Hybrids

Chapter 16

I am laying my head on the window of the passenger seat door, when we hit a bump in the road and my head violently smacks on the window.

"Oh ow! What the fuck?" I exclaim, rubbing my head with my hand.

Sigjon is sitting in the driver seat of the car and promptly starts laughing at my injury.

"Oh, is little Ren hurt? Do you need a bandage?" Sigjon says sarcastically.

I smack his arm and say, "That hasn't happened to me since middle school when I would fall asleep on the bus in the morning."

"Yeah. I remember that happening to me too. But in the car with my sister on the way to school."

I look at Sigjon's profile while he is fixed on the road ahead. I would like to know more about his life at some point. I hope that I live long enough to get the chance.

I watch as Sigjon brings his arm up to fiddle with the GPS system Lilja gave us before we left, and he starts to push random buttons.

Lilja said that we can only use this GPS to help us because she put a protective charm over it to keep the satellite under the radar. But unfortunately, the charm has a shelf life of only three hours so we can only use it if we are really in a pickle.

"Hey, Sig? Do you need help navigating or something?" I ask.

"Um, I think yes. Can you grab the map from the backseat?" Sigjon asks me.

I unbuckle my seatbelt and snatch the map from the seat behind me. I look at the location with the number two mark and traced the road with my finger. It looks like this location is only about two hours east from where we are.

"Hm," I start. "I think Lilja covered up the name of this place with her labels."

Sigjon turns his head briefly to look at the map and then lets out a small chuckle.

"What?" I ask.

"Lilja is sending us some place fun," Sigjon replies.

"What do you mean?"

"Geysir is part of the famous Golden Circle of Iceland. All of the best natural phenomena in Iceland are in that circle. One of them is the famous Geysir geysers."

"Oh yeah! I read about that in a guidebook Aron left in the apartment! But do you actually think Lilja is worried about us having fun? I mean we should probably take this seriously; don't you think?" My head keeps replaying the horrifying dream from last night. The image of that nasty monster is ingrained in my head. If anything, it made me feel the weight of this little adventure fall more heavily on my shoulders.

Sigjon rubs his chin and says, "I suppose you are right. But if this is really the next location, it wouldn't hurt to go and see it. Besides, this is low tourist season, so there shouldn't be too many people. We can blend in."

I think about it. Maybe it would be nice to let a natural wonder distract me for a little while.

"Okay. Let's go."

Sigjon claps one hand on my shoulder and shakes me a little. "To Geysir!"

I huff a laugh out at him and plug my phone into the car to play some music.

I have to admit, I am really happy that Sigjon is here with me. I know I probably shouldn't be, but he makes things feel more safe and warm. I guess that is what I like about him. His ability to find fun in the mundane is a trait that is not easily come by in most people. He truly is a unique sort of energy. And I think that is the energy that helped my powers awaken, now that I think about it.