“Why do we need to fly? We’ve already got the car?” Sophia questioned.
“Honey, we’re not going on another road trip...” Natasha replied, leaving little room to argue.
Natasha was in the midst of organizing what looked like a go-bag of sort on the backseat. It was as if every time I looked back there; she was fiddling with some new piece of weaponry.
“You do remember I’m basically a walking armory now, right?” I asked, looking back at her as she folded the stock of a submachine gun.
“Your message didn’t really give me a lot of information. I grabbed whatever I might need.” Natasha replied.
I had placed her precious bike in my shadow, the process of which was tense, as she required repeated assurances that no harm would befall it as the black flames consumed it.
“Maybe this is a bad idea. I mean, we didn’t even pack... Or let Tessa know...” Sophia said, getting cold feet for the tenth time in as many minutes.
“You two can both buy whatever you might need and Tessa will be fine. I’ve arranged homework and everything. She’ll make it a couple of days by herself.” I assured her.
“You’re broke though, right?” Natasha quipped from the backseat.
“Oh yes, completely.” I replied. “I’ll likely have to resort to working as a gigolo, selling my body to put bread on the table... It’ll be rough, but I’ll manage.” I said completely straightfaced.
“Oh, this trip is gonna be fun.” Natasha smiled, fishing out a hundred-dollar bill from a pocket and brushing it against my neck solicitously, her eyes already snow white as I looked back at her.
***
Tessa looked on in despair at the pile of scribbled notes and incoherent study books piled on the dining room table.
If history was anything to go by, then half of them wouldn’t even be translated from whatever weird language Mr. Titanos had read them in.
“This can wait.” Tessa said, reassuring herself with a nod.
“Yeah, I’ll get to this later when I’ve had a little rest... I’m pretty sure it’s the weekend right now anyway, can’t expect me to study in the weekend.” She continued, inching away from the table as if the books would come to life and attack her.
“Just gonna head into town and grab some supplies, then I’ll really get my study on.” Tessa muttered.
***
“Come on, we’re gonna be late!” Sophia yelled over the roar of the plane engines.
“I thought the point of a private jet was that we didn’t need to hurry?!” I yelled back while trying to button my shirt back up.
“They’re called flight-plans sweet cheeks.” Natasha said into my ear while grabbing my ass as she passed.
I stood stunned for a second before smiling and catching up with the happily laughing pair walking arm in arm.
The inside of the plane was nice, if a little cramped.
I settled down across from Natasha and Sophia; the seats facing each other.
“How did she get a tablet?” I asked Natasha, pointing at Sophia wearing her I’m working expression while reading.
“It was already on the plane, probably Katya, getting as much out of this trip as possible.” Natasha said, smiling.
“Plans have changed. We’ll land at L.A.X. and take a helicopter to the hills.” Sophia said, looking up before her expression slightly dissatisfied. “You have no idea where either of those are... Do you?”
“I know the name Los Angeles is a state.” I said proudly.
“City.” Natasha and Sophia both corrected, looking at me in disbelief.
“Listen, I don’t remember a lot from my time on this world. For the longest time, I simply referred to New York in my head as The Big City.” I explained.
“You’re kidding...” Sophia said incredulously.
“What do you remember?” Natasha asked curiously.
“Normal stuff, like what a car is, how a coffee machine works, but it’s like the larger concepts and cultural things are just gone.” I replied. This time Sophia’s expression changed to something akin to how she looked when she had her weekly talks with Tessa.
“That sounds like a form of amnesia. What about personal details?” Sophia asked, her voice sounding more clinical.
“No, but there’s a good reason for that one.” I replied nonchalantly.
“Which is?” Sophia asked after waiting for an explanation.
“The legion won’t kill a good soldier who goes AWOL. It’s wasteful and they’re fighting a war, instead they’ll take away the reason you ran in the first place.” I said with a shrug, Natasha and Sophia looking at me, shocked.
“They take your memories?” Sophia Asked Appalled.
“Not the ones tied to stuff you need, like I can remember walking through a forest when I was little, someone towering beside me pulled me back, I didn’t understand why until they pointed up and I saw a dead branch hanging above us.”
“Why doesn’t that bother you?” Sophia asked, outraged. I felt her searching my mind through our connection.
“You don’t miss something you can’t remember. You know it’s missing, but you don’t know what it was.” I replied, both of them staring at me silently.
I looked out the window as the plane took off, seeing the ground slowly grow farther and farther away, with a sense of recognition.
“Huh, I guess I remember flying in a plane.” I thought to myself, oblivious to the look shared between the two Sentires across from me.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
***
Seeing a major city from the air was a sight to behold. It reminded me of the markets of Ekketh, a roaming tent city which would take weeks to cross on foot.
It was strange to think about the fact that barring small reclusive communities, the entire population of Ekketh was centralized in that nomadic city, and yet here, those millions of people are just one among hundreds of such cities.
The sheer size of humanity’s population was staggering compared to anywhere else I’d been.
The plane banked gently, my shadows creeping out of my domain to get a look at the shining city below, filling the skies above with an aurora of light and energy pollution.
The plane shook suddenly and the pilots could be heard panicking before I quickly wheeled in the excited entities roaming across the outside of the plane.
I looked at Sophia and Natasha, embarrassed.
“Sorry.”
***
When we stepped off the plane, a small golfcart-like car waited at the end of the ramp.
I looked confused at the vehicle for a moment, Sophia stepping up behind me and looking over my shoulder.
“It’s gonna take us to the helicopter.” She answered my unspoken question.
The little electric cart had a surprising amount of speed as we zipped across the airport towards a raised section.
“ARE YOU AN IDIOT?! HAVE I HIRED AN IDIOT?!” a well-dressed man yelled at a flinching young woman wearing a business skirt and holding several items which seemed to belong to the man in front of her.
“No, Sir, but you told me to book the flight at ten. I tried to explain it to you when you told me to call for the car.” The young assistant tried to explain.
“Oh, so your fuck up is now my fault? You know what? Get the hell out of here, you’re fired.” He yelled and stormed away. As the cart passed him, I heard him say to himself, “Last time I hire a fucking ditz, a hooker would have been cheaper than this.”
I noticed both Natasha and Sophia freeze, their eyes locked ahead of us, but their attention clearly elsewhere.
“Hmm, seems that guy’s gonna have car trouble in the near future.” I muttered to myself, a shadow breaking away from the cart.
“Stop here.” Sophia ordered, the driver stomping the brakes.
She swiftly jumped out of her seat and walked over to the young woman.
“She does this a lot, by the way.” Natasha said beside me. Her words may have sounded disapproving, but the look she was sending Sophia was pure admiration and love.
I couldn’t hear what she said, but I saw the young assistant wipe away a tear and look at her, confused, before Sophia handed her a business card. Confusion quickly turned to shock as she began feverously nodding to whatever Sophia said.
Then Sophia spun on a dime and returned to the cart.
“Sharp as a knife, good-natured, and got her associate’s degree before twenty-one.” Sophia listed angrily, glaring towards the guy who’d blown up in the young lady’s face.
“Honey, not even you can know she’s good-natured after that short of an interaction.” Natasha argued with a heavy sigh.
“Anyone willing to put up with that asshole for more than a minute is a saint.” Sophia retorted. “I sure do hope his car troubles follow him.” She said, giving me the side eye.
I dutifully relayed the request to a shadow, which joined its comrade in haunting the shit out of that guy.
I suddenly got the feeling I might be doing this quite a bit in the future.
“Don’t worry, she’ll ease up in a couple of days... Assholes have a tendency to wear you down like that, and I doubt that guy will be the last one.” Natasha responded to my thoughts.
“So, I’m guessing you offered her a job?” Natasha asked wearily.
“Of course I did.” Sophia replied as if it was the most natural thing to do.
“Of course you did.” Natasha repeated. “Soph, you do realize there’s probably a couple thousand just like her, and you can’t save them all.”
“I can try.” Sophia responded stubbornly.
I was enjoying their little conversation on the futilities of life when a loud bang could be heard off in the distance, followed by the sound of steel against concrete, sparks lighting up an area not too far from the helipads.
Our driver looked alarmed at the now halted vehicle before glancing back at me.
“Karma I guess.” I shrugged, to which he nodded wearily.
We made it to the helicopter as the pilot was doing the preflight checks.
And had only just gotten onboard when a familiar man in a business suit came lightly jogging up the stairs to the helipad waving us down, although upon seeing our casual clothes, he immediately adopted a derisive sneer.
“I need this. I’ll pay you each two grand to get off.” He said, pulling out an oversized golden money clip.
“That thing is probably custom made just to fit this fucker’s ego.” I thought to myself, Natasha stifling a laugh as she’d overheard my thoughts.
He, however, seemed to misinterpret this as an insult and proceeded to scowl at her.
“No, thank you. I think you should walk there.” Sophia replied, using the voice on him, causing him to walk away in a daze.
“Sophia...” Natasha chastised.
“He scowled at you, can’t let that slide.” Sophia said as a justification, Natasha easily seeing past it but choosing to let it go and simply shake her head at her wife’s antics.
“Ready to leave?” The pilot asked, getting into the front.
“Yes, please.” Sophia replied happily and in a much better mood.
***
Sophia couldn’t help but smile as she walked inside the rented platform house, resting partly on stilts and overlooking the city below.
It wasn’t enormous. There wasn’t a surplus of twenty unused rooms. It was simple and quaint.
“Sophia picked your apartment in New York... didn’t she?” Aleks asked from behind her.
“How’d you guess?.” Natasha replied flatly.
Sophia ignored the comedic duo and their quips. She enjoyed the smaller cozier living spaces compared to the opulent mansions clans almost always opted for.
“We should order some food for tonight and go to bed early. We’ll need to go shopping tomorrow for clothes and such.” Sophia said excitedly.
The pair behind her sharing a troubled look, unbeknownst to her.
***
Sophia woke up refreshed and relaxed, although she couldn’t say the same for the two snoring bodies tangled up beside her.
They’d spent most of the night talking and having fun, Nat and Sophia indulging in energy while Aleks raided a liquor cabinet.
She untangled herself from the pair, and put on the clothes she’d worn the day before, before going downstairs.
Surprisingly, the fridge and cabinets had been well stocked with essentials, Sophia deciding she’d make a healthy morning smoothie for the eventual hangover one of them was sure to suffer from if the empty bottles were anything to go by.
She turned on the blender and proceeded to mix and match frozen and fresh ingredients; it wasn’t long before a zombie-like Aleks walked down the stairs wearing only his jeans from yesterday.
He stopped and looked with disdain at the noisy blender. Sophia could sense his thoughts as he considered breaking it or setting it on fire, then eventually both.
But before he could act on his thoughts, the doorbell rang, barely loud enough to be noticeable over the blender.
He turned as if out of habit and went to the door. Sophia briefly considered stopping him, but decided against it for the sake of comedy.
She was on vacation and figured she’d enjoy herself a little.
A decision she regretted as she felt a flash of embarrassment along with a hint of desire from the person at the door.
She went to see who it was, feeling a faint sense of familiarity with the person’s mind, but being unable to place it.
“I-I can c-come back another t-time, if now is, uhm, a bad time.” Abigail, the assistant from the night before, stammered out as she was led inside by the still drowsy Aleks.
Sophia had to hide a grin with her hand as the girl snuck glances at Aleks torso.
Sophia would be the first to admit he’d shaped up nicely after he’d made rings for the Eve Clan.
The work had kept him fit, although not lean, looking more like a heavyweight fighter or power lifter, a body of bulging muscle underneath a healthy layer of fat which stood in stark contrast to most supernatural people who fell into a leaner chiseled category.
His stomach didn’t have the flat toned definition Natasha prided herself on, but as he turned to face Sophia, muscle tensed and pushed through, becoming visible.
His arms were thick and heavy, like knotted roots wider than Sophia’s thigh, his hands calloused and worn from the unceasing nature of his work, as he’d often hammer away for hours, sometimes even days without breaks.
Sophia realized with a start he was now grinning at her and that she’d been ogling him for a good minute without talking.
“Oh, go put some damn clothes on you, brute.” She complained, sending him away, Abigail staring at the floor with her face flushed.
“I’m Uhm, sorry. Your company gave me your address and a time to show up... Oh and this!” Abigail suddenly remembered the parcel in her hands.
She handed the light brown envelope to Sophia, inside was a couple bundles of cash, cards and ID’s along with various papers Sophia would have to go through later.
Sophia looked back up at Abigail’s expectant face. Her thoughts were a nervous mess, but Sophia caught the gist.
“We’ll need a car to take us around the city in a couple of hours. Money isn’t an issue, but discretion is. Would you be able to arrange that?” Sophia asked with a gentle smile.
“Of course, I know the perfect one!” Abigail beamed.