Shifting Life

45. Run

Jacklyn waited by Craven's side inside the bar's front door. He held his palm pressed to his abdomen. His wound had opened. She could smell it, even though no blood seeped between his fingers.

Yet.

Adrenaline from the bear fight still rushed through her system.

One thing at the time.

To save Matt they had to get out of here. It was weird, but she trusted Craven completely right now. He didn't care about Matt, but he obviously needed the coat to heal. Veronica's magic patching up could only do so much.

They were trapped at Teddy's Bar with time running out.

Veronica had texted. Now she called. Craven wouldn't pick up. He'd called in a favor from someone else.

If he'd called the Visionary, Jacklyn was screwed, but something about the tone Craven used convinced her horsey bullshit detector that it was someone else.

The Svartalves Veronica had hired for help surrounded the building. Jacklyn didn't know if Veronica knew they'd double crossed her or not. Right now it didn't matter.

"It's a small car," Craven explained. "No door to the backseat. You better be damn fast jumping in, because we won't have time to fix with the damn seats."

A black Porsche slowly rolled into view. It stopped right outside.

Jacklyn pushed the door open and ran outside. She jumped across the hood of the car, feeling the metal buckle under her fuzzy slipper. She opened the passenger door when the first arrow bore into the car's roof.

Jacklyn dove inside. She turned midair, trying bend her legs to avoid getting stopped by the passenger seat.

Craven was like a shadow behind her. The car moved before he'd shut the door, a second wave of steel tipped arrows raining down on them.

The Svartalves followed the Rules of Magic, bringing a Lord of the Rings level hailstorm of arrows instead of guns.

The rules were not all bad. Not all the time.

Jacklyn recognized the guy from Veronica's apartment in the driver's seat. And he'd been at Pantzer's home when Craven slashed her side with the poisoned dagger. Craven had friends. She'd never would have guessed.

The guy rushed the engine and shifted into second gear like a true beginner. The engine coughed, Jacklyn fell forward into the back of the driver's seat. The gears complained, but the car kept moving. He shifted into third gear with no improvement.

Jacklyn held her breath.

They moved down the street. A third shower of arrows hit them. Only two pierced the car's roof and poked their sharp heads into the compartment above Jacklyn's head.

The guy miraculously managed to get them away from the bar.

Craven gave short directions, "Left-right-right-Don't fucking shift to first gear from third-Shit-Don't!"

Jacklyn tumbled head first into the back of the seat again. Her neck croaked ominously. She crawled back up, spying out the back window.

"Move you fucking head out of the way," Craven growled.

"I don't think we're being followed," Jacklyn said sinking down in the back seat again, but Craven clearly wasn't in the mood for conversation.

"Turn into the parking garage over there," he said a few minutes later.