by R. Lynn
“Yeah, I think this is just a lot for her to experience all at once,” he replied.
“Hush now, child. Plans are in place for us to leave. We will go to Port Renfrew, get the twins and then go to our home on Cortez Island. We can stay there until we find a safe place to collect. Everything is set in motion. The truck is almost packed and ready to go. We can put Kai across the back seat. I have taken the liberty to pack his belongings for him. Andrew, I have also packed for you and Hannah as I have heard you will be joining us.”
“Oh, you’ve already heard that?”
“Andrew, I hear everything.” Phoebe turned from Andrew and faced Sollara. “Have you had any driving lessons?” she asked.
“Not really, but Coeus gave me the driver’s manual to study,” Sollara replied.
“We will probably have to take your car, so maybe Andrew can drive it.”
“I don’t mind driving. When are we leaving?” he asked.
“Now.”
He nodded in understanding before escorting Sollara and her bag to the car park. The Quattroporte was parked beside the SUV. A group of men worked to lift Kai into the back of truck. Coeus was in the front seat with Hannah, showing her how to use the two-way radio he had installed.
“Andrew, there is a radio in Sollara’s car as well. Maybe you should show her how to use it,” he yelled over his shoulder.
As instructed, Andrew loaded the Quattroporte and explained how to operate the two-way with Sollara.
“But I don’t understand how the message gets from this car to that one,” Sollara said in exasperation.
“For the last time Sollara, the radio waves…” He looked at her and saw the blank expression on her face. It amazed him at how little she knew or understood about his world. “You know what, forget it. The two-way radio, just like the regular radio, is magic. We use magic.”
“Of course, why didn’t you just say so in the first place?” Sollara smiled as she began spinning knobs and sending messages to Hannah in the SUV. He shook his head while he watched her, but he couldn’t help smiling at how silly the situation was.
Coeus kissed Phoebe goodbye and held her close. He had to stay behind to manage the appearance of the school. “Be safe my love,” he whispered into her ear.
As Sollara fiddled with the dial on the radio, sounds from the SUV came across and into the car. When she heard Kai screaming Sophia's name, she quickly turned the radio off like Andrew had shown her. She looked over to their vehicle and saw Hannah return her look with one of understanding. Sollara worked to calm her breathing and focus on the beauty outside the car. The last thing she wanted was to cry again.
“I could get used to driving this,” Andrew smiled as he ran his fingers over the leather seats.
The car was a much-needed distraction, and Sollara soon set aside her troubles with Kai. She watched as Andrew pushed some buttons and music began to play.
“What is that?” she asked in awe as she ran her fingers over the mysterious maker of music.
“It’s like the radio I showed you, but it doesn’t send messages, it just sends music,” he tried to explain.
Hannah came in over the two-way radio, and Andrew turned down the music to listen to her instructing them on when they were going to leave.
“All right, we will just follow behind you,” he replied.
-32-
They drove out of the university grounds and turned left onto the highway, quickly catching up with Phoebe and the truck. Sollara watched out the window at the passing buildings. After they drove through the first intersection, the streetlights revealed a gold car pulling up behind them.
“What a pretty gold automobile!” Sollara watched its paint reflect the light of the street lamp.
“That’s not a pretty gold car, it’s a Lt1 Camaro.” Andrew still felt the need to inform her of everything she did not know.
She huffed and crossed her arms in a pout as she watched the car follow behind them.
Just as they came near to the next stoplights, the gold Camaro swung up beside them. She looked over at the car and noticed that the driver shared a remarkable resemblance to one of her instructors from the Deep Kingdom. Driving with him were three menacing looking gentlemen. She squinted her eyes as she tried to get a closer look. One of the men looked strikingly similar to the man in the cafeteria.
The Camaro dropped back behind them again before Sollara had a chance to get a better look at the driver. Was it just a coincidence? But she didn’t believe in those.
“Call Phoebe now and tell her we are being followed. I think the man driving the gold car is someone from the Deep Kingdom.” She shouted to Andrew as her shaky hands clutched the door handle.
He quickly radioed Phoebe, telling her what Sollara thought. They agreed both vehicles needed to take the necessary precautions to lose the Camaro. The SUV increased speed and Andrew followed suit. Soon they were driving nearly one hundred miles per hour. All the while the Camaro stayed right on their tail.
“We’re not shaking them, Phoebe,” he said into the radio.
“The road up ahead has a lot of close turns. The SUV will not be able to make them at this speed,” Phoebe warned.
“Andrew do you know how to drive to Port Renfrew?” Sollara asked.
“Yes why?”
“We are going to see who these guys are following. Get in front of Phoebe and show me how to really drive this kind of car!”
He smiled at her, knowing what she was asking and swerved in front of Phoebe, barreling past the on-coming traffic. The speedometer was steadily rising.
“Do you think this is safe?” Sollara asked as she quickly regretted taunting Andrew.
“Personally, if those guys are who you think they are, I would rather take my chances driving recklessly than hand you over to be eaten.” He swerved in front of a car that was going too slow.
“They pulled past Phoebe. They are definitely following us!” Sollara yelled. She watched the gold car over her shoulder.
“What the hell are you two doing?” Hannah cried over the radio.
“We are getting rid of these guys; we’ll meet you in Port Renfrew,” Andrew said into the radio receiver.
Andrew then slammed the gas pedal down, knowing now that he must get Sollara away at all costs. The road started to snake, and the turns became tighter and tighter, making it harder for him to keep up his speed. He took the next corner too fast and the car began to slide. With expert precision he geared down and straightened out the wheels.
“The Camaro is only a little behind us. How is he keeping up?” Sollara asked in a panic.
“He must have modified his engine. I read it was popular to put Corvette engines in that make of Camaro. At most that would give him 350 horsepower.”
Sollara looked at him as though he were speaking another language. He sensed her confusion. “Don’t worry, we should be okay; the Quattroporte has 440 horsepower.” The thought of the powerful engine made him smile.
“Sollara, hang on.”
They were just about to turn into another hairpin corner when he unexpectedly slammed on the brakes. Tire dust clouded the road. They managed to see the Camaro barely miss them, go flying into the corner, and cross over the barrier.
Andrew took that as his cue and forced the gas pedal down to the floor. The Quattroporte had plenty in reserve.
“Nice move,” Sollara said as she worked hard to steady her breath. “I think we lost them.”
They maintained this pace to gain as much distance between them and the Camaro as possible.
“Phoebe, I think we shook them,” Andrew radioed a few minutes later. “The Quattroporte needs gas. We are pulling over at the next station.”
“All right, but stay attentive. Fill up and get out of there as quickly as possible,” she directed.
They pulled into the next gas station and were back on the road within minutes. Andrew felt that they had put good distance between them and the Camaro, so he took it a bit easier a
nd did not exceed the speed limit by too much.
“We’re back in motion Phoebe,” Andrew radioed.
“Good. We are just outside of Sooke so we should be catching up soon,” she replied.
About ten miles past the gas station, Sollara thought she heard a car behind them. She turned around to get a better look, but it was too dark to see anything.
“Do you hear that?”
“What?” he replied as he focused on the road ahead. The only light they had was from their car and the headlights of a large truck approaching them.
He checked the rear view mirror to be sure, and suddenly car lights turned on right behind them. They instantly recognized it as the Camaro.
It rammed the rear right side of the car, sending Andrew and Sollara into a heart stopping spin down the road. He struggled with the wheel, trying to straighten the car.
“We’re headed for it!” Sollara shrieked as she dropped the bag and clutched onto the door handle again.
Somehow, Andrew managed to regain control of the car, but they were still in the path of the onrushing truck. The semi driver noticed their car and frantically began honking his horn and flashing his lights. The Camaro doggedly followed behind, just a few feet away.
“What are you doing?’ Sollara yelled as Andrew did not do anything to move the car but kept driving straight toward a head on collision with the truck.
Andrew didn’t answer but kept his focus. The truck driver slammed his brakes, but the speed of the semi caused it to turn and skid sideways. They were within a few meters of colliding with the truck.
With his whole body Andrew cranked the steering wheel, veered to the left shoulder of the road, and brought them to a stop.
A gut-wrenching explosion of metal and glass shook the windows of the car. Sollara glanced towards the vehicles, trying to see what the damage was.
“Holy shit!” Andrew whistled as he tried to regain his breath.
Sollara finally released her death like grip on the door handle and turned to Andrew. “Should we go check on the truck driver?”
“There’s no point, he’s gone.”
“We killed him?” Sollara’s throat started to constrict. She couldn’t bear the thought of taking an innocent man’s life.
“No, I mean he escaped; he’s hurt but he will survive. I can hear him. He’s calling the police. So we better get going.” But before he left, Andrew took a moment and turned the car around so that the lights could shine on the wreck, and when he saw what he had accomplished, he smiled grimly. “Oh my god, would you look at that. Nicely done if I do say so myself.”
In the midst of something so intense as nearly dying, and as sad as injuring an innocent man, only someone like Andrew would be proud of a scene like that.
“Watch your language in front of a lady,” she scolded, not knowing what else to say.
-33-
Andrew quickly got on the radio and explained to Phoebe what happened. She sounded relieved to know they were safe. But Sollara couldn’t help but hear traces of worry still in her voice.
“How many of the driver rules did I just break?” he teased as he hung up the radio receiver.
“Oh shut up Andrew!” Her heart still beat rapidly after their close encounter with death, and she wasn’t in a mood for his taunting games.
“I hate to say this but we probably have to ditch these wheels; they know what we are driving. And we have no knowledge of how many are after you. It could be more than the men in the Camaro.”
“Oh my god, you're right,” she said as she ran her fingers over the dash.
He turned to face her, a cheeky smile spreading across his face. “You know for a young lady you sure do say 'oh my god' a lot. You should try using some creativity when you speak.”
“You’re right,” she agreed, hoping to get him to look back at the road and not at her.
“Well, that was easy.” He crinkled his brow as he thought over his victory.
Neither of them spoke for the next few minutes. Sollara watched out the window at the beautiful scenery that passed them by, and Andrew finally focused on driving. When they came to a small town called Jordon River, Sollara started looking for another car.
“Oh my Zeus that's it!” she said as she pointed to a parking lot they were about to pass. “Andrew pull in there!” she demanded.
“Oh my Zeus, really? Wow Sollara, wow!” He laughed as he did as she instructed and turned into the lot.
She offered him a proud and cheeky grin as he pulled the Quattroporte up next to a group of young men. Maybe joking wasn’t such a bad thing. Humor could cover up a lot of other feelings.
The guys whistled at the car, one of them bent down to Sollara’s window, “I don't know what I will dream about tonight, your beauty or the car’s.”
“Why thank you,” she purred. This caused Andrew to snap his head to her, wondering what she was doing. Was she flirting with this guy?
“Whose beautiful car is that?” Sollara pointed. Andrew turned, and his mouth dropped open as he looked across the parking lot at a black car with white racing stripes. It was a ‘72 Super Sport Chevelle.
“Well little miss, it seems you know your cars. That just happens to be my car.”
“I would like to trade you your car for mine. How does that sound?” She flashed him another big smile and tossed her curls.
Andrew smiled. Now he knew why Sollara had been flirting with these strangers.
“That would be an unfair trade for you. Why would you even consider such a deal?” the Chevelle owner asked.
“Well, my car has a nasty little scratch on the rear end, so it helps even out the deal.”
“Okay, am I being punked? Did you guys set her up?” He looked at his friends for answers. But they just stood there and shook their heads. Noticing the keys hooked on his waist belt, she grabbed them, got out of the Quattroporte, and tossed him her keys.
“Do we have a deal?” she cooed.
“Yes miss, we sure do.” He jumped into the driver’s side of her car. She watched him look over the leather interior and hug the steering wheel.
After trading ownership papers, Sollara took one last look at her car.
“Be good to her; she is special,” she said before she trotted over to the Chevelle. “Andrew grab the two-way radio,” she called over her shoulder. He had been standing by the car, curiously watching her interactions with the men.
Reaching back into the Quattroporte, Andrew grabbed all he could before heading over to Sollara in the Chevelle. As they left the parking lot, they took one last look at the Quattroporte and laughed as they could hardly see it through all the guys swarming over it.
“Uh, were did you learn how to flirt?” Andrew asked as he came up behind her with his arms full of the radio and bags.
“I just mimicked what I saw the girls at the school do to Kai,” she explained.
“The do tend to gravitate to him.”
She didn’t want to talk about Kai; in fact, until now she had been way too distracted with being followed to remember her hurt feelings.
So trying to change the subject, she went back to the cars. “That was a beautiful car and a lovely gift from Phoebe,” Sollara said as she opened the door and climbed in. “But this is more to my taste.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Andrew said as he reclined his seat and put his arm out the window.
After a few moments of driving, he pulled over and set up the two-way radio. At first they listened to a lot of static. Then Andrew changed channels and a loud, piercing voice filled the car.
“Hello, hello! Sollara, Andrew? Come in anyone.”
“Hello?” Andrew answered.
“It’s Hannah, whatcha doing? We lost contact with you for a bit there. We were getting worried.”
“We’re fine. Andrew was just installing the radio in a different automobile. How are the three of you?” Sollara asked as she pulled the radio receiver out of Andrews’s hand.
“Oh we’re
good. Kai is still having, err...um... you know dreams. He is doing well though. We just pulled over because Phoebe got a call from Coeus. Apparently one of the students is missing. I don't know any more; when I do, I’ll let you know. Wait a minute, did you say a different car?”
“Yeah, we figured they knew what Sollara was riding in so we decided to make a change to be safe,” Andrew said.
“Phoebe is not going to be happy; she spent a lot on that car!”
“Hannah, maybe I should break the news to her personally.”
“Yeah, good luck. I think she may figure out something is different when we catch up to you two and all of a sudden you’re in a different car.”
“Good point. Actually, maybe you should break the news, gently.”
There was a shuffling sound and soon Phoebe’s voice came over the radio. “Change of plans. We are headed to Sombrio Beach?”
“Why Sombrio Beach?” Andrew asked.
“Coeus called the twins to set plans into motion; apparently they have taken up residence there in some surf squatters' village. We will stop there, pick them up, and then go on to Cortez.” Phoebe's voice sounded distant, as though she were deep in thought.
“We are about an hour away from Sombrio Beach. How far are you guys?” Andrew asked.
“Look in your rear view mirror. Oh and Sollara, nice car by the way.”
Sollara swallowed the knot forming in her throat as she turned around to see Phoebe and Hannah waving at them in the SUV. “We thought it would be safer if I was not in the Quattroporte. I really loved that car... I didn't want to...”
“It is all right child. I am just having a go at you. But shouldn’t you have picked a car that was a bit less conspicuous?”
“Yeah, yeah...but then I wouldn't look as good,” Andrew laughed in reply.
-34-
The rest of the drive to Sombrio Beach was really uneventful. Sollara enjoyed watching the sunrise over the breathtaking scenery and listening to music. It wasn’t long before Andrew pulled into a dirt parking lot on the left hand side of the road. Somehow they had managed to gain some distance on Phoebe again. So they sat on the hood of the car to wait. Andrew pulled out two apples from his bag and gave one to Sollara.