“Shit! This isn’t good.”

The two of them were halfway to the Louisiana state line when they realized they lost the damn fish. Raphael was supposed to keep an eye on the back of the truck while he was driving and the dumbass fell asleep. It was the middle of the night and hey were parked outside a gas station to fuel up. Andre didn’t know how he hadn’t noticed she was gone sooner. He regretted charming the tank on the way out just so he didn’t have to stop. He just wanted to get back to New Orleans as fast as he could and magic could only get him so far before he needed actual gas. So now here they are, 9 hours away from where they lost the damn fish and feeling utterly screwed.

“I’m sorry Dre, I told you we should have stopped somewhere for the night man,” Raphael said, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. He fiddled with the braids that were tied back there, a habit that showed he was nervous. He was a big dude and if he didn’t open his mouth, he could look pretty intimidating. Too bad he didn’t seem to have a spine. He didn’t know why Basil would let this guy work for him, but Andre wouldn’t question it out loud. The last time he made the mistake of questioning Basil, he thought the guy would set his hair ablaze. Basil was going to kill them if they didn’t get that girl back. “Do we even need her if we have her skin? She can’t do anything without it anyway and it’s not like she’d have anywhere to go,” Raphael tried to reason, reaching through the open window and grabbing the selkie skin out of the back seat to show him like some sort of proof. Dre immediately shook his head, taking the skin from him and tossing it back in the car.

“If you were awake, you would have known that we drove past some witch’s town! What if she goes to them for help, huh? Do you think Basil will be pleased to know that we got found out by some northern witch? What if the rest of the coven finds out? Basil isn’t going to take any of the blame, he’s gonna pin it on us and all because you couldn’t stay awake and keep an eye on the damn fish!” Andre fumed, lashing out and hitting the side of the truck. Raphael flinched, putting his hands out before him. He should have known better than to drive through that area. He could feel it on the back of his neck, the prickly feeling of powerful magic that makes your hair stand on it’s ends. How was he supposed to know there was some witch living out this way? There were hours away from Salem and did well to catch the selkie before she even got that far north so they wouldn’t have to deal with any local magic users and yet, somehow he fucked up. He tried to stay near the edges and just hoped that they thought nothing of the two of them passing by.

“Hey, we can figure it out. Basil’s not even in the quarter for another week right? He won’t even notice we aren’t back yet.” Raphael had a point. They needed to go back to that town, now, and figure out where the hell that girl was and get her back before Basil noticed they weren’t back yet. Maybe they could cast a concealment spell or something to hide themselves when they got there (something he would have done when he was driving through if he’d realize it sooner). They needed do something to keep the town’s witch off their trail while they searched for the fish. The only problem was, that type of spell used up so much power and if they did happen to run into any problems with another witch, they’d be out of luck. They had a long drive to Safehaven ahead of them to try and think of a plan. Andre ran his fingers through the mess of blond curls on his head and opened the car door. Waisting time here thinking about it all wasn’t going to do them any favors.

“We’ve got 15 hours worth of a fucking car ride to figure this shit out, so let’s go.”

***

Kleo awoke with a strange feeling he couldn’t quite explain. It was a small feeling at the back of his mind that he tried to ignore. He looked at his phone to check the time and saw the with a text from Sean checking in on him. He knew it had been a minute since he really saw him with everything that was going on, but luckily it seemed that Sean was chalking it all up to Kleo’s coursework and schedule at work. He responded, wishing him a good morning and assuring that everything was perfectly swell before sliding his phone back under his pillow. It was well past noon and Kleo was thankful that he didn’t have a class or work or anything that day, otherwise he would have definitely slept through it. Careful not to wake Alexei, Kleo turned himself in his spot to lay comfortably on his side. He wrapped the arm under him around his pillow and let out silent yawn. The house was so quiet, he could faintly hear the music traveling from downstairs in the Apothecary. Even Nox, who he felt laying behind him, was still fast asleep. It all seemed rather peaceful and Kleo reveled in feeling.

“Morning.” Alexei’s voice was so soft, he barely heard it.

“Did I wake you?” Kleo whispered back and Alexei shook his head. He took his hand and they laid there, fingers intertwined. A peaceful silence fell over them again and Kleo ignored the nagging feeling in the back of his mind that something, or someone was coming.