deliah throws her head back and lets out a gasp. her hair settles back onto her shoulders after floating up as if static. she rests there a few moments, breathing heavily. Naz hurries to throw a blanket over her shoulders, but she gets up, stumbles over her own feet, and while he catches her she immediately scrambles to break free.
"I need to get away, I need to go, I need to..."
She tries her hardest to struggle away from the embrace of the werewolf but he is stronger than her.
"sit down, you just had a vision, that's draining"
Michael pipes up and finally she stops and allows herself to be lead over to the bed.
"now, one thing after the other, what happened."
Deliah takes a few deep gulps of air before she answers.
"The council, the- their seer, persephone, she knows where we are we need to move asap. they have a vampire too, the-"
she starts to cough violently, michael softly pats her on the back, brows furrowed.
"yes... I knew that much, she's the secretary of council member goodman. but how did they find us?"
Deliah shoots him a look so firey it could have melted a hole into the window behind him.
"how do you think? it's not like she's a seer or anything..."
Naz stops the argument from advancing even further by putting a hand on Michael's shoulder and one on Deliah's as well.
"so what do you suppose we should do?"
Deliah stands up, still wobbly but too determined to be recaptured. she paces up and down the length of the spacious hotel room, her brain finally fully clearing the fog that comes with a vision...
"we need to get supplies and Alice out of here. getting alice and the book to safety needs to be our number one priority right now."
Naz and michael exchange a look before looking up at the seer again.
"so what are we waiting for?"
Deliah turns towards them, feet perfectly parallel, and points her finger at Naz.
"yes, correct. but if we flee like a bunch of frightened birds that will draw attention. we need to think this through."
I towel my hair off as I try not to pay attention to John putting on a pair of jeans. the short bob we decided to go with doesn't really suit me but then again I might just need to get used to having short hair.
"so are we gonna dye it?"
John makes a grunting noise in response as he struggles with his left pant leg.
"black... like you asked... right?"
I nod, but remeber he can't see me so I reiterate
"yeah"
I grab the packet of hair dye he has set on the counter and open the carton but I'm interrupted by a knock on the door.
"shit, one second"
John calls out as her pulls on a randon T-shirt he must have set out. I disappear into the bathroom to get dressed, whoever it is doesn't need to know he saw me nude.
"Deliah, what are you..."
"shut up and close the door."
I put on the pants I had on before the bath and John's old shirt before heading out, I don't expect the room full of the entire group.
"what's going on?"
Deliah tosses me a look.
"they're on our trail, they must be tracking one of us through their seer. so I say we check out calmly and pick up some camping supplies on the way while we continue to work our way towards the goal and try to figure out who they are tracking."
I make eye contact with John.
"are you saying we should split up the group?"
She nods.
"we might have to."
I take a few deep breaths and sit down to steady myself.
"well, whenever we're not running they're only getting closer, let's head out."
I start to toss my stuff into my bag as the group argues among themselves quietly. as I pack my things I run into my dress, the one I was wearing during the party... how long has it been since then? a week? more? I completely lost my sense of time and it feels like we have been on the road for months.
"need help?"
Nazim offers as he starts to stuff hoodies I stole from him back into my bag.
"sorry about that by the way."
I grin at him and he grins back.
"I have a little sister, I'm used to it."
fifteen minutes later we are all collected in the parking lot of a costco with a few supplies we might need, the types of things we can fit into the already crammed car. For some reason I have a right to shotgun and I don't think I'm going to complain, since I would be seated between Michael and Naz, who have stopped genuinely fighting and started bickering playfully at all hours of the day. not to mention, the radio only plays what I say it plays, so far nobody has complained. Michael hops into the driver seat and drops a candy bar in my lap.
"you spoil me your highness"
I roll my eyes and he laughs. the back row starts to fuss in response like a bunch of preschoolers.
"anything for you oh great and mighty chosen one"
we pull back onto the road as the radio plays another bout of news. as per usual the only topic seems to be my supposed abduction.
"well at least the police seems to have lost our trail..."
I mumble and unwrap my chocolate slowly.
"but the greater threat is on our trail..."
I quickly change the channel to another station. I hate country music but it's better than hearing people talk about how helpless and terrible my situation is when I've been treated so well...
"so how are we gonna figure out which of us is the one being tracked?"
Deliah screws the lid back onto her water bottle and swallows.
"I'm going to have to try to blindly weed out the psychic thread that is attached to one of us, until then we need to keep moving. if it's me, you or john we are in deep shit."
Naz scratches at his chin.
"how long will that take?"
Deliah sighs and stares down at her lap.
"I don't know, it's hard to tell. depending on how well trained Persephone really is, if she wove the thread quickly and clumsily it won't be difficult to detect but if she put time into it and made it as thin and strong as possible it might take me days..."
the dreadful silence fills the car again apart from the man with the tick southern accent on the radio singing about his youth in the midwest. I turn off the radio entirely and take a deep breath.
"when you pick something up let me know."
we spend hours in total silence, not even the boys in the back dare to make a peep, just feed Deliah water and rice crackers whenever she needs a break from her divining. John is staring straight ahead at the road and I read my books. I have to restart the page often because I find myself distracted from the plot. the road ahead of us stretches seemingly endless. I finally decide I might be best off trying to sleep, I pull my blanket around my shoulders and close my eyes to try and get some rest.
"John Deliah needs to rest properly."
Michael's voice sounds quiet.
"Is there any place at all near here where we would be safe for at least a night?"
John stays quiet for several minutes, before giving an answer when nobody was expecting one.
"there's a colony of elves in the area... I don't think they will allow us in though. Elves are rather reclusive and why the hell would they take on the ire of the high council for a group that they have no stakes in..."
Michael clears his throat.
"well can we at least try?"
John doesn't answer, instead he speeds up suddenly.
"what..."
"shut up, everyone, we're being followed"
just when the words leave his mouth I see the white wings in the rear view mirror.
"how did they find us so fast?"
"Angels have their shortcuts"
I hold onto my seatbelt. I don't have any weapons, I have no way of helping if we need to fight... not to mention Deliah is out of commission... I give John a panicked look but his eyes are on the road.
"there's a knife in the glove box. keep it on you. if you get separated from the group head into the woods and just keep going. the scouts will find you, hopefully before the angels do. and be ready to use it with the intent to kill."
I pull out the blade and to my relief it's a familiar tool, the same one I used to defend myself when fighting the werewolf. just having a way to defend myself, no matter how pathetic compared to the magic of the enemies closing in on us makes me feel worlds better.
"got it."
I hear Naz transform in the back and get ready while Michael holds onto Deliah.
"if I play this right you won't need to fight."
the words have barely left his mouth when a violent shiver goes through the car. something has jumped on top of the vehicle. I check the mirror but instead of the white wings I expected I see a head of wild brown curls blowing in the wind...