Culture Shock

Chapter 27: Adrenaline Rush

There he was, jumping over the low wall that separated the park from the pavement! He ran alongside a crosswalk when Camry vaulted over that same wall and kept going, but that was when luck seemed to favor him on this eventful, sunny day. Streets on floating acres are notoriously narrow and usually only have one lane going in each direction, but the bike paths on all sides are much wider and more accommodating for hordes of cyclists. The same was true in Victoria de Durango's floating acre, and Miguel just so happened to get across the street a split second before the lights changed and traffic began to run perpendicular to how he and his pursuer were going. 

When he realized this, Miguel took a moment to pause and look back while catching some of his breath. She was hopping up and down at the edge of the sidewalk and sending him murderous stares between the zooming heads of the cyclists that had cut her off. He didn't bother stifling his breathless laugh before taking off again, where the shadows cast by the tall buildings helped in swallowing him from view. 

"Fuck!" Camry screamed. There was no chance she could go ghost in such an open and visible area, and she didn't have time to look for somewhere more private. If she wanted to get to the other side, she would have to either wait patiently for the lights to change again or try and leapfrog her way to the other side. 

Never let it be said that Camry is a lady of patience. Several onlookers shrieked when she dove through a break in the waves of bicyclists and started dancing her way across. Handlebar bells struck up a chorus that rose high into the air, but she was too far gone in her adrenaline rush to even consider the danger. This month-long search was ending today one way or another! 

It was nothing short of a miracle that she made it across unscathed. A couple of cyclists might have gotten rear-ended when they stopped unexpectedly in the middle of the rush, but that was the least of her worries. 

~*~

The day had been going fine up until that weirdo showed up! 

Everyone who wasn't a preteen or younger had been granted the privilege of roaming the festival unsupervised as long as they weren't completely alone. Caesar and Ramón had stuck with the larger cluster for all of an hour before splitting off to go do their own thing, then rejoined for a little while when they managed to find their younger siblings again at the same food truck. Then they went off again, possibly to go pick out a gift for Joaquín or just enjoy the fair at their own pace.

Miguel had had the same idea around an hour before the agreed time when everyone would meet up to go home again. After grabbing his twin, he and Terese splintered away to start shopping for souvenirs and presents together. Besides, it made more sense to save that kind of thing for the end of a trip. Even so, right when it seemed like Miguel had found the perfect present for his older half-brother, that foreign chick had popped into existence and flashed a picture of her and the birthday boy himself. 

Miguel's first impressions hadn't been too, well, impressed. Dressed in a white jock tank top whose front and back halves were only connected at the shoulders and hem, she didn't seem to care that her bright blue sports bra was almost entirely visible. Even when she moved in a feminine way, her energy came off as noticeably masculine in a number of ways. God, and her accent when she spoke Spanish? It had taken everything within Miguel not to roll his pinfire opal eyes. Never mind that he could undoubtedly speak whatever her native language was.

Still, the second she held up that photograph and asked if he had seen the boy in the image? Suddenly every alarm bell in Miguel's brain was clanging. In hindsight, he should have called for Terese and talked to her about what to do-- it was all too likely the blonde wouldn't understand their conversation if they spoke something like French or Russian. Instead, like the impulsive idiot he was, Miguel had distracted her and snatched the photo to take to someone older. If he found his dad, or maybe Ramón and Caesar, they would be able to help him deal with the intruder.