"And then I made a wall out of street and pushed a helicopter down with wind and-and then we got to this cute little Motel Six and... And the earth ate the van!" I yelled into the phone. "Ooh and I got these new nice clothes. I have this Star Wars t-shirt on and jean shorts and black converse."

"Sounds like you've had an exciting past few days," Niquie laughed into the phone. "And it's good to hear you're not dead. The news keeps telling people that they decided to make your execution private. Everyone around here was really depressed when we heard you died. Wynnie was the worst."

"Yep, I figured. Did Wynnie start-" I turned back to Quin who was dressed in a plain black t-shit and jean pants to see him glaring at me. "Okay, remember to keep an ear open for a Xavier Zeeli. Good luck with the bar, I'll be back with the kid in a few days, keep a room open for us, tell Wynnie I said bye and-"

"Alright, alright. Better hang up before Mr. Grumpy Pants death glares you to dust. Bye, highness."

"See you soon, Niquie."

I hung up the phone and turned back to the others. Heather, who had her arm wrapped, was looking at me with a raised eyebrow. Hatchet and Quin were impatiently tapping their feet.

"Okay, okay. I'm ready."

Quintin stood up straight and started walking to the new car. "You sure we can trust this 'Niquie' character?"

"Yep. She usually helps out with the newcomers anyways. Not to mention she runs a bar specifically for criminals so if there's any info on your little brother, she'll hear it. And, if she doesn't, she'll probably start digging for it," I replied, sliding into the backseat of the car besides Hatchet. "Ooh, I get shotgun next."

"A bar for criminals?" Hatchet asked, ignoring my claims to the front seat.

"Mm-hmm. Well, not only criminals, they're just generally safe there, so they tend to go there."

"I can't imagine any place letting criminals hang around like that, especially in a city. Don't the police shut them down, or the local Black Hands?"

"Nope. I claimed the bar myself, so the officials are kinda scared to go in. Actually, I take that back. Sometimes cops come by for a drink."

The engine of the five person car revved as we pulled out of the parking lot and back onto the empty road.

"Are you sure you can keep in contact with your informant?" Quin asked.

"My what?"

"With Niquie."

"Oh yeah. She's a witch too so she can track us if she needs to."

"Since when did we get so comfortable with magic?" Heather grumbled, putting her boots on the dashboard.

"Since we had no choice but to trust a magician," Quin replied.

"But why did it have to be the Queen of Magic?"

Quin bit his lip, refusing to speak. If he didn't wanna tell them, I guess I shouldn't either. What? You didn't think I knew? It doesn't exactly take a genius to figure it out.

Think about it this way. This former Black Hand commander obviously loves his brother a whole lot. Enough to break away from his former life and even side with the enemies. Not to mention making nice with the sworn enemy of a good portion of non magicians, the queen of all magicians herself. Well, I'll let you figure out the rest for yourselves.

"So," Hatchet said, "we headed straight for Pittsburg or making detours?"

"There are a few checkpoints we'll have to avoid, which'll turn the eight hour trip into a whole day. So there's that. Then there's the avoiding everyday officers which could make it even longer. Not to mention that we don't know if he's going to be moved, so could be even longer."

"On the road again," I started to sing.

Seemingly not hearing me, Heather turned the radio on. Panic! At the Disco's old song, Nine in the Afternoon, blared through the speakers, so I started singing along to that.

---

"Hey," I said, giving another glance out the back window. "Hey, Quintin. Quin. Hey Quin, guess what? Quin? Are you listeni-"

"What?"

"The cars behind us's been following us for at least an hour."

"Say that sooner!" Heather yelled, peeking through the side mirror.

"I know," Quintin replied. "I noticed them a while ago."

"Want me to do something about them? I can like, drop a boulder on the hood."

"No. There are other cars around us. It'll draw too much attention." Not to mention they don't want to rely on magic. "We're going to stop in the next city up here. Monticello, I think. We'll find a place to stop and see if they follow us. Keep your pistols on you."

"Problem!" I yelled raising my hand. "I have no pistol."

"You're the queen of magic, Hecate. You don't need a pistol."

"But you don't want me to use magic, right? You said it draws too much attention."

"Fine, I don't trust you with a pistol."

"Okay, next question."

"What?"

"Can we stop for lunch? I'm hungry."

He sighed, taking one hand away from the wheel to pinch the bridge of his nose. "...sure. Why not?"

I did a little fist pump from the back seat.

---

"Okay, I'll take two slices of pepperoni," I said to the nice pizza place lady. "What about you guys?"

"Plain cheese," Hatchet answered. He got a glare from Heather and Quin. "What? I'm hungry. We haven't stopped for food all day."

"I guess that'll be it."

"Alright, I'll be right back with your food," the lady replied, giving us her best 'at work' smile.

I leaned back in my booth. The lady went back behind the counter.

"I can't believe we stopped for pizza..." Heather complained. "Aren't we a bit too busy for this, Commander?"

"Don't call me Commander," Quin replied. "We're not with them anymore, I'm not your commander anymore, and the real reason we're stopping is to keep an eye on the guys who're following us. Speaking of, look who just walked in."

From the corner of my eye, I saw two men in blue Black Hand uniforms walk in. On their hands were, of course, black gloves, placed unusually close to their waists.

"Careful of the guns," I whispered, dipping in to take a sip of my coke. "They're waiting for us to attack. I say we wait for them to attack instead."

"You just want to eat," Heather grumbled.

"Pretty much."

Quintin spoke up. "We don't want to draw a crowd here. If they don't attack neither do we."

"Why aren't they just sending an army after us?" Hatchet asked.

"Because, if they did they'd be questioned. If they were questioned they'd have to admit three of their soldiers broke out the queen herself and succeeded."

"Waiters coming," I whispered, smiling.

"Two slices pepperoni," she said, setting a plate in front of me. "One slice plain." She set another in front of Hatchet.

I smiled, taking the greasy slice of pizza off the plate. I took the first bite, and snapped my finger.

On the other side of the room, the two black Hands froze, fingers about to pull the trigger of a gun pointed at my head. Ice creeped over their skin, chilling them to the bone. In the back, I'd momentarily frozen the time of the two waiters and the chef. I put a layer of pure magic over the front window, making the illusion of all of us enjoying our food.

The others looked around, confused.

"Don't worry," I assured them, mouth full of food. "No one saw. The three in the back'll go back to normal in about twenty minutes. Them, longer."

"Saved by magic," Heather complained. "Again."

Quin jumped across the table to take hold of my arm. "What was that?"

"Magic?" I replied, mouth full of the next bite of pizza.

"You know what I mean, Hecate," he spat. "I've hunted at least thirty magicians, but I've never seen one cast that fast."

"What can I say? You'll never meet someone like me," I smiled.

"Why didn't you do that before? Why all the hand waving?"

"Cause, you felt a lot better when you knew I needed all that, didn't you?"

He scowled, leaning back in his chair.

I took the last bite of the first slice of pizza. While I drank from my coke, I reached for the second.

"We should go before they thaw," Hatchet suggested, standing up with his plate in one hands and his tea in the other. I know, weird right? Someone named Hatchet drinking tea. I snickered a little.

I stood, agreeing. I had my plate and cup with me too. "Let me grab some more coke. then we can go. Oh, and their car's parked out front. I kinda wanna wreck it, so wait for me on that. Kay?"

I skipped to the drinking fountain to get more. When I came back, the others were waiting by the car outside.

"None of the flashy hand waving stuff," Quin said silently to me. "Don't draw any attention to us."

I saluted him with the hand holding the cup.

Heather and Hatchet were watching the illusion where the two men in suits were laughing over a medium pizza and the employees were working in the back.

Smiling, I turned to the car. A drop of pure magic seeped out of me and crawled into the car. I snipped wires, clogged pipes, and scooted their seated back unbearably far before snapping the handle. That was the worst, especially for the driver.

"Okay," I said, taking a sip out of the drink, "let's go."

---

I got shot gun this time. With the plate in my lap and the drink in the cup holder, I rested feet on the dashboard. Quin, who was driving, shooed them off.

"How much further til' Pittsburg?" I asked.

"About six more hours, if we avoid checkpoints."

I groaned. "That's too long. Let's go through the checkpoints."

"And how do you suggest we do that?"

"Well, I can change our looks and make temporary fake ID's. It'd take magic though."

Quin bit his lip.

"Alright, I guess going around never hurt." It might hurt the kid though. "But you might wanna ste- Stop the car."

"Wha-"

I slammed my magic on the brakes, bringing it to a full stop. "Sorry." I jumped out, running to the payphone ten feet away which had just started ringing. "Niquie, what's up?"

"I found your kid. Someone came in an hour ago, started talking about this new camp they're setting up in Sunbury. The guy said he was part of a group keeping an eye on the prisoners. He got a few out and one had something to say about a kid that was traveling with them. A kid named Xavier Zeeli."

"Sunbury? Where's that?"

"It's west of here," Hatchet yelled from the car. "Why?"

Niquie kept talking. "Any way, you better get there fast. The guy didn't make it sound like this kid was in great condition or anything. Don't know how much longer he'll make it."

"Alright. Thanks Niquie."

"Course. I'll keep in touch."

I hung up the phone an crawled back in the car. First things first, I buckled my seatbelt.

"Niquie got news that they're taking Xavier to Sunbury. You might wanna hurry cause apparently he's not in the best condition."

Quin cursed under his breath and slammed on the gas. We made the first right turn an started heading left.

"Forget what I said earlier, Hecate." Quin said. "We'll be needing magic for this one. Get ready to change all of our looks and make fake ID cards."

"Roger that, sir." I saluted.

"You can't be serious," Heather complained from behind my seat. She'd accidentally kicked my seat a few times but I'm not sure it was an accident anymore. "We're using magic."

"Look," Quin said, his voice stern, "we don't have time to go around the checkpoints anymore. We have to go through and no matter how many guns we have, they're not going to sneak us past security."

She clicked her tongue, but kept her mouth shut otherwise.

"So," I said thorough the unbearable silence, "what do you guys wanna look like? And names, I'm gonna give you new names for the ID's."

"Doesn't matter," Quin said. "But nothing suspicious or stupid."

So it does matter, I resisted the urge to say.

Ooh well.