37. Lit

8 0 0
                                    

"I want to go for a ride. You think you can find us a car?" Jacklyn asked Matt.

He beamed her a smile like he'd been waiting for that question his whole life.

Two days they had been holed up at Paula the Vet's. The first 24 hours she'd been out. The next 12 were spotty.

Jacklyn was itching to get out of the clinic. She could only imagine how ready Matt was to leave.

Jojo had been there a lot while she had slipped in and out of consciousness. She'd heard them argue. Jojo telling Matt over and over that trying to cut a deal with the Visionary would get them both killed. The guys kept coming at the problem from the same angle: The Visionary.

Jacklyn was sick of hearing the name.

Last night over a take-away Chinese dinner Matt had sketched out another Visionary centered plan to get them out of San Francisco.

Jojo had continued to protest.

"How many times do I need to tell you? It's not just San Francisco," Jojo said. "The word is out. Messing with the Golden Gate bridge the way you did means you can take down power sources anywhere. There's a price on your heads now. You're a threat to all magic communities."

"Why would we want to that?" Jacklyn asked. "Destroy power sources?"

Jojo glared at her. "Because you already did. Nobody cares for your reasons. You did it once. Spectacularly. No one is going to risk the two of you going for seconds somewhere else."

Jacklyn tried to wrap her head around it.

"We're branded as terrorists? We're on some kind of magic no-fly list?"

Jojo nodded.

"Why are you helping us?" she asked.

"Because I believe Matt when he says you're not the Herald of Doom."

He sighed. "Second reason I'm still here is that Matt is an idiot. No one deserves getting killed just for being stupid."

"I owe him," Matt muttered. "Don't believe he's got a soft spot for dummies."

"No matter what Matt thinks, negotiating with the Visionary is a death sentence," Jojo said, returning to his favorite topic.

Jacklyn was getting really sick of hearing the Visionary's name.


* * *


They slipped out the staff entrance.

The night was crisp and cold, but her man Clyde had ordered another batch of clothes and stuff for them. Jacklyn was layered up and warm. They walked glove in glove for a couple of blocks, almost like a regular couple.

"What type of car would you like?" Matt asked, as men about to steal a car tend to do.

It was strange how quick this had become her new normal.

"A fast one," she said.

"My kind of girl," he smiled.

He pointed at a sports car across the street. "That Jaguar..."

Shifting LifeWhere stories live. Discover now