cascade | kotlc

23. Havenfield and that Tesla

tw: bl/od 

"There goes Sophie," June sighed as her sister leaped away to Lumenaria. "This can't possibly go wrong."

"I'm sure it won't," Edaline said comfortingly, sneaking up on her and scaring the wits out of her. "Lumenaria's so incredibly protected even an entire ogre army can't break through."

"Wasn't Oblivimyre also supposed to be that safe?" she shot back. "Let's hope the Neverseen don't find some other weird and wacky way to destroy Lumenaria."

"They won't, it's much, much more secure than Oblivimyre, and it's not flammable in any means. In fact, a Froster froze all the walls and even the pipes surrounding the water supply, which took forever, according to what Grady tells me. But you know that already."

"I did know that already," she agreed, fidgeting with her skirt. "Still, it feels wrong to just let my sister go like this and hope nothing will go wrong."

"I promise, nothing will go wrong in Lumenaria," Edaline told her, smoothing her gown. "It's time to feed Verdi, grab some buckets and head outside. It's your duty today."

"Actually, I was wondering if I could... practice some skills," she muttered, bowing her head. "I know I'm supposed to help, but Dex got me this car a week ago and I never got to use it."

Her mother's gaze softened, touching her shoulder gently. "It's fine, I'm sure Grady'll take another round of duty, but you'll have to do it tomorrow, okay?"

She nodded happily. "Thanks, Mom. I love you."

Edaline kissed her on the cheek before she headed outside. June followed suit a moment later, reorganizing her emotions as she almost tripped down the twisting stairs.

Sun shone brightly on the grass as she shielded her eyes, making her way over to the pterodactyl enclosure, where she'd temporarily parked her Tesla, mostly because the field was mostly hidden. She didn't particularly feel like getting Sandor-interrogated over something as mundane as a car.

The sleek white Tesla glinted gloriously in the sunlight, and she pulled open the door and studied the array of buttons covering the deck. A giant touchscreen pad was set next to the steering wheel, and June played with the various options, trying and failing to start the car.

Oh, on second thought it was probably just turning the car keys that would've done it...

She cursed her stupidity and revved the engine, pressing her foot to the gas pedal and changing gear. Nothing happened.

"What?" she muttered, bending down to inspect the pedals. "That doesn't- oh... I'm a moron." She quickly switched to the correct gas petal and the car lurched forward, almost throwing her into the windshield. Cursing the wonky human design and strapping her seatpelt, she changed gear again and the car started to accelerate at a steady pace.

A motion display appeared on the touchscreen, showing her current speed and battery levels. Apparently the trunk door hadn't been shut properly. Hopefully nothing bad would happen from that.

She was just going to jinx herself, wasn't she?

The Tesla drove over the hills as June yanked at the wheel, almost bulldozing a herd of suncatchers that squawked in outrage and flew over the car. Pieces of bird poop splattered the windshield.

"Sorry!" she called to the birds as she swerved the Tesla to approach the T. rex enclosure, where Grady and Edaline were working together to feed Verdi, Lady Cadence discussing something with them, Brielle and Cadoc standing guard behind them. The T. rex roared indignantly as it spat out a rain of seeds, showering Grady as June silently thanked Edaline for letting her skip duty today. She turned the car to face the gates blocking off the caves and accidentally bumped the gear into R.