The Multiversal Road-Trip: Book Five

4

"The target is located about half a mile south-east from this position-"

"Wanda," Stephen corrected automatically. "Not the target."

The agent lady blinked before continuing. "Yes, sir. Um... your movements will be tracked at all times, use the communication devices provided if there is anything worthwhile to report. The army will be surrounding from half a mile in each direction as it is the closest we can get, but please do notify us if the tar- if Maximoff makes any escape attempts." She handed the three of them a handset each. "Once you go any further, you'll cross the invisible boundary and we won't be able to see or hear you."

"Cool, can we go then?" Loki asked, somewhat impatiently. "I'm getting absolutely soaked out here."

The agent lady nodded. "Yeah. You can go. Good luck."

Loki headed in the direction she said immediately, Stephen followed, nodding in acknowledgement, and Scott thanked her and followed them. All three of them speed-walked in the hope they'd find shelter quicker, but at some point, there was a weird, magical feeling, making Stephen's vision hazy for a second before it passed.

First, he felt the rain stop. Then a light hit his eyes... moonlight. But it was a much brighter glow than it had been, almost as bright as sunlight? Nah, he probably just hadn't seen the sun in a while and his eyes were accustomed to the dark by this point.

They still seemed to be in the same place, but the rain had stopped and suddenly things seemed much warmer, which was nice. Looking around in the oddly bright moonlight, Stephen made out that they were apparently on the edge of a hazy magical dome thing – probably one of the more basic spells that meant whoever was inside couldn't be seen by outsiders. Sweet.

He was OK with that so long as there was no runes involved today.

"Can they see us now?" Scott asked, breaking the silence, watching over his shoulder. Stephen and Loki did too – they couldn't even see them. As though they'd just literally walked across the bleak countryside to get here.

"Doubt it," Loki replied, then threw his handset into the nearby bush. "Won't be needing that."

"We're going to get into so much trouble because of you, you know," Stephen pointed out as he put his and Scott's handsets in his rucksack.

"I don't care," Loki shrugged, and they set off straight ahead.