Alister
The car roared through the night, tires gripping the road as Stephanie pushed it harder than safety should allow, throwing us all back into our seats.
"Can you please slow the car down?" Simon leans forward, gripping his seat belt. His voice is higher now, strained with panic. "We're going way too fast on this hill."
"Steph…" Zach's voice cuts through. He turns in his seat, eyes sharp with concern. One hand still loosely holds the goblet, but the other reaches out, as if ready to grab the wheel if things go south. "Ease up, alright?"
Steph grunts but finally complies. "Ugh, you guys are such babies. It's not like we killed anyone on this empty road."
"Please tell me you guys didn't just kill people again!" Simon blurts out, looking at Clara and me. His voice trembling, wide eyes darting like a cornered rabbit.
Clara leans over and pats his back lightly, but it still makes him flinch. "Chill out, they were just darts."
Sure, we committed theft, possible vandalism, breaking and entering, arson, and—well—attempted murder on my part. But hey… at least we didn't kill anyone.
I glance up, only to find four pairs of eyes pinned on me, sharp as spears.
"Temporary incapacitation," I amend, lifting both hands as though in mock surrender. "That's it."
"Oh, I'm so glad you guys are alright!" Zach exclaims, twisting in his seat to look at us, relief softening his face. "I was so worried."
Clara flashes him a quick grin and raises a thumbs up. Like a balm to one's nerves.
I wouldn't have minded a few corpses. I don't care about the stupid majority vote Zach forced us to have because Clara and Simon were against committing murder on top of everything. As if this girl hadn't already gotten her hands dirty in her kidnapping massacre. Something when I first heard about, all I felt was pride and envy of any pair of eyes that witnessed that side of her.
"I'm never gonna forget this day." Steph sighs dreamily, her lips twitching into a crooked smile as her hand slips into her purse, pulling out a cigarette.
"Weren't you quitting?" Zach interjects in the kind of voice a parent uses when catching a child with a forbidden toy.
Steph groans and rolls her eyes, her focus snapping back to the road.
"Allow me then." Clara leans forward, catlike, and snatches it from her hand. She reclines back into her seat with a triumphant smirk. But before she can savor her victory, I pluck it straight out of her hand, snap the window open, and toss it out into the night.
"Hey!" Her outrage bursts sharp in the air, as though I'd committed sacrilege.
"My car, my rules. No smoking." My tone leaves no room for argument. I didn't need to think twice about who was responsible for the acrid stench clinging to my car after I'd regained consciousness.
Simon sits rigid with a brass cage on his knees, his jaw tight as he tries, with the patience of a saint about to snap, to nudge Lev back inside. But the insolent bird hops away defiantly, fluttering over to Clara's lap instead.
I stiffen as I watch her smile and her fingers graze the creature's head as though blessing it.
Glaring, I reach forward, grabbing Lev by the throat. "You..." I growl, "You really thought getting rid of that gag meant you were free?" My other hand rummages into the seat pocket. "You think I wouldn't make extras just in case?"
His grey, beady eyes widen. "But I didn't betray you! I didn't run away or blow your cover!" He caws as he sees me pull the leather out.
Just then, Clara reaches over and gently pries him from my grasp. She folds him against her shoulder as if it were a stuffed toy and not someone who is supposed to be our captive. He exhales a long, shivering sigh, nestling into the slope of her neck.
"He helped us," she firmly reminds. "He could've gotten us captured, or worse—but he didn't. He stayed quiet. At least give him a little credit."
"Need I remind you he's our enemy?" My voice comes out colder than I mean. "If we start getting lenient with his restraints, he'll fly off." I tell her as my gaze lingers on how comfortably he's nestled into her soft arms, feathers rising slightly with each of her absent strokes. I get that she's trying to coerce him to her side with compassion that might be fake, but did she forget that he's dangerous?
"But we're in the car," Lev pipes up, innocently. "There's no one else here. Who would I reveal everything to?"
I glare at him, seeing right through the act. He's trying to get to them—to make them doubt me.
Clara smiles wickedly, her eyes flicking to mine. There's a sharpness to it now, something I wouldn't mind in any other situation. "He has a point. It's just us. Why do you want him silenced? Is there something you're worried he might say? Something we're not supposed to hear?" Oh. So she knows what he's trying to do and is still playing along. Whose side are you on again?
Lev looks far too pleased with himself, his feathers fluffing ever so slightly in her arms, settling in like he belongs there.
"Go on, Alister. Why don't you tell them about yourself?" Leora's voice whispers into my ear. "Since you seem closer now, it's best to share about how you used to be."
I ignore her as my gaze drifts to the side window, where the trees blur past like streaks of green and gray.
"Okay, enough. Everyone, Look at this!" Zach calls and holds up the goblet. Its shape is elegant and curved, with a slender stem and a rounded bowl. The rim is adorned with a delicate pattern of interlocking vines and leaves. "We finally have the Healer's Goblet."
"What is its side effect exactly?" I ask as I stare at the magnificent object.
"According to Miss Rubecca, it does heal wounds and cuts when one drinks from it. Not bringing back from life though. It's side effect...the pain intensifies by tenfold as the body closes the wound. The pain is described as ten hands digging into the cut." Zach says as a disgusted expression forms on his face that matches our own. That explains Clara's muffled screams.
"How do you know that?" I ask him, trying to ignore the mental image he forced upon us.
"I've kept in touch with those two." He says and looks away. "All this artifact stuff is really interesting. Did you know there's even a spoon that could transform into any weapon once you lick it?"
Lev's head twitches, his beady eyes narrowing. "Who's telling you all this?" he asks.
"Two women that used to be spies," I answer quickly, cutting in before anyone mentions the book. "I told you about that."
The moment hangs heavy in the car. Silence settles like fog. Everyone goes still—grim expressions tightening in unspoken agreement. They understand. One wrong word, one slip... and if Lev catches wind of the book of artifacts and escapes, it's over.
I can't let that happen. The book stays secret. Hidden. It's my insurance—my bargaining chip in the inevitable worst-case scenario: if Clara and I are cornered.
Lev hums, a deep scratchy sound that doesn't convey much. He doesn't push the topic further. In fact, he looks rather indifferent, his feathered body sinking lazily into Clara's lap.
She yawns as she looks down at him. He looks far too comfortable for a captive—like a grotesque parody of a house cat curled by the fireplace. "Don't you know about all these artifact things?" she asks softly. "Can't you tell us more about the people you work for or why you collect these things?"
He already said he can't. Why is she asking again?
Lev exhales a gravelly sigh, lifting his head slowly as if even that much movement takes effort. "No, sweetness," he says. "The contract doesn't let us do that. Tearing the paper won't work either. You have to break the Contractor's Quill. It's one of the most powerful artifacts. That's all."
Well, that's something a bit new. And of course he didn't reveal it to me.
"But I'll tell you something interesting," Lev adds with amusement.
My eyes narrow instantly.
He tilts his head—one glossy grey eye locking onto Simon. "If my people ever found out what item pretty eyes here has, they'd stop at nothing to claim him."
Simon's spine straightens. He grips the empty cage on his lap so tightly it creaks, his knuckles turning bone-white. "W-What do you mean?" he asks, voice barely above a whisper.
"That pendant of yours," Lev explains. "is a locator, right? It can find any other artifact in the country. Doesn't matter how far, doesn't matter how well hidden. Something like that is considered high-grade. Very valuable."
Then his eyes slide back to me, sharp and dark. "If you protect him, they'll kill you too. Then they'll tear through your families. Leaving no one behind."
"Alister, shut him up!" Simon snaps, panic rising in his voice. He looks pale now, like he's shrinking into himself.
"He's just messing with you," I say quickly, trying to anchor him before the fear takes hold. "He's poking at you because he can."
I need to shut this down before he starts putting ideas in Simon's head. Lev's making him think that helping us will lead to him getting in trouble.
"Yeah, relax. You're our human GPS." Stephanie comments. Lev only chuckles low in his throat.
"Simon," I say, cutting through the lingering tension in the car, "did you do that other thing I asked you to?"
He sighs like I've asked him to dig his own grave and reaches into his jacket. "You work me like a horse, man," he mutters, handing over a flash drive.
"What's this?" Clara asks, eyes not leaving the drive.
"This," I say, holding it up between two fingers like it's a trophy, "is our safety net for what we did tonight."
Sneaking into a high-ranking bureaucrat's estate is bold. Risky. Downright stupid in some people's eyes. Hacking into his encrypted files without triggering a dozen alarm systems is a whole other beast.
But I did it. Somehow.
Zach agreed to keep tabs on the inevitable investigation that will follow. And this priceless little device? It's our get-out-of-jail-free card. Just in case things start spiraling.
No one argues when I instruct them to rest up before we have to take turns driving back to Seattle. Not after the night we just had. I lean back against the window, letting the exhaustion I've been holding at bay finally take hold. My eyes start to close, my body grateful for even a fleeting bit of rest.
Clara lets out a soft yawn. Out of the corner of my eye, I watch her shoulders slump, the fight leaving her body all at once. She doesn't even try to keep her eyes open. The next thing I know, her head is lowering onto my shoulder, sending a jolt of electricity through me.
...I suppose sleep just wasn't in my cards tonight.