We landed with a thud. Outside the arachnipod, a thick white mist enveloped them. What the fuck was going on? Have I died? Reached heaven?
All was quiet and still, as if the chaos of Jackalfax's town square had simply ceased to exist.
I looked out the window into the fog. There was no Divine Thing waiting with open arms, no choir of angel kind to greet them. Wherever they were, it wasn't the Better Place.
But it isn't Jackalfax, which is better than anything.
I hear a soft groan and turned to see Jupiter pushing himself up out of the pilot's seat with a pained grimace.
"Sorry. Not as smooth as I'd hoped. You all right?"
''I'm fine, are you?'' I ask him, wanting my new guardian to not be dead already just because of me.
"I think so." I hear from the cockpit, oh she's still alive, bother. "Where are we? What's all this fog?"
Jupiter rolled his eyes. Same mate, same. She asks to many questions.
"Dramatic, isn't it? Border control," he said apologetically, as if that explained everything.
I opened my mouth to ask what he meant but was interrupted by a buzzing, crackling sound that reverberated inside the pretty spider's walls.
"State your name and affiliation," boomed an official-sounding voice, amplified through a speaker that I couldn't see or feel the buzzing through the waves fort.
It seemed to come from everywhere.
Jupiter picked up a small silver device from the control deck and spoke into it. "Yes, hello! Captain Jupiter North of the Wundrous Society, the League of Explorers, and the Federation of Nevermoorian Hoteliers, and Miss Morrigan Crow of... no affiliation. And Miss Charlotte Crow-Quinn of you know the affiliation." He winked at me, what affiliation do I have with a place I've never been too? How does any of this make sense? Also, why is his name so long? WHy does one man have to have so many titles? That must get so boring repeating and repeating those every single day, might as well just shorten my name.
A mechanical whirring sounded around them. Outside the window a giant eye—bigger than Jupiter's whole head—emerged from the white fog on a long mechanical arm. It blinked in at them, looking left to right, up and down, examining everything inside.
"You've entered from the Seventh Pocket of the Free State through the Mount Florien gateway, is that correct?" bellowed the disembodied voice. I rolled my eyes at this boring interview. Just let us through!
"Correct," Jupiter said into his little silver microphone.
"Did you have permission to travel to the Seventh Pocket?"
" did, yes. Scholastic diplomacy visa, and a returnal visa," said Jupiter. He cleared his throat and flashed a look of pride at me.
"And Miss Crow is a resident of Barclaytown in the Seventh Pocket. And miss Crow-Quinn is a resident of you know where."
Miss Crow-Quinn? has never heard of Barclaytown in the Seventh Pocket, and I've also never heard of a place called you know where.
I watched Jupiter with curiosity and mounting anxiety. Mount Florien gateway? Scholastic diplomacy visa? Returnal visa? None of this makes sense, he might be high on something.
It was all nonsense. I could hear mine and Jupiters heart beat fluttering in our chests, Morrigan was too far away for me to read her heartbeat.
But Jupiter remained unruffled. He answered the border guard's questions with gracious calm, merrily lying through his teeth.
YOU ARE READING
Fates spell; Jack Korrapati
FanfictionEveryone has hard somewhat of a hard time in life, some more than others. But Charlotte, being born on Eventide deemed her a cursed child, just like her sister, Morrigan. To leave the horrid family, you would need to get voted on bid day, and as sh...
