Welcome to the Shit Show

Chapter 1

The wind felt nice whistling through the tiny sliver of open window above my head. Fortunately for us, it was also keeping our car from careening into one of the two lovely roadside ditches that lined the path of our great escape. There are not many people in this modern day and age that understand the urgency of, and I mean this quite literally, getting the HELL out of dodge.

Misdirection is a magician's best friend, but it is also applicable for witches. That being said it shouldn't be too hard for a couple of witches to disappear right? A simple vanishing act will do. If only real magic worked that way. It was more useful in situations where you could sit and think, but we don't have that kind of time.

I glanced over to ensure my travel companion was still fast asleep.She was the only friend I had managed to make in a town full of people that delighted in my torment. Ok, so maybe that's going a little far, but when people are trying to kill you, it's good to be a little paranoid. We were the only people that had each other's backs, and in a place like Leona you want someone looking out for you. Living in a small town doesn't always mean living with small minded people, but in a place like Leona the only acceptable brain size is somewhere between walnut and pea.

I glanced again at her sleeping form as she shifted slightly in her sleep against the passenger window. From what I could make out in the near-pitch black cab her dreams were troubled. There was tension lining her shoulders and jawline. My gaze shifted back to the road as her body shifted again, this time causing her head to slump forward toward the dash.

I reached over and wrapped my hand gently over one shoulder and brought her head down so it could rest on my shoulder. Brushing the dirty chestnut colored hair away from her mouth I focused once again on the road ahead. I had no clue where we were headed or how long we could keep this up, but one thing was certain. We couldn't go back. I have to protect her. She's probably the closest I will ever come to having a sister and right now we were both in danger.

I will do whatever it takes to protect her and her freedom. Which is why I knee'd the school football star in the balls. Hence the driving away from everything we have ever known. That wasn't the only reason, but the others were too dark to think about on an empty stretch of road in the middle of the night.

If anyone from our hometown ever found us we'd be dead. No question we were being tracked at that very moment by the same bastards that reinforced their sexist traditions on us. In our home town NO ONE leaves, and NO ONE goes against tradition. Women were women and men were men and outsiders were not allowed in.

My knuckles turned white on the steering wheel from just the thought of facing anyone from Leona again. Forced marriages may be illegal in the U.S. but so are sex swings and yet people still have them. At least sex swings provide joy for more than one party.

No, we couldn't go back, but why would we want to? Freedom was something coveted. Only men in Leona had that, but not anymore. We had to put as much distance between us and them as possible and that meant driving in random directions, and down back roads for hours with no breaks.

I will protect my sister at all costs. She was kind, the type of kind that wanted to gain the love of the whole world in one lifetime. While she was warm loving fire I was cold hearted ice. The kind that likes to use logic and honesty to poke plot holes in every 'honest' guy's sob story. It was what made our relationship so funny. We were polar opposites.

We were also very different in appearance. I was short. Short-short. I was 5'2 to Sy's 5'7 and it was ANNOYING. I have long wavy dark brown hair, and amber eyes. Sy liked to say they glowed like lightning when I was mad, but I'm sure she was just trying to distract me from my other features. My cheekbones are high and sharp, and my nose is shaped like a triangle with a 90 degree angle in it. For argument's sake let's say it's a 'cute' triangle. Sy, on the other hand, was gorgeous.