[completed - under editing]
[last chapter edited - 8 | setting a trap for yourself]
"You're told all your life that you're broken, insane, mentally ill. And then you're told that you are going to repair the world."
᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽
Thirteen...
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Vienna
We're going to die, we're gonna die, WE'RE GONNA DIE!" squeals Leilani in distress.
We probably will if Leilani keeps squawking about it.
"Shut up," I hiss at my sister, "or we will die. Hopefully it will just be you."
Leilani shuts up surprisingly quickly.
Good. I feel a satisfied purr rising in my throat. Huh. Since when did you become so happy to traumatize your sister?
She's not traumatized. Shut up, Vivian.
Aquaria rolls her eyes, clasping her fingers together and placing her chin on them.
"Wait, no. It's fine. False alarm," calls Taurus, and the cramped truck gives a collective sigh of relief.
A long thin road winds between the harpy and siren kingdoms. It's relatively dangerous, definitely not maintained well, and very dusty. On the very rare occasions that it rains there, the road becomes muddy and unsafe for travel. Both kingdoms close it in that case.
We stop just at the beginning of the road, a thin ribbon of path that seems as if it is barely the width of the truck. There's a checkpoint, but as Scorpio ominously assured us, we don't have to worry about that.
Carina had to make him swear not to give them nightmares.
Pinkie swear.
That wasn't funny at all — but it was. It was hilarious. It took a lot of self–control to keep from laughing. Okay, the funny part was probably the fact that Scorpio did not seem very surprised. I wonder exactly how many times his sister has done this.
We switched out the drivers — Miasma, it turns out, knows how to drive. And better than Taurus, too. Caprice also decided that she didn't want any fires in the truck and separated the pyromaniac from her assistant, which is to say, she ordered Ari into the passenger seat.
He didn't like being ordered anywhere, but Caprice had a very good point, so he reluctantly climbed in.
Taurus sits down next to me and I show him how to hang on to the railing, which he does, his knuckles white. Even you know how badly you drive. I snort.
Taurus's green gaze wanders until it alights on a particular person with frizzy orange hair. "Hey, Vivi? I need your advice."
"Sure, anything. Except Hell Zone matters," I add hastily.
"Okay," he says, making a pft noise. "Don't you think Leo's nose would look better inverted?"
I inhale a quick breath and hold it to keep from snorting loudly. "I — I'm sure you've shed light on what may be a very important discovery —"
I cough to hide a gasp of laughter, my eyes widening.
Taurus nods seriously, "Well, I do hope you'll think on it."
