Chambers

Two

Penelope

"Ladies and gentlemen, due to a severe storm, we will be making a sudden landing at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport shortly. We apologize for the inconvenience."

Alright, well, it looks like we're stuck in America yet again. Does it count as a second time when you haven't even left? Either way, I'm livid. We all are. And tired. Agatha's combing the right side of her head with her fingers because she fell asleep halfway through the flight, and Shepard's nodding off while leaning against the wall. Baz is even turning white. I wouldn't be surprised if he forgot to drink before boarding. He's been staring at Simon since I found them on the beach. Who knows what's going on between them now. Simon went to the bathroom, and Baz is looking at the door like he'll never come back out. He does eventually. He took so long because the spear of his tail kept poking his thigh. "What are we supposed to do now?" He asks.

"Hell if I know." Baz gripes. "Supposedly, we're in Kentucky."

"I feel like that makes even less sense."

"It means we're still in America. We're not even in one of the states that border the Atlantic."

"North Carolina is an eight-hour drive," Shepard adds.

"Great Morgana," I rub my face. I could fall asleep on this floor. "It'd be a shorter ride from Manchester to Dublin."

Agatha yawns. "How about we settle on sleeping in a hotel for the night? It's getting late and it doesn't look like this storm is going to pass over."

Simon comes over to me. I'm looking at my phone, searching for nearby hotels. "Are there places in Cincinnati? I think I've at least heard of that."

"Too expensive." Agatha and Shepard say in sync, then look at each other for a split second.

"But there's one a mile and a half away. $89 a room." Shepard shows us a picture of a place called the Hampton Inn.

"Surely, you're not implying we walk a mile and a half, whatever that means, for a room that's $89."

"There's a bus bench outside," I say, gesturing everyone to follow me.

Shepard

All flights have been diverted until sometime tomorrow. No matter how many storms I've seen, the lightning never stops being intimidating. It's coming this way. The black clouds are mixing with the evening sunlight and the others are mesmerized by it, even Agatha, hell even me. The rickety engine of the bus bounces us down the interstate with a few others from the airport. Some of them even sound like they're from Kentucky and I'm not the only one who notices.

Simon taps me on the shoulder. "Are we in the south?"

"Yeah," I reply. "Do the accents sound like they're from the movies?"

"A little bit. Like they have a banjo in their mouths."

I nod. "Very accurate."

"How come that's when you're good with words?" I hear Baz say. I've gotten used to Baz groaning about everything. Clearly, everyone in the group has. Even Simon. It's just who he is, whether he means harm or not.

We're almost to the stop and I can see the Hampton Inn, walking distance. It's fine with me because we'll make it to the lobby before the storm gets here, but I can hear the thunder. The leaves on the trees shake seconds after and so do I. I think the rest of the group is so interested because they think it might be a storm full of magic. It's not. It's Normal weather. Possible tornado weather.