Lonely

Chapter 67, Hanger

“Done!” Arianna practically screamed, charging into the house. We all jumped. It was only six thirty in the morning, and Arianna had woken us all up. Sadie jumped, causing the seven kids who were sprawled on top of and around her to jump also.

“Quiet down, will you?” Nicco begged. Arianna smiled.

“Sorry.” She didn’t look sorry at all.

“What are you done with?” I asked. Jasper came up behind me. “The van. We can leave now.” He said. I was surprised.

“I thought you said it would take a couple of days.” Arianna beamed. “I improved the incantation, and we can leave now. It’s a long trip.” She said. Boomer peered at her.

“What did you do to the van?” he asked, seeing a trick. Arianna waved her hand.

“A simple extension spell. We’ll only have to use one car, but we are going to have three. One for Jasper and I, one for Sadie and Hanger, and the van will be for the rest of you.” She said cheerfully. Levy held his hands up in protest.

“Hold on just a minute. Hanger and Sadie get their own car, but you are going to put us in the same car for several hours with seven kids.” Jasper cleared his throat as if he was about to make a big speech.

“Precisely.”

All six guys groaned.

"It’s not that I don’t like the kids, it just that I can’t sit still for more than a couple hours at a time.” Levy said, seeing the offended expressions the kids wore.

“Well, a car ride with you doesn’t sound very fun either.” Ariadne said, crossing her arms. The other girls copied her.

“Sully gets gas on long rides.” Ryder cackled. Sully blushed and looked away.

“I do not.”

We ignored them. Japer turned to Sadie.

“Do you and Hanger still have those back packs?” he asked.

“Yeah, I think so.” Sadie said, nodding.

“Good. You’ll want them. It can be a bit of a bumpy ride in places. Meet us out side in five minutes.” He said. They walked out of the room and left us scrambling to get our things together.

I caught Sadie looking at the picture she had grabbed form her house when we were leaving the small town she grew up in. She glanced up at me and shoved the picture in her back pack.

“Do you want to call her before we leave?” I asked quietly. Sadie didn’t answer for a moment, and then she nodded and left the room. She had been getting tenser and tenser lately, and I was getting worried. I hoped that going to Lonely would somehow help her. I grabbed her back pack and went down the hall and out the door. Everyone was already outside. Liam and Nicco were fighting over who would drive.  Max had already been ruled out because he slept so much, and so had Levy, because he liked to go fast. Boomer simply didn’t care. The van doors were open and it looked perfectly normal to me. The kids were inside bouncing around, except Ariadne, Libby and Sully. They were too old and dignified for that sort of stuff. I could see the envy in their eyes. Arianna spied me and clapped her hands together.

“Where’s Sadie?” she asked. I jerked my head back towards the house.

“You and Sadie will be driving this car.” Jasper said, patting the hood of an ancient red car.