Night, the second one since this quest had started, brought the dazzling lights of Stalt down to the Adventuring guild as the carriage pulled to a stop. Jasson didn't notice due to already being asleep, but Clara managed to wake him up as she slung Jasson over her shoulder.
Once Clara stepped onto the street Jasson groggily said, "You can carry me for as long...as you want. I'm gonna go back to sleep."
"Sure," Clara said, "Although...I'm kinda...you know.,."
Jasson snapped awake as Clara swayed and dropped him.
"Ow," Jasson rolled over, "That hu- oof!"
Clara fell on top of Jasson, and not in the fun way.
"cl..c..br" Jasson gaped, struggling for air. He couldn't breathe!
Jasson tapped frantically on Clara's back and tried to push her off, but she was lying directly across his stomach. Searching wildly, Jasson saw Petra talking with Master Baldric and tried to flag them down, mouthing the words he could not shout.
Calm down, Jasson thought, You just had the air knocked out of you. Breathe.
Air rushed back into Jasson's lungs and he bucked, pushing Clara off his diaphragm to breathe freely.
"Oh thank goodness," Jasson sighed, "That was freaky."
Jasson wriggled out from beneath Clara and stood, stretching. The world swam in a sea of sleep deprivation and Jasson felt like he would float away if he leaned at the right angle. Master Baldric had left at some point, and Jasson stumbled towards Petra. Then Jasson stopped and checked Clara. Just sleeping.
"What's going on?" Jasson said, teetering up to Petra's side. "Are we getting paid?"
"I already did," Petra said, turning to Jasson, "They had the three leaders step out to receive payment. We'll divvy it up when we get home and- what?"
"Your eyes," Jasson said, "are you a vampire?"
"What?" Petra said, stepping back, "No. You're super sleep-deprived if you're this far off."
"But your eyes are super red," Jasson said, "Like a vampire's."
"Idiot," Petra said, "It's called having bloodshot eyes. A lot of people get bloodshot eyes when they're really tired and talking to an idiot."
Jasson considered this, then said "Right. I forgot about that. But that doesn't make me an idiot though, just half asleep."
"Well you must be whole asleep the half time," Petra said, "Now on. We gotta home."
"What?" Jasson said, trying to process what Petra had said with the equivalent of a Windows Vista computer.
Petra didn't respond and walked over to Clara who was snoring loudly. Off to one side Calista and a healthy Evan waved goodbye. Petra squatted down to shake Clara's shoulder.
"Come on," Petra said, pinching her sister's cheek, "We gotta home lil' sis."
"Nooo," Clara said, "Let's get a hotel and order dinner. We don't even have much food at home."
"It's too expensive..." Petra said. "Let's go shopping tomorrow. We got enough home."
"Come on," Jasson said, "How much could it be?"
"Depends," Petra said, "You wanna be safe or broke?"
"What?" Jasson said and then fell quiet for a few seconds as the next thought loaded.
"I'm going back," Petra said, "Coming Clara? Or staying on the street with Jasson?"
"I never said-"
Clara sighed and stood up while saying, "I'm coming. And Jasson's coming too. Petra's right. We can't afford a room."
YOU ARE READING
The Smartphone Saga: A Distracted Journey of Spells and Signals
FantasyTruck-kun fell from the sky. It was a terrible accident involving several casualties who found eternal rest. Unfortunately for Jasson Boar, a normal modern teenager, death was just the beginning of his problems. After a brief conversation with Kami...
