"No," I said, staring at the beat-up 2005 Honda Civic idling in the alleyway. "No, no, no. We are not stealing a car, Valerius. That is a felony. I already have student loans; I don't need a prison record."
Valerius didn't even look at me. He walked up to the driver's side window. The engine was running because the delivery driver had hopped out to drop off a box of donuts.
"The beast is humming," Valerius remarked, tilting his head. "It sounds... hungry."
"It's an internal combustion engine! It's not hungry, it's just old!"
Valerius reached for the door handle. With a casual flick of his wrist, the lock snapped like a toothpick. He pulled the door open and looked at the interior with deep suspicion.
"Ava, get in the metal shell. The black carriages are close."
I looked back toward the street. The three black SUVs had just rounded the corner, their tires screeching. They didn't have sirens, but they moved with a terrifying, predator-like precision. I didn't have a choice. I dived into the passenger seat, slamming the door just as Valerius squeezed his massive frame into the driver's side.
The car groaned. The suspension dipped so low I thought the frame was going to scrape the pavement.
"Go!" I screamed. "Drive!"
Valerius stared at the steering wheel. Then he looked at the pedals. Then he looked at me.
"How do I command the beast to fly?"
"It doesn't fly! Put your foot on the gas! The right pedal! No, the other right!"
Valerius slammed his heavy boot down. The Honda didn't just move; it screamed. We lurched forward, fishtailing wildly and smashing through a stack of plastic crates. Valerius gripped the steering wheel so hard the plastic began to crunch under his grip.
"It is a spirited creature!" he shouted over the roar of the engine.
"You're going to kill us! Give me the wheel!"
"I am a King of the High Skies! I will not be defeated by a rolling box!"
He spun the wheel. We didn't turn; we drifted, the tires smoking as we barreled out of the alley and into oncoming traffic. A yellow taxi honked furiously, and Valerius let out a battle cry, leaning out the window.
"Silence, peasant! Yield to your sovereign!"
"Valerius, get back inside! And put on your seatbelt!"
"What is this 'seatbelt'? A ritual binding?" He struggled with the strap, eventually giving up and just wrapping it around his arm like a shield. "It is flimsy armor, Ava. Your world lacks craftsmanship."
THUD.
The car jolted. I looked in the side mirror. One of the black SUVs had caught up and rammed our rear bumper. The tinted window rolled down, and a man in a tactical mask pointed a strange, glowing rifle at us.
"They have harpoons!" Valerius yelled.
POP-CRACKLE!
A bolt of blue energy hit the roof of the Honda. The radio suddenly blared to life, screaming a heavy metal song at full volume, and the windshield wipers started flapping like crazy.
"The beast is possessed!" Valerius roared, trying to fight the steering wheel.
"It's an EMP round! They're frying the electronics!" I reached over, grabbing the wheel to keep us from hitting a fire hydrant. "Valerius, we need to get out of the city! Head for the bridge!"
The King's face went from confused to deadly serious. He looked at the SUV in the mirror, his golden eyes glowing with a cold, violent light.
"Ava," he said, his voice dropping the humor. "Hold the wheel."
"What? Why?"
Before I could answer, he unbuckled the 'ritual binding' and climbed halfway out the window while the car was doing sixty miles per hour.
"Valerius! You're going to fall!"
He ignored me. He reached behind his back, and the air around him began to warp. The broken black sword appeared in his hand, glowing with a fierce violet flame. He didn't swing it at the SUV. He stabbed it directly into the asphalt of the road while we were moving.
A massive crack erupted in the pavement, trailing behind us like a lightning bolt. The ground heaved, and the black SUV hit the fissure, flipping into the air and tumbling like a discarded toy.
Valerius climbed back inside, his face pale and his breathing heavy. The violet light of the sword faded, and he slumped into the seat.
"The... essence," he panted. "There is so little of it here. Every strike costs a year of my life."
I steered the car onto the ramp for the George Washington Bridge, my hands shaking so hard I could barely keep us in the lane. Behind us, the other two SUVs were stalled behind the wreckage of the first. We had a head start.
"You can't keep doing that," I said, my voice small. "You'll burn yourself out."
Valerius looked at me. In the dim light of the car, his eyes weren't those of a terrifying King. They looked tired. Old.
"Then you must learn to stoke the fire, Ava," he whispered. He reached out, his hand covering mine on the steering wheel. The heat from his skin was grounding, pulling me back from the edge of a panic attack. "Because the further we go, the more the shadows will grow. They do not just want my head. They want the light inside you."
I looked at the road ahead, stretching out into the dark trees of the countryside. I was a barista in a stolen Honda with a dying god, being chased by a secret government agency.
"Valerius?"
"Yes, Little Priestess?"
"If we survive this... you're learning how to parallel park."
He let out a weak, raspy laugh. "I would rather face an army of giants."
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