Anora’s fidgeting gave the piece of energy bar a reprieve at Dan’s mention of a ‘super weapon.’ She paled slightly as the day just kept getting better and better. She took a deep breath, making herself refocus on Dan as he continued speaking. Picking out the information in his words was a chore all of its own.
	Absently, she ate the deformed bit of bar she had been holding. She sighed heavily and rubbed her temples with her free hand. She was positive she felt a headache coming on.
	So, ‘The Council’ from some unknown organization had sent him. An organization who wanted to stop a threat, but also invade Earth.
	[i]Great.[/i] She let out a slow, steadying breath. Dan’s coughing fit made her jump. She turned in her seat, trying to see him.
	“Are you—hey!” She interrupted herself when Darsby reached forward and tapped the bandage. She blinked in confusion, glancing between it and the bead of blood now on Darsby’s fingertip.
	She sat the remainder of the half-wrapped energy bar on her lap, then reached to gently touch the bandage. It hadn’t bled enough to more than slightly discolor the bandage. Her own tap made it sting slightly, where she could have completely missed Darsby’s.
	She tried, but failed, to hide her excited awe at yet another show of power as the box he had created—or summoned—formed into a miniature version of Earth. Despite her situation, she couldn’t help but still admire the show.
	“The Galaxy’s [i]not[/i] on Orion’s Belt, after all,” she muttered.
	Eyes still on Darsby and his magic trick, her head cocked as Dan continued. But she turned fully to him as he finished his uncertain statement, gawking at him.
	Her stomach fluttered at the prospect of an ancestor of hers being [i]created[/i] by Pahn. Though Dan had changed his wording, like before, he had still thought to use the word. 
	“Not a [i]huge difference[/i] there, or anything!” She struggled to tame her irritated exasperation.
	A part of her wanted to reach back and strangle the infuriating, pathetic-looking man and shake him to try getting a straight answer. Instead, she forced herself to take a breath. If having siblings had taught her anything, it was that losing your cool never helped. Even when they [i]did[/i] deserve to have their head dunked in a toilet.
	“Which is it, then?” she continued, her voice stiff with an effort to keep it even. “A creation, or just someone he worked…” She looked to the Earth necklace when Darsby handed it to her. “…With?” she finished, the last word coming out quietly as she looked at the now pendant-sized sphere.
	Despite its size, it had lost none of its detail. She instinctively reached for it, wanting to get an even better look at the impossible, moving pendant, but she stopped herself. Her eyes narrowed as she looked Darsby over, avoiding direct eye contact.
	She curled her fingers away from the necklace. The itch to take it made the action slow, hesitant.
	“Why? What’s it do?” A sense of pride at remembering to actually think before just grabbing a strange, box-turned-planet-via-blood flashed through her.
	It was Dan who answered her. [i]Great. Now they’re tag-teaming the weirdness.[/i]
	“Oh.” That answered one question, at least; they weren’t really [i]going[/i] anywhere. Just driving. For the time being, anyway.
	Gaze locked back on the swirling surface of the small Earth, she let her fingers wrap over the silver cord near the pendant. She kept her grip loose, fearing to disrupt the movements of the clouds—or sink one of the continents with her pinky, for all she knew.
	At first, she thought someone had opened a window, but a quick glance about the car told her that wasn’t the case. She inhaled sharply through her nose as sights, scents, and sounds whispered in the back of her mind. The sweetness of fruit and the outdoors made her long to be outside the car, to be in a place that could produce such an atmosphere. Then it changed to an oriental city.
	She groaned inwardly. If the mini-Earth was trying to tell her they needed to go to East Asia, this could end up being one long, tense trip. Unless, of course, Monster Mash could do his Scotty teleport trick en masse. 
	She shook her head lightly, trying to push the sensations aside to focus on the here and now.
	“Keep… keep going straight,” she said softly with a glance to Ahllasta. “But we’ll turn right… somewhere.” Anora scowled at the vagueness of the directions. [i]Vague answers. Vague directions. Vague future. The Trinity of Vague.[/i]
	She looked back to the men in the backseat, then quickly told them what she had seen. “Does… that mean we’re supposed to go to Asia? Because that’s overseas. Bit difficult to get to with just a car… Well. Normally,” she added with a nod to the side.