'Welcome back, Topi.' The woman's warm golden eyes smiled as she glanced over the back of the driver's seat. Loki sat beside her in the back, the smooth leather seat creaking as he turned to grin.
'Sorry, that dose was probably a little high but as I keep saying it can't do your case any harm. I doubt you've eaten much since being in that place and who could blame you? Food is awful I would imagine, so no wonder the drugs have knocked you for six. Anyway. Since you're back in the land of the living let us waste no time in filling you in. So. Following my little visit with my protégé the other day you've been administered a regular and highly effective sedative to help with your insomnia.' Loki held up a long, beautifully tapered hand to bat away anything Eutopia had been about to say as she opened her mouth and blinked slowly at him, feeling utterly confused and disorientated. 'We've now managed to convince them that this is entirely the wrong place for you. With funding from your incredibly wealthy long-lost uncle, you're to be held and treated at a private clinic until your trial date.'
'But, I don't have any uncles -,' Eutopia tried to protest, her tongue feeling thick and heavy in her mouth.
'With the way the British Justice system works, no doubt that date will be so far into the future we'll all be long gone and forgotten about for this era. All hands on deck when we're cleaning up Jinn's mess, am I right, Petra?' Loki continued, glancing up at the rear-view mirror to catch the shimmering eyes of the woman who was driving the sleek, silent car.
'Why change a habit of an eternity?' she muttered, curiously eyeing Eutopia who huddled back into the leather of her seat. Loki handed Eutopia a bottle of water and she drank from it gratefully, cleansing the dryness from her mouth with greedy gulps.
'Hey, not long now, kid. We're almost there. Shit, I bet you don't even know if you're coming or going, am I right? I'm right,' he answered confidently for her. 'I do feel bad about this you know, using you like some pawn in a great game of Chess -,'
'Loki,' Petra warned with a cold snap as she swung the car into the next curve without slowing down, causing Eutopia to slosh a little water over herself. The splash was enough to chase the last cottony clouds of sleepiness from her mind and she pressed her face to the window beside her seat.
'I know this place! I've been here before,' she said with apprehension clipping what little excitement she felt at recognising the large stone building that began to loom up at them and the dark figure dashing down the front steps. 'Heira.'
'Why on earth he felt the need to call it that, I'll never understand,' said Petra as she yanked on the handbrake and slid smoothly out from the driver's seat.
'Sweet memories. Maybe he was missing home?' Loki asked with a wry grin.
'Not half as much as I've been missing you,' Jinn murmured as he reached down to help Eutopia out of the car. His hands were warm even through the thin material of her sweatshirt and his arms were strong as he guided her to her feet.
'Easy now,' Loki warned, with a small smirk still playing on his beautiful lips. 'I'm sure she still isn't entirely convinced you're real, my friend.'
'No thanks to you,' Jinn growled lowly with a sideways glance at the bronze god beside him, his hands still gentle and refusing to let go of Eutopia.
'I've been watching, waiting for you all afternoon. Loki said he could get you out but I couldn't see how.' Slowly he lifted his hand to lightly caress her cheek, fingertips barely hovering above her flesh as though he were too afraid to touch her. Jinn knew Eutopia would be too flighty yet for any real affection from him but holding back sent splinters through his soul. He had spent too long and fought too hard to find her, only to have her ripped away again.
