A Quest To The Known

chapter four

Lucas

The sun was at its peak, melting any bit of snow that was left from last night's drizzle when, for the first time, I pulled over. The snow gave place to bright green grass, that extended for kilometers. Four vehicles, counting my own, were parked on the restaurant's driveway. I was sure they were, like us, trying to get a bite before continuing their trip. I wasn't familiar with this part of town but this seemed to be the only spot that had edible food that wasn't just fast food. I had enough unhealthy food in the car to last me a year.

Lyra snored in a way I didn't imagine was possible as she slept next to me. One foot down and the other on top of the seat. Ruining what looked like a difficult hairstyle to achieve, by moving her head around the headrest. The surprisingly aggressive sun, for January, hit her face in a way that was sure to give her a tan.

I took the time before she woke up to work on my newest project: finding out who Lyra's mother was. From the day she told me, I felt intrigued. So I looked for records of births on her birth year - that I had to guess so it took a lot longer than anticipated, she looked older than she actually was - and found nothing. That was one of the reasons I agreed on taking her. It was the only reason.

I trusted my hacking skills, I had been working on them for 10 years now. When I found nothing, two things came to my mind, the hospital hadn't digitalized their records yet or someone was working extra hard to hide her mother's identity. Whatever option was right, something was suspicious and it appealed to the preteen Lucas who loved Sherlock Holmes.

Every place I tried to look, that didn't involve invading her dad's privacy, was a dead end, "You look cute when you're all serious."

"Fucking hell, how long have you been awake?" Lyra sat in the same position she was sleeping in only a few minutes ago.

She shrugs, with eyes half open and blinking from beneath her glasses, "Like, half an hour maybe. I was too lazy to get up and you weren't paying attention anyway," Was I supposed to be sorry for that? "And pay up."

"What?"

"I bet I could make you talk to me and I did," I rolled my eyes at her. I had forgotten about that. "I didn't even have to talk a lot. I literally just slept. Easiest money I've ever made."

That was, undoubtedly, a lie. For the first two hours of the ride, she spoke. A lot. I admired her ability to speak like that. She spoke about everything that happened in Blume for the past two years, repeating some of the things Aunt Carina had already said and trying to crack jokes. She even sang once. Her voice was awful.

Despite all that, not once did I respond. Not because of the bet, exactly, I liked staying quiet. Gave me peace of mind to think. Not that I did a lot of thinking with her talking incessantly. I kept in mind that she didn't talk about herself. Not once.

"I'm gonna give it to you, but only because I keep my word," I took the money I kept in my car, smoothing over the rumpled notes until I counted fifty. When I gave it to her, she looked at my hand for a second and then waved it off.