For Her Honor

Chapter 18

My butt was beyond numb.

The plane ride had been hours upon hours, but we never left the country which made me think we must be going somewhere south. After we finally landed, Marco refused to clue me in on where we were or where we were going. Luke and Toni had stayed at the airport to wait for our luggage while Marco steered me towards a rented SUV with tinted windows and a bulletproof exterior.

Since I had to use crutches to walk around everywhere, it was a slow process. Marco eventually couldn't take it anymore and he politely asked an airport official for a wheelchair. Imagine my embarrassment when Marco had to wheel me out of the airport and to the rented car.

But I couldn't complain. He hadn't been babying me or anything like that, he gave me my space and he even let me go to the bathroom without Toni's accompaniment. I felt like a burden, even more so than usual because Marco had to change my gauze every couple of hours. My stitches, for some reason, ripped during the night and the doctors had to replace them before the Headmaster even considered letting us leave.

Which had only happened after my father called me and basically disproved of the entire idea. He told me over and over again how I wasn't allowed to go but once I put Marco on the phone, my father was no match. At least until my father put Arnold on the phone who began scolding Marco for such reckless behavior.

Needless to say, Marco hung up.

Whenever we got back to the academy, there would be hell to pay. But until then, I planned on enjoying every second of my spontaneous vacation.

"Are we there yet?" I asked once again from where I was draped across Marco's lap in the back seat. Marco had 'rented' a driver to take us to our destined spot and then drop us off. Luke and Toni would then drive a second car down here just in case someone had placed a tracker on our SUV or in case any of us had been followed.

"No and if you ask me one more time, I might just have the driver turn around and take us back to the airport." Marco growled, his irritation level matching that of my boredom level.

I groaned in frustration as I looked out my window once again. The vegetation here was lush and healthy looking, fresh. Everything here looked like that. It was very different from the scenery of Chicago. At my house, all I could see were the tops of trees and the tops of cars. But here, there were trees and flowers and actual nature life. It reminded me a little of the academy but only slightly. The academy's nature life seemed artificial, almost like the Headmaster had hired someone to simulate nature.

But here, it was all natural and untouched. Unaffected by human interaction.

We had been driving down a dirt road for what seemed like forever and I honestly didn't think I'd be able to handle much more of it. Up above us, high on a cliff, I saw a set of train tracks running parallel to the road although I didn't see any trains running along the metal lines. I couldn't even tell if they were still in operation.

I saw power lines also placed along the sides of the road but it looked like they were old, very old. The wooden posts were withering away and the some of the power lines were hanging dangerously low. What could possibly be out this far away from civilization that was safe enough for me to stay? And how could Marco possibly know about this place? It was so far out of the way that it looked like no one had traveled down this road in hundreds of years.

"Are we there now?" I eventually complained, unable to hide the whiny tone from my voice. But could any of you blame me? I had been sitting in a car for hours with a leg that wouldn't stop bleeding and I had been forbidden to move.

"Harmony, I swear to God-" Marco began, letting his head fall back against the head rest of his seat.

But then the driver spoke up, "Um sir, I believe we've reached the desired destination."