Blinding Light: A Sleeping Beauty and Snow Queen Remix

Chapter 16

Viviana felt hyper, wound up like a child's toy car set to go, but unable to move.

She was stuck in the passenger seat, next to Santiago, and had been for the past three hours.

"We should have gotten to the edge of the mountain by now." She grumbled impatiently. "It's really not that far."

"You're correct, but you aren't accounting for ice. I have to go slow if I don't want to send us into a ditch. We're lucky there aren't any other cars. Otherwise, we'd be playing a rather unsafe version of chicken right now." Santiago said calmly. He did not seem to be bothered by the roads or Viviana's impatience.

Jeanette was only unbothered because she had fallen asleep in the backseat.

"Are we there yet?" Viviana asked.

Santiago glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "You're really going to start that?"

Viviana stuck her tongue out at him, and he shook his head, a smirk on his face.

"If you're so bored, how about you call one of the numbers Princess Willow gave you." He suggested, and she mockingly gasped.

"Is that your way of saying you refuse to humor me in my 'Are we there yet' game?!"

The silence she received was more than enough of a reply.

"I can't call Princess Willow. I just saw her three hours ago."

"So call the other number." Santiago said, leaning forward in his seat to read a sign pointing left, toward a tiny road labeled 'border pass.' Santiago turned sharply, and Viviana cried out, grabbing onto the edge of her seat so she didn't fly into the window. Jeanette was not so lucky. Her face was smushed into the window she was sitting next to. Somehow, she slept through it, leaning her head against the window, her exhales creating foggy little patches around her nose.

Viviana almost snapped a picture, but she thought better of it. She double checked on Preisha, and sighed in relief when she saw that her familiar was also still asleep in Jeanette's lap, the turn completely inconsequential to her.

Viviana turned back around and dug for her phone, which she'd put in her parka pocket.

"Why not? This might be fairly entertaining. Although-" she glanced at Santiago. "What time is it in Alleba?"

"Five hours difference." Santiago replied. "And the time right now is roughly noon. It should be seven in the morning for someone in Alleba."

Viviana shrugged. "Sorry in advance to the possible teenager I'm likely waking up."

Santiago snorted, and started slowly turning the wheel. "Have fun. We've reached the bottom of the mountain, I think. The road is likely quite winding, so don't distract me and keep in mind there will be lots of turns."

"Got it, Tiago." Viviana gave him a thumbs up, and pressed the green call button, holding her phone up to her ear.

A sleepy, soft voice answered her. "Hello? Who is this?"

"Hello, I'm Viviana Morales. Princess Willow said I could call this number-"

"Ah. In that case, you should know this phone belongs to my boyfriend and I just saved you from an over the top response. He was up waaaaayyyy too late last night. We both were, because I made him watch a romcom with me after he chose a thriller. Anyway, he's still sleeping."

A yawn sounded over the phone, and Viviana giggled.

"I see. I'm guessing you're Prince Liam then?"

"Did I forget to say that? Yeah, that's me. This is Kayden's phone though."