Chapter 10

10

"Do I always drive the whole way?" Vega groaned, her eyes feeling grainy and tired, nearing twenty hours on the road. She rubbed her palm into her eyes, sighing at the temporary relief it gave her.

Vega didn't have a plan on when she'd need to stop for sleep. Arlet had stolen enough money to get them to California comfortably—which Vega tried not to feel bad about. Every time they stopped to fuel up, Vega grabbed a cup of coffee or an energy drink and rolled for as long as she could before needing to stop again.

With her feet up on the dash and a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos in her lap, Arlet stuck her fingers in her mouth to clean off the Dorito dust. "Duh. I don't have a license. How am I supposed to explain to the police that I'm not from Earth if we got stopped?"

Vega couldn't argue, shrugging with a nod of agreement.

"Plus, I've only driven a vehicle once, and it didn't go too well." She glanced over to Vega. "Don't ask. It scarred me for life."

The crinkle of the Doritos bag filled the compact-sized car. Vega held her hand out, wiggling her fingers.

"We don't have these in Tolevarre," Arlet told her as she filled her palm with chips. The crunch filled Vega's ears as she popped the first one into her mouth. "They were your favorite when you lived in Houston, and I've craved them ever since." Arlet laughed, recalling a memory. The way her face brightened gave Vega a peek of what she would have looked like ten years ago—as if she wasn't timeless enough already. "I brought a bag back once, and the boys devoured it before I could get one single chip." The cheer Arlet was filled with diminished quickly.

Vega distracted her from the thoughts dimming her shine with questions of their childhood in Tolevarre, about the twenty lives she'd lived on Earth, and learned that she and Arlet grew up together, becoming best friends instantaneously. Vega asked for more stories, and each time, Arlet delivered.

She learned about a man named Khort, who shifted into a dragon. Her brain couldn't wrap around the concept, but when Vega asked too many questions about him, Arlet replied, "Khort likes you to get to know him through him. He's picky—particular—just one of those guys who like things a certain way."

Vega knew the type.

"So, you said before that you never had a power before summoning Remus," Vega started, seeing Arlet nod out of the corner of her eye. "Are we usually born with our abilities then?"

Arlet twirled a curl between her fingers, staring out at the road ahead. "Yes and no. It's complicated. Yes, because we're born with whatever our power is inside us and no, because there's no telling what it's going to be until we've learned to manifest it. Before you can control what's inside you, you can always feel something though—a buzz in your mind, a trickle of power through your bloodstream. I never got that feeling until after the summoning. That night was the first time I understood what everyone had been talking about. We spend most of our adolescence in school, training our mind and body for the day we're strong enough to use it for the first time, and then we spend the rest of the time learning how to control it. "

Vega didn't have to ask more questions because Arlet continued on. "Usually, your power is from the stronger parent, but that's not always the case. Sometimes a power can trickle down from generations before. Like you. You got lightning, and there hasn't been a lightning-wielder alive in your lineage for centuries. But I'm not so sure your lightning has ever been separate from your control of the weather. I think it was just all you knew how to control at first, and everyone assumed your lightning and wind were different powers." She shrugged.

The ping of Vega's phone interrupted her train of thought.

Arlet grabbed it before Vega could. "Bobby says you're fired." She flashed the screen to show her.

Vega rolled her eyes. "Susan is jumping for joy right now."

The sun moved through the sky, and the mountains started to peak in the distance. Vega turned the music up, attempting to drown out the silence surrounding them after finding out she'd lost yet another piece of her life back in Chicago. She didn't love her job at Bobby's, but it was another string snapped, disconnecting her from this life—from this world.

The radio began to skip, static hissing in the background as they got too far from whatever city station they were listening to. Vega reached for the dial and twisted until she found one that came through clearly. Songs from the early 2000s shuffled.

Arlet's bare feet began to tap against the dashboard, something Vega asked her not to do, worried that if they wrecked, her legs would go through her pelvis.

Arlet's reply had been, "Well, then don't wreck."

A song Vega hadn't heard in years came on, a smile forming on her lips at the same moment Arlet jumped forward to turn the volume up. Arlet squealed. "Oh my gods, I wish you could remember this, but in your last life, we listened to this on repeat for an entire three-day trip."

The happiness in Arlet's voice was like a warm blanket, wrapping Vega in a tight hug as she began to sing the lyrics to "Over My Head (Cable Car)" by The Fray. Vega barely had time to wonder what happened to The Fray before Arlet started to bop on beat to the song.

Vega's smile grew, crinkling the corners of her eyes for the first time in what felt like an eternity.

Vega only watched Arlet for a few seconds—the throwback settling into her body, her hips wiggling in the seat while keeping her focus on the road. The highway was clear ahead, the other traffic moving at a leisurely pace.

From the outside looking in, they were two best friends singing along to their favorite song. Vega used the steering wheel as a drum pad, falling horribly off-beat, making them sing louder and more enthusiastically than before.

Vega didn't have a musical bone in her body, but Arlet had a voice she would consider a god-given gift. A couple of times, Vega found herself giving Arlet more solo time just to hear the melodic pull of her tone as she hit every note perfectly.

What if I'm already dead and this is my guardian angel escorting me to heaven?

Vega cracked up at Arlet's guitar solo. Her head bounced back and forth from the road to watching the performance Arlet was putting on, and a feeling of euphoria hit her. This feels too right, too real to be fake. What if they really were two best friends separated by a curse?

They sang over a fit of giggles, and for the first time since the road trip started, Vega felt like she was doing the right thing—that she was in the place she was meant to be, right here, right now.

When the song finally came to an end, without thinking, Vega reached over and held Arlet's hand as the next one came on.

Arlet squeezed it three times as she always had, but Vega didn't know that. She returned her hand to the steering wheel, fixing her eyes back on the road with a new feeling digging into her chest .

Hope.

Vega set her heart towards hope. Hope for a life she couldn't remember. Hope for people who loved her. Hope for being wanted. Hope for belonging.

That newfound hope kept her awake, driving her towards what might be the reason she'd never felt whole.

"Okay, so no Netflix, but there are TVs and radios?" Vega learned about their world and the beautiful gowns Tolevarre was known for—the balls, the holidays, how their world was up to date in technological advances but still didn't have nor need all the things Earth had.

Arlet took a sip of her coffee, preferring hers with cream and a single pack of sugar. Vega didn't want any of the extras—Arlet knew that, surprising her at their first stop with a large black, no frill coffee. Arlet chuckled, holding the coffee between her hands, her feet crossed underneath her lap. "Correct. We have TVs, but no shows or movies, nothing of the sort. They're called monitors, and they're used for official announcements, government stuff. If Marlena has an announcement, it'll be played on one of those. They're not something every household has. Most families in the outlying territories have to make their way into town for news." Arlet paused, blowing on the still-warm drink in her hands. "We have them at our camp, too, to keep an eye on whatever it is Marlena tells the people. Typically it's a bunch of brainwashing bullshit. She tells everyone she's keeping them safe from the rebels when really, she cares nothing about them, only what they can do for her. She throws them scraps when they behave and takes what little they have when they don't.

"As for radios, we have things similar to record players with prerecorded music, no live stations. The army uses comm-devices to keep in touch from across the realm, but again, those aren't attainable for most. Only the ones in control or the ones who can afford it."

Vega sipped her coffee. "Which is why it pays off to be powerful, huh?"

"Exactly, but it wasn't always like that. The Curia was created by the twelve original bloodlines when Tolevarre was born to ensure that not one person had too much power, that there was balance in leadership." Arlet told the history of this world without an ounce of hesitation, like it was fact and not still a complete tale to Vega.

"Until Marlena," Vega stated.

"Until Marlena," Arlet echoed.

Vega rubbed her temples with one hand, groaning. "My head hurts. This world doesn't sound any fun. I'm just leaving one messy life in exchange for what sounds like an even worse one." Vega let out a soft chuckle, trying to find the humor in this last history lesson.

From its place in Arlet's lap, Vega's phone rang with a familiar tone. Her head whipped over to see Arlet holding her phone up, Chase's name and a picture of him smiling while Vega planted a kiss on his cheek spread across the screen. "Fuck." She reached for the device and held it in one hand while she kept the other on the steering wheel.

"You can ignore him if that's what you want," Arlet reminded her.

Chase would call the cops—Vega knew he would. The last thing she wanted was to deal with what might come of having a missing persons report filed on her. Ya know, if this ends up all being a figment of my imagination or a full-on hallucination from lack of sleep.

Vega answered the phone, but before she could utter a word, Chase cut through.

"Vega? Vega, is that you?" His voice was panicked.

"Hi, Chase," Vega said with an exhale.

"Fuck. Where are you? Are you okay? What is going on? "

Vega rolled her eyes. "I'm fine, relax."

"Relax? Relax ?" His voice raised to a shrill, ugly pitch. "You completely disappeared. Your passport is gone, your travel bag is gone, and you told no one you were leaving!"

"Who was I supposed to tell I was leaving, huh? You? Oh, maybe I should've called Jessica!" Vega didn't bother turning the volume down, allowing Arlet to lean over the center console to hear every word uttered.

"Jesus Christ, Vega! I am still your husband. We're still married!" Vega could hear him pacing, his footsteps echoing against creaky floors. "We can figure this out. We can get counseling. Just come home, and we'll talk about it."

"Counseling?" It was Vega's turn to have a screeched response. "I don't want counseling! I want a divorce."

"Don't say that," he interrupted, having the audacity to sound hurt.

"Don't you dare! Don't you dare play the victim here." Vega's speed picked up as her anger grew. "You did this. You caused me to leave! I have been through too much in my life to do this, Chase. I can't—I can't be with someone I don't trust. You were my person. My person… and you cheated on me when I was at my lowest. Why? Huh? Why." Vega waited for his response, unaware Arlet had settled back in her seat in an attempt to give Vega a little privacy.

"If you come home, we can talk about it. I'm so sorry. I broke it off with Jessica. I had a lapse in judgment."

"You know what? Shove that apology back down your throat and choke on it," Vega spat, leaning forward in her seat as if he were in front of her, not the open highway.

"I didn't call you to fight. I?—"

Vega cut him off. "Oh, I'm not fighting. I'm telling you what you deserve to hear. You deserve to know what a shit person you are, how little of a man you are that you'd cheat on your wife because she lost her job and didn't fit into your pretty little picture anymore. How much of a coward you are that you couldn't just be honest with me about not loving me anymore." She choked out the last few words, biting on the inside of her cheek so hard she tasted blood, only to realize the feeling inside her chest wasn't sadness.

She forced the tears back and took a deep breath, calming herself enough to continue. "I should have told you this in person so I could see the look on your face, but I was too sad, too hurt. But guess what, Chase?"

There was silence on the other end.

"I'm not sad anymore. I'm pissed. Stop calling me. I'm done." Vega ended the call and tossed the phone into the cup holder with a clatter.

Seconds passed, maybe minutes, before Arlet spoke. "Damn."

Vega looked over at her to find Arlet grinning ear to ear. "What are you smiling like that for?"

"You're so you. You're really you this time, not some mousy duplicate. I've got my girl back." A tear slid down Arlet's cheek, but her smile didn't melt away.