“She isn’t going to die,” Apollo told Urania, his voice so sure, talking over Melpomene as she muttered something along the lines of ‘you don’t know’ under her breath. “Like I’d let that happen? Come on.” They reached the car, and Apollo nodded to Urania. “Keys are in my back pocket, won’t you?” he asked, tilting his head toward the car at the same time as Melpomene’s arms tightened around his neck, painfully tightly, though not nearly so painfully as her body was treating her. He could see the muscles tight in her neck, and held her close, reminding her again to breathe.
“I CAAAAA-haahaaahaaaaant!” Melpomene howled in his ear, failing at breathing through it, but succeeding in clawing open the back of his neck, earning several new audience members as people stopped on the street to watch the screaming.
Urania reached into Apollo’s pocket as directed and pulled out his fob, turning it towards the car. A beep-beep announced the unlocking and she opened the back door so Melpomene could get in.
“Wait,” Alan said. “Let me get in first then pass her to me.” He slipped into the car, a little too tall for it just as he was too tall for every car.
Urania screwed up her face in slight distraste, unsure as to who this man even was, but Apollo and Melpomene both seemed to want him around.
Apollo spared a moment for cursing the fact that there wasn’t two of him, one to stay in the back with Melpomene and one to drive, because he wasn’t keen on trusting Alan with the responsibilities of either. But the man was already in, and arguing would just be wasting time. He rocked Melpomene from side to side as the howling turned to exhausted tears of relief, and then carefully passed her through to Alan.
It wasn’t easy to find a position she could bear in the back of the car, but after a couple of failed attempts Melpomene ended up on her back (it hurt but so did everything) with her knees bent up, and Alan as a pillow beneath her head. Apollo tucked the blanket around her legs and straightened up, looking over at Urania as he closed the door carefully. “Will you ride with us?”