Storm Gods - G. Bailey Page 0,49

my thumb. I hiss in pain, struggling not to drop him, and shoot Storm a glare when I hear him stifle a peal of laughter. “Not funny,” I protest.

“It’s a little funny,” Storm replies.

I roll my eyes and return my attention to Kit. “Take your time,” I tell the goblin. “I know it’s far away.”

This will mark the first time I’m instructing Kit to teleport me somewhere, and it feels a little bit like an imposition. For a while, the goblin just stares at me with his big, perceptive eyes, and I wonder if he even wants to help us. I’ve always relied on him to just know what I need, but he is still young. The last thing I want to do is order him around, especially when he was the one who came to me; the fact that goblins choose their patron goddesses isn’t lost on me.

A few seconds pass, and then a few more, and I feel my stomach sink when Kit just continues to stare me down. Maybe I jumped the gun a little bit, here. Exchanging a worried glance with Storm, I swallow hard. “Is he okay?” Ruby asks uncertainly.

“He’s fine,” I reply. “I just don’t know if he’s going to be able to port us after all.” Turning back to Storm, I continue, “We might need another plan. Is there a way to make a discreet tornado?”

The weather god raises his eyebrows. “It’s a tornado, little one. Discretion is impossible.”

Great. Trying not to let my disappointment show, I lift Kit up so that he’s eye level with me. “You can do it,” I tell him, aware of how ridiculous I must look, but not caring. “Just like when you brought the guys to the island. Same thing.” After a few more seconds of waiting, I finally sigh, running a hand through my hair. “It’s okay,” I say, doing my best to hide my disappointment. “If you can’t do it, we’ll find some other way to…”

But my voice trails off as Kit rises to his full height, which is still not very tall, his eyes drifting closed. A little furrow of concentration appears on his forehead as he extends his tiny arms, shaking with the effort of summoning his magic. I look at Storm, shocked, but don’t dare say anything as the tiny goblin continues to cast the portal spell. I’ve never really gotten a good look at Kit while he’s using magic—I’m so used to the fecker doing nothing but biting and causing trouble—and I’m surprised by how much work clearly goes into it. Presumably, it will come easier once he’s fully matured, although when or how that will happen, I have no idea.

I’m only just now realising how little I know about the world.

Kit continues to work, straining with the effort, and before our eyes, the air above the sidewalk begins to shift and shimmer, like light refracting through water. The distortions continue to increase, the frequency of the vibrations speeding up, and then a small black spot appears in the middle, like a hole in the universe. Slowly it expands, widening until it’s the size of a fully-grown person, a gaping maw waiting for us to step inside. I steal a panicked glance around the neighbourhood; this will be hard to explain to innocent passersby, but there’s no one around. It’s nice to catch a break once in a while, I think dryly, before turning to Storm and giving him a brisk nod. He doesn’t need telling twice, stepping into the portal without so much as a second thought.

“Karma?” Ruby asks, sounding a little worried.

I give her hand a squeeze. “It’s all right, Ruby. I’m right here. Let’s go find your mum, okay?”

She nods, and without another word we step forward and into the portal.

I’ll never get used to the sensation of teleporting, that strange exhaustion that I feel when I reach the other side. Like clockwork, we’ve emerged on the cobblestone streets of the small town where we first met Emerald. We’re in an alleyway between two buildings, the townspeople either not seeing us or simply not caring. “We did it,” I say, relieved. “Kit, you beautiful bastard!” I grin down at the goblin, but my eyes go wide the moment I see him; his starry eyes have gone dull, and he’s unsteady on his feet. “Are you okay?” I ask, panic rising in my voice. Kit doesn’t even bite me like he usually does; instead, he sits down hard in