We don’t talk much at first while we’re on the road. Michelle asks us for silence so she can concentrate on her driving - she’s never had to be behind the wheel this long before. But eventually, being quiet really gets to us, and we start chatting away. Everyone except Michelle, of course. At least she doesn’t crash the car on the side of 880 like she keeps threatening to do.
She does, however, keep taking the hairpin turns on Mount Hamilton Road a little too quickly for my liking. And for a few other people’s likings besides.
“I don’t normally get carsick,” Harris says when Michelle finally turns off the road and into the campground entrance. “But there were a few times when that was about to change.”
Michelle chuckles as she brings the car to a stop behind a green Dodge Ram Van from the nineties. “I don’t wanna call you a wimp again, Harris, but there’s pretty much no other word to describe you.”
“I dunno,” Rachel says from the backseat. “What about ‘whiner?’”
Harris rolls his eyes. For most of the trip, Rachel’s been going out of her way to needle him, as if to prove to Adele that she doesn’t have a crush on him at all. If that’s her intention, it’s not working. At least, not to me.
“Or ‘complainer?’” Adele adds.
“A bit off topic here, but how ‘bout ‘personal space intruder?’” Kevin grumbles, nudging Harris’s foot.
“That’s three words, but I’ll accept that,” I say, laughing as I do the same to Harris’s other foot.
“Dude, you don’t need as much legroom as I do,” Kevin says. “You’re not big and tall like I am.”
I scoff at him. “I got long legs. Shoot me.”
“Yeah, but...but mine are wider,” Kevin counters. “Look, I’ve got big tree trunks here. You got...you got un-big chicken legs, dude.”
“So do I,” Harris points out, raising one of his knees a bit. Like the rest of him, his legs really are skin and bone.
“Which means he can take up less space,” I say. “Think about it, Kevin. Was it better to have Harris violate your legroom, or me?”
“Do you have any idea how weird that sounds?” Kevin asks.
“Quiet, guys,” Michelle says as she finally drives up to the booth and hands over her ID, as well as Elena’s business card - she’d told us to present it at the entrance, and then we’d be told where to go from there.
“East ranger station,” the guy in the booth says. “Your boss is waitin’ for you already.”
“Thanks.” Michelle takes her ID back and drives onward, following all the signs for the east ranger station.
When we get there, Elena’s standing on the front steps, looking quite out of place in a pale blue business suit, the same color as Evan’s clothes - she’s wearing the exact outfit she received on our first day at Elena’s house.
“Welcome to the Ice palace grounds, children,” Elena says after we’re all out of the car. “Are you ready to get to work?”
We all give affirmative answers with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Michelle is noticeably perked up and paying attention, for example, while Rachel tries and fails to stifle a yawn. Everyone else, me included, is somewhere in the middle of the spectrum.
“Good,” Elena says, stepping inside the ranger station. “You’ll be bunking here tonight and tomorrow night, so you can just off-load your bags upstairs and then you can have lunch with me and Mr. Williams.”
YOU ARE READING
The Dark Ice Chronicles - The Magi
ParanormalDark warlock Jason Cross is quite the lonely boy - until the girl he likes takes the time to get to know him. Evan Michaelsen's presence leads to a string of major changes in Jason's life - not the least of which is the development of Ice powers he...
