The Eden Projects (EDITING)

Chapter 32. Maleficarum

- Ace -

"Pull the car over." Ace clenched his hands, trying to steady his trembling. "Damn it Fog, pull the car over."

Fog did so.

Ace popped the latch on the door and slid quickly from the vehicle. Hurriedly he rubbed the blood from his skin, it had been bothering him for at least an hour.

"What's the problem, you don't want to drive in?"

"No Fog, I don't want to drive in." Ace said mockingly. He focused on scrubbing at his fingers with a strip of wet cloth from his shirt. "I'm late. Because of those idiots."

Fog saddled up next to him. "It's already dawn. No sense in worrying about what's behind you."

He ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm never late." He needed a shower, he needed a nap, he needed something to make him feel at ease. "I don't have time to start over with them. If Kasper can't remember anything then it's over. Understand? OVER. Everything's gone to shit."

Fog cleared his throat. "So you'll find another way. Look for another course."

"There aren't any more courses. This was THE course." He gestured in the direction they had come from. "I would have been better off leaving them near Redside for the time being. Stupid. Stupid. I knew they were stupid but I didn't think they were this stupid."

"Your tie to Ark still stands. Maybe you can bargain."

"My old man didn't bargain. Ark doesn't bargain. I don't bargain. Let's just... fly. I need to clear my head, this'll give me the time to." He wrung out his hands and stretched his wings. The rain had done a number on them but they were still useable albeit matted.

Fog nodded and followed Ace to the overpass.

At its edge he hopped the guard rail and leapt. His wings took up the slack instantly and he felt his arms being pulled back. Stitching themselves in for added support. A few clots of ruffed plumage freed themselves at the joints and he felt the muscles banding across his chest pull taught. This was his transformation. It was nothing compared to what he had seen. He was an insignificant nothing compared to Kasper and that terrified him.

"Think Ace." Fog huffed, coming up parallel to him as they made their ascent. Lungs tugging for air. "We can't go in- without a plan."

"That- is the plan." Ace winced when they leveled out higher up and the sunlight pricked his eyes. "Damn Sun."

"Ace."

When the wind carried him, he let out the breath he held. "This is where we are. Kasper wants to become a monster. It's gotta be why his mutations are progressing like that. Zak will have to join us. It's the only way we can keep a reign on them both and most importantly, Ark needs to think they know more than they do."

Fog raised his brow. "Is that what you want?"

"Sure. It's gonna take everything I have to bring them down. Kasper has to come around. I hope he remembers and for Christ-sake I hope Zak does something with himself for once. I hate desperation." He turned over their brief conversation, had he said too much? Too little? Was it enough to suggest there could be people after Kasper or would it have been better to tell him outright. "Did I say the right things..."

Fogs wings beat at longer intervals, he was so much larger. "It was cold, if that's what you intended."

Ace watched the swaths of green woods and golden fields pass underneath, the mottled cars like flecks of gemstones pocking the surface. Then he looked to the horizon, nothing could ever beat the freedom of flying. He changed the subject. "Kasper can't exist on Flickers alone, when he realizes that his body is much more demanding than he thought It'll be time. When he kills his first human for food, that's how I'll know he's ready. That's the tipping point."