When she sleeps like this, Bailes looks so young to me -- like she's in her teens again -- the lines of stress and worry and horror at things past smoothing out, lips slightly pursed, her long brown hair lying all about her, some of it trailing across her face in the breeze.
I thought long and hard about waking her, she looked so peaceful. Of course, her words to me as I left, "You'd better come back in one piece, Quentin," still rung in my head, and I knew she'd want to hear about the Gate that Benny and I found. And I'd be remiss if I did not mention that she wasn't flaming hot in that swimsuit.
*****
The day had begun with the semi-arduous task of trying to get the aforementioned Bailes out of bed. Luckily, or maybe not so luckily, I did not have to resort to tickling her to get her up and moving. The usual breakfast nonsense happened, after which Bailes and I discussed the various types of demons, of which there were many, and many were the types I'd run into before. Bailey wasn't exactly happy about me and Ben checking out the pass, but I assured her I'd be okay, and we parted.
*****
Ben and I made our way up the range slowly, having only a weak trail to follow. I wanted to see what was on the other side of the range, and we picked our way around scrub and trees to make it to a large enough pass.
The sight was not what I had expected. The stone ring common to the Trump Gates was the first thing I had spotted, but the swirl of energy coming from it wasn't far behind. Ben and I exchanged looks before heading down in that direction, my brother curious to see what the hell was going on, myself a bit worried.
Ben had just pointed out the footprints, which I'd looked at for maybe a second before I sensed we were being watched. Dark wings unfurled.
Banes.
No chances, this time. Ben and I said silent goodbyes to the horses as we Trumped back to Amber, and headed to tell Random the sad truth.
*****
So there we were, Bailes and I, sitting on that rock, discussing how to go about check out the gate. She didn't want me going with her, that much was for sure; but gently I reminded her of our agreement as partners through all this, and I think she could read in my eyes that I thought of that agreement as meaning so much more now. She extended a hand, which I took, drawing her to me.
In for a penny, in for a pound, Quentin.
I chuckled and wondered how we'd get back to shore without getting wet.
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