The Calling of Time

The Midnight Market

We were whipping around the last bend in the road, and the squat grey building was almost out of site, when I spotted the army vehicles. There were two of them, and they pulled into the gravel parking lot. My breath caught in my throat, but then we were around the corner and out of sight. Hopefully they were so intent on the gun shop and it’s owner that they didn’t notice us.

It would probably take them a few minutes to get anything out of the stuttering wreck that was Bruce. Deep down I almost felt bad for the guy. He’d lost his family. But then my resolve hardened. I’d lost my family, did that mean I would have done the same thing in his place? Absolutely not. He was still a scum bag.

It was tense for the first couple minutes, and Manda continued to hang out the window with the shotgun pointed behind us. I kept glancing up at the side view mirror, expecting to see a couple of camouflage vehicles come speeding around the corner behind us in hot pursuit.  Horace was driving ridiculously fast, and when I looked over at Jai he was  clutching the “holy shit” handle near the roof, eyes wide, teeth clenched.

Horace took the jeep into a sharp turn and the wheels burned rubber with a horrible screeching sound. Then we were leaving the major part of the city behind, and the buildings were getting smaller and farther apart.

“I think we’re okay.” Horace checked the rear view mirror and his broad shoulders relaxed. He didn’t let up on the gas pedal though. We were on a wide stretch of highway now, and he wove skillfully in and out of the abandoned cars on the road.

“They’re probably having a long talk with Bruce.” Manda smirked, but the expression melted a little when Horace gave her a dark look. “What? He was gonna turn Kali in!”

“And how did they get that drawing, huh?” Jai looked actually looked angry, something I’d never really seen before.

“Don’t start that again,” Manda said. “It wasn’t because I shouted about guardians, you think that guy remembered? That’s not it.”

Horace shook his head. “That might be it. You always got showy when you were fighting. You know we have to be subtle, Manda. It isn’t safe to let anyone know who we are.”

Manda’s expression was a mixture of rage and disbelief. “Are you kidding me? You two assholes are going to pin this thing on me?”

“Well what else is it?” Horace raised his brows at her. “How did Thanatos know what she looks like, otherwise? Obviously the soldier you let go ran back to the palace and told his master what had happened, and about the girl with the scythe. It’s pretty obvious.”

“Exactly.” Manda glared at him. “It’s obvious. It wasn’t me yelling about the guardians that did it! If she keeps hauling the scythe and hourglass around in public, people will talk about it.”

“You still should have killed the soldier,” Horace muttered.

I squirmed in my seat. It sort of seemed like Horace and Jai, well…Horace mostly, were ganging up on Manda because they wanted to blame someone for the incident. They were angry that it had happened. I wondered if they were always like this when something went wrong. Manda, who was always volatile and reckless at the best of times, was an easy scapegoat. I sort of felt bad for her.

“Or someone is following us,” Manda said. “Thanatos has spies after us and that’s why he knows what she looks like.”

Jai shook his head. “If Thanatos knew where we were right now, he’d grab her. There’s no way he’d let us get away from his soldiers like we did just now. He wants to make sure she can’t possibly get to the Kronos portal. He wouldn’t allow her near his palace.”