Escape

Chapter 13

"Gods, can't you turn on the air conditioning or something? Your barometer thing says it 98 degrees!"

Erebos made a left into a small parking lot and pulled into one of the empty spaces. Killing the engine, he leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. "Okay, first of all, it's a thermometer, not a barometer. And second, the air conditioning doesn't work, princess. When you're on the run, you don't usually have the money for luxuries."

I rolled my eyes and wiped a hand across my cheek, my mouth opening in disgust as something warm and gooey came off of my face. "Ew, gods! What the- aw man, Erebos! My nose melted!"

Erebos sat upright in his chair and turned to face me, studying my nose. He threw his hands up in annoyance, "Are you serious! I paid that guy forty bucks for some quality noses, and I get this?!"

I tuned out Erebos' rant and peeled the sticky mess off of my face. Stepping outside the truck, I looked around. Nothing out of the ordinary was going on - no crazy guards running around and no monsters in eyesight. Everything seemed...normal...in a peaceful way.

The sky was clear, and despite the burning sun, which I could assume was the reason why my skin felt hot, everything around was pretty nice. Shops lined the endless road that we had traveled on for ten minutes to get here, and people walked around pleasantly, examining storefronts and the little furry creatures attached to ropes that every other person seemed to have. It was all kind of weird, but a good weird.

When he was done going on and on about his financial crisis and how the economy should be ashamed, Erebos cleaned off his nose too, and once he got out of the truck, we stuffed them in a trash can that we found in the parking lot.

Erebos scanned the area carefully, then looked back to meet my eyes. "Well, we still have our eyes covered, which is a bigger deal than you would think. But even with normal eyes, our attractiveness is still going to draw everyone's attention." He paused and looked at me with a half-grin. I realized that he was trying to be funny, in a strange way, because the reality of the situation is startling. We really couldn't draw attention, as crazy as it sounds.

Erebos continued, "So, even though I spent a good amount of money on those noses, I suppose we will have to find something a little less professional that will get us through the day."

He turned towards the nearest surf shop, and quickly made his way to the racks of clothing that was set outside for customer viewing. I followed him, and gritted my teeth when I saw an old couple watching us with confused expressions.

Erebos examined a stack of hats on a table. I stood beside him and picked one up. It was round and had a flap at the front. It was mostly purple, except for the section above the flap, which was white with 'Beach Haven' written in cute black letters. I put it on my head, and Erebos pushed it down and pulled my pony tail out the little adjustable hole in the back of the hat. He stepped back and studied me, and gave a nod of approval. I grinned and picked a dark blue hat out for him, which, unlike mine, had no words. He put it on his head, and I mimicked his actions from just before.

"It doesn't do too much to cover the face, but I don't think that any new guards or protectors are here in Beach Haven yet. I mean, they have no clue where we are, so we should be okay for today. Hopefully."

I followed Erebos into the small surf shop, filled with racks and racks of colorful clothes, right up to a long brown counter. A woman sat comfortably back in a chair, reading something that said 'People' on the front. She smiled over the pages, and her orange curls bounced loosely around her round face as she stood up. Her pink lips parted, showing pearly white teeth, "Just the hats?"

"Yes." Erebos grinned, and she poked some black machine until it gave a little dinging sound.

"That'll be 7.50." She smiled again, and gracefully took the cash that Erebos pulled out of his pocket and stuffed it in the machine. "Have a nice day!"