Turned To Stone

Chapter 16 - Evan

The car was painfully quiet. Evan fiddled nervously with his seatbelt, trying to keep himself focused enough on it that he didn't fray it but needing something to do.

He hated not knowing what was going on outside. Was his mom okay? What if she'd been attacked? If she was hurt, it would be all his fault- oh no, she was probably hurt, she was probably hurt and couldn't get any help- or worse she was dead! What if he never got to see her again, never got to tell her he loved her, what if she was buried before he had even seen her again and he'd never get to say goodbye-

Zoe took a sharp turn, startling Evan out of his thoughts. His hand crushed the door handle as he grabbed it involuntarily, and he distinctly heard Connor's hiss of pain as the gorgon hit his head against the car window. Connor glared at the back of Zoe's head and made a show of readjusting his seat, kicking the back of hers several times in the process.

She seat-belt checked them without even glancing into the rear-view mirror. Connor snarled and wound up to retaliate.

"Stop it!" Evan snapped, fed up. Connor's head shot up, his face every bit that of a child that had been caught doing something they shouldn't.

"We- w-we are- just stop!" Evan shook his head. He had no clue how to phrase it, how to get it through the Murphy siblings' thick skulls that they needed to work together for once. "Talk it out- talk it out j-just- FIGURE IT OUT."

The car descended into silence again, tension so thick that Zoe could probably use her physical magic to slice it in half.

The witch took a deep breath and Evan felt the car begin to slow.

"Evan... could you give the two of us a moment?" She asked, stopping the car on an overpass.

Evan nodded slowly and opened the door. With only two ways for creatures to come towards them, he felt much less nervous than if they'd stopped in a field or something.

He walked to the other side of the overpass and peered out to the street under them. Something darted across it, too fast for him to see, and he recoiled nervously. 

Not wanting to think about the things out there, whatever was going to try to kill them next, or what they might come back to when they got home, Evan turned around and looked back at the car.

Connor was sitting behind the passenger seat now. He had his arms crossed like a petulant child, and he was staring at the seat in front of him, but he was talking, Evan could see his lips moving.

Zoe was turned around in her seat, arms also crossed. With Connor looking down, she had her eyes on him, and she was clearly annoyed. When Connor paused, she said something, and he snapped a response sharply.

Evan groaned internally. He wanted to just smack the two of them over the head, didn't they get that this was more important than their petty rivalry? They needed to work together to fix this because they were some of the few people unaffected by the curse they'd accidentally brought into the world.

The siblings talked for a few more minutes, then Zoe hesitantly extended her hand. After a moment, Connor reached up and shook it. Zoe turned away, saw Evan watching them, and made a motion for him to come back.

He climbed into the passenger seat and she started talking as soon as the door closed.

"We came to an agreement that we aren't going to argue for the rest of this mess... and that we won't antagonize each other either, we'll do our absolute best to work together."

"that includes me not intentionally turning her to stone." Connor said quietly. 

"And I won't get mad at him for doing it on accident." Zoe nodded.

"We'd like you to hold us to it, since you're with us anyway...." Connor looked up.

Evan nodded immediately. 

Zoe sighed in relief and turned around, facing forward again and setting the car into drive again. "Let's get home before we lose everyone, we need to find that spellbook and fight off some ancient deities."

"Hey, that's only three things." Connor shrugged. Evan muffled a laugh and Zoe snorted loudly.