[ the second book in the drops of sunshine series ]
As much as she ended up loving her first one, AJ Hood never wanted to go on another quest. But somehow, she ended up on one anyway. And this time, it's not going to have a pretty ending... but at...
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~ ☼ ~
We didn't tell the girls. I didn't really want any embarrassment of them squealing or teasing us to ruin the good mood I was in, and I think Lucas felt the same way. So we just stole glances at each other, secretly giddy, as we headed towards Chicago.
"So," said Aria, as we reached the city limits. "We're going to the Cloud Gate, right?"
"The Bean," corrected Kiera.
"The proper name is Cloud Gate."
"AJ's proper name is Artemis... um, Artemis John, or something, but we don't call her that."
I laughed out loud. "Artemis John?"
Kiera shrugged. "I don't know! I don't know any J girl names."
"Jamie," suggested Aria, genuinely incredulous.
"Jackie?" added Lucas.
"Those are literally boy names with -ie added," grumbled Kiera.
"It's Julia," I said with an eye roll. "Can somebody tell me where to go?"
Aria had the map, which she'd taken from the real glove box. She looked up out the window, then back down at the map. Then she said, "Um, turn left up here."
So that's what I did. Through a few twists and turns, we made it into downtown Chicago. It was cool being in yet another city besides New York. Chicago did not look like New York, not really - it had a river snaking through it, for one, and some of the architecture was different. That just made it even more of an adventure.
Plus, like I'd pointed out - Fall Out Boy was from here. I'd tried to restrain my excitement for most of the quest so I didn't get my hopes up, in case we died along the way, but now that we were here, I was super excited. I was driving on the same streets they'd driven on to get to their first gigs!! I was walking on the same litter and gum-strewn sidewalks they had gotten drunk on!! Ahhh!
"Okay," said Aria. "Up here is parking."
As I pulled into the parking lot - thankful it wasn't a garage where I'd have to show my face to a booth to get in - it dawned on me that with this, the quest really was ending. Unless the sword wasn't there - and if the sword wasn't there, we really were screwed.
There was some part of me, anyway, that wanted it to not be there. If only just to get another day.
I shoved that part of me away the same way I told the little voice in my head to shut up no matter what it said. This was for Camp, at the end of the day, and besides... after Lucas and I's kiss, I wanted to believe we wouldn't be the Breakfast Club, after all.
I pulled into a parking space. "Here we are."
For a second, I just let myself enjoy the moment. My friends and I in a new city, cool weapons and, hopefully, a won war ahead. Then I said, "Let's go get the sword."
