An Immortal's Favour

Jack- Parting Gift?

*

It burst into life, spluttering and wheezing for a few seconds before it gave up altogether.

"You can't be serious."

"When was the last time you had it fuelled?"

"Or maybe it's just acting up?"

I flicked on one of the lights to take a look at the dashboard and moved to look at the others through the headrests.

"There's plenty of fuel. I don't know what the problem is," I said.

Karlton squirmed in his seat and clicked one of the doors open. "I'll take a look under the bonnet."

"But it's dark out," Kaia replied, running her eyes over the lampless streets.

"Bo, could you help me out here?" Karlton called from outside.

"Comin-"

"Guys," I interrupted, switching the engine off.

Both Kaia and Gale scrambled out of the car, talking loudly among themselves, making my voice as much in the background as the low breeze outside.

I rolled the window down, sticking my head out of the car. "Guys!"

"What?"

"Jack?"

Letting my head hang a little, I released my grip from the steering wheel and got out. Gale, a flame in her right hand, stood over the open bonnet of the car with Karlton, who'd already started to fiddle with some parts. Kaia stood beside Gale, her hands on her hips, scrutinising his work. When I stood beside them, they didn't even look up.

"There it is," Karlton announced, leaning closer.

"What is it?" Gale said.

"It's a faulty fuel pump. And I doubt anywhere will be open at this time to fix it."

They all turned their eyes towards me.

"How far's the lake from here? Could we walk?" I asked.

"It's too far for walking," Gale confirmed, shrinking the size of her fire. I caught her gaze, letting my eyes fall back to the flame bobbing over her palm. Karlton shut the bonnet quietly.

"I know what you're thinking, Jacob," Gale said, closing her hand. "But I'm not going to use my wind casting to get us there. I can't tell whether it'll rain again, and it's hard enough to see as it is."

"It's okay," I relented. "Let's go back inside."

The four of us trudged to the front door and entered the house. I shut the door behind us. The rustling of Karlton and Gale pulling their coats from their shoulders served as a distraction to my mind while I tugged at my leather gloves. A cold light from the lounge filled the hall, and the voice of a TV presenter followed.

Kaia slouched against an armchair, staring quietly at the television set. The others went to reheat the leftovers from dinner, helped themselves to some, and came to sit down. On the screen, a camera panned over to a lake before the screen itself divided into four, with each of the new sections focused on other lakes around the country.

Hordes of people pushed against the banks, huddling together. Lamps had been strewn carefully between the trees that skirted along the perimeter of the lakes. Every now and then, the cameras would move through the crowds, stopping to feature a few faces. The tension was palpable, the hushed murmurings of the people only growing as the seconds passed.

"I forgot. It's Founding Day today, isn't it?" I realised, just as the TV presenter confirmed as such.

Gale made a noise in agreement, eyes narrowed as she wrote something down in her book.