The Spellbound State of the Universe

Chapter 5

Sheera's departure for the airport snuck up on the Lansens like a sudden downpour, a twenty-four-hour-span that left them completely unprepared to offer wisdom encouragement, or even a proper suitcase.

The stilted conversation of the day before had carried on into the night, making for an awkward final evening with the adopted family Sheera had grown to love.

Maddie and Ethan woke up earlier than usual on the day of Sheera's departure, leaving her to do her last-minute packing in silence. Their avoidance was a bit sad but probably for the best, as their presence would've led to questions about her plans that she could only half-honestly answer.

Sheera stuffed a few more pairs of socks into a worn out duffle bag that was beginning to fray at either end. It was the only piece of luggage in the Lansens apartment, on account of them barely having the money to get through the day-to-day let alone travel. Now it contained almost all of Sheera's meager possessions. All that remained were the contents from Sheera's keepsake shoebox. She pulled it out from under her bed, taken a moment to admire the few childhood photos of herself with her mother. She carefully slid them into the bag's outer pockets, along with some souvenirs from the places her mother had seen back in her missionary days.

Once the bag was packed she double-checked her small canvas purse for the most important item. Her crisp, unused passport was there, along with an envelope of cash. She'd applied for the passport a few years prior, when the dream of going on one of those class trips to Europe still seemed like a real possibility.

She counted the money in a focused manner, seven hundred dollars that amounted to her entire life savings. Despite giving so much of her donut-making salary to the Lansens to earn her keep, the five dollars here and there she'd carefully set aside had accumulated to what now seemed like a fortune.

Sheera's ticket to Paris had been arranged by Madam Quillfern along with accommodations at the 'Kindred complex'. The cultish sounding name was all she knew about her lodgings in Paris, an uncertainty that only added to the nervous feeling of embarking on this strange adventure.

She counted out the money again, and at the last second pulled out three hundred dollars.

She poked her head out of the room and when the coast was clear, tiptoed into Uncle Neil and Aunt Ruth's bedroom.

She emerged a few seconds later, the three hundred dollars no longer in her hands.

***

The Lansen family sat around the kitchen table. Waiting.

The sounds of rustling bags and footsteps emerge from the hallway and there she was.

Sheera Oden. Ready to save the world. Or die trying. Or fall victim to a cult. In some ways it was still unclear.

"Well I guess I should go," said Sheera, carefully avoiding eye contact with everyone at the table. "There's an airport bus that leaves from Bryant Park in half an hour."

"Actually..." said Ethan, studying his phone and scrolling the cracked screen, "it leaves every fifteen minutes." He smiled earnestly. "So you can always catch the next one."

"Thanks bud," she said, inching ever closer towards the door. The thought of spending any more time with her family was not only becoming uncomfortable, but it was creating more opportunities for questions she didn't want to answer.

"Will your phone number work in Paris?" said Uncle Neil.

Questions like that.

Sheera remembered Madam Quillfern's stern warning that no telecommunications of any kind would be permitted while she was in Paris, due to security reasons stemming from being tracked by the dangerous Shadowers. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the two-bit flip phone she'd always kept in case of emergencies. She'd been planning on discarding it at the airport, but with Uncle Neil waiting for an answer she smiled and set the phone on the table.