Carry On Further | SnowBaz Fanfic ✓

Chapter Ten

Simon

There's no time for the confusion circling Baz and Fiona and each of their responses to the information. No time to ponder how Fiona knew and what it meant and what else she knows. Time escapes us, slipping out the cranked down window to catch on a breeze as we zoom past into the future, leaving the past behind. The present only lasts a second, hardly. Within those seconds, my mind can only respond to one thing. And that one thing is Penny.

Penny pick up the bloody phone! I cry out in frustration as it goes straight to voice mail. What does an inspection even mean? The bright lights on the dashboard illuminate Baz's eerily concentrated features, the digital clock ticking down the second the present lasts before slipping to the past as it darts to the future. 10:43, we'd been out quite a while. When did Fiona hear this information? I glance to Baz. Was it accurate..? Was she telling the truth?

I can't puzzle over it, pieces are missing and some pieces of my brain are, too. There's a piece trapped beneath the lid of another puzzle box set, one dedicated to Penny. I sort through the pieces, my racing mind trying to jam together anything. It's late, but not that late. Would she be reading her textbook? Finishing up an essay whilst spooning soggy cereal into her mouth absently? Still binging on Netflix? I try to picture what Penny would do at this hour whilst trying to shove back the racy scenarios of the Coven's men barging in.

Why am I so anxious? My gaze cuts to Baz again. His assertive calmness and eerie concentration is a mask for the dread I can see lurking within the darkness in his eyes, highlighted by the passing street lights. What is Baz dreading? What is he so anxious about? I swallow, feeling out of the loop and my hands close tight over my thigh.

Penny. That is why I am anxious. The only reason I can see so clearly anyway...but maybe there is more to it.

Baz

Anxiety is like a build-up of grime, never are you anxious of one thing, more, you are anxious over a collective of things whether they add up to one scenario or not. It's simply a matter of washing away at the grime to truly rationalise what is before you. To simply see it for what it really is, possibly nothing at all, and then you marvel at the strength of the mind but never realise that strength can be used to work against anxiety. Anxiety can be pointless, ruthless and cruel.

This anxiety, however, is different. Though they share similarities – obsessing over them will essentially, fix or solve nothing. This anxiety is a dread that weighs on my shoulders, something I must obsess over to prepare myself for the inevitable, to seek for a solution because a solution is needed. Fiona...what on earth is Fiona up to? My hands grip the wheel tighter. What has she got to do with Coven to hear information such as that? Where and how? My stomach twists uncomfortably.

Snow looks tense beside me, his tired features hard and grim. Most importantly, why did she help him? "It's alright, Snow," I sooth, eyes darting to the review mirror to glance at his anxious expression. "They won't hurt Penny."

"I know," he mumbles into the heel of his palm. His elbow rests on the windowsill, forehead pressed against the frosted glass. "I was expecting this," I murmur, my knee jostles, itching to slam on the acceleration as I spy the glaring red light impatiently. Snow moves in my peripheral, turning to face me fully. "We've nothing to hide don't we?" Snow blinks, eyes wide and mouth weighted by a terse frown. "Right?"

"Sure," I murmur absently, swerving a corner onto Catherine Street. Tall apartment blocks of dull red brick hide behind skeletal trees whose leaves flutter to the ground in the chilled wind. We leave the heart of the city behind and I pull into the tenants parking, flinging the door open. I can still hear the muffled commotion of the city life in this tranquil, dark part of town. The pavers glisten with moisture, reflecting yellow lamp light in golden orbs.