Interstellar Ross

Chapter 13 Doubt

Witch Pocket Realm

Month of the Black Dog

"Sorry if I frightened you before." Tiberius found me nestled on the window seat of my bedroom, book on Sumerian Mythology in hand.

I huffed. "You didn't scare me" I turned the next page. "Why would Dimitri tell ya that?"

"He didn't." He decided to plant his butt on the other end of the bench seat.

"The fact that you think you could scare somebody like me, says more about you, than it does me." I lifted my eyes from my page to his.

"Somebody's swallowed a Shakespearean novel."

I cringed at his quip. "Smooth."

"It actually is, considering we both attended a dozen of his plays in the Human Realm." He tried to peer over my book to see what I was reading, and I drew it close to my chest.

"Why are you still here?" I questioned, keeping my leg up on the bench to make sure he kept much needed distance between us.

Tiberius quirked a blond eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I mean if we hate each other so much, why are you still here for me?" I spoke slowly so his slow brain could understand.

He flicked his eyes that were as clear in that moment as the glass pane he gazed through to his right. "Old habits die hard I guess."

"That ain't an answer cherub face." I pressed.

He chuckled at the nickname. "You were always so creative with pet names."

"You want me to bust your other lip?" I threatened. "Answer the damn question."

"Maybe you should wait until you remember why we decided to team up again." He started to move off the seat.

I kicked hard into his chest with my foot, pinning him to the windowsill. "I don't fuckin' trust you."

"And what have I done to warrant this?" His gaze grew a little colder.

"I don't know yet." I was sure there was something he had done in the past that was making me feel so unsure about him. "Maybe it's because you're a prick."

He chuckled in an infuriatingly perfect way, pushing my foot off his chest to learn forward. "I'm a fallen Angel love, I can't help that."

I leaned back, mulling over his words. He was right, he had fallen because he had sinned. He had chosen to be a prick; he had chosen to be untrustworthy. "So why are you here?"

"Stubborn." He rolled his eyes to his birth home.

I lifted my eyebrows in question, waiting for him to finally answer.

He released a sigh. "I have nowhere else to go." He met my eyes and I could tell he was telling the truth. It was the first time I had seen him drop his guard, instead of devising ways to insult and argue with me.

"Wow, nowhere to go but hang out with me." I pointed at myself. "That's just sad." I remarked with sarcastic tone, even though I was dead serious.

"Tell me about it." He got up from the seat.

I watched him pace him pad his way out my room, only then realising that had had showered and put on a fresh set of clothes.

I returned my eyes to my book, delving back into the chapter that was all about my mother. My finger followed the text, guiding my eyes to read the Mesopotamian glyphs: Nammu, mother to Gods and humanity, giver of life to Enki, God of the Sea, Ereshkigal, Goddess of the Underworld and Inanna Goddess of Heaven. I interpreted, after recalling how to read one of the oldest languages in the universe. I reached the end of the page quickly and frowned, confused as to why there was so little written about my other.