Innocent

Chapter 11 - A Milo With Rilo

Friends were something I've never really had. Sure, I've had people I enjoyed spending time with, and people that I ordered to do my bidding. However, I would never ever consider a single one of them my friend. Anytime someone got close, they ended up dying.  And five minutes with Rilo reminded me why.

"And then, oh my gosh, you will never guess what happened!" Rilo gushed. He was spilling other people's secrets as a constant stream of words. It might have been interesting if it were creatures I knew. Instead, the majority of it was pointless human drama. "He went through her phone. Total invasion of privacy! Can you believe it?"

We were hiking up the foothills somewhere at the base of the Saint Elias Mountains. According to my annoying travel guide, the entrance to their underground tunnel kingdom was along this ridge. The problem with that was the ridge was at least ten miles long. That was a lot of ground to cover with the low temperatures making my hands numb.

"No, I can't believe it." My voice came out about as lifeless as my soul at that point.

"I know, neither could I! But he was right, you know. She was talking to her ex-boyfriend, Ron. Which of course I already knew, because it was a secret, am I right?" He chuckled at his own brilliance. "But what he didn't know was that she wasn't cheating on him with Ron. Why would she keep it a secret if she wasn't cheating though? Well, she was trying to get back her college textbook from the previous semester and didn't want her current boyfriend to think too much into it. A lot of good lying did her though."

I started counting my steps, trying to distract myself from Rilo's endless chatter. I know I threatened to kill him if he annoyed me too much. But right now, I needed him to help me find the entrance. Which he knew. And he also knew I knew. Which meant he knew he could do whatever he wanted and I wouldn't kill him for now. It was a horrible situation really.

"Where did you say the gate was again?" I interrupted him. I remember what he said earlier, but I couldn't listen to one more minute of human gossip.

"Somewhere along this stretch of hill. Sorry I couldn't figure it out exactly. They don't ever even think of exact coordinates." Rilo had fallen a few paces behind. "Wait up will ya. I'm not made for this climate."

"Well, neither am I." I snapped back. "But you don't see me whining like a human baby."

"I'm sorry Your Royal Grumpiness." Rilo was going to be gruesomely murdered when all this was done. Just a little bit longer and he would be dead. It would all be worth it. "Oh! I have an idea!"

Oh, great. He had an idea. Just what this day needed.

"Ask me anything you want to know about your precious Alexi."

Now that was a tempting offer. I had quite a few questions I wouldn't have mind answering.

"Alright." I conceded, finally engaging in a proper conversation with the weasel. "Tell, me. Who was that woman that was there when I visited earlier." It was hard to believe that was mere hours ago.

"Yeah, she was a bit much wasn't she." I didn't bother telling Rilo my feelings on the matter. He already knew them. "Not his girlfriend. Not yet at least. It was their second date. The poor girl fancied herself in love." He sang the last two words.

"And him?" I didn't want to hope, but I did.

"He isn't as attached." Rilo winked at me slyly.

"Oh." Good.

"Do you want to know what he thinks about you, m'lady?" Rilo grinned, knowing he had me eating out of the palm of his sneaky little hand.

"Sure." My mouth said. My heart pounded a strong yes.

"Oooooooh, you do, don't you." Rilo taunted. "I guess I'll spill then. When he first saw you breaking into the house, he was quite scared of you."

There was a sharp pain in my chest. I wasn't sure why.

"You don't like that, do you. When he actually met you while you were nannying, he thought you were sweet."

Sweet? I had never been thought of as sweet before. Crazy, angry, mean, annoying, nasty, murderous, and feared were all words I was called regularly. Sweet was not something I was or ever wanted to be called. Yet, when it was Alexi thinking of me like that, it wasn't the worst thing.

"And later on after he got to know you better, he thought you were interesting."

Interesting. I liked that.

"Even the word beautiful flitted through his head." Rilo was thriving on my feelings right now. "What do you have to say about that?"

Thankfully, I didn't have to answer. At that exact moment, my foot went through the layer of snow and I tumbled forward into who knew what.