Rollout

Eli finally noticed us and smiled at me. "So she lives," he said with a slight laugh. 

Summer lightly smacked his arm. "I told you she was alive," she said, smiling. "Did you not believe me?"

He shrugged and raised his hands in surrender. I noticed his left hand was heavily bandaged. "I just had to see it with my own two eyes."

"You're seeing, but are you believing?" RJ drawled. 

"I have no reason not to," Eli retorted. "How's your head?"

"Fine," RJ answered. "How's your hand?"

Eli raised his hand for everyone to see. "Not as bad as it was. Doctors say I shouldn't use it for a week or two."

"Are you going to listen?"

"Probably not." They laughed. 

RJ clapped his friend on the shoulder. "We should head out before whatever Summer did wears off," he said. 

"Good idea," Eli agreed. He turned to Lili and me. "You two still up for going to Glasseia?"

"We don't have much of a choice, do we?" I remarked. I shook my head. "As long as we can get out of here, sure. I hate hospitals."

Eli nodded. He glanced at my sister. "Lili?"  She nodded, and he smiled. "Great. Let's roll out." 

RJ burst out laughing. Eli ignored him and began walking to the car. Summer and I gave him weird looks but followed Lili, who was already walking after Eli. 

Eli led us to a new car. I think he called it a Moonlight Excursion. Where they got it from, I didn't know, but RJ pulled a set of keys out of his pocket and unlocked it. I tried to get in by myself, but fell when I tried to use my bum leg. I might've yelled out in pain, I don't know. It just hurt.

"Stupid shitting leg," I hissed as I picked myself up. "Don't touch me!"

Eli, who was reaching for me, paused. "You sure, Brooklyn?"

"Yes!" I snapped. I pulled myself up. "I'm fine!" I hopped to the open door with my right leg, which RJ was holding open. I ignored the concern on his face and climbed into the car. Lili stopped buckling herself in when she saw me.

"Let me help," she said. She grabbed my arm before I could protest and pulled me in. I winced as my foot bumped against the seat in front of me, but Lili didn't notice. She reached over my shoulder and grabbed the seatbelt, then buckled me in. 

Embarrassment made my face tingle. I hated needing help like this. I can buckle myself in! But I didn't dare yell at Lili.

Eli put my crutches in the trunk of the car before climbing into the passenger seat. RJ started the car before pulling out of the parking lot and onto the open road.

"Anyone have any idea where to go from here?" he asked. He glanced behind them before merging into the left lane. 

"Let me pull out my phone," Summer said. She dug around in her pockets before pulling it out. She typed some stuff, then showed it to the boys. "It looks like we have to go east on Logistic. Follow it north until we reach Altomock, and turn right onto the Interwide."

"Yeah," RJ blew out a breath. "This is gonna be long." 

"Well, if that's the case." Eli turned around to face us. "You got any questions for us?"

"What the hell happened at the motel?" Summer asked. "Why did it explode? Everyone keeps saying it was a gas explosion, but I've experienced one of those before. It didn't have that much force."

"It was a monster trap," Eli explained. "Monster lady tried to give RJ and I some Lotus Flower cookies. They dull your senses and make you agreeable to anything. She also said our rooms would be free, which is a big red flag for people like us. We never get anything for free. When we tried to leave, she grabbed me. So I attacked her. Turns out she was a gorgon. I threw a fireball at her, making the whole place go up in flames."

"But what was the explosion?"

"Could've been her trying to kill us," RJ admitted. "Some monsters can dispel their energy like that. The more powerful the monster, the bigger the explosion. The weaker the monster, the smaller the explosion. I once saw a harpy try it. Barely knocked the leaves off the trees around it."

"I remember that," Eli said. "That was when we rescued Micah, right?"

"Yup. Though the real monsters weren't mythological in that case."

"Yeah." Eli glanced at me. "What about you? Any questions?"

The first one that came to mind was 'How about you shut up and leave me alone?' But I didn't want to be rude. I was calming down after my fall. It made me angry.

I took a breath. "Your godly parents, or whatever," I said. "Ever meet them?"

"Once," RJ said. "Not looking forward to a second time."

"Really?" Summer asked. "I thought meeting your godly parent would be a good thing?"

"It would be if my mom wasn't so cold." RJ sighed. "She has other godly kids she likes. I'm just the by-product of a one-night stand." He switched to Desponian to say, "It's stupid." 

"Even I know what that means," Eli said. He turned to stare out the front windshield. "I've never met my father, and I don't know if I want to. His multiple-night stand with my mother left her bitter and a bit crazy. Definitely not capable of raising a child with the power I have. My power... it's super destructive. I couldn't control it when I was younger. Especially when I couldn't control my emotions."

After I had finished signing, Lili asked gently, "What happened?" 

"I lost control," Eli said listlessly. "The only thing I can remember is standing inside my house as it burned around me."

"I'm sorry, Eli," Lili said. She reached forward and placed a hand on his shoulder. She traced something on his shoulder, but I couldn't tell what it was. Eli lifted his bandaged hand and hesitantly placed it on my sister's. 

I narrowed my eyes, but before I could tell Eli off, RJ said, "What about you three? Any powers or visits from your godly parent?"

"All I know is that I can persuade people fairly easily," Summer said. "Never seen the likes of any other thing."

"And you looked super pretty when you came into my room earlier," I added. "It was so sudden, too." 

She blushed again. "What about you, Brooklyn?" 

I shrugged. "No idea. I've never done a thing." 

"Not true," Eli said. "You stopped the cyclops in its tracks."

"I did?"

"Yeah. You might not remember it, but you had thrown a hand out toward the monster, and it suddenly stopped. Then I killed it."

"Well, killed is a little too generous," RJ corrected. "Not all monsters die die. Monsters like Cyclops and Harpies can be killed but eventually regenerate. How long it takes depends on how violently and absolutely destroyed it is." 

"So, that cyclops Eli killed…."

"It'll be crawling back in two weeks or so."

"Great." I shifted, and a wave of pain flew through my leg. I gasped and winced, instinctively grabbing and squeezing Lili's free hand. Lili immediately took her hand away from Eli and faced me. 

"You okay, Brooklyn?" RJ asked, sounding concerned. 

"I'm fine, I'm fine," I lied, holding my leg. "It just hurts."

"First thing we do when we get to Glasseia will be to get you to Adrestus," Eli told me. "Until then, take some of this." He rummaged through the glovebox and fished out a package. He reached back and held it in front of me. "It's a dissolvable tablet made by Adrestus. I don't know what's in it, but it's supposed to help with any pain you might feel." I took the package from him warily. I opened it up and pulled out a small, round golden tab. I raised a brow at the color. 

"Adrestus makes everything golden," RJ explained. "He's egocentric that way."

"It's because he's the sun god, and the solar system revolves around him," Eli added. "He thinks he's the most important god, and no one cares enough to tell him differently." 

I shrugged. I put the tab under my tongue, and it dissolved almost instantaneously. My eyes widened at the taste. It tasted exactly like chocolate chip cookies. 

"It's designed to taste good," Eli said with a smile. "Adrestus has some sense that way."

"It's about the only sense he has," RJ said. He cracked his neck. "You guys might want to get some sleep. I can't guarantee you'll get much of it when we reach Glasseia." With that, Lili laid down in my lap, and Summer leaned against the window. I stared out the window on my side, staring at nothing. 

*~*

After a few hours of driving, it was getting dark, and I was getting bored. It couldn't be that much longer until we were there, could it? I voiced my thoughts, and RJ, the only one still awake, shrugged. 

"We were in Trada," he said, "and we crossed the border to Leron a few minutes ago. From here, we have to go through Cila and Eyerton before we reach Khada. Then we have to find the Aethekeria."

"Why don't you make Eli drive? He looks old enough."

"Nah. If we get into trouble, I'd rather have Eli well-rested beforehand. I can be frazzled, but that's because I'm not as powerful."

"You really believe he's the most powerful," I commented. Another shrug. 

"Only Titan Born I know that could be more powerful disappeared long ago. Currently, Eli is the most powerful godling or Titan Born alive."

"Titan Born?"

"You'll learn more about that when we reach Glasseia. But trust me, Eli is not as bad as they'll try to make him out to be.

"I'll admit, he doesn't seem like it." 

"There's a good reason for that."

When he didn't elaborate, I said, "Care to tell me?"

"Not my thing to share," was his answer. 

I shook my head. "I guess I'll have to ask him."

"You do that," RJ agreed. He checked the mirrors. "Ugh. This guy has been tailing me for ten minutes. He's almost tailgating. Come on, people! If you wanna ride my ass, buy me dinner first." I stifled a laugh. He smirked at me in his rearview mirror. "Wait until you start driving. People will drive you insane." 

"I don't think you're insane," I said. 

He laughed. "I'm not. But one of my and Eli's friends? He is, but it's great." 

"Sounds fun." 

"Oh, he is. He does not care what people think of him at all. He'll embarrass you and not feel an ounce of shame or guilt. There's a good chance he'll make you feel uncomfortable, but that's part of his charm."

"I assume you've had plenty of experience," I teased. 

"Oh yeah," he chuckled. "Plenty."

"Can't be too uncomfortable for you, though," I said. "I mean, just because I don't think you're insane doesn't mean you're not."

"Oooh," he grinned. "Just for that, I'm gonna set him on you the second we meet." 

"You can try," I taunted. "I'll send him right back."

"You can't return Cola. He'll stick, just like his namesake." 

I laughed so hard I snorted. RJ roared with laughter, causing Eli to jump and hit his head on the roof. I lost it, holding my stomach as I laughed uncontrollably. It was amazing that Lili and Summer hadn't woken up. 

Eli rubbed his head. "What's got you two in stitches?" 

"This one," RJ laughed, pointing back at me, "laughed so hard she snorted."

"I'm trying," I gasped in between laughs, "not to," another gasp, "pee." 

RJ howled and beat his hands against the top of the steering wheel. Eli shook his head and closed his eyes again.

RJ and I talked and laughed the rest of the trip and woke Eli up a few more times. When we finally reached Khada, the sun was breaking out over the horizon. Eli and I had switched spots, so I saw the sunrise from the front seat. 

RJ took deep breaths after our last joke and smiled. In the light, his skin seemed to glow.

"Hey, we're almost there," he said. "I wonder if Cola will beat us ?"

"Why don't you step on it so we make it first?" I suggested. 

"Aye aye, m'lady," he said in a pirate voice. He sped up, and we drove toward the sunrise.