I don’t know what Collin really is or what exactly happened between us in my bedroom, but one thing Iamsure of is that this Avatar of Knowledge is some kind of miracle. And right now? I’m choosing to believe in miracles.
Letting the plastic shard hang from the ignition, I shove myself into the driver’s seat. I pinch the two exposed wires, take all the anger I’m using to fight off the Obligation, add to it all the frustration I have for the elf showing up at literally theworst possible time, multiply that by how freaked out I am right now, and picture a blazing inferno in my belly. Then I mentally send the fire raging down my arms toward the wires.
Here goes noth?—
Zzzzt!
Two bright sparks flash out from my fingertips. Then I hear the engine start to turn over.
Holy, holy crap! It worked!
“Savage!” Collin cries out. “Now, quick! Twist the steering wheel with your left hand, and the ignition with your right!”
Collin’s arrows immediately move to direct my hands to new locations, so I quickly grab the steering wheel and the plastic stick and give them both a turn!
The steering wheel unlocks, and the car roars fully to life.
We did it!
No. Wait.
Idid it.
Boy, do I so want to enjoy the moment, but I know I don’t have time to even look behind me. The wheel is already turned. I claw into my brain for skills I haven’t used since I was a teenager, grab the gear shift, press the side button, yank it into drive, and peel out as fast as I can onto O’Farrell while Collin full-on crows, now punching the roof of the car from the passenger seat.Whack, whack, whack!(There’s another weird, smack-like sound behind us, like something hitting the back of the car, but it doesn’t matter, because We. Are. Moving!)
“Iknewyou could do it! I knew it! You’reamazing,Alvin!”
He grabs my shoulder and mashes a kiss into my cheek, crazy high. And yeah, with my luck, he probably is some kind of Cthulhu monster archdemon horror from the Beyond that just wants to devour me. But, to behonest, right now, both the kiss and what he’s saying feel pretty damn good.
And I did do it, didn’t I? This can’t have been the result of me feeding, because fire is in no way an intrinsic incubus power. Which means ithadto have been mana!Wildcardmagic!
Of course, I didn’t craft any runes first, which is a little weird, but it was just a little bit of power, so maybe I didn’t need to. No matter what, it shows I have the potential to cast actual spells. Icanuse my magic to help people—I just need more training. And if I can create another spark and show it to Stryker, I can prove to her that I’m worth teaching—no getting drunk or laid required! This is literally a dream come true.
Two things are less dreamy, though.
One is that I am basically a city mouse. I haven’t driven anything since my mom had me chauffeuring her around Vermontsix years ago. I also didn’t bother to adjust the seat’s position, and whoever drove it before had at least four inches on me. So, even without Collin latching on to me, I’m all over the road. I need to work hard just to keep contact with the pedals and the wheel, while desperately trying to remember how to use them. None of it feels natural.
The second and bigger deal is what I see when I finally remember to glance at the rearview mirror. There’s a sword sticking out of the rear trunk, stabbed there like freaking Excalibur. The elf’s sword. And gripping onto its handle, pulling himself up from the road, is the noble warrior himself. Murder in his eyes.
I utter a very mouselike squeak, shove my foot downas hard as I can, and floor it. The elf instantly jerks back from the acceleration, his arm snapping to full extension.
We’re still on narrow city streets, though, lined with cars. There’s only so fast I can go. The extra speed slows him, but it doesn’t stop him. He’s already pulling himself back up and will be fully on the back hood in just a few seconds.
Collin sees him, too. “Alvin, we need to get to the 101! He’s strong, but if we can reach freeway speeds, we can shake him. Turn to the rightnow!”
I yank the wheel hard to the right, which causes the rear tires to skid. We almost spin out, but I just manage to make it onto Stockton toward Market. My bad driving whips the elf off the car and back out onto the road. (Yes!) He doesn’t let go of his sword, though, which is still attached to the trunk. (Boo!)
There’s no other traffic on this street, though, thank God, and I’m coming fast on a red light where the road spills onto Market.
“Blow through it! You’re clear!” Collin yells, apparently able to see around corners. Huge arrows materialize ahead of me, twisting left on Market, then tightly twisting right onto 4thStreet just a half-block down. It’s a good thing it’s well before dawn and we’re now downtown. I’m barely keeping the car off the curbs, but at least in this part of town, the sides of the road are free of other vehicles.
The elf’s head and shoulders are back above the trunk, but his hateful glare tells me he’s struggling. Collin’s right. If we can just get on the freeway, I should absolutely be able to shake him off.
In the meantime, I keep the pedal to the metal—kneeand elbows locked, and shoulders shoved back into the seat behind me—as we squeal around Market and race down 4thStreet. A few blocks ahead, Collin forms an arrow for a wide right at Harrison that should get us up the on-ramp. We’re already pushing fifty on this city street, but I’m pretty sure I can make that turn.
Or, at least, Iwassure until the heavens open up and a full-on tropical storm starts to come down. A torrent of angry droplets crash down on the roof of the car with a drumming roar. Out of nowhere, it’s raining so hard that the windshield is nothing but a rippling sheet of gray.
But of course, it’s not out of nowhere. It’s the elf, using nature magic. Because they can do that. (Innate power!) If I didn’t hate the bastard so much, I’d say it was a clever move.
