Where The Numinous Awaits

Ch. 28: Nixie's Break

September 9 | Day

"Kitsachie National Park." Dex tapped a location on the map on the screen of her computer.

Her hair fell over one side of her face, framing her striking profile. She caught me looking at her and gave a tiny nod, and my imagination went all sorts of places it shouldn't be. Like to her bedroom. But I forced myself to break eye contact and attend to the grave situation at hand. We had to find a safer residence.

"Do you think they were tailing us for long?" I asked.

"Most definitely. Rango Duchovny knew exactly where we were and what we had with us when he came into that apartment," Dex fumed. "He also brought enough backup to give me a genuine run for my money. Either he's been watching us for a while, or he got lucky. And why am I surprised the president would put an OASIS agent in jeopardy? The smugglers are only after Distefano's bounty."

Abuela Maya entered with a tray of food and beverages, blood for the vampire. "The park is a good place to go off the grid. You'll have to make camp," she said. I got the sense that they had already talked about it.

"I don't do camping." Delilah wrinkled her nose in distaste at the pig's blood.

"You don't have a choice," Dex muttered.

"I tried to throw them off on the drive home, but nine times out of ten, they've already scoped us out here," said Legend.

"It's just harder to attack us in a neighborhood full of non-Supers." Fitz threw darts at the photographs of the smugglers that had been mounted above Dex's workstation so the entire squad could get familiar with their faces. "What about the Gates of Mortality? How will we access the portal from the middle of nowhere?" he asked.

I was amazed at how quickly my best friend was adapting to our world. He wasn't even fazed by the idea of using magic to open portals to the Other Side. I grabbed a mango slice and bit into it, but I wasn't hungry. The closer we got to finishing our mission, the more likely it seemed that we would fail. None of us had considered what we would do if that happened.

Tapping her chin, Dex paced the shed in thought. "We can't use the abandoned apartment again. It's too hot now, and Torres won't be back until the police presence dies down. We need to get to the park and regroup. We can come up with a new plan for opening the gates there. Does anyone else have any other ideas?"

"Why don't we split up? Three of us go to the national park and three stay here," Delilah suggested.

Dex furrowed her brow. "For what purpose, Delilah?"

"To confuse them." Delilah shrugged as if it made perfect sense. "A visible presence at the safehouse will make Distefano believe the princess is still here. Meanwhile, you and Legend can get her and the book to someplace safe, while I try to figure out another location where we can try to open the gates again. When I come up with something, I'll let you know, and we'll meet there."

I kept a stoic expression as the conversation flowed around me, but on the inside I was shaking. I had come within inches of being killed. The loud retort of gunshots echoed in my head, and the feeling of running for my life remained with me. All weekend, I had had nightmares about the ordeal. I wondered if I would ever be the same or if the trauma of this experience would stick with me. How much worse would things get?

"I don't trust you, Delilah," Dex said point blank.

The vampire smirked as she put her glass to her lips. "You've poisoned me, imprisoned me, and chipped me for tracking. What's not to trust? But, fine. Be redundant. Trek us all over the world and get no closer to completing this mission. All that'll happen is I'll die before I can help you. Or have you forgotten that the medicine that slows the fungal bloom has to be refrigerated?"