Jace Irons: The Shard of Chaos

Chapter Eighteen: Our Worst Enemy is... a Kid?

"We need to follow the interstate!" I yelled against the howling wind. Reyna nodded and spurred Scipio even faster. We had been flying through the night sky for about an hour now, trying to catch the lieutenant before he got back to the Titan Army base. We swooped up and down, and left and right, trying to find the road that lieutenant would be driving on.

Before long, we found the interstate. It was a big, multi-lane freeway that ran in a straight line going west. All kinds of cars and big trucks sipped on down the freeway, their headlights making a pattern of dots zooming back and forth in both directions. Reyna and Phillip urged their pegasi to fly a little lower. We were on the lookout for a small, dark red car. It would be a little tricky to try to spot in the darkness, but we could see most car colors pretty clearly. We flew low, cruising about fifteen feet above the closest car, and with the flow of traffic going west, keeping a sharp eye out for a red corolla.

Suddenly, Phillip spurred Gerry forward. David whipped his head around and yelled "FOUND HIM!" His words were lost in the wind, but it was fairly easy to read his lips. Reyna kicked Scipio's sides and urged him to go faster. I peered over her shoulder at the flow of traffic ahead of us. Sure enough, just up the road was a dark red corolla speeding down the freeway. Reyna and Phillip nodded to each other and we slowly descended on either side of the car, Phillip and David on the left, me and Reyna on the right.

We were level with the corolla now, matching its speed, when I peered through the windows. Inside was just a mom and a dad, driving peacefully through the night. In the backseat there was a little kid, staring right at me with wide eyes. I don't know what the mist was making him see, but I thought it'd be best if we left.

I tapped Reyna on the shoulder, "Not him!" I yelled against the wind. Phillip and Reyna pulled their pegasi high up in the air, and sped them forward again. Things went on like that for the next little while, where'd we see a red corolla, ride up alongside it, and scare whoever was inside. Just an hour into our search, we'd scared a mom and her kids, a young couple, a super overweight guy (it was a mystery how he fit into the car at all), and a very lightheaded dalmatian (he passed out when he saw us).

After the dalmatian, Reyna waved her hand in a specific pattern to signal Phillip to fly upwards. We spiraled up in the air, high above the freeway to discuss what to do next.

"That was weird!" David announced. "Did that dog have a heart attack?"

"We gotta get ahead!" yelled Reyna. "Wait for him to pass us."

Phillip nodded. "Where?" he called out.

"State border!" I yelled. "He's gotta pass through there!"

Reyna and Phillip nodded, and we tore off through the sky, heading right for the Colorado state border. As we flew, we could see mountains rising up in the distance. They were huge and majestic, casting a black silhouette against the starry night sky. As we approached the border, boulders and cliffs rose up beneath us as well. When we got to the border, we set down on top of one of these cliffs, overlooking the interstate. This was the only westbound road into Colorado, and the lieutenant would have to drive through here sooner or later.

We set down and waited for a few minutes. No red corollas passed by, but then Reyna had an idea.

"What if Jace and I fly back down the highway and try to search for the lieutenant on the road." she proposed. "If we spot him, we'll regroup here and wait. If he gets past us, you two can stop him, right?"

"Sure can!" said David excitedly.

Phillip, stoic as ever, just nodded and grunted "Yeah,"

Reyna and I saddled back up and took to the skies, following the highway back east to try and find the corolla. It was getting late in the night, and there weren't many cars left on the road, mostly big semi-trucks and the occasional cop car or SUV. We rode out east for a few miles, then looped back around, flying in circles to see if he had slipped past us somehow. We circled like that for an hour, with not a single red corolla in sight.