safety. Steer well clear of anything marked with a rose.”
“Noted,” said Chris. “Your Court built this?”
“Ages and ages ago, before we knew the Thoroughfare so well. They still come in handy in situations like ours. Here, Spring and Winter hold total claim. Our enemies cannot set foot inside.”
Chris finally caved to curiosity. “I’ve been wondering, why spring and winter? That don’t seem like, well. Two great tastes that taste great together.”
“The Higher Courts are unknowable,” said Sid with a shrug. “But my best guess is that Spring sees little sense in bringing life to something already living, and what use is Autumn without a life to end? And so they aligned themselves up to their greatest personal satisfaction, just like every other living thing in any world you travel.”
She was leaning heavily against the table as she spoke, and it occurred to Chris that while he had slept in fits and starts, Sid had done no such thing. He hadn’t even seen her close her eyes since he’d left her in the car. He wondered how much sleep she needed, how much she wanted.
“You can have the bed,” he said. “Give me the pillow and I’m happy on the floor.”
She stared at him as if attempting to divine his trick. “You’re sure?”
“I’ve had worse, and you’re the useful one here.”
Chris enjoyed Sid’s laughter. Her voice wasn’t deep, but it was smooth and pleasant. Her laugh was subdued, a contained thing that she was reluctant to set free. He felt somehow victorious for uncaging it.
“Your point stands,” she said. “The pillow and blanket are yours.”
Chris had barely nodded his acknowledgement before Sid was stripping off her hoodie and t-shirt, then shimmying out of her jeans. She hardly seemed to care that she was standing around in her sports bra and underwear, just turned a little wheel to dim the lantern.
If Sid was a good looking woman with a t-shirt on, then she was spectacular with her lean limbs bare. Chris didn’t stare, and he certainly didn’t say anything about the smoothness of her skin, the flat planes of her belly and the gentle flare of her hips. He just pulled off his own jeans and laid them out in the hope that airing them out might counteract how long he’d been wearing them.
He accepted his pillow and blanket with scrupulous eye contact.
---
They were getting dressed the next morning, Sid halfway through braiding back her hair, when something cracked outside. The sound was deafening in the little cabin. Chris jammed his feet in his shoes and Sid tied off her braid half-finished.
“Stay here,” she told him as she slipped outside, an order that he obeyed for all of two minutes.
Sid stood at the edge of the mushrooms, and mere inches from her stood another thing. It didn’t look like it was making an effort to be polite. It looked like a shifting miasma of many-limbed fire with a grotesque, burnt face shoved into its belly.
“I know this is not your people’s territory,” said Sid. “You are not a welcome guest here.” Her ‘so fuck off’ was very well implied.
“I am here with a message,” said the face with its cracked and oozing lips, its voice an echo of itself.
“What message could you possibly have for me?”
“Not you, Dame. That one.” It jabbed a burning finger, as far as the ring of mushrooms allowed it, right at Chris.
He was too busy swallowing his tongue to
“Noted,” said Chris. “Your Court built this?”
“Ages and ages ago, before we knew the Thoroughfare so well. They still come in handy in situations like ours. Here, Spring and Winter hold total claim. Our enemies cannot set foot inside.”
Chris finally caved to curiosity. “I’ve been wondering, why spring and winter? That don’t seem like, well. Two great tastes that taste great together.”
“The Higher Courts are unknowable,” said Sid with a shrug. “But my best guess is that Spring sees little sense in bringing life to something already living, and what use is Autumn without a life to end? And so they aligned themselves up to their greatest personal satisfaction, just like every other living thing in any world you travel.”
She was leaning heavily against the table as she spoke, and it occurred to Chris that while he had slept in fits and starts, Sid had done no such thing. He hadn’t even seen her close her eyes since he’d left her in the car. He wondered how much sleep she needed, how much she wanted.
“You can have the bed,” he said. “Give me the pillow and I’m happy on the floor.”
She stared at him as if attempting to divine his trick. “You’re sure?”
“I’ve had worse, and you’re the useful one here.”
Chris enjoyed Sid’s laughter. Her voice wasn’t deep, but it was smooth and pleasant. Her laugh was subdued, a contained thing that she was reluctant to set free. He felt somehow victorious for uncaging it.
“Your point stands,” she said. “The pillow and blanket are yours.”
Chris had barely nodded his acknowledgement before Sid was stripping off her hoodie and t-shirt, then shimmying out of her jeans. She hardly seemed to care that she was standing around in her sports bra and underwear, just turned a little wheel to dim the lantern.
If Sid was a good looking woman with a t-shirt on, then she was spectacular with her lean limbs bare. Chris didn’t stare, and he certainly didn’t say anything about the smoothness of her skin, the flat planes of her belly and the gentle flare of her hips. He just pulled off his own jeans and laid them out in the hope that airing them out might counteract how long he’d been wearing them.
He accepted his pillow and blanket with scrupulous eye contact.
---
They were getting dressed the next morning, Sid halfway through braiding back her hair, when something cracked outside. The sound was deafening in the little cabin. Chris jammed his feet in his shoes and Sid tied off her braid half-finished.
“Stay here,” she told him as she slipped outside, an order that he obeyed for all of two minutes.
Sid stood at the edge of the mushrooms, and mere inches from her stood another thing. It didn’t look like it was making an effort to be polite. It looked like a shifting miasma of many-limbed fire with a grotesque, burnt face shoved into its belly.
“I know this is not your people’s territory,” said Sid. “You are not a welcome guest here.” Her ‘so fuck off’ was very well implied.
“I am here with a message,” said the face with its cracked and oozing lips, its voice an echo of itself.
“What message could you possibly have for me?”
“Not you, Dame. That one.” It jabbed a burning finger, as far as the ring of mushrooms allowed it, right at Chris.
He was too busy swallowing his tongue to
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