There had to be a reason.
Nobody met with Ursula for fun.
At least, not in his experience.
“Where are you from?” Felix found himself asking her. He hadn’t really planned to probe into her past, but he was curious. He’d been alone for so long that he wasn’t sure if he was being awkward or rude, but he felt a growing sense of interest in her. He liked her. She seemed sweet, but strong. It was a strange combination.
“Planet Earth,” she said. Her teeth were chattering. She was getting cold.
He was, too.
Felix knew they needed to hurry. The weather could change in an instant here. This island had always been known to have particularly terrible storms, and he wasn’t interested in being stranded out here, even if it was with her.
She was snarky, he thought, but that was interesting to him, too. The people Ursula brought to the island in the past had never been snarky. They’d been cunning, sure, and they’d been manipulative, but never snarky.
A snarky girl was something Felix had only ever read about in books.
It took about five more minutes of walking through the rain and the darkened forest before they reached the entrance to the cave. Despite the fact that it was now almost pitch black outside, Felix could see just fine. He’d always been able to see well in the dark.
“Where are we going?”
“A cave.”
“Won’t it flood?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“We’ve been walking at an upward angle, love,” he found himself being gentle with her despite the incessant questions.
“Oh.”
“We’re above sea level now. Besides, I’ve been in this cave before.”
“You have?”
“Many times.”
“Is it like...your Fortress of Solitude?”
“My what?”
“You know,” she waved her hand vaguely. “Superman.”
No, he didn’t know.
He had no idea what she was talking about at all.
Apparently, Felix had missed out on even more things than he’d thought. He knew she was speaking English, but if she was referencing some sort of modern story, he didn’t know what it was. One of the problems with Ursula had been that she’d severely restricted Felix’s access to anything and everything. She had been perfectly content with him relying completely on her.
In fact, she preferred it.
“Fortress of what?”
“Superman is a hero on Earth,” she said. “Well, a fictional hero. He has a special place he goes to be alone.”
“Then yes,” Felix admitted. “I suppose this is a bit like that.”