The screech of rubber came down the road as a car was sliding left and right on the corners. Each exit drift was punctuated by fishtailing and weaving in and out of the lane, narrowly missing cars coming in the opposite direction. When the car slid once more, the vehicle was sent careening off of a slope.

Klaus opened his mouth wide and let out a yawn. He looked towards the dark green numbers on the stove’s clock; eleven twenty-four in the morning. He waited for the machine to dispense his coffee into his blue, short mug as he reached into the fridge for the half and half. When he closed the fridge, Klaus was startled by Skye in all her robed, baggy eyed glory. “Didn’t sleep well?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she spoke solemnly, staring down at a text message on her phone, otherwise known as her precious tax write off. “Let’s just say that I’m glad I don’t drive my own car.” A shudder went down her spine. Her thumbs rapidly tapped on her screen’s keyboard as she responded to a text she received. She absentmindedly grabbed Klaus's coffee before he could pour his cream into it, leaving him with a carton of the stuff as he glared at his abducted mug on her lips. "Thanks," Skye also took the half and half, leaving him with barely a splash for his own mug. He groaned, choosing to try again with a different mug.

"So, what's this guy's deal?" Klaus inquired as he picked another mug from the cabinet. The conversation that took place was between Skye and her customer, Stryder. He was consulting her help for a car that had been recently involved in an accident. It can't be that bad, she thought. She took another sip of her coffee as Stryder typed out something along the lines of showing her a picture of the damage, followed by an actual picture that popped into view before her eyes. Her eyes went wide as she gobbled up the damage: the front bumper was mangled and rendered unrecognizable, with metal edges jutting out and exposed internal parts like the radiator, which was also dented. One of the headlights were missing, while the other was displaced. The front, driver side tire was out of alignment. The damage gave the car a crumpled appearance, like someone took a piece of paper and balled it up into a wad.

Skye's coffee got caught in her throat, leading her to plop her phone on the counter and cough over the sink as her drink was undecided between coming back out or proceeding down the correct pipe or detouring down the wrong one. Her coffee made two correct choices helped by Klaus beating on her back with a fist, begging her to breathe and to "not die." After what felt like an eternity, she slumped over the sink as she recovered from her near death experience. "It's that bad."

Klaus took a look at her phone on the counter, only tapping it to lighten the screen again. He checked just in time to read the next message as it appeared. "I'm not hurt, but my friend is in the hospital, and I want this car to be repaired by the time she gets out." Klaus read.

"Son of a bitch," Skye gasped. She looked back at Klaus as her body remained slump over the sink. "A car repair bill on top of a medical bill? This guy's either an idiot, rich, or idiotically rich. Or rich with idiocy. That doesn't even take into account that this car is," she paused, taking her phone off of the counter and typing out a paraphrased version of what she said, and saying the last word syllable by syllable, "irreparable."

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Her phone buzzed again. Stryder's text was practically egging her on to fix it. He was offering up a decent price for the vehicle, but no amount of money could make a car drive right ever again after fixing damage like that, if she could even begin to fix it. The money he was offering would be far less valuable than the parts, the labor, and a new car entirely. Still, the text message he sent made her blood boil. Klaus quizzically watched as a scowl formed on her face, and looked over her shoulder to read it. "I guess my friends were wrong about you trying anything at least once. I'd hate to give you a one star review."

Skye said nothing out loud, and yet slowly typed out her response. "Aight, bet." She also produced a card from her pants pocket and threw it behind her shoulder, making Klaus's arms fumble to catch it as he narrowly gripped it mid fall with two fingers. "Go and buy these," Skye also threw a slip of paper into the air, amused as she watched her apprentice try to catch it as it wafted downward. He caught it too, and read it. "I made the list yesterday, now go and get those parts. We're gonna need 'em because I'm putting that baby on jacks."

Three hours passed. By two o'clock, Klaus returned all of the parts that he was instructed to retrieve, and not long after, a flatbed truck's engine rumbled down the street and let out a honk for good measure. The flatbed backed up in the driveway, and with the help of its driver, let the customer's car off of the back. As the chains were discarded with heavy clunks and the car was backed up as best as it could be in Skye's garage. All the while, Klaus was the only one who noticed that Skye was white knuckling her favorite wrench as she talked to the customer, Stryder. He also eyed the customer staring at their scarves, but didn't dwell on it. Stryder decided to wait outside, declining the offer to watch them do the work.

"Hey, Klaus?"

"Yeah?" He replied. He motioned to grab her hand to reassure her, but raised it out of reach as she gestured that she was in deep thought. "What's on your mind?"

"It just dawned on me, but this car looks familiar." She rummaged through her memory to find a similar car in Jade's possession. She often saw it cruising down the street packed with Jade and her friends, or sitting in the parking lot when they were both still in high school. Maybe she'll figure it out when the car's fixed. Considering how Stryder egged me on, I wouldn't be too surprised if he was associated with Jade. Maybe it was a test, she thought. She gripped her wrench again and glared at Klaus. "This is our chance, Klaus. Now's our chance to prove that we're worthy of our four star rating."

The two of them nodded once at each other in confidence. Skye didn't know where to start, but she lifted the hood of the car to assess the damage. Around the same time her knee brushed up against the car's emblem, however, images flashed in her mind. "Skye? You okay?" She couldn't answer Klaus as her mind flashed to the inside of a car, where multiple voices were screaming various things unclearly as a car was careening off of a road after a failed drift. It was just like that dream she experienced the other night, but this time, it was more vivid. Her breath got caught in her throat at the same time her scarf started to produce a teal glow.

Klaus could only watch, his heart beating out of his chest as a cold flash made his body shiver and pale. The two of them began to stare at the car in front of them, looking at each other in agony as they both could assume the other saw the same thing: a dark aura that radiated from the vehicle like a flame dancing on a candle's wick. Both of their bodies tingled and ached, hot searing coursing through their veins like their blood became magma, screaming in excruciating pain. As the pain reached a crescendo, all suddenly went dark.

Stryder looked at the mechanic and apprentice sprawled out in front of the car, and shook his head. He looked at his phone to see a picture of Skye and Klaus that was posted on social media the other day advertising the business, eyes focused on the scarves and on the bodies in front of him. He touched the car as a smirk formed on his face.