Scales

Chapter Twenty-two

No one said anything as the last of the bright colorful lights of Sacramento faded behind us on the last leg of our journey. It would be the final farewell. Afterwards, it would be an epic race between Jack and the force of time itself to get back to San Rafael – their home – before Monday morning.

Not to mention explaining everything to all moms and dads – including his own. Then Jack would have to face his biggest adversary yet – the law. Upon prior agreement, Jack would claim to have located me in one of the small towns near the mountains, and he would no longer have to hold back the big lie he'd told the police.

"I have a confession to make to just my parents," Cody admitted. "I'm scrapping all of my previous career ambitions. I'd rather be a survivalist or a field researcher."

"I need to spend more time bonding with my father too," Melanie confided. "I've spent too much time worrying about the well-being of you all."

Jack pushed his foot down to the floor before shifting, giving us a sudden shock of speed increase. "Truth be told, I hardly get to spend time with my parents – they're almost always out on business meetings or trips. And when we finally do hang out, their attention to me is mostly demands about my accounting. I hope I can turn them around someday."

The dark orange haze of the now set sun streaked across the evening sky as we passed through the small communities of Crescent Ridge Village, Cameron Park, Placerville, and Pollock Pines.

"Good news!" Jack exclaimed loudly as we passed through a valley. "Civilization has ceased to exist!"

Cody shot him a mean look, and Jack corrected himself with a shameful blush. "Um, I mean, the wilderness has arrived, meaning no more cities or towns on route. You may now lose the disguise, Mav!"

My eyes widened in shock. Was this it? Could I finally shed all the worries I'd encountered on this long journey? Before I could open my toothy mouth to ask, Melanie's loving smile confirmed it.

"You have nothing to hide anymore, lovey," she said, pulling the black tarp off my back and folding it up.

As soon as she did though, there was an instant change in the car's temperature level. The composition of the whole atmosphere changed and rose, like someone had turned on a massive gas heater.

"I think you should—" I began, but Cody and Melanie were already rolling down the windows, letting the cool fresh mountain air roll in.

"Sorry," I whispered.

"No problem, bro," Jack replied, switching on his high-power beams. "Most likely it was just excess body heat that'd been trapped under the tarp for so long. You are a mesotherm after all."

Melanie's face looked quizzical. "What's that?"

"Neither warm nor cold-blooded. Somewhere in between," Cody explained, before pointing out the window. "Hey, check it out."

For what felt like the first time in forever, I brought my arms out from under me, extended them forward, and extended my neck up fully. Yeowch! It hurt so much after having been "frozen" in a lying position for so many hours non-stop. But when I turned my head in the direction Cody pointed, my mouth dropped open.

The sky was filled with billions of tiny bright stars, distant planets, and hundreds of possible constellations. It looked like a whole city suspended up there.

"Absolutely stunning," I breathed, Melanie's hand affectionately wrapped around my neck.

"Makes you really think how far we currently are," Jack added, slowing his driving speed.

As if to counteract his speech, we tuned our ears into the sounds of the trees on either side of the now two-lane highway and listened in, only to hear the faint sounds of people singing and wood crackling and popping.