Shift

NINE.2

Despite the fact it was a Tuesday morning, JFK was a bona fide mess. New Yorkers and out-of-staters alike crowded the front sidewalk, suitcases dragged behind them like stubborn dogs, cell phones plastered to their ears as they paced in and out of the automatic sliding doors. 

Blaze rubbed his arms through his long-sleeved shirt, smoothing down the hairs that stood on end from a nearby air conditioning vent. He never really had a problem with crowds—he was a born-and-raised New Yorker—and yet there was something about the unbridled chaos in an airport that made his skin crawl.

When he was younger, his family would take a yearly vacation during winter break, but they never dared take an airplane. Instead, his father would scribble transport runes on the floor of their casting room, breathing out puffs of cloud as he moved about the chilly room. Blaze would wait impatiently to the side with his mother, shuffling his feet, rolling his suitcase, gripping his jacket close to his chest. When his father had finished, they would all step into the chalk circle together. Blaze would hold his suitcase in one hand and his mother's leg with the other, listening as his father called out the incantation. Within moments, he'd feel the pull of the spell, and then the three of them would be yanked through time and space, arriving at their tropical destination in mere seconds.

Travel by rune was by no means smooth or enjoyable, but there was something inherently cozy about the whole process. Airports, on the other hand, were nothing but large metal hangars, woefully inefficient, crowded, and cold.

"Are you all right?" Lexi asked, her blue eyes flicking down to his arms.

"It's cold in here," said Blaze.

Lexi shrugged. Unlike Blaze, her arms were completely bare, yet there wasn't even the shadow of a goose bump on her skin. "I guess they do keep the AC a bit high." Her eyes lit up. "Have you ever been in an airport before?"

"Yes, but I'm not particularly fond of them. We usually travel in... other ways."

Her eyebrows nearly touched her hairline. "Such as...?" she whispered.

Blaze stifled a groan. "You know."

"I don't actually." She paused. "So you don't usually fly in airplanes?"

Luckily, Celery came into view right at that moment and Blaze was able to turn away from Lexi to flag him down.

"Hello everyone!" Celery greeted, and then his finger wagged from Kayden to Lexi. "There are two of you...?"

"It's a long story," Blaze explained wearily, "but we need another ticket."

Celery seemed a bit surprised, but he nodded. "No problem. In tough times, potestas need to stick together."

The word "potestas" hung in the air awkwardly for a moment before Kayden turned to Blaze with a glare. He could read her expression immediately: You didn't tell him?

Blaze winced and Celery frowned. "What's going on?" he asked. "My teacher senses are tingling."

"Well..." Blaze struggled to say it. He had purposely not told Celery that Kayden was a non-er, not because he didn't trust him to keep his secret, but because he didn't want Celery to know just how much he had messed up in the past few days. "Kayden and Lexi are not... potestas."

Celery blinked and stared at Blaze, a look of surprise crossing his face. "Wait a minute," he said, and he hesitated only briefly before asking, "are you engaged?"

"What?" Kayden and Lexi both shouted.

"No, no!" Blaze said quickly, feeling his face warm. He could feel everyone's eyes on him and he heard Helio snickering.