A Lonely Road

Let's Hope French Spiders Have Manners

Kaelie's problem with planes was that even though they could, they never usually took the straight line approach to get where they were going, and not only that, they always seemed to enjoy making her stomach do flips. The fact that she even got motion sickness in the first place was pretty ridiculous considering she was made in a petri dish before her unceremonious injection into some woman's body. If Kaelie were to grow someone, she'd likely remove genes for motion sickness just as much as she would the body's receptors for things like colds, or bad eyesight. Then again, she probably wouldn't make baby psychopaths, so there wasn't much room for her to talk.

She walked into the terminal rolling her neck and fighting the urge to rip off the stupid blue wig, it made her neck itch, and her shoulder ached from the tension she held there. It took her too long to find the others, they were all disguised as well, and relief flooded her when she recognized the structure of Jace's face in the midst of Lilith and the others. "I forgot how much transcontinental sucks," Michael remarked. Sarah nodded in agreement.

"What kind of place did you find us this time, Michael?" Kaelie asked. "I hope it's not like that place we had to get in New York. All that stuff they say about New York rats is definitely not an exaggeration. And don't even get me started on the spiders."

Jace chuckled and Kaelie pouted at him. "You're really telling me that you, genetically engineered princess bad ass, who got into a bar fight, killed two people on a college campus, broke three ribs and your wrist, are seriously scared of spiders?"

"Okay, to be fair, they have entirely too many legs and honestly, they're just creepy. Spiders will eat you!" Jace rolled his eyes at her. Kaelie turned to follow Michael out of the airport and to the curb to call a taxi.

After a bumpy ride through the Paris streets, they finally arrived at a stunning chateau set in the middle of a lake in the French countryside. Ivy had wound its way around the old white stone, lending to its ethereal beauty, and a moss covered cobblestone bridge was the only way to the entrance. "Oh my god, this is so cool," Kaelie exclaimed. "I guess a little style never hurt anybody."

"Michael, how did you even manage to get something like this?" Sarah asked, eyes wide with awe. Michael leaned in to kiss her gently.

"Well, my love, it was abandoned. Has been for years, and recently the caretaker had tried to start renting it out again, but the tourists feel it's too far away from the action. We got it cheap for the next few months too," he said, going to kiss her again. Kaelie pretended to retch behind him, earning her a smirk from Jace.

The minute they entered the building, Kaelie was sprinting up the weathered staircases, like a child would. When she found her room, or at least the one she was now claiming as hers, she flopped on the bed, and was asleep in minutes. At least they took away the gene for insomnia.

Jace had been wandering around the chateau for quite some time before he stumbled on the room Kaelie had taken. "Shit," he muttered to himself, noting that Kaelie's swearing habit seemed to be rubbing off on him. He went to close the door, but the rustling of the door on the newly carpeted room must have triggered her heightened senses because she sat fully upright in the bed with a gasp, like she was ready to fight.

"Hey," he said. "Sorry, it's just me. I didn't know you were in here, or that you were sleeping."

She relaxed and Jace noticed her slide something back under her pillow, watched the bunched muscles in her arms relax. Her fingers brushed across the puckered scar along her throat thoughtfully. "It's okay, Jace. Honestly, I shouldn't be sleeping anyway. We have work to do."

"What do you mean?" he asked her in confusion. "I thought we just came here to get away from the Hunters."

Kaelie nodded. "Oh we did, but we've also been watching for signs that the Illusion is creating again, and it appears that they have a lab here."