12: Lilly

Lady Lilly Lally stood proudly atop the dashboard like one of those bobbleheads you'd see in other trucks.

She held one hand toward the wheel and the other out in front of her as if she was actually steering the wheel. Magic engulfed the steering wheel, pedals and her hands. Lilly focused her energy on keeping the large vehicle between the lines while her foot pressed down on the dashboard to keep the vehicle flying down the center lane at a hundred and thirty kilometers an hour.

The Centura V12 engine roared happily along matching her own smirk, a faint cloud of soot following along behind the semi. She was determined to find Cathy Catherine. The woman was gone! Missing! And the ones who Catherine had left in the care of Lady Lilly Lally were poking around where they shouldn't have. It wouldn't do well if they found the Queen's name! Not well at all.

"How could Silly Little Nia go snooping around where she shouldn't?! She knows better!" The pixie muttered to herself. Her eyes scanned the road ahead for any signs of Catherine; the half-elf walking along the road or that other truck she had left in. A grey semi with a coffin sleeper from what Lilly could recall. Catherine and Vicky only had a twenty minute head start, yet they were nowhere! It had been close to two hours and there was still no sign of her.

Not on the way to the highway and not even on the highway itself.

Lilly frowned at this and spun in place, hugging herself before throwing her arms wide with a burst of pink energy causing the gauges to brighten even more than they did earlier. The color finally returned to the speedometer’s needle and the crack became just a faint line. "Keep us in the lane and don't hit anything. I need to check that phone Cathy Catherine uses." Lilly said as she hovered off the dashboard, the embers trailing along behind her and glittering in the light.

The truck honked twice in short bursts to acknowledge the command and kept itself at the speed she left it. Stevie flew down the highway, tires humming and Centura engine singing as the semi ignored the cars in the lanes next to it. Its headlights shined brightly casting light as far as Lilly could see. Up ahead were a pair of slow moving semis blocking the right two lanes. The wipers slowly squeaked across the windshield reminding her that she needed a new set, but had no form of payment. Though, she did have Catherine’s wallet in a cupboard.

Lilly landed at the phone and stared at the gigantic keyboard and screen. She had seen both Nia and Cathy use them many times over the years so she had an inkling on how they were used. The CB radio crackled with static above Lilly. She looked up at it waiting for a human's voice but she heard a mechanical voice speak to her. "Traffic ahead."

Lilly saw it as well. Nine hundred meters away were two slow moving trucks with one trying to pass the other, both of them blocking the right and middle lane.

"Use the far left lane,” Lilly said, waving her hand dismissively toward the lane in question. “Slow down to one ten just in case an idiot four wheeler jumps out. Once you are past them, move back to the center."

Lady Lilly tapped the phone screen with her fingertip causing a little spark of magic to jump out, but it didn't respond. She stepped back, hummed to herself and narrowed her eyes at the device. Lilly's eyes took in the symbols she came to know as Common numbers and letters. What she didn't know was the strange rectangle button and the two half-moon buttons on the sides of the device; one being green and the other red.

"So… if Lilly puts her ear to it, it should work, yes?" the pixie asked herself as she hovered up and placed her ear right about where she had seen the elf sisters do, but again nothing happened. This made Lilly frown and land on the phone itself. Her foot fell on one of the buttons causing it to click.

The screen changed. She turned to the side and looked down. "Oh! It needs pressure! Lilly sees! Stevie sees! I see!"

She stepped back, clicking another button and then another as she tried to navigate the menu only to skip one page. Lilly whined and went back to another one entirely. "Come on! How hard is this thing to use when they can use it one handed?!"

"Hey speedy,” a man's voice called out on the radio. “Back it down. Back it down! A diesel bear's hiding in the trees behind the overpass ahead of you!"

Lilly looked up at the radio, then back down at the phone. "Do as the human says and get in the right lane if possible. Chances are we were already spotted.”

Stevie let off the throttle causing herself to roar loud enough the engine brake resonated within the cab walls for a few moments as the truck slowed to traffic speed.

Lilly pressed the ball of her foot down to select the name: Vic.

The screen then asked if she wanted to call by showing her the half-moon symbol with a question mark.

Lilly stepped back to look at both colors. She hummed, using her knowledge of the human world to assume that green would mean yes. After all, a green traffic light means go. But it was a phone. It could be different! Was it different? Only one way to find out!

Lilly jumped on the green button with both feet making the phone play the familiar noise of it connecting to another one.

She slowly hovered up close to the top of the phone and placed her ear to it.

A moment or two later Victoria's voice flowed from the phone. "Lilly! How could ya steal the truck from Silly Nia?!”

Lilly let out a soft gasp, eyes widening at having been found out so fast! Which meant that they had talked to Nia! Of course they’d talk to each other.

Lilly checked the side mirror to see if the pickup was following after her, but the police officer stayed where they were. A small smile crossed Lilly’s face when she realized he wasn't coming after her.

She waved her hand at the cruise control switch and increased the speed a few notches.

“She insulted me!” Lilly said, waving her hands about as she began pacing back and forth near the microphone. “She called me a ‘Little Shite’, can you believe that?!”

“Can you blame her?”

“Yes! She needs to apologize!”

“Then call her?” Catherine deadpanned.

Lilly froze at the voice, wings flaring out as she quickly looked at the phone. “Cathy Catherine! You are alive and well!”

Catherine giggled in reply. “Of course. Had an encounter with some bikers, but I’m fine. You?”

“I've been worried sick about you! Are you alright?” Lilly sat next to the phone and smiled, completely ignoring Stevie as the fully ladened semi managed to keep itself in between the lines behind another semi.

“Annoyed that my date was cut short because of you, but you know. It happens.”

“But we can't sit on this load! For your safety, we must leave the Valley by tonight! We must! We must! We must! Maybe Lilly should have told Nia and Harry to drive instead of attacking…”

“What's done is done. Where are you at?”

“Um…” Lilly looked over her shoulder at the sea of cars heading eastbound, an overpass declaring Petersburg was the next four exits and a line of semis ahead of her. “Petersburg.”

“Do you remember the road Victoria lives on?” Catherine asked quietly.

Lilly nodded even though Catherine couldn't see it. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes at the memory. Catherine and Victoria lived well outside of Petersburg back in the hills on hardly travelled roads. A place Victoria had owned for as long as Lilly knew her; a small single story house with a detached garage and streets barely big enough to fit the semi in.

“I can meet you at the crossroads to Vicky’s house,” Lilly said. “But it will take me a while. Traffic is backed up badly.”

“Cut through town. No one will care,” Victoria said, her voice low just before she broke into a yawn. “I do it all the time.”

“You're in a construction truck,” Catherine pointed out, "Lilly is hauling a box and it's night.”

“Right…”

Lilly frowned. “I’m not scared like Harry Harold! We’ll see you at the crossroads.”

*** ***

Petersburg was your average city, having been built up from the ruins of an Old World town, which was built on the ruins of a medieval city from before the Collide. That fateful day shattered the rift between worlds as arcane energy washed over the human lands and brought magic to the otherwise mundane of your world. Lilly could go on and on about the Collide, but her perspective was skewed by the Fae Kingdom’s perception of time. For Lilly, the Collide felt like it happened only a week before meeting Cathy Catherine, yet it had taken place nearly five hundred years ago during a time of great strife for the humans. Plagues ran rampant for decades before the first elves stepped foot on Earth and brought healing magic, but also dragons, dwarves and all manner of creatures.

Since then, Petersburg steadily grew worse from a bustling metropolis to a rundown industrial city intended only to produce food and vegetables for the neighboring cities. What once was a clean river cutting through the city’s heart was now a murky mess of things. Most streets were narrow with semis being directed down specific routes to avoid low hanging branches and archways. The buildings were barely taller than a three story warehouse and right by the highway were the largest structures in town; silos and canneries.

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Rail once ran between Petersburg and other cities for commerce, now only the hollow remains of the iron beasts lay dormant in yards.

Stevie slowly meandered her way through the city’s narrow streets, just barely missing parked cars and people as they walked right in front of the semi without looking! The humans of Petersburg were either completely blind and deaf to the window shaking rumble of the engine, or they just didn’t care.

Lilly stood on the dashboard without a care, as anyone looking at the semi would be hard pressed to look directly inside the dark windows. All she appeared to be from the outside was a small illuminated bobblehead. The multicolored fairy lights Catherine had hung in the sleeper and around the driving compartment gave the interior a warm and inviting feeling to Lilly.

Catherine liked to keep the semi dark inside while driving, which upset Lilly because the twinkling lights were quite pretty to look at. Since there was no Catherine, she could have them on whenever she wanted!

Lilly clutched at one of her ears, grimacing at a hollow pop reverberating from above the cab, sounding as if someone had slammed a single hammer hit into the roof. Then another pop echoed from the other side, followed by a third and a fourth.

Lilly wasn't the only one that could hear the noise. With each passing moment, the semi plied its way down the narrow tree tunnel street. The branches cut high enough to allow trucks to pass, but not high enough her three meter antennas went unscathed. Each branch that hung low enough was smacked by the antennas, drawing unwanted attention to Lilly. Her idling engine didn’t help either.

She wanted to sneak through as best she could! They weren’t supposed to be on the road, the sign a half kilometer back said so! However, it was the road Victoria had said to take. The most direct road home should be no problem if Victoria took it all the time.

Should being the key word, for when Lilly checked her mirror she saw a car hugging the back bumper of her trailer as close as it could. It hung there, just waiting and following. The angled shape of its headlight looking like an eye told her all she needed to know about the car. Her suspicion was confirmed when they passed under a street lamp and the light illuminated a light bar on the white rooftop, a push-bar and spotlights in front.

“Oh come on…” Lilly whined to herself as she watched the car following her. “Don't you dare… Don’t pull me over, don't pull me over, don't—”

Red and blue lights flared bright, blinding the poor pixie as the whole front of the police car flooded the mirror with enough light she might as well have been staring into the sun.

Lilly held her hand out to block the mirror from blinding her further. “You didn't have to blind Lilly, ya fecking wanker!” She yelled. The pixie looked at the street for any place to pull over, but saw nothing but spots, so she kept driving.

The police car turned off the spotlights, but kept its emergency lights on as it followed Stevie while they slowly made their way through the narrow city heart until she found a spot she could pull over by a few restaurants. Lilly parked the semi as close to the curb as she could and still took up a small portion of the travel lane.

She hit the park anywhere lights, otherwise known as emergency flashers to Harold, and turned Stevie off. Lilly walked over to the passenger side of the semi and rolled the window down with her magic.

It didn’t take long for the officer to knock on the passenger door. Lilly smiled at an idea, but she thought the better of turning herself invisible. If she were to make it seem like Stevie had no driver then surely the officer would leave her alone? Or would that just make it worse? She contemplated on what to do, but came up with no good solution. Either way the officer would be looking inside the semi.

Lilly hovered onto the seat and opened the door for the officer.

It was a regular city cop judging by his lack of mechanic overalls. He stared up at Lilly, his pointed half-elf ears quite visible to her. As was his small neatly trimmed mustache. His eyes glowed softly in the dark of the city night. The name tag simply read: Garret.

She stared back at him. Garret said nothing. Lilly’s wings flexed as she inhaled, then exhaled even quicker. Stevie responded to her movements by causing the air dryer to hiss and spit out a blast of air.

The half-elf finally blinked at Lilly. Garret pointed at her. “Are you the driver?”

Lilly slowly nodded. “Yes.”

“Do you know why I stopped you?” Garret asked.

“Be… cause I am not supposed to be traveling on this road?” Lilly tilted her head, motioning at the officer and giving him a wide smile.

“Yeah. Not only that, but you're making one hell of a racket! Do you have mufflers on this truck?” He looked at the exhaust pipe as it ticked and clicked.

A car slowly drove by them. One that dragged Lilly’s thoughts away from Garret. It was a small blue sedan. Not unusual, really, but the silver haired elf inside was staring at them the entire time the car passed by.

Not a curious stare, but a scowling stare as if they were annoyed by Lilly. Likely with good reason! Lilly was loud and in the city. A few other different colored cars passed by the parked semi.

Yet, Lilly couldn't shake the feeling that she’d been seeing an awful lot of bright blue cars today. She couldn't tell if they were the same model or not, as she wasn't a car. She was a truck and had no idea about car brands. They were all the same!

“Well? Do you have mufflers or not?” Garret asked.

Lilly snapped her attention back to him and smiled. “I have a muffle spell, yes, but it doesn’t extend to the exhaust. Only to the cabin.”

“Not what I asked.” Garret frowned at her.

She tapped her hands together and giggled softly. Lilly let the moment last until it looked like the officer was about to speak. “The answer would be no. I do not have mufflers. They restrict too much power and I need all I can get when heading into the wasteland.”

“Got a permit then?”

“I think so?” Lilly hovered to the glovebox and popped it open. She pulled a stack of papers out that were far, far too large for her to carry effectively. Still, she laid them all out on the seat and slowly flipped through them.

Garret waited patiently for the paperwork, his radio chattering quietly to him, but Lilly paid the radio no mind.

Her attention was solely focused on finding the permit. Surely Cathy Catherine had one? It had to be among the papers, yet all Lilly found were five years worth of registrations and insurance cards, a receipt for a full service and tire change, the manifest. No permits. Lilly scratched the top of her head slowly looking around the cabin for where they could be.

She hovered to the sleeping compartment where Catherine’s purse, Nia’s backpack and a duffel bag of Catherine’s clothes were. Next to them was Harold’s travel bag. Lilly lifted the mattress only to find an old cut down shotgun laying in a cutout beneath the mattress. The side by side shotgun’s barrel had been shortened at one point in the past, but the full stock was kept allowing a coach rider to wield it easier. Runes were etched into the barrel. An additional set of expansion tubes lay right in front of the hammers and were connected to the barrels themselves.

Lilly set the mattress down again and searched the front of the cab. She pulled out all four log books and skimmed them, but they were useless. Just when she was about to give up she saw the clipboard stuffed in a pocket behind the driver’s seat hidden by Cathy’s jacket.

She took the permit and Catherine’s driver’s license and wheeled around to give them to Garrett. “Found it!”

He had climbed onto the side of the truck and stood on the step looking around the interior of the cab. The cop’s attention was on the bags in the back for the entire time Lilly approached him with the paperwork.

“You really are the only one in here right now, huh?” Garret eyed the permit closely, going over the details while Lilly hovered close to him.

She hugged the driver's license and smiled patiently, knowing Catherine had the paperwork up to date and as accurate as she could get.

Garret set the permit on the seat and held his hand out. “May I see your license?”

Lilly held the card out for him and landed in a place that was easier for him to see her at.

Garret compared the card to Lilly’s appearance, his eyes drifting from her face to her short ears, to her hair and finally her eyes. “Are you sure this is yours? It says you're a half-elf.”

Lilly looked at the license, then at Garret. “Well, I do look like the picture, do I not?” She turned her head to the side to show off her half-elf ears, tucking her hair behind an ear to let them show free.

Garret brought the card closer to Lilly. A deep frown on his face. “Okay, Catherine, explain how you're six inches tall and not five foot eight.”

“I was cursed by a pixie to become one.” She nodded to the man. “Angering one isn't wise, as I found out.”

“When?”

“Um… quite a while ago.” Lilly smiled hesitantly. She placed her hands together once more and twiddled her fingers. Her eyes widened in surprise when she remembered Cathy’s memorial tattoo, so she turned to the side and pointed at her bicep where a mirror image of the tattoo lay. “See?”

Garret looked at the tattoo, the photo, then Lilly again and motioned at her to wait. “Don't go anywhere. I’ll be back.”

Lilly’s smile faded, but she nodded. “Sure…”

*** ***

Lilly sat on the center shelf between the seats inside Stevie’s cabin. She watched the twinkling fairy lights slowly blink on and off, a small smile on her face. Her eyes wide in wonder, mind working over the day’s events.

Or was it still the day before when they were on the other side of Hades’ Crest? Lilly was unsure, for even though Lilly tried to think on the specifics. She could only pull the faintest strands of thought when Catherine had fallen asleep at the stop sign. Where Lilly held the brake for her when Catherine’s foot slipped off the pedal. How Lilly dumped the air from the reservoir tanks until the low air warning awoke her.

Lilly should have just driven on with the changeling sleeping in the seat, but she couldn't risk Catherine waking up in a panic like she did. That would have been bad and likely caused another crash. If only she had her voice at the time she could have mentioned for Catherine to sleep in the back.

A faint, hollow pop akin to a soda can being crushed snapped her from her thoughts. The flash of light was noticeably different, too.

She gave the newcomer her full attention and stared at the other pixie. This one was slightly taller than Lilly with a gilded robe long enough to reach the ground and obscure their feet. They held a staff made from a twisting branch topped with a small skull in one hand and their eyes were solid with magic. Magic and glowing dust swirled around the pixie with each movement of their wings.

Lilly immediately placed a hand over her heart, bending a knee in a bow as she closed her eyes. “My Queen, whatever brings you to this most luminous visit?”

The other pixie floated off the ground and flew by Lilly, a fancy and truly gaudy crown sparkled in the light given off by the fairy lights. “I, Queen Porington, have come to do an inspection. Where is my pet spellcaster?” the pixie said in a shrill voice.

Lilly watched Porington, but did not rise. “Cathy Catherine is not here. Your timing is off, regrettably, my Queen.”

“Only my toy semi with you?”

“Yes.”

Porington landed on the dash between the flat windshield panes where they met. She looked out at the city filled with holiday decorations and lights wrapping around streetlights, neon and led signs showing off many advertisements to the people walking along the sidewalks. All of it combined to make a dazzling display of noise to the pixie. Porington tapped her staff against the glass, whispering something Lilly did not wish to hear.

Ice built up around the window edges and quickly spread out, encasing every window, blocking their view from the outside world.

Porington faced Lilly and clicked her tongue a few times in a disapproving manner, slowly shaking their head. “Lilly, Lilly, you did not go with Catherine?”

Lilly shook her head. “No. She went on a date with her mate and we are to meet in a place of her choosing.”

“Good! Good!” Porington clapped her hands together, the staff disappearing in a puff of purple smoke. She held her hands as if praying and brought them close to her chest. Porington gave Lilly a grin that made Lilly gulp. “Because I wished to speak with you alone.”

“Me? What have I done to deserve this honor, my queen?”

“You? Nothing. Stevie? Everything.” Porington spun in place as she threw her arms wide and the echo of her laughter filled the cabin. “This beautiful beast we reside in is a marvel of human ingenuity, is it not?!”

“Not any more…” Lilly faced Porington and finally stood up once it was clear her queen was here for a social call rather than business.

“Precisely! Times have changed. Why does she insist on driving around in a pile of junk?” Porington asked, twirling around. Before stopping to look at Lilly. “Tell her to upgrade to a whole new semi!”

“Why? Stevie is fine.”

“Do you have any idea how hard it is to observe when you are being tossed around like a leaf in the wind?!”

Lilly slowly scanned her home for the last three decades, if not more, and frowned to herself. She’d spent so many kilometers on the road with Catherine she couldn't see Catherine driving anything else. Other trucks were nicer, smoother, quieter, but Stevie was Stevie: Brash, crude, inefficient, and cramped.

“I will bring it up to her, Queen Porington, but there is a problem.” Lilly motioned to Porington, then out the ice window. “I believe her father has sent men to follow us and possibly hijack the load, or worse, kill her outright.”

“And this is my problem… why?” Porington placed her hands together and let them rest at her waist. “The contract terms were clear. Her father was not in them, Therefore she will have to deal with family problems herself.”

“And if she dies?”

Porington shrugged. “I have other options. Now, this connection to Noisy Stevie is giving me a headache. Tell me, how can you live with all of the noise outside this vehicle?”

“You get used to it. Until we meet again, yes?”

Porington reached for her crown as if it had a wide brim to it, holding her hand there. “Would you be a dear and remind my pet she was only allowed to tell one soul about me? She already chose who to tell.”

Lilly nodded firmly. “I shall.”

“If she wishes to tell another soul it will cost her two fractals like last time. Otherwise she will have to dance for a year.” She pulled the crown down and shadows quickly enveloped the pixie. They smothered the light of her wings until she was a dark shape. Then they dissipated with a pop.

Lilly folded her arms across her chest. She closed her eyes to listen to the world around her, looking for anything that moved within the semi.

Nothing did. All quiet in Stevie’s cabin, so Lilly hovered to the dashboard where Porington had stood. “You're not a pile of junk,” the pixie said, kneeling down to rub the dashboard with her hand. “The queen is being facetious.”

The gauges illuminated softly in response to her touch. Only for a moment with a small flicker, nothing more.

Lilly smiled softly. She gently patted the dash a couple of times, her hand resting on the leather. Magic flowed from Lilly into the dash, allowing the semi to absorb even more of her until the cracks of the gauges were gone, their paint perfect once again. Even the wood and leather returned to its vibrant hues.

She kept the spell going as it seeped into the crevices of the frame looking for anything that shouldn't be there; holes from rust, fading and flaking paint. Broken parts weren't her concern unless they were dire. Not that there were any except for the blown out shocks on one drive axle. Tires were out of her mind as they were constantly wearing down.

The pixie poured her magic into the semi until her eyes became too heavy to stay open on their own. She quickly shook her head, blinking to focus on her hand again for a little longer.

Lilly pulled her trembling hand back and stared at it, taking quick, short breaths. Stevie was bouncy, yes, but Lilly knew a few ways to fix it based on what she had observed with other semis. An extended frame could help. More importantly was the suspension. Stevie needed airbags, not the solid bar that was the walking beam suspension.

Lilly took a deep breath, closed her eyes and hugged herself. “I don't know how much longer I can keep this up,” she whispered softly to no one in particular. “I have to tell her about the rust.”