YP – B3:QtnoWLM – Chapter 9 (Chapter 106)

190 Days Until Escape And the Uncertain End

Heia sat watching as Phil and Evester spoke. Zeydar was asleep next to Evester, in a restless sleep but knocked out nonetheless. His head was against Evester’s thigh using it for elevation. They were all afraid he’d suffocate in his sleep, due to the air. Phil and Evester were a bit slower and a bit more lethargic but Evester was adapting fast, having been on the LowerLands before. Heia sat in the darkness watching them figuring that they thought she was not there..

“This is worse than I thought.” She heard Phil whisper.

“It is.” Evester checked his gloves. “I told you it was.”

“But to live like this?” Phil asked confirming to Heia that they believed she was still away. A bit of fury told her it was best to keep her mouth shut. Her people hadn’t wanted to live this way. His people had forced them to. Her telling him that at the moment would solve nothing and could end up with her yelling. She could not yell when they had to hide.

“No one here really knows how we live.” Evester poked Zeydar’s cheek. Zeydar swatted his hand away but did not wake. “This one here probably is having the worst culture shock.”

“Amongst other things. Why is he here?” Phil asked a bit quieter.

“He agreed to be here.” Evester shrugged. “Why shouldn’t he be here?”

“No. I mean here. In general. With us. What did we do to convince him?” Phil asked a question that Heia, herself had been asking. They’d only hurt Zeydar. Why had he agreed to this?

“I don’t think we did. I think his magic did.”

“His magic that he can not control.”

Heia wanted to remind him that he was dealing with the air was different here. She wanted to remind him the pressure was. She wanted to yell at him that Zeydar was trying to get himself off the Dreams. Controlling is magic should have been less of a worry than him dying. Unfortunately he was powerful enough to destroy them, so she kept her lips sealed.

“Not that we can control him any better.” Evester went on.

Phil was silent. He tossed out his gloves to the ground. “When is she getting back? We’ve been here for two days.”

“When she finds a car.”

“I found a car.” Heia jumped through the window. Neither were all that surprised to see her, which bothered her in the slightest. She had wanted them to squirm. To see their reaction when they knew she had been listening. Instead they hadn’t reacted. “Get Zeydar up. We have a few hours before turn of time and then we got to get out.”

Two days was okay. Three days was too much time to be spent in a city where no one trusted you. 

“Where is it?” Evester asked as he shook Zeydar awake.

“East.” Heia answered as Zeydar awoke in a fright.

He lashed out, ready to attack anyone who was there. Heia and Phil took cover, ducking out of the way as Evester grabbed Zeydar. The room spun in quick destruction and broken glass and loud sounds as Evester made sure that Zeydar’s eyes met his first. There was a moment of tension, as the room spun with magic, tangible thick magic that made Heia want to gag, and then it was gone.

“Sorry.” Zeydar whispered. “We get a car?”

“Time to move little prince.” Evester helped him up.

“You are the royalty, not me.” Zeydar hissed and Evester just laughed. Phil exchanged a look with Heia that told her he was thinking the same thing as her in that moment. One, they had to go and they had to go then. The sound would have been noticed. Two, Evester and Zeydar’s relationship was too strange. It wasn’t strange in the Kim and Evester way. This was a beast of its own filled with insider knowledge that Heia wished she could get in on. They were strangers, but somehow eased into each other’s life so easily. 

“Ready?” Heia was prepared faster than Phil.

“Lead the way.” Zeydar answered. 

Heia led them east, to the dump of items. It was a place where scavengers went when they needed to get things the market wouldn’t sell. Most people didn’t touch the things of dead people. It was odd and a bit sacrilegious, but the stuff had to be somewhere. In the dump were many a car, but none that ran well, but one. One car that Phil could drive them out with, and the car that would be a good scouting car. 

It was black, old, but sturdy, and was a model that ran on more solar energy rather than electricity, as Uly had asked. It was perfect for them. 

“This is an expensive car.” Evester looked it over. “And you are sure it runs?”

“It does.” Heia had tried it. It had five seats and was perfect. “Are we taking it or not?”

She did not have the time or motivation to find another. They did not have the time or lack of presence to find another one. Zeydar had seen to that.

“Get in.” Phil got in the driver seat.

Evester took shotgun. “Superior, if you would mask us.”

Heia saw the glimpse of an eye roll from Zeydar as she slid into the car. Zeydar answered as he sat in the car next to Heia. “I’ll mask us as we get closer. You get us there.” Zeydar leaned back in his seat and slumped down. Heia wanted to ask him if he were okay but she knew better than to ask him the question. He looked to her and seemed to know what she was going to say. Zeydar smiled at her. “Thank you for your concern.”

She nearly blushed but did not look away. They locked eyes in a metal understanding on something she could not articulate. Zeydar was the reason he was so close to Evester, not the other way around. If she let him, they  could be close to. She gave him a nod and relaxed in her seat. She’d sleep once they were out. Not a moment before.

Last Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

---