by Gabby Fawkes
…And then I saw Axel’s body fall to the ground and several btsan behind, about to finish him off.
“Uraghhhh!” I screamed, as it pulsed out of me.
The burning took me over, choked me, exploded through me, rushed out as me. And then, all was flame-tipped darkness…
17
“You have a red queen?”
“…Go fish.”
My eyes fluttered a bit, but didn’t open. Not yet.
All of me… ached too much. Especially my hands. It felt like I’d gone one on one against Hulda and got my ass whooped. And yet…
I sat up ramrod straight, my eyes snapping open. The btsan… they-
“You’re awake.” His breath was hot on my cheek, while that spicy musk of his wrapped its arms around me. Axel.
“Your friends are back there playing cards,” he said, his gaze a few seat rows down. “Thought if they sat too close they’d disturb you.”
Even from here, I could overhear Demi saying smugly “Go fish” and Kian groaning.
“Want me to call them?” he asked.
“Not… yet.” I held my hands up to my face. Had they really… They looked okay, at any rate, although now throbbing even more. “What happened?”
“You mean after you blasted the btsan with fire?” Axel said conversationally. “They galloped away, covered in flames. Your friends raced out to help, while the witches fled. You were out cold. Then we all came here.”
Talk about a five-second summary.
In the seats around us, everyone else was different levels of zoned out or full-on conked out. Which explained why no one was staring at us like we were insane from hearing what Axel’d said.
My dragon senses were still tingling though… the air pressure was off, randomly enough, while the drone of engines told me we definitely weren’t on a weird-looking bus. I peered out a circular window beside me to see clouds, then returned my questioning gave to Axel. “An airplane?”
Axel did a full-body shrug. “It’ll get us where we’re going.”
“Which is?”
Axel’s icy gaze studied me. “Aren’t you more interested to know how you managed to produce several tons of flames at short notice?”
I swallowed. “Yeah, but still. Where are we going?”
“To Olympus.” Axel took out an apple and tore off a savage bite. “Though we have to go the human way, since I… my stepmom isn’t my greatest fan and it’s been a while since I was last there.”
“And the human way is…”
“Just how you’d expect. In Greece, on Mount Olympus.”
I stared at him. “You mean it’s that simple?”
“You’ll see,” was all he said as he chewed. He held out the apple. “Want some?”
Before I could think better of it, I dug my teeth in. My stomach immediately rejoiced. When had my last meal been anyway - those candy bars before the forest? That seemed days, not mere hours ago.
Axel chuckled. “Soon as we sat down, your friends ordered something like three meals. Each. Lucky I remembered to bring my card, since all I had were these.”
From his jean pocket, he took out some unfamiliar looking bills – which definitely weren’t American. Seeing my interested gaze, he quickly stashed them away.
A cough wracked through me. I winced as I sunk back into my seat. Damn… even coughing hurt.
“You okay?” Axel’s light touch on my shoulder shot all my body’s awareness there. Though it didn’t burn – just tingled.
Mmmm… the voice inside me said, that feels…
I didn’t let it finish the sentence. I threw myself to my feet.
Ohhh crap.
A wave of nausea hit. I steadied myself on the royal blue seat behind.
Was this motion sickness, or was I just beat from the whole fire-throwing thing?
A firm hand steadied me, then withdrew.
“Tala,” Axel said, clearly pissed.
For a few seconds we stayed like that, the way he towered over me rousing fear and excitement in me at the same time.
“Why’d you do it?” he finally asked in a low voice. “Wait for me back at the portal. Not go with your friends.”
Our gazes caught, held. I could’ve told him the psycho voice made me do it, but that wasn’t it. Not really. The answer was stirring in me, snaking its way up to my lips, his. At the last second, I twisted away.
“I’m gonna go see how my friends are doing,” I said, hurrying away. Hopefully fast enough that he wouldn’t see how red my cheeks probably were.
It was only when I reached them further down the aisle that I noticed what I had on. Some ripped knee-length gray jean shorts and a black off-shoulder T-shirt I definitely hadn’t been wearing before. That didn’t mean…
“Tala!” Kian sprung to her feet. Demi did the same.
Both were gaping at me like I was seconds away from toppling to the ground. Maybe I was. The adrenaline that had flooded through me when leaving had pretty much abandoned me just now.
“Guys,” I said, motioning weakly to my clothes. Axel hadn’t actually…
“Like ‘em?” Kian was grinning. “Demi wanted to put you in this barf-tastic burlap-sack dress, but lucky for you, I decided to spare you.”
“It was made of fair-trade organic bamboo,” Demi protested.
“But my clothes…” I said.
“Were totally singed.” Demi lowered her voice and, seeing my horrified expression, quickly added, “Don’t worry, they still covered…”
“Just made you look like an extra in a war film,” Kian said cheerfully.
“Wonderful,” I said, finding my voice going hoarse as I leaned on their chair for support. Sitting down right now… seemed like a really awesome idea.
“Goodness, you look pale as a ghost – here.” Demi held something out as I sank into the nearest seat. I lifted it to my lips and slurped the something-fruit paste down.
“Thanks,” I said, handing the empty container back to her half a minute later.
She lifted a spoon. “This was for the applesauce, but…”
Kian made a ‘pfft’ noise and hoisted me a bag of chips. “Take these. You should order a bunch too.”
“Although not the tuna mayo sandwich,” Demi said seriously.
“Not the tuna mayo sandwich,” Kian agreed grimly.
An airline attendant appeared. “Ladies, I’ll have to ask you to return to your seats.”
My heart fell as I turned back to mine.
“Uh-uh,” Kian said, sitting me back down. “You stay here and rest. I’ll go and endure Asshole Axel.”
“Thanks,” I said.
She gave me a quick hug and pat. “After you saved our asses, it’s the least I can do.”
“She’s right,” Demi said, “though I’ll let you eat.”
For a good minute, I enjoyed the sensation of crunching the chips in my mouth into tinier and tinier pieces. But then something occurred to me.
“Did Axel…?” I asked Demi.
“He told us the plan, yeah.” She peered into my face close. “But seriously, Tal. Are you okay?”
“Not really,” I admitted. “Feels like I just ran a 10K, had a boxing match and took one of Mildred’s notorious end-of-year Latin exams – all in the same hour.”
“After what you did, I’m just thankful you’re not hurt.”
“Did he…” I craned up and around, but I could only make out the top dark waves of Axel’s head. I leaned it. “Tell you guys what I am? That I’m a dragon shifter?”
Demi shook her head. “As soon as the btsan galloped off and you passed out, he went into, I dunno, mission mode. Had us wait in some bagel place while he got you a wheelchair from somewhere. Then we all went to the airport, got you some clothes. Kian and I helped you into them in the bathroom.”
“But the airport, don’t you need…”
“Documentation, exactly.” Demi gave a definitive up-down nod, her long curls nodding too. “You were out cold going through cust
oms too. I don’t know what Axel said to them – but whatever it was, they let us through, no questions asked. And now…”
“Now, here we are,” I said. “On a plane headed to Greece, to go to Olympus.” I crunched down on my ambitious stack of chips as I eyed my friend. Maybe I just wasn’t usually this close to Demi, but her almond eyes seemed to have an unusually tired pinch. “What about you – how are you holding up?”
“Okay, I guess.” Demi took a chip herself. “I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet. Me being some…goddess apparently. I mean, just because some woman with an owl said that I’m something….”
Her voice trailed off.
“At least we’ll be getting more answers in Olympus,” I said. “Hopefully.”
I frowned. “Speaking of… I mean, so far, Axel has been trustworthy, right?”
All these past few hours I’d just been taking for granted he was on our side. But just because he hadn’t turned us over to the DSA and I was crazy-attracted to him, didn’t mean he was looking out for us.
Demi gaped at me. “Tala – you were the one who refused to go with the witches, remember?”
“’Course,” I said crossly. “I was just saying…”
“And I was just saying that we made our decision.” Demi turned to look out the window, at a platypus-shaped puff of cloud we were passing through. “No point in questioning it now.”
She was right. Although that didn’t make my death grip on the arm rest any lighter. There were just too many WTF moments that had happened lately – escaping from the school, blasting an electrical fence away with my bare hands, being chased by red horseback monsters, blasting said monsters…
As the plane droned along, my head lolled on the seat behind me as I popped into my mouth chip… after chip…after chip… after chip….
I only realized I’d nodded off when someone shook me awake. “Come on, Tala!”
I blinked uncomprehendingly at Kian’s incredulous glare.
“I swear,” she growled. “You’d sleep through an atomic bomb if it came to it.”
I mustered myself to my feet, keeping a firm hold on my now-empty chip bag. Some of the aching in my limbs had lessened, at least.
“Talaaaa,” Demi sing-songed, prodding me in the side.
“I’ll be outside,” Axel said curtly, striding ahead.
A look around found that we were the last ones inside the plane, while the same grumpy-faced flight attendant hovered by, clearly waiting for us to leave.
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” I grumbled, “Velocious quam asparagi coquantur.”
That got my friends smiling.
When was the last time I’d said ‘faster than you can cook asparagus’? It seemed ages. Almost like everything that had happened at our school had been a different life, had happened to different people.
As I walked out, I found the support of my friends useful. An idea came to mind too.
“Hey,” I said. “If there’s those travel…” I cast a furtive look at the severe-bunned flight attendant watching us with a reptilian gaze off to the side. “Places. Why would we have had to take a plane to get to Mount Olympus?”
They waited a few seconds, until we were safely out of her earshot, before responding.
“Axel said he couldn’t,” Demi said. “Said he was banned for long-distance ones.”
“Ah,” I said.
Reaching into my pocket, even though I knew it was pointless, my fingers crinkled something glorious.
I grinned to Kian. “You didn’t.”
“I might’ve,” she said, leaning in with a grin. “It was a good excuse to buy some Mint Aero at the airport.”
My laugh stopped short, remembering the last time I'd had Mint Aero. Damn, how much had changed in only a few short weeks…
Catching my fingers crumpling their refuge into the candy wrapper, I let out a sigh of relief then slung my arms around my friends. Pretty stupid, feeling this happy over a piece of paper. But it was the fact of it. That my best friends were here.
It made me feel like, no matter what happened, as long as we stuck together, we’d be okay.
As we made our way down the steps, Kian took a careful look to ensure that the purposefully-advancing person in the distance was Axel, then said, “Aren’t you guys worried we’re travelling with the Charles Manson of gods?”
“No,” Demi said, at the same time I said, “Yes.”
“What?” both Kian and Demi demanded, twisting to gape at me. “But you were the one…”
“Who said to go with him, I know.” I sighed. It was complicated. “But considering it’s the psycho voice in me that’s his greatest fan, I’m wondering if…”
“It might be because he’s psycho too,” Kemi said in a morbid whisper.
I can hear you, you know.
-Good for you, I said back in my head. Maybe this way you can learn that ‘burning people’ is not a life skill. Or a solution to anything.
Except when you’re about to be beheaded by them.
I shut up. My voice had me there.
“Tala?” Kian said.
“You both know I’m right,” Demi insisted. “If Axel wanted to harm us, he’s had ample opportunity already.”
“Unless he’s taking us to his evil boss,” Kian said, dark eyes glinting.
“If his evil boss is in Olympus, then I’ll take my chances,” Demi said. “I want to find out for sure who and what I am.”
“Which the witches could’ve told you, probably,” Kian said with certainty. “Once they took us back to Mathusa…whatever.”
“You’re just biased because Athena said you were a witch,” I pointed out.
“You coming?” Axel yelled, considerably closer to us than he had been seconds ago.
We exchanged a look. That was the end of that conversation.
“Yep,” I called after him.
As little as I liked it, Demi was right. We weren’t going to find answers wandering around Greece with no money and no idea what to do next. Going with Axel was our best shot.
Wandering through the airport was an experience in itself. There were just so many odd-looking people. And bright weird-thing packed stores. And just, well…rooms. For a girl who couldn’t remember a life outside of the fenced boundaries of the School for the Different, it felt like Disneyland. Not that I knew what that looked like, either.
“This is nothing,” Kian said. Her bright pinky-orange lips were unimpressed as I gaped at a giant corridor, crammed with what must’ve been at least 150 people. “You should’ve seen the New York City one.”
With all the line-ups, it took a while for us to get out of there. Although this time I got to see Axel work his magic myself.
It was at the final lineup, which seemed to be for the documents we for sure didn’t have. We made our way ahead like automatons, step after step, following the slow-moving line. The officers at the booths all had no bullshit expressions, which made sweat bead at my nape.
Once it was our turn and we dutifully followed Axel to the officer (who looked the crabbiest of the lot), I couldn’t help but wonder how on earth he’d get us out of this one.
But then Axel smiled, said a few words, made eye contact. And next thing I knew, Mr. Someone Shit on my Cereal was all “Have a nice dayyyy.”
“What was that?” I hissed at Axel as we made our way out.
“You don’t want to know,” he said simply.
“But…”
“Listen. I don’t like using my compulsion powers, and I like talking about it even less.”
Guess that was that, then. We didn’t talk much as we got out of the airport and got into the first taxi Axel hailed. Although the football-headed cab driver was pretty flummoxed when Axel told him, “Mount Olympus.”
“Sir, surely you have hotel, luggage,” he insisted in a heavily accented voice.
“Mount Olympus,” Axel repeated, more forcefully.
Grumbling to himself in a different language, the cabbie nonethel
ess got driving, and Kian, Demi and I sank back into our seats. At first I was in a bit of a daze, overpowered by the seat’s slick kiss of hot leather on my bare legs and the muffled drone of traffic outside. But then, Kian nudged me and pointed out a cool-looking woman, with black Oriental-style tattoos covering much of her upper body, After we got staring, there was no tearing our gazes off the window. We couldn’t help it. Our surroundings were unlike any we’d seen before.
There were squat monochrome apartments with vibrant rainbow clothes on a line. Tropical trees with Jurassic-park looking branches squeezed onto every other block. Later on, even the highway was fascinating, bordered by gray gravelly hills, yellowy-green scrub and the odd town, populated by an armada of cars from every century.
Maybe on our last trip when we’d been in the truck, we’d been too tired and shocked to really take in the sights. Whatever the reason, this time we drank it all in, the blue road signs with the odd characters in white, the landscape, which went from flatt-ish plant-spotted plains to hills filled with trees to even, at one point, a flash of the deep navy of the sea. Demi eased a window open partway and we were treated to a whole number of fresh, flower-tinged breezes.
When we finally pulled into the parking lot – a sliver of tarmac wedged between several mountain peaks – one of which had to be the mountain, I was already beat. Twisting to see everything and point out everything else did that to you.
After we got out, Axel gave us an appraising look. “You girls good to hike?”
We regarded the tall mountain glumly. Behind us, the cab puttered in the distance.
“Is there a choice?” I asked.
“I can always carry you,” Axel suggested with a smile.
An eager twitch went through my arms, but I forced my legs forward.
As he set off ahead of us, Kian got going too, shaking her head. “How does he manage to be a jerk and a gentleman at the same time?”
“It’s a gift,” he called from far ahead.
That – and his athletic prowess. As we made our way up the mountain, over rock, dirt and grass, several things became clear.
One: Me using my magic had really wiped me out. And I mean really – as in, foot-draggingly, eyelid-closingly really.