4: Secrets
“Always sure, my dear!”
The Flying Hook truck stop situated an hour northeast of Portside was one of many in the corporate chain that served drivers, and one Areannia knew well. She and Catherine shouldn't even be that close to Portside, as the city was a half day’s drive southwest of Nalia and under the Matriarch's umbrella since 155. Areannia had never met the Matriarch before, but she knew of the woman through various shady business dealings they had gone through back in the day.
Now, Areannia was not really paying attention to her surroundings and anyone could sneak up on her if they wanted. Her eyes were solely focused on the CB radios sitting inside a glass display next to the commercial driver’s register.
Stacked five shelves high, there was everything from magical navigation units to radios, to cameras and headsets. Her fuschia eyes were locked on one shiny chrome radio with forty channels and both a wide and narrow band setting. The coiled snake logo was the same brand that Cathy used in her semi, but they didn't do much else while Cathy’s was a full on amateur radio with even more frequencies and abilities.
The blonde elf kept an eye on the mirror showing off the racks of sweatpants and heavy flannel shirts behind her. Travelers and other commercial driver's wandered by. Some were oblivious to the fact that there was an elf standing there in front of the display while others didn't really care. An elf or a demon, or even changeling, was fairly common amongst commercial drivers as it was an occupation that allowed for one to be away from people.
But not everyone liked being on the road for weeks or even years at a time.
Areannia was one such elf. She listened to her mother’s words through the cell phone held against her ear. “Your sibling is playing a dangerous game.”
“I know,” Areannia said quietly. Her eyes flicked from the CB radio to the normal registers on her left. There was a small line of people holding bags of food while one person pointed behind the cashier to the cigarettes and vapes on display, asking for at least five different flavors.
The poor worker kept going from the register to the wall and back again.
“I understand why she fought him, but it was still stupid,” Mallorie added, her voice annoyed and quiet. “She's lucky Vic was there, otherwise Nael would've finished her off. So answer me this; Why is she working with him again?"
Areannia didn't know and likely Cathy had no clue either. The blonde elf bit her lip as she shifted her weight to one side. “I don't know, mom. It… it's insane.” Areannia glanced around her before heading to her right where the commercial semi-truck parts were sold. Clearance lights, brake and blinker lights, tarp straps and bungee cords were some of the items offered for sale. She half-assed looked over one arcane refrigerator capable of sliding between the seats of a narrow cab. Wouldn't even come close to fitting inside Stevie’s cabin and the semi didn't need a new fridge anyway when there wasn't room for one with the passenger seat inside it.
" Is she back on that drug?”
“We’re supposed to pick up a trailer from Portside tomorrow and take it to Rocklin.” Areannia walked away from the fridge toward the smaller knickknacks like lug nut covers and CB antennas.
“Portside… Portside… Portside…” Mallorie whispered to herself for a few moments.
Her words were barely audible over the disembodied voice coming from ceiling speakers as it said, “Attention Driver number thirty, your shower is ready.”
Areannia checked her watch to see how much longer until her shower was available. Another twenty minutes if the attendant was to be believed.
“Why does that sound familiar?” Mallorie trailed off as she let out a soft gasp. “Oh!”
“Oh?” Areannia queried.
"Your father needs to borrow one of your trailers. Preferably a brand new one. It'll be back in our capable hands by next Monday."
"Sure?"
Her mother went quiet for a few moments as she typed away on the computer, so Areannia decided to pick through the lug nut covers once again. They had a few acorn shaped ones and some with jewels in the ends, but the ones she was looking for were the spikes. They’d complete Stevie and make her look nice, but sadly, the bin was missing too many to think about buying them.
“Pepper misses you.” Mallorie's voice broke the silence.
Areannia pulled an amber clearance light from the bin and tried to think if Cathy had any spares for the trailers or not. She wasn't sure, because her mind switched to her children. “She's not too much trouble I hope.”
“This is not the first time in a thousand years I’ve had to watch a toddler and an eight year old. Which is why they're spoiled with all the sugar and cartoons they could ask for!”
Areannia nodded firmly and smiled at hearing that. Then her mother’s words actually registered, causing an eye to twitch visibly. “They're on a strict diet, mom! No sweets or caffeine after two and no video games after five!”
Mallorie giggled softly. “Would I really spoil them with sweets when there's so much more entertaining things to do?! Like teaching them to summon the undead!”
“Could you send me some pictures? I’d ask Rosco, but… I’d rather not give him a reason to yell at me.”
“He told me to tell you that nothing was wrong with your car. He had the Arcane Investigators and the Bomb Squad check it out, and there was nothing there.”
“Really? Cathy said—”
“She could have been hallucinating another timeline. That happens when you're scrying in your sleep and why she should be keeping a journal.”
Areannia grabbed two brake lights and a handful of long bungee cords, tossing the bungees over her shoulder. “I'm glad I didn't get that curse, which reminds me. Can you have someone deliver a driver application form to Vic’s house?”
“I still can't believe that woman stole a pool.”
Areannia walked away from the bins of lights and grabbed three pairs of gloves, using her shoulder to hold the phone to her ear. “I’m just surprised that they never noticed the ‘excavator’ marks were made by claws.”
“Is that Areannia?!” a man's deep voice called out in the call's background.
Oh fuck.
“Don't give him the phone,” Areannia muttered. Rosco and Mallorie talked about something before the line was muted, which made Areannia frown deeply. The blonde elf added two tubes of grease to her growing pile of items and headed for the register, her mind slowly drifting to one of her other partners for a moment.
I should call John and let him know I'll be busy for a few days...
The lanky man behind the counter began ringing the items up, asking, “Do you need a bag?”
She nodded and swiped her points card, then entered in a number. “Mom? Are you—”
“Areannia Trail Fortuna!” Mallorie snapped, causing Areannia to cringe as she pulled the phone from her ear. “Three hundred kilometers an hour in a semi is insane!"
"But—"
"I saw the video and the radar readout! There was glitter coming from the exhaust!”
Areannia bit her lip. She knew that hanging up would be a bad idea, but what was there to say other than she didn't actually know how fast the semi was going? She only held her foot to the floor when racing Cathy’s daughter.
“The highway was dead and no one else was around! It wasn't dangerous.”
“What if there was black ice? You have children! Don't do it again. Understand?”
She sighed heavily, slowly shaking her head from side to side. “Yeah. I understand.”
*** ***
A thunderous clank echoed throughout the semi's cabin as Catherine's bed shook violently, throwing her at the wall behind her. A pop followed the clank before a hiss of air escaped from all around Stevie.
Catherine's eyes snapped open as she clutched her blanket. She pulled her hands close to her chest and looked toward the wall to her right with a frown. Her eyes glowed purple while her innate arcane energy illuminated the otherwise dark interior, but she couldn’t see through the steel wall at what had caused the noise. Catherine could only stare at the quilted pattern on the wall and the empty gun rack.
Where's my shotgun…?
She ran a hand through her long dark-green hair and made sure her pointed, half-human ears were covered even though she could just turn them into full human ears. Her current identification card said half-elf, so that's what she had to look like. Had to keep the ruse going after all. The cabin was eerily quiet, almost like the semi had rolled away on its own. She was so sure that it had just moved and was running.
Why is Stevie off?
“Nia?” Catherine called out to the other elf. She took a deep breath and held it, hoping to all hope that Nia hadn't abandoned her to let the truck get stolen.
“Sorry,” Nia's voice came drifting back through the curtain. “I’ll be more gentle next time.”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Catherine let out a relieved breath, smiling widely. She pulled the covers around her as she stuck her head through the curtain. With her eyes suddenly filling with light, the glow faded and the irises became their normal purple again. Fog filled the windows in all directions, obscuring most of the compound aside from rows of trailers. Through the mirrors she saw that they had hooked onto a trailer parked right against a building. Or missed the trailer’s kingpin and collided with the trailer itself. She wasn’t sure. Knowing Areannia though, they hooked the trailer, as she wasn't prone to mistakes like that.
Catherine sniffled and rubbed sleep from her eyes, her nostrils filling with the icy morning air. “It sounded like the trailer hit the cab.”
“Maybe.” Nia shrugged. She had a thin hours of service logbook on her lap with a half-filled form on the open page. “Mind hopping out and connecting the lines while I do paperwork?”
“Where are we?” Catherine did not move from the warm and comfortable confines of the bed. In truth, she felt like she was going to fall back to sleep right then, but then again she was startled awake. She doubted that she could go back to bed quickly, yet nothing was stopping her from being lazy and staying in bed all day anyway.
“In our truck,” Nia tapped the pen to the notebook, a small smirk appearing on her face. With a small flick of her fingers and quick whisper of words, Nia summoned a tiny gust of wind to move the changeling’s hair in a way that would show off her half-elven ears.
Catherine frowned as she ran her hands through her hair once again to fluff it out and pull it down over the ears. Hair which was now long enough to drape over her exposed shoulders and down almost to her breasts, compared to the other day where she had it short.
“Nia!” Catherine whined, cupping her ears so they didn't appear again. “It's too early for games.”
“Oh come on! Show people your ears! They're cute with the color shifting rings you have on them now.”
“No.” Catherine glared at Nia with eyes that burned with the radiance of the sun. Her jaw tightening and grinding her teeth just a bit. “I don't want to be stared at like some demon. I want to blend in.”
“You are not a demon, you're a half-elf.”
“Changeling,” Catherine muttered through her teeth.
“Still, people will look at you regardless. That is just what people do! They look at you, eyes are for looking. Now either get some shoes on or go back to bed. We have a long run ahead of us.”
“Why would the run be long? It’s just to Rocklin. A quick four day trip out and back. Be glad it's not like it used to be where it took a week and a half.”
“Six days," Nia said.
“Four. We don’t need to stop with you here.”
Nia motioned toward Catherine and used her fingers starting with her pinky finger to count her words. “One, we need to go around the Nalia scales. Two, we have to go through the main gate. Three, climb Hades’ Crest. Four, hope the Ashen Guards do not add more trailers before we head over the hill.”
“Why around Nalia? Just go through and save three hours.”
“I don't feel like blowing the scales in broad daylight. Not with this load.” Areannia said quietly.
“We can stop at the truck stop and wait until they take their lunch at two.” Cathy rubbed her exposed shoulder and frowned.
“You don't know that for certain. Around is easiest.”
“Don't be a wuss, they don't even chase you anymore!”
“So?!”
“I do it every time I come through.”
“And now you know why they keep trying to inspect you.”
“Huh…?” Catherine blinked a few times at that. “Why?” Nia hopped out of the truck, leaving Catherine to look at the half-filled logbook for a moment. “Nia?” Catherine called out to no reply. “What do you mean?!”
No reply again.
Cathy sighed heavily, letting her lips smack together like a horse sighing. She shook her head. “Always cryptic.”
Catherine had been having a dream where she was walking through the desert after some kind of disaster. She shut her purple eyes and tried her best to recall the dream since it was one of the few places she could rest in peace and quiet without anyone or any entity bothering her.
The changeling found her world becoming warmer, and warmer as she lost herself in the bliss of sleep once more. Sand burned at her shoeless feet, causing her to quickly run ahead, her butterfly wings buzzing happily behind her. No clouds in the sky for once, only the sun and a bright blue sky above. The warm sun beat down on her exposed skin as a dry wind blew her hair sideways across her face.
When she cleared her face she found a grassy hill ahead of her instead of sand.
Catherine glanced back at where she had just been. She found that instead of a desert, it was merely a sandbox and everything felt much bigger to her. The three-story house not far away felt like an unscalable mountain surrounded by trees as far as she could see. When she looked ahead again, she saw a group of giant people gathered underneath a gazebo.
Each and every person was dressed head-to-toe in black with veils covering the women’s faces. Catherine could not see what they were clustered around or understand what one person was saying, but as she hovered closer, her heartbeat increased with each beat of her wings until her heart was practically pounding in her skull. Sweat poured down her forehead, drenching her eyebrows as she reached out and tugged on the nearest person’s tuxedo. He was shorter, but his dark hair said it was someone she knew.
"Where is my pa?” Catherine called out.
The person turned toward her and she recognized the angular elven face of her step-father. He smiled a bit, but she saw his eyes cold, almost uncaring, gaze. Regardless, he knelt down to Catherine’s level and reached a giant hand toward her, palm up as if waiting for her to land.
“We need to talk,” he said, his voice monotone, resonating inside her head like a thunderclap as her mind slammed shut on the vision.
Catherine’s eyes snapped open, dragging her back to dull reality as she quickly hugged herself and shivered in the confines of the sleeper cabin.
“Areannia?!” she shouted. Scrambling forward past the curtain, the changeling stumbled past a backpack on the shelf, nearly falling flat on her face. She gripped the ceiling storage compartments tight enough to turn her knuckles white and took a deep breath. After a shake of her head to clear her mind, Catherine slid down into the grey driver’s seat.
A quick check of the mirrors told her that Areannia was by the trailer’s landing gear with her hands gripped tightly to the crank as she slowly turned it in circles. Almost as if sensing she was being watched, Areannia looked up and nodded to Catherine.
Catherine waved back.
“Stop trying to contact me, ya fucking hose-head,” Cathine whispered to herself, shaking her right hand and giving the fingers a flex to get rid of the tingle underneath her skin. Her eyes were instinctively drawn to her hand where she stared at the scars and inkwork. Scars that appeared to shift with something moving under the skin.
The tattoo glowed softly while the shapes changed and shifted. Catherine’s own voice screamed from the dark behind her, the popping of gunfire filling her ears along with a bestial roar.
Another voice called out, but she couldn't hear what it was.
She gave the hand another shake and turned her attention to the logbook Nia had been holding earlier. Catherine flipped it open, noting that they had been stopped for five hours according to the general time clock on the radio and a check of the page. Or at least in the same compound for five hours. Then again, Nia was not the best at record keeping. She was quite terrible at it in Catherine’s eyes. Always missing times, half-filling it in, or ignoring it completely, so Catherine always had to fix everything for her through sheer guesswork.
At least Catherine held good records even if she never planned to use them.
Leaning back against the well worn seat, Catherine looked over the gauges on the bright wood grain covered dashboard, noting where each one was and remembering that the home clock where they were based, was the top left one. She pointed the pencil to it, then looked down at the book, and back at the clock. Before she could put pen to paper, the passenger door opened and Nia climbed inside.
“Hey,” Nia said as she sat down in the passenger seat. “Everything’s ready outside, how about you?”
Catherine held the log book up to show Nia the missing information. “Wondering where we are and why you didn’t fill this out.”
“Portside Docks.”
Catherine waved out the window. “I can see that by all the fog. When did we get here, eh?”
“Fifteen minutes ago? I don't know.” Nia shrugged. “You know that book is useless if you never use it.”
“I do use it!” Cathy nodded.
“When? There’s no paperwork! Turn and burn."
“It's useful if the pick-up stops me,” Cathy grumbled as she finished filling it in. She tossed it back onto the dashboard and turned the ignition key.
“You have three more right here!" Nia held a small stack of logbooks to emphasise the point, nodding her head. “Each with different driver names, so which one will you give them?”
"The correct one for the day and form I’m wearing."
"And if you give them the wrong one?" Nia set the books back into the storage compartment she pulled them from. "Don't risk being arrested. Just give the logbook ticket to Rosco and he’ll fix it." Nia tapped her head and smirked. "Think, Cathy, think. It’s okay to call him for help."
"I'm not on his good side like you are… well, were." A loud buzzer filled the air just before the cab shook, the engine roared to life with a silence shattering snarl. Then calmed down to a quiet rumble.
"Okay, but let’s pretend you do stop at a scale for once and they want to see inside the trailer? Your logbooks won’t save you then.” Areannia waved at the log book.
“I'll talk my way out of it before I call a cop for help.”
“How? Your charm doesn't work on cops thanks to their training.” Nia waved her fingers toward the dashboard, whispering soft words. In response, the speakers came to life with the quiet sound of the electric guitar introduction that sounded dream-like in tone.
Slowly, the truck left the spot with the trailer and made a wide right toward the gate leading to the highway. It was slow going with the fog considering Cathy couldn’t see very far even with the sun being up now.
“So how are you?” Cathy asked as she glanced toward Nia, completely ignoring the question posed to her earlier. Then looked to her left for a moment.
Outside the window was a bleak foggy world. Empty and loaded trailers steadily passed by to her right. On her left was the large warehouse with even more containers just sitting there out in the open in many rows. Cathy had been to the Portside Docks many times before and knew the general layout. As the truck reached an intersection, she turned right again and headed toward the gate. The cab rocked and shuddered when a front tire hit a pothole
“Doing better. You?” Areannia nodded. She waited for Catherine to look away from her before she reached inside her jacket to make sure the envelope was still inside an inner pocket, attempting to feel what the contents were. The guard had given her another one, but this time the text message said to keep it safe and guard it with her life.
“Nael tried to contact me in a vision,” Catherine grumbled, breaking Areannia’s thoughts before she could decipher the envelope.
“Why?”
“Because he's an asshole.”
Areannia pat Catherine on the hand as she spoke. “Don't worry about it.”
“Don't worry about it,” Cathy parroted in a tone that imitated Areannia’s voice, but in a snobbish way. “Easy for you to say.”
“Don’t be like this,” Areannia muttered, her voice barely carrying over the engine. “Look, I have something to—”
“I kick him back the instant he speaks,” Catherine said, interrupting Areannia. Seeming as if she wasn't even listening to her older sister’s reply. “I was having a good dream about the Endless Desert and he ruined it by talking shit!”
“Maybe he’s trying to tell you something and you’re just not listening to him?” Areannia looked out the passenger window at a large bright yellow loader carrying a container off to some far off destination inside the compound.
“Fuck you!” Catherine snapped, giving Areannia a glare for a moment and then looked ahead again when she realized what she had done. “Sorry…”
“Can’t you let it go? He said he's over it, so why aren't you?”
Catherine hit the brakes hard enough the semi screeched to a stop, throwing them against the seatbelts as something thumped hard into the front wall of the trailer. Catherine and Areannia glanced back at the sleeper wall before looking at each other.
"We're not talking about dad!" Catherine shot Areannia a glare like a volcano and pointed at her. “I can’t go back.”
“Why?” Areannia leaned back in the seat again and waited for the seat belt to loosen again before adjusting it.
“Just take a fucking look!” Catherine held her arms out for Areannia to see she had just a watch, no bracelets or anything on them except the many tattoos across both arms. “I don’t have much time, Nia. Less than a week… Then I’ll need to go solo on the Road again.”
Nia slowly shook her head. She closed her eyes, resting her head on the side window for a moment. “Alright, alright. So are you coming to work for me or not?”
“Ah, yes. Work for you and be nearly arrested for bootlegging, eh?”
“That was one time!”
“Twice! First time was in sixty-six, then again in seventy-three with you and Vic!” Catherine pointed at Areannia, holding up two fingers.
“Okay, twice.” Areannia shook her head, waving her hands before placing one over her heart. “But! I’ve been legitimate since the seventies.”
Catherine sighed heavily. She turned her attention to the dash, slowly running her finger around the speedometer’s bezel. A whisper in an odd language left Catherine’s lips, barely audible to Areannia in a language only Catherine knew. It was a simple, “He won’t like what I’ve done...”
The song abruptly changed mid-verse to a sad love song without any input from either of the women.
Catherine giggled softly at the change in music, a small smile crept across her face as she gave the dashboard a light pat.
Areannia frowned. “Did you do that?”
“No.” Catherine shook her head. “It sometimes does that; old wiring and all that.”
“My offer still stands; come work for me after this load. Same pay, less hours.” Areannia tapped her knuckle against the side window a few times and watched a thin layer of ice slide off of it. Her breath did not even leave a trace of fog on the window. “Easy runs to wherever you want.”
Catherine took a deep breath, slowly letting it out while she ran her hand along the steering wheel, before she reached for the shifter, but then looked at Nia. “Okay, after this load I’ll come work for you.”
Nia smiled at Catherine and held her hand out for a handshake. “Deal.”
Catherine gently took Nia’s hand and gave it a shake. “Deal,” she said, blinking.
Nia’s skin was paler than she remembered seeing it, her hand feeling like it had been dipped in the frigid waters of the bay. Naught but a hum and the song’s sad guitar filled her ears. No words from the radio, no words from Nia despite Nia's mouth moving.
Catherine blinked once more and bloody scars from a large claw crossed Nia’s face. An angry animalistic roar filled Catherine’s ears and drowned out the music.
Catherine ripped her hand away from Areannia’s grip.
Nia gasped, recoiling away from Catherine. “What the hell?!” Areannia shouted, the music returning as the tempo picked up.
Catherine blinked again, bringing her trembling hands into view. Her heart thundered in her ears as she took a deep breath, followed by another, and another in rapid succession.
“What did you see?” Areannia asked, hesitating on touching Catherine's glowing arm again.
Catherine tore her eyes from her hands, gazing upon Areannia’s soft colorful skin. Her life filled eyes and smooth scar free face. “Death.”
“How?” Areannia pressed her fingers against her own cheeks and frowned.
“Nael…” Catherine gently took hold of Areannia’s hand again, but this time the elf felt warm and full of life. “I think.”
Areannia held Catherine’s hand, before holding it in both of hers. “When?”
“Less than two days.”
“Can we stop it?”
“I th-think s-so?”
“We will.” Nia nodded, locking eyes with Catherine and smiling at her. “We will.”
“F-first your car… Now this. I think Nael wants you dead.” Catherine reached across the cab as best she could, having to hunch over the dog house between them, and pulled Nia into a hug.
Nia hugged back and didn't say anything.