Trust in Oneself, Draft 1, CH 04 (Patreon)

Paul straightened and realized the lighting was wrong, too dark. He pushed the airbag down and on the other side of the cracked windshield, the air was brown and green. And odd shapes floated on the windshield itself, like electrical sparks within the glass. They were captivating.

He still had a hand on the coffee mug, keeping it in the holder.

Then the reason he’d done that came back to him. Crashing through the bridge’s railing, the free fall, the impact with the water, hitting something then… straightening in his seat.

His feet were dry, and he looked at the symbols in the windshield, then the unconscious pangolin in the passenger seat.

The car shifted and the golden tiger realized they hadn’t hit bottom yet.

“Shila.” He should her and she flayed awake.

She looked around, breathing hard, eyes wide.

“We’re okay.” He motioned to the windshield. “What you did worked.” He looked at the mug. “Do you need coffee?”

“Do I look like I should drink coffee?” she demanded, eyes focusing.

“I’ve seen all kinds of reactions to coffee deprivation from the medical students. From barely being conscious, to being more hyper than when they’re fully dosed.”

She shook her head and he took a long sip. He had the feeling this was his last chance to enjoy this coffee. “So, what’s the next step? Do we stay in here until whoever you arranged to rescue us gets here? I’m going to guess the magic you have in place is going to keep us supplied with air.”

She shook her head again. “But I can fix that last one.”

“Then what is the plan?”

“We get the fuck out of here before the Chamber has someone in the water.” She typed on her phone. “Don’t take yours yet. I’m not done with it.”

“The car’s dead, I doubt it’ll make a difference if it’s in the slot or my hand.”

“Where do you think I stored the talisman that’s keeping the water out?”

“I thought a talisman was something physical you made to get your magic working.”

She eyed him.

“I’m the one Thomas comes to after a bad day. I have heard a lot about the Society, Practitioners, Green Men, the Chamber, and magic overall.”

She smiled a little, then was focused on the phone again. “It isn’t because you can’t see it without help, that it’s not physical.”

Paul started to protest, then looked at the symbols. Sparks in the windshield. Electricity was definitely physical. He’s seen enough electrical injuries out of the engineering labs to know that.

She put her phone in the bathrobe’s pocket. “Water’s going to come in when you take it out. I added a program to keep you from drowning, so don’t lose it. We get out head for the shore, then get a car and run.”

“In my pocket like you?” he asked, taking hold of the phone.

“Yeah.”

He pulled it and water rushed in from the door seams and the cracks in the windshield as the symbols blinked out. Shila tried to open her door, and when it didn’t, she put her shoulder against it, then slammed it into the window.

“No, no, no, no,” she said, voice rising. Paul put a hand on hers as the went to pull the phone from her pocket. “I have to break this.” Her eyes were going wilder. “I don’t know how the chamber got to us, but—”

“You need to breathe Shila. We’re underwater.”

“I know that! You think the water’s just appearing in here?”

“Water’s heavier than air, we’re in the low-pressure side. The door will open once it equalizes.”

“I know—” She looked at the door. “I know that.” She calmed. “Fuck, I know that.”

“You’re doing better?”

She nodded.

He drained the coffee and she eyed him again. He smiled. “I like my coffee.”

“You know it’s a drug, right?”

“There are worse ones out there.” The water was to his crotch, but his fur wasn’t getting wet. His clothing tightened against his body from the water pressing against it, but it was as if they were watertight.

His breathing sped up as the water rose to his chest. He’d be fine, he reminded himself. Shila’s magic would protect him. But the pressure told him his body wasn’t made to survive underwater. Even Shila was pushing herself to the ceiling as the water kept rising.

“Take a deep breath,” he told her as the water reached his chin, with his head pressed against the roof.

“You don’t have to, the talisman—”

“Shila, you’re panicking. Take a breath, then we’re going underwater and out of the car. On three. One, two…” he trailed until she was focused on him and her eyes not as wild. “Three.” He took a breath with her, then they sank. The door resisted but finally opened. He kicked out and turned. Shila stumbled out and flayed about, starting to panic again. He swam to her, place her arm around his shoulder, and kicked…

“Where are we going?” he asked, feeling stupid for talking out loud underwater. It wasn’t like—

“North side,” she replied, her voice sounded distorted, and he realized it came from his phone. “South takes us back into the city.”

He nodded. “Which way is North?”

She opened her mouth, then closed it. Tried again, looked around. Then, defeated, she shrugged.

* * * * *

They stepped out of the water on the rocks beyond Lime Point Lighthouse. Once Paul was close enough to the surface to make out the sun, he was able to orient himself. The rocks weren’t easy to climb, but they made it to the path, and with Shila’s magic keeping them dry, they didn’t look too out of place. If a woman in a bathrobe over the tracksuit could be said not to attract attention. Paul suggested she leave it behind, but didn’t push after the glare she gave him. After all, he was magical, so it was possible her looks could kill.

By the time they made it to the start of the trail, the sun was close to the horizon, and the parking lot was rather busy with people stopping for a break on their way home, or going for a walk along the multiple trails.

They walked along the parked cars, looking for one to take. The only criteria the pangolin had were tinted windows. The darker the better. She worked on his phone while he looked. When he found one, she handed him the phone back, and after checking no one was paying them any attention they headed for it.

He tapped the unlock on his phone and the doors unlocked. They got in, he slotted the phone and the car started. He drove out of the lot, checking behind for anyone running at them screaming. No one. He glanced at the pangolin who was again working on her phone, wondering if that was more of her magic.

He made a mental note to seek out the owner of the car once he had her in a safe place and see about working out a way to pay them back for this.

* * * * *

They were driving through San Rafael when Paul had enough of the silence. She’s stopped working on her phone by the time they passed the exit to the one thirty-one and had been staring at it. He didn’t know everything there was to know about magic, but he figured she needed to do something for her to be working on it.

“Where are we going?”

She didn’t react.

He gave her a few minutes.

“Shila, I need to know where we’re going.”

“Can this thing make it to Alaska?”

He glanced at the charge readout, three quarter of one, seven hours, before the state name registered. Was she serious?

He tried to gauge it with glances, but he didn’t know her well, and scaled faces weren’t as easy to read as furred ones, the lack of external ears didn’t help. He saw the sign for the mall and decided that was as good a place to iron out a few things as any and drifted onto the ramp.

“What are you doing?” She asked as he stopped for the light at the end of it. He made the right, then the left into the parking lot with the multiple restaurants. “Paul, what the fuck are—”

“One, Shila, I haven’t eaten anything since lunch. I was heading to dinner with friends when I detoured to help you. Two. I’m not Thomas, I don’t have a deal with you to drop my life anytime you call. Three, I don’t actually know you. Thomas has told me a good deal, but that doesn’t mean much when you have me drive off a bridge, then tell me to drive until the end of the world. If your plan is to just keep driving. You can sit here and I’ll get a share-ride back home.”

She swallowed.

“You don’t know how to drive, do you?”

“What the fuck do you think? Do I look like someone who goes out for joy rides? I order in, the friends I have I talk with online. The few who I let visit me come to my place. That was my place. The one place I was safe. The one I had warded from here to kingdom come! So no, I don’t fucking know how to drive.”

Paul crossed his arms over the steering wheel and looked out at the people going about their normal lives. His had been normal, with the exception of what Henry had done to him. Even with Thomas and knowing about magic. He’s still had what he considered a normal life. What he saw of magic was through his friends and friends of theirs.

Even they were normal to his mind. And that meant they knew what they were doing with their lives. Magic seemed to make that easier. So he’d expected Shila to be much like them because she was magical.

She was even more out of her element than he was.

“How safe is it to make calls?”

She shook her head and he tilted an ear.

“Shila, I need you to do more than nod, shake your head, or panic. What I know of you, the internet is your magical playground. So why don’t you think it’s safe to make a call?”

She sighed, and Paul saw her pull herself together as best she could. Having something concrete to do helps people not panic. Gave them a sense of control, as small and fleeting as it might be. He’d picked that up from his psychology roommate in his first year.

“I just have my phone. It’s more powerful than you’d think but the Chamber’s assault on my apartment burned down the offsite servers I use. I can keep your phone from being found, but I have no way to be certain whoever you’re going to call will be secure.”

“Do you have any idea how the Chamber found you? How they knew how to keep Thomas from coming to your help?”

“No. It should have been impossible. I’m the one who fucking set up my protection and no one’s better than I am at it.” She became quiet. “Maybe I can program a precognition talisman…” she looked at her phone. “I need more, but… Google’s not too far, if I get near I can get into their quantum machine. I’m going to need something like to think laterally enough to overcome whatever the Chamber uses to hide what gave my location.”

“You’re not hacking Google,” Paul stated. Stealing a car to survive was one thing. Letting her do that when she admitted to not having all her tools available, that was suicide. Google was a mega-corporation, there was no way they would mess around with their server security.

“I have to. I need to come up with a way to find out how they did something like this. It’s either google or Nasa, and Nasa’s quantum array is on the east coast. Do you have any idea what it takes to find out how they pulled this off? It’s like…” she looked about to scream. “It’s like looking for a needle lost in a pile of needles and the only difference between them is that the hole for the thread is a little smaller.”

The word lost stuck in Paul’s brain, something, no, someone Thomas had told him about, back from when he’d been on the run from his friend at the frat. He’d ended up in—

“What about the guy in Denver?”

She looked at him uncomprehendingly.

Now that he remembered the city, he remembered more of the stories. “Donal, he’s a Practitioner like you, his thing is finding stuff that’s been lost. He’s a friend of Thomas.”

Her expression brightened. “Yes, I know who you mean, if one Practitioner could do it, it’d be him.”

“So, Denver?”

She smiled. “Denver.”