Page 14 of Shelf-Made Man
“Are you sure you’re not bleeding?” Tobias asked for the third or fourth time. He didn’t want to take his eyes from the road.
Alfie reached over and patted Tobias’s leg. “You saved me. You’re a hero.”
“Pfft.” Tobias didn’t feel heroic. In fact, he kept remembering the noise the statue made when it hit each troll’s head, and the memory made him queasy. At least he hadn’t seen any blood. “Do you think they’re dead?”
“Perhaps. But trolls are hard to kill. In any case, don’t feel bad about it. Given the opportunity, they would have murdered you. And my fate… well, I’d prefer not to speak of it.”
Tobias frowned at the traffic in front of him. “Iwas always the biggest kid in my class, and because of that, Mom would tell me that I had a special duty to be careful with others. She said I should never let my temper cause me to harm anyone.”
“But surely she wouldn’t have disapproved of protecting yourself—or a wounded charge—from two vicious attackers.”
“I guess not.” Tobias sighed and frowned even more fiercely. “But the thing is… Ilikedit. The fighting part, I mean.” That was hard to admit, especially to himself.
For a mile or two, Alfie was silent, and if not for his warm hand still resting on Tobias’s leg, Tobias might have assumed he was shocked or upset. When Alfie spoke, however, his voice was gentle. “I don’t believe anyone can be blamed for how they feel—only for the actions they take. And I don’t believe you’ve abused your strength or allowed bloodlust to rule you.”
Bloodlust. Tobias shuddered.
Alfie’s comments had made him feel slightly better, though, and he shot him a grateful smile. The smile turned into a semi-hysterical guffaw when Tobias realized they were driving past the Enchanted Forest theme park. He’d adored that place when he was a boy—little knowing that one day he’d meet fairy tale beings in the real world.
“It’s a pretty long drive to San Francisco,” he said after a while. “Ten hours or more. Would we be safe if we took two days to do it? If the trolls won’t track us down, we could stay the night in a hotel somewhere.”He could have managed the uninterrupted drive but was concerned about Alfie, still recovering from injuries.
“I think that should be fine.”
Although Tobias would have preferred something more reassuring thanI think, he’d take what he could get. “Get some rest, then. I’ll stop for food and gas in a couple of hours.” When Alfie made a grunt that may have been agreement, Tobias added, “You can recline your seat if you want. There’s a handle on?—”
“I’m comfortable, thank you.” Instead of sleeping, Alfie seemed intent on watching the scenery. Trees, fields, occasional small cities: maybe those looked exotic to him.
Tobias had so many questions that he didn’t know where to begin, but he also didn’t want to disturb Alfie’s peace. The poor guy had been through a lot in a short time. So instead, Tobias ruminated on the events back in Portland. After the troll attack, he’d hurriedly gathered his laptop, some clothes for both of them, and a few other belongings. Then he’d followed Alfie’s directions and dragged the trolls into the narrow space between his house and the neighbor’s fence. At the time, Tobias had thought that the trolls were still breathing, but he wasn’t sure and he didn’t waste time finding out. Then he’d helped Alfie into the car and headed south.
If the trolls were dead, someone would notice eventually. They wouldn’t be visible from the street due to some shrubbery, and decomposition might takesome time in the chilly air. But they were big, and a pair of big corpses would make themselves known. Then, presumably, the police would be called, and Tobias would have some difficult explanations ahead of him when he returned.
He decided not to think about that.
The better option was that the trolls would wake up—maybe they already had—and get the hell out of there. Which would be nice from a not-going-to-jail perspective but would also mean they’d be back, probably soon, with reinforcements. And while Alfie might be their target, they probably held a pretty dim view of Tobias at this point.
Life had been a lot simpler before Aunt Virginia gave him that box. With Alfie beside him, however, bright and beautiful and very much alive, Tobias held few regrets.
“That was an interesting weapon,” Alfie said out of the blue, somewhere south of Eugene.
“What?”
“The one you chose to fight the trolls.”
“It’s just, um, art. And it was handy.”
“Yes. But presumably you didn’t acquire it with the intention of using it to brain assailants.”
“Presumably,” Tobias muttered. Then, because Alfie was waiting patiently, he sighed and explained. “It was a gift from Aunt Virginia, actually. When I was a freshman in college, I complained to my mom about having to study the ancient Greeks. I didn’t think they were particularly relevant to me. I guess Mom toldAunt Virginia, and my aunt sent me the statue because the wrestlers are hot and she figured I’d suddenly find the Greeks way more interesting.”
Alfie chuckled softly. “And was she right?”
“I didn’t become a classical scholar or anything, but… yeah. I passed the class.”
“So the statue has been useful more than once. Your aunt must care about you very much.”
“She and Mom are the only people who ever—” Tobias stopped, not wanting to sound too pathetic. But there was Alfie’s hand on Tobias’s leg again, and somehow confessions seemed to flow when he was around. “Who ever loved me,” he finished quietly.
“Now I love you as well.”
