#can you tell I am in full Odysseus mode

[actual-haise]

[princessofthedarkrealm]

Queen of Ash and Dust- An IT/Dark Tower crossover- Chapter 11

You’d slept better than you thought you would. After Walter had left, you’d quickly changed into your night dress and then very reluctantly climbed into bed. Just the idea of sleeping in a bed that he had just vacated made you feel squeamish. But you had slept, that was the important thing, though it had taken her a while. You made your way down the stairs. Roland was nowhere to be found. Allie neither. You finally found them both sitting outside, Allie on one of the chairs and Roland on the edge of the porch. “Well look who’s finally up.” Roland gave you a smile when he saw you. You tilted your head at him. “Finally?” “You missed breakfast,” Allie said. You leaned against the steps railing. “It uh...took me a while to fall asleep.” “How are you feeling?” Roland asked. You nodded. “Pretty decent.” “Do your eyes change color?” “Huh?” Allie’s question had totally caught you off guard. Allie squinted at you. “Your eyes look different.” “Uhhh...” You cast a worried glance at Roland. “They do look different,” he agreed. You ran back inside. You froze when you got to the bar and stared at your reflection in the large mirror behind it. What stared at you was a girl you never thought you’d see again. Your eyes were back to their natural color. A barrage of emotions assailed you all at once. The main one was fear. Why were your eyes back to normal? Had something happened to Pennywise? And why hadn’t you felt it either mentally or physically? The second, almost as strong emotion, was just plain confusion. And the sad part was there was only one person you could ask about it.

And it wasn’t Pennywise.

You stared intently at the mirror as if it was Walter standing in front of you. “What have you done, Walter?” you asked the mirror. Roland came up behind you from outside. “Do I need to ask if something’s wrong?” You gestured towards the mirror. “This used to be my natural eye color. Then after me and Pennywise imprinted, they turned that light golden brown.” You placed your hands on the bar. “This worries me.” “You think something happened to him?” You shrugged. “I don’t know. I can usually feel whatever he’s feeling, at least when it comes to pain.” Roland’s brow knit together. “You can feel when he’s in pain? Why didn’t you tell me?” You turned to face him. You crossed your arms and leaned back against the bar. “I don’t know. I guess for the same reason I didn’t tell you what he was. Fear.” “Of what?” You met his gaze. Your face fell. “That you would send me away.” “But you’re not like him.” You drew your mouth into a line. You felt like crying. Roland really was a good man. He deserved so much better than to be stuck with you. You walked up to him. “I cannot tell you how grateful I am for you. Not only have you kept me alive, but you...” Your lip started trembling. “You brought me back to life. And I will be so, so grateful...for the rest of my life.” You went to hug him and he put out his arms to embrace you. You took a deep breath as you snuggled against him. A tear fell down your cheek. “For as long as I have known you, all I have seen from you is stress and sadness,” Roland said. “This needs to change.” You sighed. “From your mouth to the universe’s ear.”

Roland rubbed your back. “Is there anything I can do to help?” You sighed deeply. You felt so warm and safe, you didn’t want to move. “How about a new mind and body?” you grumbled. Roland chuckled lightly. “I don’t know about a new one, but there might be a bathing room here. Maybe you can take a nice bath. Relax.” Your eyes grew wide. You were getting so used to being away from the comforts of your world that you hadn’t even thought of that. You pulled away from him and looked up at him. “They have running water here?” Roland smiled at you and reached up to touch your temple. “I don’t know about running, but they have to get their water somehow. Come on.” To your surprise, he grabbed your hand. You didn’t pull away.

**********

You stood naked looking at the bathtub full of water. Roland had worked tirelessly, going back and forth from the well behind the saloon and the washroom. He really was amazing. Maybe one day, if the universe didn’t come to an end first, he would make an amazing husband for someone. You climbed into the tub. The water was cool, but not uncomfortably so. You sank slowly into the water. It was almost to your knees. You had put your hair up in a messy bun as you hadn’t been sure yet if you were going to wash it or not. You sloshed some of the water over your arms and let out a content sigh. There was a little table next to the tub that held a bar of soap and some wash linens. You scrunched your face up as you lifted the soap. You decided to rinse it off in the tub first. You almost laughed at the fact that you were so worried about human germs after splashing around in grey water to get to your brother and cousin. Right away your smile turned back into a frown. What had become of Toby, Georgie and the Losers? Did they ever even make it out of Pennywise’s lair? And what of your family? Did your mother now mourn you, thinking you dead? You let out a deep sigh and let yourself rest against the back of the tub. So many times this past week, you had asked yourself these questions.

“You know you’re not going to relax that way.”

You jumped a mile high at the unexpected voice behind you. You turned to the left and your mouth fell open in an ‘o’ shape. You quickly crunched yourself up to cover yourself.

“What are you doing here?!” you demanded.

Walter gave you an ‘are you surprised?’ expression. “You called me, didn’t you?”

“No,” you said in a voice that came out more high pitched than you had meant to. “Get out.”

“Are you sure? Because I could have sworn I heard you earlier this morning.”

“Jesus Christ, Walter, that’s not even possible. I can only call Pennywise.”

“Can you?” He started to saunter towards you. “When was the last time you tried?”

You turned to face forward again. You took a deep breath. Stay calm, you told yourself. You can always holler for Roland.

Except this time you were even more trapped. And even more, you were naked. You bent your knees some more and wrapped your arms around them, pressing your chest to your thighs. You jumped when you felt fingertips trail up your spine.

“You really shouldn’t be here right now,” you said in as calm of a voice as you could muster.

Walter walked away from you. “Oh? So I can come by some other time?”

You scowled at his back. “I don’t want you around at all.”

He leaned back against the second tub next to you on the other side of the little table and crossed his arms.

“Well now, that can’t be entirely true. How are you supposed to get answers to all your questions?’’

You let out heavy sigh. “This is lukewarm water. It will get cold soon.

He grinned at you. “I can warm it up.”

You glanced up at him from under your lashes. Did he mean with himself or his magic? Either way you didn’t want him coming near you again.

You tucked in your lips. Okay. You could play along.

“You said last night I can reach out to you with my mind. How? The only psychic abilities I have is because of my link through Pennywise.”

Walter shifted his stance. “Did you not drink my blood two nights ago?”

You thought for a second. You had never considered that drinking his blood would have some kind of effect on you like it had with Pennywise.

You sat up straighter. “Oh God, you’re not a demon are you?”

Walter chuckled. “No, ma’am. Just a man with a vision.”

You lifted the corner of your mouth and lowered your gaze at him. “And special abilities apparently. I know I locked that door before I got into this bath. And last night there was no way you could have gotten into my room without Roland seeing you.”

He tilted his head back and gave you a lurid smile. “I have my ways.”

You had to stop yourself from rolling your eyes, but you couldn’t stop the blush that crept into your cheeks. Or the tingle that was starting to creep into your mound.

“I really do need to finish my bath.”

Walter narrowed his lips and shrugged. “Suit yourself. I just thought we could chat and that I could help you relax.”

You gave curt laugh. “And how were you expecting to do that?”

“You seem awfully tense lately. I’m sure your muscles are awfully wound tight.”

Your whole body tensed up at that. Was he suggesting what you thought he was suggesting?

“You…want to give me a massage?”

He grinned at you again and gave a little nod. “That’s right.”

You couldn’t help it. Your fight or flight mode kicked in.

“You need to leave. Now.”

“Are you seriously that afraid of me?”

“No. I seriously don’t want you to touch me.”

Walter scrunched his mouth sideways. “I’ll make a deal with you. You let me give you a good, deep neck massage, and I’ll leave you alone, unless…” he held a finger up, “you call on me.”

When hell freezes over, you spat at him in your mind.

You felt like you were Odysseus stuck between Scylla and Charybdis. Did you trust Walter? Nope. But beggars couldn’t be choosers as the saying went.

You gave him a single nod. “Alright. But only my neck and shoulders.”

He nodded in return. “You got it.”

You faced back straight ahead. You swallowed, your heart pounding in your chest. Several seconds later you felt his hands on either side of your neck. You tensed up again. He lightly ran his hands down to the base of your neck and dug his fingers in. You took a deep breath. It was just a massage. No need to freak out unless he started to get fresh. You closed your eyes and let your body sag.

“That’s it,” Walter said. “Just relax.”

You would have to pay for this. Ohhh would you have to pay for this. People with this kind of power didn’t do this kind of favor without some kind of payment attached to it. Plus to say that your husband would not be pleased would be a severely mild understatement.

But damn did this feel good. Deep massage indeed. You almost flinched when he found a knot. Between the constant stress of the last couple of months and having to sleep on the ground the past week, you weren’t surprised.

You let out a deep sigh. Why the hell did you never ask Roman to do this for you? With his big hands and long fingers…

Walter moved down to your shoulders. “Feels nice, doesn’t it?” he purred.

“Hm hmmm. Yes.”

His hands moved to your back, and he started kneading. “You know if you were lying down, I could make it a full back massage.”

Your eyes popped open. This was getting way too deep. Walter was the enemy. He was literally trying to destroy the universe, for God’s sake. And he had killed your daughter. A daughter that you had never even had a chance to hold.

But he wasn’t going to give up on you. That much you knew. And maybe if you played your own cards right, you could find out a few things about him. Maybe see if he had a weakness.

“Maybe next time.”

Walter’s hands stopped. “Oh?” He removed his hands completely and leaned in close to you. “You do realize you don’t know what you’re asking for, right?” he said in a quiet voice.

You turned your head sideways towards him. “I’ve had worse.”

He leaned in closer. His breath on your ear sent a chill down your spine…and it wasn’t exactly one of fear this time.

“No, sweet girl…you haven’t.”

He planted a kiss on your cheek and then stood. You sat with your mouth open, shaking. You heard the door open and close. Once he was gone, you sank farther down into the tub. This was the second time now in less than twenty-four hours that Walter had come to you and left you a quivering mess.

What in the hell was happening to your life? This was going beyond jumping from the frying pan into the fire. You were on the edge of a volcano, about to jump into its active core.

You took a deep breath and tried focused on the coolness of the water, only there was one problem—it wasn’t cool anymore. That sly, perverted bastard.

“Fuck,” you mumbled out loud in a shaky voice.

Four things you were aware of now. 1) You didn’t even find out what you needed to know. 2) You had unofficially made a date with a man that you had now determined was only one rung lower to the Devil on the evil ladder. 3) As he had spoken to you in your ear, his arm had snaked around your chest, his hand coming to rest with his thumb brushing the cusp of your breast.

And 4) You hadn’t even flinched.

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