"I will drop-kick you into next week," Cinder growled.

"Fine, fine," I sighed dramatically. "I suppose we'll have to share the front seat like civilized people. Do you want to sit on my lap or do you prefer to be my fluffy throne?"

Cinder's wings flared with embarrassed pinks and irritated reds. "Neither! We are NOT sharing a seat!"

"Someone's gotta sit on someone," Iogann commented, climbing into the driver's seat. "Unless you want to try to squeeze into the back wedged under the equipment?"

"I am NOT sitting in anyone's lap!" Cinder declared firmly.

. . .

Five minutes later, she was perched awkwardly in my lap, her wings folded tight against her back to avoid taking up too much space. Every bump in the road made her tense up, and her feathers kept shifting through embarrassed pinks and flustered purples. She was unexpectedly light. I supposed that it made sense for a flying-type Omnid to be lighter than a human.

"Not. One. Word." She growled at Iogann, who was failing miserably at hiding his muffled chortling.

"Wouldn't dream of it," the Mothman turned the second key in the ignition.

What. Second key?

The van's engine suddenly thrummed to life with a deep, eerie hum that was definitely not standard. Suddenly, the entire vehicle shuddered and began to lift off the ground, wheels folding sideways.

"Um, Io?" I sputtered as the parking lot dropped away beneath us. "Is your van supposed to do that?"

I stared at the [Gurrwulf Industries 2088] winged wolf logo on the dashboard. "Wait... This doesn't look like Omnid Magitek or even mundane Earth tech!"

"Yeah man," he chuckled, flipping switches on what I now realized was a ridiculously complex control panel featuring way too many dials. "Acquired it from a dimension where flying cars were the norm. Pretty sweet ride, right?"

"Acquired?" I arched an eyebrow. "You mean stole?"

"Liberated!" Iogann corrected, pulling back on what looked suspiciously like a flight stick. "From a reality that was about to get wiped out by an entropy wave anyway. So technically, I saved it."

"That's... Bloody amazing, like Larry Potter level amazing," I admitted as we soared over the school buildings. "No traffic, no roads to worry about..."

"And no Glider-beast registry for the cops to track," Iogann added. "Seriously those things are expensive to keep up with all the crystalline mana they need to nom."

"What is this thing powered by?" I asked.

"A fusion battery that expires in 20 years and compost trash," Iogann replied.

Cinder's wings unconsciously spread a bit, catching the wind through the cracked windows.

"The antigrav makes hauling equipment way easier," the Mothman grinned, flicking a switch. "Just gotta be careful about air traffic control and keep the cloaking field running."

"The what now?" I asked just as the entire van shimmered. The side mirror and the front of the van had seemingly vanished from view, leaving only a slight distortion in the air.

"Stealth mode," Iogann explained proudly. "Can't have people spotting a flying van, right? That'd cause way too many questions."

"And probably a disaster," Cinder muttered.

"Hey, my disasters are very selective," Iogann protested. "I seek disasters, I don't make em."

"Uh-huh," the Quetzi-girl rolled her eyes.

"Today doesn't count!" Io defended himself. "Em forced me into it!"

As the sun began to set, Cinder gradually relaxed against me, her initial stiffness melting away. Her feathers shifted through peaceful blues and content purples as she unconsciously leaned back, her head eventually coming to rest against my shoulder.

Below us, Leviathan's Cradle sprawled out in all its magitek glory. The massive comet impact crater that gave the city its name curved around the metropolis like a protective wall, its jagged peaks still bearing the crystalline scars of Wormwood Star's violent arrival. The setting sun painted these ancient wounds in brilliant oranges and deep purples, making the entire mountain ridge shimmer like a crown of broken gems.

The ocean beyond the crater-ridge caught the dying light, transforming into a sheet of liquid fire that stretched to the horizon. Massive shapes moved beneath those golden waves - the descendants of the cosmic horror the comet had brought with it, now as much a part of this world as the crystalline mountains themselves.

"Pretty, isn't it?" Cinder murmured, her voice soft with something like pride.

"It's... incredible," I breathed, genuinely awestruck. "Better than in the brochures!" The city itself was a marvel of organic architecture, with buildings that seemed to grow rather than being built, their surfaces alive with bioluminescent patterns that began to glow as darkness approached. "I've never seen anything like it."

"Yeh. When all the buildings light up... it's like flying through a galaxy," Iogann commented, banking the van to the right, following the crater's curve to allow me to see more curious things below.

"That's Dreadspine National Park," He pointed at a massive skeletal structure that dominated the eastern side of the crater. "There's the bones of the first iteration of the Leviathan that crawled out after the impact."

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The colossal skeleton gleamed in the fading light, its ivory-white bones threaded with crystalline veins that pulsed with a faint, ethereal glow. The ribs alone were taller than most skyscrapers, forming natural arches over the North-Western sections of the city.

"And over there," Cinder said, "that's the Triumvirate Slayer's Cathedral. See how it's built right into one of the vertebrae?"

I felt her shift slightly against me, her feathers brushing my neck as she pointed at the white gothic cathedral.

"Hey, um, Ci," I said. "How come you don't have a personal flying manta ray?"

"Dad doesn't trust me with one," she exhaled. "Plus, I failed the flight test like five times. Ughh. I just can't get them to obey me properly."

"Don't your wings work on them?" I asked.

"Not really," she sighed. "I can attract em, sure, but not tell a big-ass flyin' manta what to do via the mindlink tentacle. They just don't effin listen! Worse than riding a freaking horse!"

"I see," I said. "What's that?"

"The dark district with occasional violet neon? That's Scab Row. The neon signs are basically gambling dens and massage parlors. And beyond that..." Her voice trailed off as she realized how close she'd gotten, her feathers flushing pink before she quickly settled back.

The city was transforming as night fell. Buildings and cars bloomed with bioluminescence, creating rivers of living light that flowed through the streets. The crater walls themselves seemed to come alive, crystal veins pulsing with deep, ancient power. Massive, sleek flying manta rays and rotund bus-moths took off here and there, weaving in and out of clouds, covered in glowing red and green Kitlix lanterns carrying passengers and goods across the sky.

Iogann guided the van away from the commercial districts, heading towards an elevated residential area that literally rose above the rest of the city. Some of the homes here were practically palaces, each one unique in its architectural style.

My stomach tightened as I suddenly remembered exactly who lived in this neighborhood. Justice Nova - Cinder's father - wasn't just some random official. He was THE Justice, one of the heads of Omnithornia's law enforcement and judicial system. The man who'd personally signed thousands of human deportation orders.

And I, a completely illegal human infiltrator, was about to walk into his house.

"Hey Io," Cinder called out as we descended towards a particularly impressive Victorian Gothic revival mansion. "Drop us off at the back entrance. Dad's probably home by now, and I don't want to deal with..."

"The usual interrogation?" Iogann finished with knowing sympathy. "Yeah, no problem. The usual spot?"

The flying vehicle touched down silently in what appeared to be a private garden, hidden from the main house by towering orange-violet Mystic-Willow-Oak trees.

Cinder reached for the van’s door handle.

"Wait, stop," I said, gently grabbing Cinder's wrist before she could open the door. "How exactly do you think this is going to work? Your dad is literally The Justice of Cradlefall. You know, the guy who signs deportation orders for breakfast? The one who made that speech last month about 'purifying Omnithornia of human corruption'?"

Cinder's wings shifted through uncertain colors. "He's not... I mean, he won't..."

"Won't what? Welcome a homeless nullie into his house with open arms?" I laughed darkly. "Best case scenario, he runs into a half-blood student sneaking into his house with his precious daughter and will be incredibly annoyed at both of us. Worst case, he calls up a Scrutimancer and then I end up in a detention center or dead in a ditch."

"He's not home much," Cinder protested weakly. "And my room's in the separate wing, he barely ever comes there..."

"Ci," I said softly, using her nickname deliberately while also realizing that she said 'her room' instead of the garage. "Your dad hunts ‘human pond scum’ for a living. This is a monumentally bad idea."

"Then what's your plan?" She turned in my lap to face me, her ocean-blue eyes fierce. "Freeze in your van? Sleep in the school rafters until you get caught? At least here you'd have a proper bed..."

"If we do this," I said. "Then we do it my way. None of this back-garden sneaking where we eventually run into your parents or siblings and have to explain ourselves stammering and blushing like awkward teenagers while your father thinks of how to make me disappear. Io, take off. Take me to the Triumvirate Slayer’s Cathedral on 204 Thunderward Street. Land in the Dormitory garden in the back.”

"Alex..." Cinder started to protest.

"Cindy," I grabbed her waist, replicating her tone. "Tell me, have you brought Io to your house before? Was it via that sus back garden route where you had to sneak about avoiding cameras? Did that go well with your parents? Did they give Io's hippie robe and hat extra-stern looks and then perma-ban him from ever visiting you 'cus he smells like a walking vape shop?"

Cinder's feathers shifted through guilty purples and embarrassed pinks. Iogann let out a dry chuckle from the driver's seat.

"Yeah, that was a fun afternoon," the Mothman commented. "Justice Nova gave a whole lecture about 'appropriate associations' and 'maintaining proper social standards.' Haven't been allowed back since."

"Exactly," I nodded. "So instead of sneaking around like guilty children, we're going to do this properly. Io, cathedral garden, please."

"What's your plan?" Cinder asked as Iogann lifted the van back into the darkening sky.

"Simple," I grinned. "I'm going to walk right through your front door. But first, we need to make me look like someone your dad absolutely can't dismiss."

"We?" She blinked.

"Yes, we," I said. "Instead of helping to sneak me through your dad's house, you're going to help me sneak into the Triumvirate Cathedral."

"The cathedral?" Cinder's eyes widened. "I don't..."

The van touched down in the shadowy square garden behind an imposing cathedral. Unlike the organic architecture of modern Omnithean buildings, this structure was deliberately archaic - all sharp Gothic spires and carved stone, illuminated by arcane flames rather than mere bioluminescence.

"Are you insane?" Cinder hissed at me. "This place has..."

"Incredibly lax dorm security," I said. "The outer arcane ward wall is quite hard to breach on foot, but we flew in from above in Io's invisible, non-magic van so no alarms that would notice ordinary Sky-Gliders have gone off. There is literally nothing of value to steal from administrative offices, so the security in there is likely something incredibly basic. I've slept in plenty of Slayer churches during my Urbex days. Their layout is standard. You're coming with me to keep me invisible with those wings of yours."

Cinder's wings trembled slightly as they wrapped around me.

"This is crazy," she whispered against my ear. "If we get caught..."

"Io, any doomsense about us?" I asked.

"Mmmmm. You do taste like a... walking cataclysm in general," the Mothman answered.

Cinder sent him a glare.

"But," he added, giving me and Cinder a thumbs up. "This isn't the yuuge catastrophe I'm waiting for. You two should be fine here."

"Perfect," I grinned. "Pick us up in this exact spot in two hours or so. I'll Omnigram you for when I'm done. You're the anon that warned me about the show, yeah? Add me properly."

"Ye, that was me. Can do," The Mothman gave us a mock salute from the van. "Try not to cause too much chaos without me."