Eight and ancients

Chapter 26 Destiny March 23 2026

I was back in Alex's SUV. It was sleek and black, with leather seats. I was very interested in the window rather than the fact that I was bait, but I have to give someone a report and it's easier to talk to Alex rather than his dad. But I would start the interrogation.

"So how did you find me and the twins?" I stared to drum my fingers on my leg.
"Oh, I may have tracked your phone."
"Really?"
"Yeah really.you have that little faith in me, Charman?" Alex took his eyes off the road just long enough to give me a fake bitchface. I laughed a little.
"No, no. Of course I have faith in you just not in the hotel free WiFi it would take to trace my phone." Now he was laughing.

"So why didn't you wait for me to come, today when you went after famine." There was an undertone in his voice I couldn't quite make out.
"I just couldn't sit there, I thought maybe I could stall her until you came up with a plan, by the way you got here really quickly, how?"
"When your dad is an all powerful being it really helps, and okay yeah I guess that makes sense but you sounded really scared on the phone." He said it more like a question rather than a statement.
"I was scared, near crying scared but I talked to your dad, and he said I can't let fear control me."
"And, your hunger? I mean you seemed to get lost in it." He was right about that I was lost in the memories.
"She, Famine, said that my hunger was that I wanted to feel safe. That's why all my visions or memories, were happy because they feed my hunger, unlike everyone else. Who need to physically get their hunger, like a drug." I sighed I just admitted that, and why does saying it out loud make me feel like a weight is being added to my mental load. Like Alex was going to start looking at me like a kicked puppy.

"You do feel safe, right?" I small bit of worry was easily detectable in his voice.
"YES, yes. That's why I don't get it. I feel safe, maybe I just want to continue that feeling."
"Yeah, maybe. Well anything else I should know?" All worry left his word.
"Well I wrote down what she told me when I was in the hallway with her, but other than that I don't think there's anything else."

We sat in silence, for about an hour. But it was nice, kinda. It wasn't weird or uncomfortable, it was like when you're at dinner and I just ran out of things to talk about. I looked out the window fit most of it the small humming of the car soothing on the bumpy road. Other times I would write about saving the world full hunter's journal style. Keeping track of what we have been doing for the past three weeks or so. Three weeks that it, it feels much longer longer than that.

"So what you writing over there." Alex broke the silence.
"Hum?" I looked up from my journal. "Oh, uh just about what happened today." I wasn't lying it just wasn't all the information.

"Oh, cool. How long have you been doing that?"
"Are you trying to make small talk with me Alexander?" I did that sort of side shrug that you do to annoy someone. He shoved me into the passenger door.
"Fuck you Charman, and so what if I am?" I laughed a little. He was right what difference did it make.
"I don't know I just thought we were closer than that." He snickered at that, I was still laughing.

The road was long and empty, "close enough to do this." Alex swerved slightly to the left than back to where we were originally. My brother used to do that to scare the shit out of me when we were growing up. I hit him in the back of the head.
"What the hell was that for Des?"
"You know what that was for." No both of us were laughing like idiots. The sun was setting behind us making Alex's hair shine with golden highlights. We were still on hour or so out from the city so I settled my head against the window and drifted off.

xXx

"Hey Des, wake up." My head was still on the glass but now it was truly dark out. We were in a field of some sort.
"What Alex what are we doing."
"Just get out of the car." I rolled my eyes and stumbled out of the car. Alex grabbed my hand and steady me as we walked over to the hood of the car where three blankets were.

"Alex.." I sighed just to get the air out of my body. This was beautiful.
"We had the time, I just thought you might want to see the stars." He looked I little nervous as I crawled onto the hood of the car.

I was looking for all over the sky. A constellation here and I few blue stars there. I pulled a blanket over my shoulder as Alex leaned against the car, a can of something in his hand. We just sat there star gazing in the middle of nowhere and it was perfect. I moved a little closer to Alex, resting my head on his shoulder.

I felt Alex tense up underneath me but he relaxed pretty quickly. I guess famine was right, I wanted to be safe. I wanted to stay right here because I felt safe right here right now as if the world wasn't falling apart around me. Around us. The stars glittered billions of light years away, and I was here tucked up in a blanket looking up at them. To this day I wonder if Mufasa is looking down on me.

"Alex," I started wondering if I was about to overstep my bounds.
"Yeah?"
"Why is your Mom back?"
"I wish I knew Des, she or my dad won't say anything about it."
"Wow that must be weird."
"Yeah, Des?"
"Yeah?"
"What your family like?"
"Well, there's a lot of us. I'm the youngest of four kids, my parents still live in my childhood home, well I guess my house even if I spend more time in the city for school. My sister is in the police academy, my brother is working on a medical degree at Princeton. And my oldest brother is living out in Ohio with his girlfriend. But other than that my dad works a desk job and an Etsy shop, and my mom's an Elementary teacher. Nothing too exciting."
"Still better then your mom running out on you."
"A lot of things are better than you Mom running out on you, but I rally see them anymore. My sister is halfway across the country, as well as my brother. The only people I really see are my parents and even then I spend 2/3 of the year on the other side of the state."
"So, you're from PA, then"
"Yeah Lower Bucks County. Not the most fun moving form small town suburbs to sky high Pittsburgh, but it's still nice in some ways."
"Well I think it sounds amazing."

With that we both fell silent just looking to the stars. Everything was perfect in that moment. I would remember this once for the scrapbook of life.