I guess I got contacted, sort of like you. I mean, no one killed my cat or anyone I cared about, but it was made pretty clear what I had to do, and that there would be consequences if I didn’t. It all happened last night for me, really, and I thought it was all a dream this morning, but it wasn’t, because he-” I jerked my head in the direction of Mr. Smith, who had followed us quietly onto the train and was now sitting on a bench at the other end of the car, seemingly asleep, “showed up at my door in a cab and took me hear.”
I realized I had begun to ramble and pressed a hand to my mouth, suddenly overcome. I had been through hell the past 24 hours. Sure, it wasn’t the kind of hell the other two looked like they had been through, but it was enough to shake me. I took a semi-shaky breath, and Chuck leaned across the car to pat my hand with his larger one. I resisted the urge to snatch my hand away, instead turning it over so that my palm was flat against his. This time, it didn’t seem like he was trying to be cool or suave. It felt, at least to me, as if it was meant only as a comforting gesture.
Rufus looked at us awkwardly. He couldn’t have been more than a few years older than me, but he seemed almost ancient. He had said he was a doctor, and I wondered if he had gotten his world-weary from whatever he had seen in the past few days or if it had built up over time. He wiped a hand across his slightly scruffy face, and I reached out, resting two fingers on top of his hand. The three of us sat like that until I coughed and shifted uncomfortably. Chuck and Rufus looked away.
It was Rufus who spoke next. “This is going to seem like an odd question, but, well,” he paused, as if unsure whether or not to continue, then said in a rush, “Kalki made it seem as though he wasn’t the only one out there vying for one certain apocalypse to happen. So, uh,” he faltered again.
“Well, based on the high occurrence of horsemen in my life over the past few days, I’d say Christian apocalypse,” Chuck said, unsure.
I squeezed my eyes shut. “I…I really have no idea,” I admitted. “I was never really formally introduced.” I gave Mr. Smith a pointed look, which he ignored, continuing to pretend to sleep.
“Tell me what you know.” Rufus leaned forward, suddenly more interested.
I tucked my bangs behind my ears, noticing the ends of a few pieces were slightly charred. I sighed. The end of the world meant I wouldn’t be able to get Ricardo, my favorite stylist, to fix that any time soon. “Embarassingly little,” I admitted. “I only have names, and I’m pretty sure they aren’t even real names.”
“Try me,” he challenged. There was a glint in his eyes I hadn’t seen before. I knew the feeling I saw reflected in his features. Sometimes everyone needs to feel needed, needs to know something no one else knows.
“So far, I’ve only met two. They seem to be working together, though probably not willingly. Seems like necessity has forced people from all over together,” I half-joked, glancing at the others. “One calls himself Mr. O, and that one,” I gestured at Mr. Smith again, “calls himself Mr. Smith. Says it’s not his real name, but that he is a smith, sort of.”
Rufus began mumbling to himself while Chuck and I looked on, occasionally sharing slightly worried looks. “O…O…O for what?” he was saying under his breath. “And a smith? What sort of smith? Sort of smith. Can’t be true. Sounds almost like a lie. Smith of lies. Lie smith. Loki the lie smith and O for Odin!” he turned toward me, slightly manic excitement dawning on his face.
The names stirred long-forgotten memories in the back of my mind, stories my grandmother had told me when I was younger. I looked over at Rufus, not sure if I was right. “Norse mythology?”
There was applause from the back of the car. “Good girl, Miss Eira,” the man who I now knew was Loki unfolded himself from his seat. “I must admit I had my doubts about you when Odin claimed you were our very own Lifthsrasir, but you really are a sharp one, aren’t you?”
I whipped my head around to face him. “I’m your what?” Chuck looked as if he was about to say something, but thought better of it.
I heard a sharp intake of breath from Rufus. “Are you sure?” Mr. Smith nodded gravely. Rufus looked at me strangely, a new sort of gravity in his stare. “Then who s going to be…?” he trailed off.
“That remains to be seen.”
I looked between the two of them, getting more annoyed by the second. “Rufus.” I stomped my foot on the ground, then immediately regretted it. I had to be an adult now. Had to, as Robert put it, figure out what I was doing with my life. I could not stamp my feet like a five year old. “Rufus, what’s going on?”
He looked at me again now, his eyes almost sad. “I’m sorry. Eira, you really don’t want to know.”
I was so tired of hearing those words, like I wasn’t a big kid yet. I turned to Chuck. “Well, you seem to be the least insane one in here at this point, which makes me more than a little suspicious. What’s your story?”
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