A HENRY STORY 1: Memories Of The Fallen Prince

XXXI. Ties

Henry followed Gregor with his eyes when he excused himself, still with his sister in his arms, to search for that crawler they had apparently taken as a babysitter—or whatever his purpose here was. Henry couldn't help a short laugh—a crawler on a boat! Now he had seen everything.

When the Overlander had moved out of earshot, he sat back down. His eyes found Thanatos, Mareth, and Andromeda, and he had to fight another surge of jealousy over how freely the flier could disclose his identity.

Henry forced his gaze back to his backpack. Well, at least, like this, he could pretend to forget Howard's name as often as he liked. Picturing his offended face made him grin. But the glee lasted not long. Even the crawler seemed to be useful for at least babysitting, but Howard? It was inconceivable to Henry that he would find Howard, of all individuals, on this quest.

In search of him, Henry let his gaze roam until he saw him stationed at the helm, guiding the vessel. Right; Stellovet had never been shy about boasting of her brother's extensive seafaring experience. But Mareth could also navigate. So, indeed, nothing excused Howard's presence here.

Howard is here, because Henry is not, a quiet yet pungent voice whispered in his head.

Henry scoffed, tugging hard at the clasp of his backpack. As if Howard even marginally had what it took to replace him!

Howard may not be everything that Henry is, the voice replied, but he is also not a traitor.

Enough. Henry forcefully silenced the voice and almost felt it duck away in fear. Whether Howard's presence here was justified or not didn't matter. He was here either way, so Henry would have to deal with him. To distract himself, he dug deeper into his backpack in search of his notebook.

"What are you looking for?" asked Thanatos, suddenly appearing next to him.

"Oh no." Henry didn't even look up. "Have your old friends grown tired of your company, so now you show interest in me again?" To his dismay, Henry felt his face flush with suppressed irritation.

"Now that is just unfair."

"Never mind," hissed Henry, still without looking at the flier. "Aren't you glad that I talked you into coming here after all?"

Thanatos dropped by Henry's side, ignoring his dripping sarcasm. "Mareth, Andromeda, and I were close a long time ago," he said, and Henry felt his urgent gaze on him. "It is harder than you thought to hide your identity around your familiars, no?"

"How would you know?" Henry pulled his legs up and shoved the mask down to conceal more of his face.

"I would not," said Thanatos simply, and a period of awkward silence passed. "However, I am willing to admit that you were right," the flier continued after a while. "It was not such a bad idea. I had not considered that there may be people here with whom I also used to share a connection."

"Well, at least for one of us, it was a beneficial endeavor."

"What do you mean?" asked Thanatos. "Did you not yet do what you set out to do when we saved the Overlander?"

Henry shrugged. It had been a start, but . . . "At least it is an opportunity to make fun of Howard," he said with a forced smile.

Thanatos laughed. "What has he ever done to you?" he asked conversationally. "For you to despise him so?"

Henry shrugged again. "It is just Howard," he said. "When we were little, he was that child who always sucked it up to the teachers and thought of himself as having the authority to enforce rules on the sole basis of being an excellent student. A snitch and a spoilsport, at best."