Dakota was curiously looking at the trunk of Calypso’s Jeep, and more specifically, her bag, which was taking up an awfully large amount of space in the trunk of the car. Dakota’s bag was large (made for backpacking), but it was so full of stuff that it looked like it was holding three times as much as it was actually
supposed to hold. Dakota gave the gigantic backpack a few shoves to push it into the back of the trunk when she suddenly heard somebody yell
“Shotgun!” before hearing the sound of running. Dakota jumped back, slamming the trunk shut, and made a beeline for the passenger side door, but by the time she had gotten there, Caleb was already in the seat with a cocky smile on his face. Dakota laughed.
"You do know I called shotgun first, right?" she said with a surprisingly self-assured smile.
"I called it, so it’s my seat!" she declared boldly, swinging the car door wide open and proceeding to get into the vehicle anyway. Acting as if Caleb did not exist, or was otherwise part of the seat, Dakota then proceeded to sit down in his lap, lounging back into him and kicking her boots up onto the dash. She leaned back into him, crushing their bodies together, and flicking her locks directly into his face, a very wide and boisterous smile on her face as she messed with Caleb.
The teen, who had been idly pondering on whether he should’ve brought his skateboard, suddenly felt the body dive on top of him. Blinking, he remained uncharacteristically quiet for a few moments before letting out a loud bark of a laugh.
“You’re funny Dak.” Caleb grinned back, seemingly unperturbed by the unexpected weight of the younger witch on his lap. Reaching an arm around her, he moved to prod her playfully in the cheek with his index finger. It was something he always did when his little sisters would insist on following him around.
“Everyone knows it only counts when the car’s in view!” He announced proudly, happy that he had remembered the rules of the made up game.
She laughed with that same endearing hyena cackle before eventually leaving Caleb be, rolling off of his lap.
"Fine, take your front seat...but you’re not getting any of my snacks, you cheater!” she declared. She then stuck out his tongue at him before making her way to the back seat, swinging open the door and plopping down in the back-row seat behind Caleb.
The teen shrugged his shoulders when she moved away, resuming his attempts to turn on the radio.
“Your loss! I was totally fine with sharing.” He mused idly as he fiddled with the array of buttons and twisty things. Nothing seemed to work and if Caleb had thought about it carefully, he probably would’ve realised it was because the car engine was not yet turned on.
Though it’s probably for the best. I can never keep still when I’m on road trips. Giving it up as a bad job, Caleb leaned back in his seat, an arm moving to hang out of the open window.
Though Dakota had conceded her pursuit for the front-row seat, she was far from done with her quest to bother Caleb. She first rested her feet up on the chair in front of her, leaving her boots directly due left of Caleb’s face. She then casually lifted one of her hands, snapping her fingers a few times.
"Magic Hands," she uttered, but unfortunately for Dakota, nothing happened. She grit her teeth.
"Come on, I said Magic Hands!" she declared again, and this time she pulled the spell off, a light blue hand of ethereal energy slinking out from underneath her real hand and moving into the trunk. The hand of energy rummaged through Dakota’s bag for a few moments, before returning with a large bag of chocolate pretzels, which Dakota then proceeded to (very loudly) pop open. She grabbed a handful and popped them, one-by-one, into her mouth, the way a trainer would feed a tamed seal. She chewed them (quite loudly, on purpose) before grinning and tossing the oversized bag over the seat to Caleb.
"Sharing is caring," she said with a roll of her eyes.
"I expect the front seat on the way back though. Provided we don’t all get killed in Baltimore. Actually, I take that back. I want the front seat in the hearse."Calebs gaze had followed Dakotas as she focused her attention on the trunk, a flicker of mischievousness pulling at the edges of his lips. His eyes glanced at the pair of boots, the laces slowly unravelling before looping around the headrest and tying themselves into neat bows.
”Sure, it’s all yours.” Caleb nodded once he had finished his task, catching the pretzels deftly between his outstretched hands. Also grabbing a handful, he purposefully stuffed as many as possible into his mouth before turning to grin at the witch.
”’ese are ‘eally ‘ood!” He exclaimed as he chewed on the satisfying mix of sweet and savoury, coughing for a few moments as he nearly choked on the tiny baked pastries.
Might need a hearse sooner at this rate... He laughed when he had finally recovered and managed to come up for some much needed air.
Casting another Magic Hands, Dakota sent another paw of magic back into the seat, which returned with a small teal box that had the word ‘Marlboro’ printed on it. Showing no signs of hesitation nor regret, Dakota opened the box and removed a cigarette, resting the rest next to her as she lifted the coffin nail to her lips, holding two fingers at the end. A small blue flare shot up from her fingertips, lighting the cigarette, from which Dakota gave a puff. Dakota did have the decency to roll down the window and exhale outside of the Jeep, but this action was still not enough to prevent the faint smell of cigarette smoke from filling the inside of the car.
”Any of y’all want one? I’m, like, 90% sure this brand doesn’t fuck up your lungs or anything. Those are pretty good odds, you know! It’ll kill you much slower than fighting vampires either way.."Iris came out of preparing a little late compared to most, while everyone else was in the car and getting lung cancer, she was trotting along outside to the sickly yellow Jeep she assumed Dakota and Calypso were in. She looked wildly more presentable compared to what she looked like this morning; Her messy hair was smoothed down behind her shoulders, and she was carrying a small backpack with numerous things in it, potions, a vampire book, and a dagger she hoped to not have to use. That wasn’t all she had, in one ear were her earbuds, playing and in her arm was a golem she dusted off. It resembled an owl in shape, and yet was the size of a large raven. How Iris was able to make a golem fly, she couldn’t remember, this golem was old, but she assumed it could have some use. She called it Crone. Crone was in a dormant state, having its heart removed to conserve magic energy, but it could fly easily as a real bird. Iris walked up to the Jeep and saw the smoke, a real Dakota move. She walked around to the other back door and sat in the ugly car next to Dakota.
”Hey, cancerous enough for you?’’ She joked as she carelessly tossed her bag behind her head and into the back, leaving Crone in the floorboards.
”What’d you guys pack? I brought books, birdbrain here and potions. Oh yeah, knife…’’ Iris could smell the cigarette in the car, gross.
”Anyway, you’re Caleb right? Hi, anyway uh...Oh yeah, I brought something. Here, where’d it go...uh. There.” Iris pulled a CD out of her coat pocket, a singular cd just...in there.
”I brought music.” It had a solid black cover with no writing or anything on it and it had just a few songs, though knowing Iris, she was probably the only person in the car who liked what was on it.
Calypso was the sort of person who took the word
recommended to mean
required. So when she was handed a list of recommended weapons to fight vampires, she took every single item on the list. A rifle, a pistol, a handgun, a flamethrower, some grenades, some brass knuckles, some cool knives… she shoveled them all into her duffel bag while she was in the armory, along with some both normal and silver ammunition that she thought looked right. The armory was a cramped, badly lit shed behind the house. The single lightbulb in the shed flickered on and off. It illuminated all sorts of weapons hanging off of the walls. Most looked somewhat modern, but there were a few delightfully antique weapons hanging off of the walls too. Pre-colonial era, even. Calypso could imagine her ancestors using these.
Once she was done gathering her copious amounts of weapons, Calypso zipped up her now incredibly heavy duffel bag and heaved it onto her shoulder. But it was so heavy that she couldn’t quite lift it, so, with a sigh, Calypso dug her fingernails into her palm and cast a spell to give her arm a bit of added strength.
That’s better. With a loud creak, she opened the shed door and went to go pick up the bright yellow suitcase sitting outside. She had packed almost as soon as she had gotten out of the room, neatly folding her clothes, toiletries, and other things into her bag. She had even stowed a spellbook in there. She had changed from her original outfit into something she thought was a bit more city worthy. She hadn’t had to exchange her plain white tank, but she had donned a leather jacket, some jeans, some chic high-heeled black boots, sunglasses, and a cute
head wrap. While she was getting dressed, Calypso seemed to have forgotten they would be fighting vampires. But she had packed tennis shoes, too.
Dragging her suitcase behind her, Calypso walked to her car. Oh! Her smile brightened. Iris, Dakota, and Caleb were already there and… in the car?
“Hey, guys! How did you get into the car- Kota!” She caught sight of a Marlboro sticking out of Dakota’s mouth and tutted. A subtle anger filled her, but she kept on her smile. Smoking? In Calypso’s car? Calypso lifted her suitcase and duffel full of weapons into the trunk and then went to the back door where Dakota sat, and slammed it open.
“No smoking!” she scolded, and grabbed for the cigarette in Dakota’s hands.
“You’re going to give yourself lung cancer, you know! Magic can’t cure lung cancer. And, by the way, my car is not your hotbox.””Calypso~!" Dakota moaned, as if she was a young child that had just gotten her favorite toy taken from them. She pouted.
”You’re a really great friend, but you have no sense of adventure." Dakota did not attempt to snatch the cigarette back, though. She did not want to set the car or Calypso’s hair on fire, and Calypso
did have a point, although a very annoying point to be sure.
”Fine, fine, I won’t smoke in your Jeep. The window was open, by the way, so that’s not hotboxing. You want to see hotboxing, just wait until we get to our hotel room," Dakota said with a smirk.
”Here, Callie, let me stomp it out…" Dakota moved to get out of the vehicle, but because of Caleb’s trickery, instead just flopped to the floor of the Jeep like a dead fish.
”What in the hell?!" Dakota exclaimed as she climbed back into her seat.
”Caleb!" Dakota shouted, at first annoyed but soon beginning to laugh lightly, as she struggled to untie herself. She eventually managed to do so, pulling her legs off of the headrest.
”You better watch yourself, you! You’ve made yourself a terrible enemy," Dakota said with a good-natured but oddly menacing chuckle, leaning forwards and wrapping her arm around his forehead. She then planted her right knuckle onto the top of his head and proceeded to give Caleb a brutal noogie.
”You should know I’m much more dangerous than any of those vampires, you dummy!”Caleb good-naturedly let himself be subject to the noogie, head tilted back, unable to contain the reams of carefree laughter that tumbled from his mouth.
“Sorry it was just so tempting!” He finally managed to utter breathlessly, arms moving to wrap around his chest which was now aching slightly.
“You should’ve seen your face though! You looked like…like-” Trailing off as he burst into another fit of laughter, a hand moved to wipe some tears away from his eyes as he admitted defeat, unable to complete his thought.
“Well I don’t know what you looked like but it was hella funny!” Calypso giggled at their antics, high and only slightly obnoxious-sounding. This funny scene almost made her forget about how Dakota had just smoked in her car.
Almost. “Looks like someone’s finally met her match! Good prank, Caleb. Don’t worry. Kota’s all bark, no bite. And if she does bite… well, they’re love bites.” She turned and winked at Caleb, and then hung over the side of the window.
“Now gimme that cig, Dakota. Full warning: if you smoke any more I’m making you ride with Arken.” With a commanding presence, she held her hand out for the cigarette. When Dakota put it into her hand, Calypso threw it down onto the dirt road and stomped with a vengeance. She took her foot off it and stared at it intently for a few seconds. She knew they were on a dirt road, but there was forest around here… she wouldn’t want to start a forest fire!
“First and only warning. Don’t smoke in my car again,” she warned, stern, but then patted her best friend’s head affectionately.
“Now, it’s like…” Calypso checked her phone,
“2:15. I spent 10 minutes loading Google Maps and it’ll luckily only take a couple of hours to get there. So we should probably get go- wait… wasn’t Alayna going to ride with us too?” When it came to thinking about the weaponry she might need for this trip, there was only one
thing that had come to Alayna's mind other than relying on her almost natural gift with fire. A hand reaches up to clasp that said thing around her neck, her fingers trailing over the intricate designs etched into it until she feels less intimidated by her current situation. With this as her backup, she should be fine the girl tells herself, as her necklace is enchanted to allow her to steal the strength of, and possibly kill, any supernatural creature it cuts into. Granted, she would have to get close to the creature in question to make it work, but it is merely a failsafe. After all, the biggest threat when it comes to vampires is probably their strength and speed. Take that away and they're all a pile of ash. And perhaps if she repeats this to herself enough, she'll be completely convinced that these monsters she's about to face cannot hurt her. And that Sister Deborah hadn't completely lost her marbles yet as a result of age.
Perhaps.
With her pink suitcase and pink duffle bag in tow, Alayna strides out the backdoor of the main house, looking around before spotting Calypso's vehicle (she'd at least remembered to ask her what it looked like before leaving the meeting earlier). Making her way over, she first notices a small commotion in the backseat, only hearing the end of the dispute once she comes to a stop next to Calypso. The smell of cigarette smoke reaches her nostrils, and she steps forward to catch a glance of the lung killer in Dakota's possession.
"Hi..." Alayna awkwardly interrupts before clearing her throat and adding,
"Cal does make a good point, you know, Dakota." Before the ceremony, she would have never had the audacity to speak up this way, but things had changed. The witch couldn't feel more comfortable. And to further express this comfort level, she allows a smirk to play over her face before pouting.
"I was kinda hoping to get a window seat, but I'll find it in my heart to let it slide if I get a few pretzels." Alayna then turns to the girl next to Dakota, putting her hand up in a friendly hello.
“Alayna!” Calypso turned at the sound of her new friend’s voice, and raised her hand in greeting.
“You’ll have to take the middle seat, yeah… sorry. Early birds get the worm, y’know? Caleb was the earliest bird of all, so at least you don’t have to deal with any manspreading.” She winked, and then caught sight of Alayna’s bags.
“Oh, here! Let me take those… I cast a strength spell on myself earlier, don’t think it’s worn off yet.” With the effort one might use to lift a cup, Calypso lifted Alayna’s bags into the air and placed them gently into the trunk. She smiled and gave a thumbs-up to Alayna.
“Go ahead and hop in. I have some scents up in the front seat, so the cigarette smell should go away soon enough. Just maybe… hold your breath.”Alayna laughed a little at that.
"You're right. I probably got off easy." She looks over at Caleb then, mouthing a silent,
"sorry", in case she'd taken the joke further than she could. Although the boy had always given her the impression of being easy going the few times they'd spoken, so she probably had nothing to worry about. After her bags were taken care of, she thanks Calypso for her help with a thumbs-up of her own and gets into the car, looking out the window at the main house. A morbid thought occurs to her then, that perhaps this might be the last time she will ever see it; however, she immediately stops questioning her fate and looks away and at her new group of friends. This is what's important now, what she has before her. Whatever they are about to face, whatever they are about to do, they'll do it together. And with that self-assurance, she smiles to herself before laying her head back against the seat.
With everyone now in the car, Calypso wandered to the front seat and hopped in her car. She turned the keys in the ignition, took her sweet time adjusting her mirrors, and tightened her seat belt. Safety first!
“Everyone good back there? All buckled up? Going to the city’ll be fun for all you country bumpkins, I’m sure, but we have to arrive alive first!” ”Yeah we’re good…” Iris said from the window seat by Alayna, rummaging through her pocket for the CD she had.
”Here, I packed some music, pop that in and just uh pick something, get some taste in this bitch.” She said reaching up to the front of the Jeep handing it to either one of the two up front who’d grab it first.
Calypso grabbed it, and took a look at the song list. She narrowed her eyes, furrowed her brows, and then chuckled. She had no idea that Iris was such a hipster! Even though Calypso considered herself a music person, she hadn’t heard of any of the bands or songs on this list. She shook her head, and handed the CD back to Iris.
“Nah. No way. We’re listening to…” Calypso thumbed through her CDs, frowning,
“some Dolly!” She popped the CD into the player, and it started to play Jolene.
”Uh, what the heck’s that…” Iris’ music taste clearly didn’t line up with Calypso’s.
”Gross. We’re doing mine next.” She joked. She didn’t actually
mind listening to something she cared not even an atom for, but she wasn’t gonna do it all the way to whatever place Baltimore was in.
”Calypso, you poor thing…” She jabbed at the girl a bit, did this cubic bus driving girl even
know decent music?
“No we’re not!” Calypso said cheerily, glancing at Iris in the rearview mirror. There was no way she was listening to Iris’s hipster swill. If she wanted to listen to her own music, she could’ve driven, damnit!
“Next up is some good old-fashioned Taylor Swift. If you have any problems with that, feel free to hitch a ride in David's truck. Now, if we’re all good…” With that, Calypso stepped on it, and began to drive down the dirt road of the mountainside, pulling away from the coven house.
At the last minute Caleb remembered to put on his seat belt, clicking it into place as the car rumbled gently along. He felt a rush of something, probably adrenaline, rush through his body at the thought of going on his first ever mission. Even if it was with boring vampires. Turning in his seat, a wide grin spread across his face as he glanced between the three girls crowded into the back. Bringing a closed fist to his mouth, he feigned a ‘clearing my throat before an important presentation ’ cough before sitting as upright as he possibly could.
“Okay ladies and…gentleme- well, just me I guess. As the official representative of the passenger seat, it is my duty to make sure you’re sufficiently entertained for the duration of this car journey…” He paused for unnecessary effect before continuing.
“If you’ll make sure you’re tightly fastened in, Kota has kindly provided us with snacks which I encourage you to eat before she does.” Sticking his tongue playfully out at the girl in question, he quickly reached over to grab another pretzel from the bag.
“Normally my favourite is 21 questions but I think we should play a good ol’ fashioned game of truth or car-contained dare. Followed by an unbearably loud sing-along to Swifty of course.” Focusing his attention back towards the front, he moved to look at Calypso, raising his eyebrows questioningly at her.
“What dya think? Truth or dare is nearly as good as telling fortunes right?” The yellow Jeep winded down the dirt mountain road, and the coven house disappeared behind the tall, green maple trees of the forest. Despite the sunny day, the road was slick with mud. It had rained last night, Calypso remembered vaguely from waking up to go to the bathroom and hearing the sounds of rain pattering against the roof. Calypso was internally hoping there weren’t any potholes to drive over or anything like that- she really didn’t want to have to unstick her car or anything. When Caleb began to talk, she turned down the music to where their voices could be easily heard over it. She listened to Caleb’s speech, amused, and giggled.
“Someone hit me with a pretzel,” she commanded, but didn’t hold out her hand for one. No way was she going to drive one-handed!
“Truth or dare is an… alright car game, I guess! Better than ‘I Spy’. Although dares’ll be hard. Hm. I’ll go first!” Calypso kept her eyes steadily trained on the road as she spoke. She was driving at a steady 25 miles per hour down the mountain, only a few of the other cars behind her.
“And I’ll go for… hm. Alayna, you’ve been awfully quiet. Truth or dare, roomie?” This one would be easier! Calypso grinned at Alayna in the rearview mirror, and cocked her head..
“Truth. Alrighty.” Should she go hard, or should go soft? Calypso didn’t know much about Alayna, so would any more probing questions be met with anger? But she did want to actually know something about Alayna. So she went for an in-betweener.
“What makes you the happiest?” she asked, confident that that was a safe one.
Her eyes pop open at the sound of her name being called, always having been a light sleeper.
"Huh?" is the first thing that comes out of Alayna's mouth before her mind catches up to the question asked. She knew she would pay for the lack of sleep and can only pray that her mouth hadn't been open.
"Uh truth, I guess," the witch replies, biting her lip nervously. Truth or dare had never been her favorite game to play, much preferring to be on the sidelines watching how things around her progress quietly. The mischievous glint in her friend's eye also isn't helping the situation, and the girl can't help but squirm a little in her seat.
This one would be easier! Calypso grinned at Alayna in the rearview mirror, and cocked her head..
“Truth. Alrighty.” Should she go hard, or should go soft? Calypso didn’t know much about Alayna, so would any more probing questions be met with anger? But she did want to actually know something about Alayna. So she went for an in-betweener.
“What makes you the happiest?” she asked, confident that that was a safe one.
Once the actual question reveals itself, Alayna can't hold back her sigh of relief. It isn't an easy one to answer, but at least it isn't too personal. She takes some time to think about it, reaching over to steal a pretzel from Dakota's bag before she speaks.
"Being able to spend time with my dad." She surprises herself with her honesty at first but shakes it off. What were they going to do, make fun of her? Besides, she’s had years to accept that her childhood consisted of the best and happiest moments of her life so far, and that it is thanks to one person.
"It was easier as a kid to be close to him but lately he's been really busy and when we do get the time, it's mostly just spent on witch-related stuff and, well... not," us" stuff. I've never been all that close with my mom either so there's that." Alayna then gives them a moment to process her words and react before continuing, attempting to draw attention away from herself for a bit.
"What about you?" She blinks.
"I-If that's okay?". Calypso kept her eyes on the road while Alayna spoke, but fully paid attention. They were still winding down the mountain road, but getting closer and closer. The town was visible if you looked down the mountainside.
“Deep,” she remarked, and laughed.
“Good answer. Seriously. As for me… some boba tea will do it! And maybe a good rom-com.” She grinned. She hadn’t quite been expecting something so deep off of Alayna, but she couldn’t say she was disappointed. She hadn’t realized that her new friend was so close to her family.
“Now, it’s your turn!” "Oh right, it's still my turn, isn't it?" Alayna asks, placing a hand on her chin in mock concentration,
"How about youuuu...Caleb! Truth or dare?" Caleb, who had at some point undone his seatbelt, was now fully turned towards the back, hands clutching on the headrest as he watched the other witches.
“Nice question Cal!” He nodded enthusiastically, grinning when Alayna decided it was his turn.
“Well, seeing as you just went for truth, I guess I’ll go dare!” Alayna takes her seat belt off, twisting in her seat to reach behind her to grab her duffle bag. Opening one pocket, she takes out the bag of cheese puffs there and tries to hand it to Caleb in the front seat.
"I dare you to stuff as much as this as you can in your mouth, without choking and dying, of course." ”Wow, the fuck.”“Oh, that’s an easy one. I’ll have you know I’m a chubby bunny champion!” The corners of his mouth pulled up into a small smile as he reached his hand towards Alayna, gently taking the bag of cheese puffs from her. Opening it up, and accidentally spilling a couple on the floor, he shot Calypso an apologetic look before beginning to cram as many as possible into his mouth. Although somewhat messy, the teen was known for having a near endless appetite, and only stopped when he could barely take breath.
“Ook aht ow any I ot n ere!” He mumbled incoherently before eventually managing to swallow the mouthful of food.
“That was fun!” Caleb chirped, before his gaze strayed over to Iris.
“Guess it’s your turn then…truth or dare?” ”Okay uh, truth.” “Truth. Hm, okay…” Caleb paused for thought, munching idly on another cheese puff.
“Alright I’ve got one!” A mischievous smile flashed across his face as he leaned closer towards the witch.
“Do you have a crush on anyone in the coven? Elders included.” He laughed at the last part, shaking his head.
“Well, not really...unless you do?” His eyebrows raised questioningly at her whilst he waited for an answer.
Well
shit. Crushes? Really?! On the surface Iris wasn’t really bothered but deep down she was somewhat panicking. She anticipated something like “Fuck-Marry-Kill” or whatever Alayna said, nevermind telling them about Dakota…
”Well, hmm… Now that I think about it, yeah, I guess there is.” She said airheadedly.
”Now I guess it’s Calypso’s turn. Hm…” She awkwardly tried to speed past getting asked about
who since they were literally in the car.
”I dunno, I give up.“ Dakota, who had been keenly listening the whole time, leaned in.
”Woah, woah, woah, you’re gonna let her dodge the question like that?" She raised an eyebrow, a wicked grin on her face.
”Not sure whatever kind of wussy backwater state you guys have grown up in, but where I come from, you gotta finish what you started." She leaned over Alayna’s lap, looking in on Iris.
”Come on, spill the tea. Who is it? Are they older?” She wiggled her eyebrows.
”You better dish out the dirt to the rest of us common folk." ”Define older.” ”Like, old old. Elder old." ”Ew. The fuck.” ”Well, if they’re not older, that means they’re our age!” Dakota leaned over poor Alayna’s lap, resting her elbows on her legs, propping her chin up with her hands.
”Spill the beans! Who is it? Stop dodging the question!"”Know what, Kota? How about I tell you when there aren’t other people in the car, cool?” This was making Iris just a
little nervous.
“Ooooh, Iris has a crush!” Calypso shouted, enamored with the conversation.
“Spill the beans, girl. Who is it? Is it Charlie? Hana? Summer? It’s gotta be someone we know.””I’m- not into guys, you know…” Did they though? Iris wasn’t exactly known for this cutesy love stuff, it was probably obvious by now with the way she never looked at a guy in any enamored way, but it was still a tad awkward talking about it here...How in the
fuck do you get into and out of this one?
“Iris, just say it!” Calypso urged, and tightened her grip on the steering wheel. She had a gleeful, mischievous smile on her face.
“Everything said in the Jeep stays in the Jeep. Promise.””Yeah!” Dakota said in agreement.
”We won’t say a word to anybody outside of this vehicle, promise."She held up her crossed fingers.
”Oh, shit, is it Jean-Luc? I can see it now, you two making potions together, all romantic...ooh, doesn’t Kate like potions too? So many options..."“She just said she doesn’t like guys, dumbass.””Oh, right.” Dakota rolled her eyes.
”Listen, Curly, as long as it isn’t Summer, we’re all cool.” “What if the person… is in this car?! Oh my God, is it me?” Calypso gasped, now entirely wrapped up in trying to find out who it was.
“Nah. I bet Iris likes Rebecca. She seems like she’d be into dead people.” ”Callie, you gotta understand, nobody likes you,” Dakota said, sticking her tongue out.
”If Iris was gonna have the hots for somebody in this car, it would be me, obviously!” Dakota struck a flamboyant pose, before running her hand through her hair, obviously joking.
“First of all, fuck you, my first grade ex-boyfriend would disagree with you, second of all, it could be Alayna!” Calypso threw a pretzel at Dakota’s head from behind her back.
“I highly doubt that,” Alayna interrupts then while also rubbing her thigh where Dakota’s elbows had been,
“Iris, you don’t have to say who it is if you don’t want to.” Somehow coming to the other’s defense feels right, especially if it turns out that she is the object of her admiration. It saves her from reacting in a way that may hurt her.
“You don’t have to but I’m totally gonna think it’s Sister Deborah if not.” Caleb teased lightly, gaze passing over those gathered in the back. “But for real, if you’re not ready to tell anyone that’s cool.” He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, not really having expected her to actually name names. “Anyway I’m sure we can all agree that Brother Lucien is the hottest member of the coven. All that grey hair and lack of emotions...damn!” The teen joked playfully, flourishing a hand so that the bag of cheese puffs slowly floated over to Iris.
”I…” She wasn’t sure how to go about this conversation.
”Not here… Iris clearly wasn’t alright with saying anything in front of this many people, and she normally didn’t get rattled like this. She laid back in the seat and just gazed out the window awkwardly thinking about how to do this. She still reached into the cheese puffs and catched the bag, resting it in her own lap. Her head was a bit messy, so she popped in earbuds to listen to something on her phone as she contemplated an idea…
What followed was awkward silence. For an hour. After Iris’s weird avoidance of the question (which made Calypso think that whoever she liked was in the car), everyone went quiet. So Calypso turned up the music and drove. They got off the mountain road, drove through Bluebrook, and emerged onto the freeway. She would quietly sing along to a tune occasionally, and had to switch the CD once, but other than that the car was mostly quiet. Occasionally, someone would try to interrupt the silence with a cracked joke or a question, but they were quiet for the most part. Most of everybody in the car silently browsed their phones, read a book, or stared out the window at the passing scenery. Soon enough, Calypso could see their exit in sight. She gulped.
She would be lying if she said she wasn’t scared. It was just a tickle of nervousness at the back of her brain, sure, but it was still there. She had never really fought anything before. Unless you counted her friends during “hardcore magical Capture the Flag”, which had never ever gone well. This would certainly be an experience. But after a few minutes stuck in her own head, Calypso didn’t quite want to worry herself into oblivion, so she spoke up.
“Everybody ready and excited for a bit of vampire hunting?” she asked the car, nervousness clear in her voice. She glanced in the rearview mirror and flashed a smile, at least.
“Hopefully we’ll be done quick, at least.””We should probably talk about how we’re gonna do this, right?” Iris asked.
"Yeah, that's sort of what I meant? Like, we could talk strategy maybe," Calypso respondedd
”I brought a book with vamp stuff in it, and a knife and some garlic, won’t kill them but they won’t like it much either.” She had that book for a while, it finally came in handy.
“Well, you know me. Firegirl and all,” Alayna added,
“Although I do have a backup in case that doesn’t work out for whatever reason.” She feels for said backup hanging around her neck, her stomach twisting like a riptide in a thunderstorm. At least, by the tone of Caly’s voice, she isn’t the only one who is a little afraid.
“Can I be real with you guys for a second here? Considering that we already...you know...lost two witches because of this same group we’re after, doesn’t it seem weird that 9 of us rookies are being sent out with so little knowledge of what’s to come?” Alayna stops here, suddenly unsure if she should have said what she had. Still, it is too late to take back her words now and all she can do is wait for her question to sink in.
”Well, Deb never really had her head on straight anyway…” Iris joked.
”I guess we should bet on dying, best case, we’re wrong, worst case we, we’re prepared to do something about it.”Calypso’s mouth hung open in shock. She hadn’t expected them all to just be so disrespectful towards the elders! This was a time-honored tradition.
“You guys!” she admonished, and turned into the exit. The skyline of Baltimore loomed close.
“I can’t believe you would even say that. Sister Deborah and all the elders know what they’re doing. I’m pretty sure that if these rookie missions regularly killed witches, they wouldn’t have us go on them. She said it was only a couple vampires. It’s not a big deal. Every single initiate ever has went on one of those. Your parents, Alayna; my mom; your dad, Kota… we’ll all be fine. Don’t be so negative. We have plenty of information. I’m pretty sure we’ll know a vampire when we see one, you guys.” ”They can be pretty hard to spot unless you’re staring at them, and that’s weird.”Alayna cringes inwardly at Iris's words about them dying but still smiles somewhat at the irony of them having thought the same about their coven head. While she would love to believe that everything was going to be all fine and dandy, considering it is the same Sister Deborah that sent two of their fellow witches to die it is hard to have the same complete faith that Calypso does. Still, she supposes there isn’t much she can do about any of this other than to trust her friends and her abilities.
“I just hope we’re not too late.””I brought a golem and a sharp thing so we’ve got friends, we can laugh in Deb’s little face when we get back.”Calypso shook her head. They didn’t get it, clearly. She had always had complete faith in their leaders, in the power of witches, so to hear it so clearly disregarded by her friends was baffling. How could they think that?
“Nuh-uh. You guys are wrong, everything will work out! Just watch. We’re gonna have an awesome first mission. We just maybe need to do a bit of… strategizing!” ”It’s important to do our best, but it’s important to win too.” Iris added, quoting Lord Shaxx from the back.
Calypso sighed. It was clear that she wasn’t going to win this argument. Some of her fellow teens were just anti-authority, and she couldn’t fix that! They’d learn, though. Everything would go well. The elders knew what they were doing! If they said it wouldn’t be hard, fighting vampires wouldn’t be hard. Calypso kept driving, a silence settling over the car in the wake of their small disagreement. So she cranked up the music. Taylor Swift blasted for the next half an hour as they drove down the freeway.
Eventually, the Baltimore skyline came into view. Skyscrapers stretched up, touching the sky. Calypso didn’t seem too impressed, unlike some of the country bumpkins in the car might’ve been.
“Look, guys!” she said, enthused, and took a hand off the wheel to point at the skyline.
“We’re here! In Baltimore! Home of the Ravens. And vampires, apparently.” She giggled at her terrible joke.
It took an additional 15 minutes to drive to their hotel. Calypso’s Jeep weaved its way through the city, finally parking at an unassuming little La Quinta Inn. They were the first to get there. It… wasn’t a nice hotel, perse, but it was good enough! The coven only had so much money, Calypso reminded herself. The hotel was in an alright spot in Baltimore, although still well within mugging territory. They parked and stepped out of the car.
“Alright, you guys!” Calypso said, cheerily, and pulled out the folder, which had somehow acquired a sun sticker in the past three hours.
“We’re here. Our rooms are…” She flipped open the folder, going to the hotel page.
“204 and 205! I think the intent was that guys take one room and girls the other? That’s just common sense, though! Anyways…” Calypso opened the trunk and immediately went for the duffel bag full of guns and her suitcase.
“We’ll probably need to illusion the bags with the guns and stuff. And, like, use a lot of illusions to get in and out… but it’s a La Quinta. So. And… there’s a pool! That’s cool. And free continental breakfast… anyways! Race you guys!” And with that, Calypso cast a quick spell on her bag and
dashed to the check-in desk, taking off through the parking lot.
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