Daughter of Death

XVIII

As soon as the feeling came, it disappeared. Instead, it was replaced with the warm rush of water, very different from the Fluvius. Hallez barely managed to keep herself from letting go of her breath from the change. Then, some kind of force seemed to wrap around Hallez, and then spit her out. The warm water disappeared from around her, and for a split second, she was floating in zero-G again—until she landed and rolled onto part sandy, part rocky shore.

    The rocks were extremely uncomfortable to roll on. Especially with the large, awkward, weirdly shaped shield.

    Grimacing, she stood, shaking as much sand and rocks out of her hair, and her clothes, as possible.

    Fiona stood beside her, so did Travis and Lavi. Lavi's black hair looked more like dirty blond as she shook her head, and sand poured out. They were on a small strip of rocky shore. The lake itself was small all things considering, and they could see to the other side. Behind them and curving out into the lake, a small steep 7-ish meter stone cliff blocked them in.

    "Alright!" Fiona shook her right wrist, and her wristband glowed red. She tapped and swiped on the sleek surface a few times, and the glow turned to gold.

    "So, one use of these wristbands is that it can detect non-mortal presence," Fiona explained, and then a hologram appeared above the wristband. A small blue 3D map of Livermore. Beside an oddly shaped lake, on the shore, were four blinking green dots. "That's us. And that"—she tapped on the wristband and a small part of the city turned a faint gold color—"is a non-mortal presence. Different colors have different indications, and gold means godlike, or divine."

    "So that might be Mania," Lavi said.

    "Didn't Pauline say the trail went cold weeks ago?" Hallez asked.

    Fiona nodded. "She did, but usually the immortal essence lingers around for a bit. The color is faded, which means it's not exactly new. However, it's worth checking out."

    "We might be able to find a new trail that leads us closer to where she is now," Travis agreed.

    At the same time, Fiona was zooming in on the section with two fingers on the wristband. "Well...it looks like we're close to it at least. Just across another lake. But it's also an airport..."

    An airport? Hallez tried to remember her vision. The woman had been "piloting" a small plane above Livermore. Was it above the airport? She couldn't remember looking directly down, but the fact that the vision had been in a plane and that they were going to the Livermore airport couldn't be a simple coincidence.

    "Well, an airport it is then," Lavi said cheerfully. She put her fists to her hips and looked up at the cliff. Then she unslung her bow, and uncapped her quiver, taking out a thick, grey-shafted, heavy arrow. "I got this part covered."

    Before Hallez could ask, Lavi shot the arrow straight up, and it embedded its arrowhead firmly into the top of the cliff. Two thin ropes fell down to their level. As Hallez watched, the ropes seemed to grow metal rungs, which clicked together to form a ladder. It was oddly satisfying.

    "Easy transportation." Lavi slinger her bow over her shoulder again, and started to climb. Despite the thin, seemingly frail ladder, it held easily as Lavi climbed to the top, and beckoned to the rest of the contubernium.

    Hallez went next, slightly nervous, but she made it to the top without problem. So did Fiona and Travis. Once they were all at the top, Lavi pulled the arrow out (somehow) and the ladder retracted. She placed it back in her quiver, and capped it again.

    They set off in the direction of the airport, according to Fiona's hologram map. It wasn't a long walk, but it was hot, and the sun beat down at them mercilessly. Hallez was used to this type of environment. Her contubernium, however, was not. Three minutes in, they were slowing down, and Hallez only noticed when she looked back after noticing that she couldn't hear their footsteps or their breaths beside her. She saw the three of them trudging along a few feet behind. Fiona fanned herself with her hand, and Travis used his spear as a walking stick. Lavi was in front of them, less affected, but she had tied her short black hair in a short ponytail.