Two nights in that uncomfortable seat and no Eternal. Did he want his freedom or just to torture me?

The New York Greyhound station was as grey as all the other states. I stepped out, unnoticed, and hailed a cab.

A long time ago, Sam promised to keep up payments for our apartment. I hoped he hadn’t forgotten.

The key still opened the front door.

Everything was coated with dust but still there. A jolt of everything I had and lost ran through me. I walked the apartment slowly, looking at all the old photos and knickknacks, gifts from friends over time. Five years, that’s all and yet the apartment felt like a figment of my imagination.

Finally I took out my cell phone and called Sam. He picked up on the third ring, damn. I hung up.

Two seconds later he rang back. I stared at it for a second before pressing talk and putting the phone to my ear.

“Hello?” he said.

I remained silent.

“Em?” a whisper. He must be somewhere safe-ish to even say my name.

Now that it came to it, what do I say?

“Be right there, don’t leave,” and he hung up.

Too late I realized I should have waited outside for him. Somewhere across the street where I could make sure he was alone. I’ve watched enough movies to know that.

Still, it only occurred to me when the key turned in the lock. Sam walked through the door. I gaped. Well he wasn’t the wiry nerd I remembered but there was no ash skin and lava bubbling just under the surface either. He looked like himself, down to the glasses which I was sure he no longer needed but he stood well over six feet tall and had the shoulders of a linebacker. At least he didn't smell like a sulfur geyser.

“Emma?” he rushed over to grab me in a hug, “I’m so glad you’re all right. He wouldn’t let me look for you.” He pulled me away before crushing me in another hug.

“Um, Sam?”

“Yeah,” he didn’t let go.

“I’m human…so you’re hurting me.”

He pushed me away, “Oh God, I’m so sorry, are you okay? Did I burn you? I thought that wasn’t supposed to happen while I looked human.”

“No burns, just good old fashioned bruised ribs,” I tried to smile. Once I thought of him as my best friend, now all I could think of was his loyalty to the Prince.

“I’m so glad you’re here. Are you coming back to the Prince? He needs you.”

I doubt that, but I was more distressed that he might have told the Prince I was here.

He must have seen the fear on my face, “Okay, okay, no gods, why are you here?”

“There is a god I need to find, Ethereal.”

“Oh,” he took a step back, “I thought you were with her Worshippers, they couldn’t help you?”

“I didn’t want to drag them back into it, I’ve taken their help long enough. You still owe me Sam--”

“Owe you? That’s why you came to me?” he snarled, his face at war between anger and sadness, “That’s it?”

My heart went out to my friend still stuck inside the Worshipper, “I’m sorry, it would be risky if it wasn’t important.”

“Yeah…” he wouldn’t meet my eyes.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

We stood in silence for a while.

“I can help you. I know exactly where she is. I can pass a message. Where do you want to meet her?”

I looked around the apartment, “I’ll get a hotel room. The Days Inn a few blocks from here, I’ll text you the room number.”

“Fine,” he turned to leave. His foot hung in the air between one step and the next, he turned around still looking at his shoes, “I was hoping…I thought…that maybe…you…you had forgiven me.” As if embarrassed he turned sharply and ran for the door.

Before I realized what I was doing I called after him, “Sam.” He turned around. “Do you…” have I forgiven him? “want to hang out here for a bit? Catch up?”

His face lit up. Well I had been avoiding him. And I thought I had a good reason. But here I was, all alone and he came...with one phone call where I didn't even speak...he came.

We stayed up all night. At first we were silent, channel surfing. The return to ourselves took hours; a shared laugh, random news about some celebrity’s divorce, a long string of awkward moments. Yet somehow by morning we were talking and, dare I say it, having fun.

We shared about our last three years. I told him about traveling across half the world. He told me he was teaching the Prince how to play video games. I couldn't picture it.

“Jeez, it’s already morning, I should go, Prince will notice,” he got up, shuffling his feet, “I’ll try to get the message to her as soon as I get back, but no promises.”

We hugged. When he left I was still smiling. I had missed him, and my old life no matter how dull it had been.

The cheap Days Inn hotel room smelled like bleach and mold, but I couldn’t afford to be picky.

I paced and worried. What was I going to say to her? What could I tell an ageless immortal to make her do something she doesn’t want to do? How long would it even take Sam to get a message to her?

Someone knocked on the door, I jumped three feet in the air. Calm down, Emma, no god uses a door.

“UberEats,” a young feminine voice called.

Breakfast. I brought in the food and gave the girl a tip.

The day passed, each minute crawling by like a snail running a hamster wheel. I didn’t take a step out of the room hoping, hoping… Lunch and dinner went by and I forgot to eat. That night I couldn’t sleep.

What happened? Was Sam not able to get to Ethel? Then why hasn’t he called me or tried to contact me in some way? Did the Prince get suspicious, was Sam unable to get away? Did I miss my only opportunity?

The next morning I debated whether to stay another day and hope for a miracle or try my luck at finding Ethel on my own. If Sam knew where I was there was a chance that the Prince could find me so I took my chances and checked out.

After a day of wandering the streets of New York, realizing that Sam was probably not the only Worshipper disguising their “otherness” I jumped at the slightest sound, avoiding public places. Finally I came to crash back in our apartment.

Eternal didn’t visit me with any brilliant plans.

Morning dawned with Black Swan flying right outside my window, black wings flapping in a steady rhythm.

I dived behind the bed, peeking over it, until Black Swan turned around and I realized it wasn’t her. Just someone else with black feathery wings that spanned two basketball players around her. That’s right, Kitty had all the old Worshippers killed.

Somehow my relief was tainted by regret. So many people dead, yeah most of them were assholes and killers but still…

Kitty would know where Ethel was. I frowned at my own line of thought.

Kitty could bring Eternal back.

What the hell am I thinking? Kitty is insane, even for a god.

So if Kitty and Ethel were not options, the only one left was the Prince.

He was the one I was running from for the last three years. I had gone back on my word to stay with him if he became co-anchor of the gods and promised not to hurt humans any more. He kept his end of the bargain.

Maybe it was destiny or fate or something. I had to stay with the Prince.

Before I even finished the thought I headed out of the apartment, my feet walking towards the condominium they still occupied.

Inside the lobby were three Worshippers, one guy and two women, sitting in the lounge chairs, chatting as if being orange with wings and having, was that lizard skin, was perfectly normal.

I didn’t recognize any of them, sighing with relief I made to walk past them.

“Whoa,” the one that looked human moved faster than I could blink, “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Um, to see the Prince,” bells rang in my head. Who was insane enough to just walk into a god headquarters?

Snake Skin sneered behind me, “Did you have an appointment?”

Crap. People who wanted to be Worshippers could beg for months just to be allowed to see one of the gods.

But I wasn’t one of those idiots. I had been a Worshipper, I had died and Eternal would just bring me back if I died again. At least I hoped.

“I have a message from Eternal for the Prince, if you don’t know who that is then it’s above your pay grade. Maybe you could get Ash for me and we won’t have any problems.” My heart hammered. When all three Worshippers circled me I realized snooty was probably not the best way to go. I guess that only worked in movies.

Orange looked me up and down, “We were told no one goes up without clearance, per Angel, you know who that is, right?”

The Angel was one of the six major gods, or was it seven now that the Princess was back? I looked at her wings and figured she must be the Angel’s Worshipper.

“Feather kept more of her humanity, you must have really hated yourself,” ok, so antagonizing them was probably not my best option either but I had to prove that they knew me upstairs.