The next thing I knew, the roads under us had grown much smoother, and the sun had risen over the horizon.

"Good morning..."

I turned to face Alabaster, "How far have we gone?"

"We've been driving about seven hours." Alabaster pulled into the parking lot of a building, the sign reading Central Line Visitors Center.

"Why are we stopping?"

She unbuckled herself, "Because unlike you immortals, after driving for seven hours, a girl's gotta stretch and relieve herself."
She then leaned over and undid the chains. "Come on."

"I don't require to-"

"Maybe not now, but five minutes after we get on the road, I guarantee you will. Now come on."

I undid the seat belt and climbed out of the car after her, "...This is the strangest experience I think I've ever encountered."

"Same here."

I followed her a few steps, but paused to look back at the road we'd temporarily turned off of.
I could run right now, sprint for the trees on the other side and be on my own again... But for some reason it didn't feel right to. This girl owed me nothing- if anything I owed her an astronomical apology- and yet she'd just given up her job, her home and her reputation to protect me. It seemed so foolish for her to give up everything for someone she didn't really know, but I knew she was far from a fool.

Perhaps it was a mortal thing, one of the many impulses they gained that I had neither experienced nor understood... But I almost wanted to.

"Standing in the middle of the lot's not a good idea."

I looked up as she spoke, finding her at the door to the building and tapping her foot impatiently. I gave one more look at the wood...And then moved to join her.

We were back on the road shortly after, and after promising no 'funny-business,' she allowed me to ride unchained.
I looked out the window as we drove, as fields, lakes and hills passed us between towns, and I finally bothered to ask, "Where exactly are you taking me?"

"Timber Creek." Alabaster replied. "I have a house there we can hide out in... the only way to reach it is through a mountain pass, which will be blocked off by snow soon."

"Which will prevent anyone from following us?" I suggested, getting a nod. "Excellent strategy."
As we pulled off onto a side road and the blinker flashed for a moment, I turned to her. "How long have you been driving?"

"Well, we left Harbinger at about 12 AM, so-"

"No. I meant how long have you been able to drive?"

"Oh...Almost twenty-five years."

"You don't look like you've been driving that long. In fact, you look the same as you did when I met you."
She blushed, keeping her gaze off of me. She knew it was coming. "How old are you, exactly?"

"First of all, you don't ask a woman their age." She turned to me, "Second, I know what you're thinking, and no, I'm not immortal...not really. I just don't choose to look my age. If I did, people would recognize me and it would raise questions... questions I don't want anything to do with. Dammit, just go around...!"

I raised an eyebrow, wondering if she was still talking to me, but then caught sight of a car behind us. "...They seem rather close to us."

"Exactly. They've been riding my bumper for a while and I'm already going the speed limit." Her ears folded back against her head, "Part of me's tempted to just put this thing into flight mode."

I perked up, "Your vehicle has flight capabilities? Why haven't you engaged it before?"

"Because what it makes up for in speed and 'coolness', it severely lacks in fuel efficiency. Also, I'd need to pick up a little more speed than this..." She looked back at the car, which seemed to be inching ever closer to us. "...Aw heck with it."

I looked as she then swerved into the other lane and her foot pressed the pedal to the floor. The car's engine roared as we picked up speed, and then she pulled a lever, and the rattling of the road then vanished, replaced by a vibrating under my feet. The landscape fell below us, the road becoming a thin strip of gray winding through green below.
"Do I dare ask how you obtained such a vehicle...?" I questioned.

"You can ask, but I won't tell..."

Fair enough.

We flew for only a short time, but it was long enough that the green under us had begun to shift, and by the time we returned to the pavement, all green had been replaced by a clear and bright shade... White.

I hadn't seen much snow, Soleanna was too hot for it most years. But I had enough knowledge of it to know that it could be both beautiful and dangerous.

"How much do you think is on the ground?" I asked.

"Only a few inches," Alabaster replied. "But by tomorrow, it should be at least a foot. That's twelve inches."

"I know. You act as if I shouldn't know these things."

"Well since you've spent most of your life either locked up in a lab or locked up in a scepter, it's hard to calculate how much about the world you actually know."

"It's still not considerate to call someone stupid."

"I didn't, I called you 'a ten-year-old who's spent most of his life in a canister.'"

"That's offensive."

"I don't really care. If I'm rude, fine, but you're not gonna get me to apologize for speaking the truth."

...she's more like me than I at first guessed. "So this safehouse of yours... why do you have it?"

"Just in case of something like this... in case someone recognized me and I had to leave town."

"What, are you some outlaw?"

"No...I'm a dead girl who wants to stay that way..."

I didn't ask any more questions, because then we entered Arin's Pass.
The rocky cliffs around us towered high, and I suddenly felt an urge to get out of there as soon as possible. I'd spent too much time sealed away and trapped.

We drove for a good ten minutes through the pass, everything getting darker and darker by the second, then, we finally pulled free, and I saw Timber Creek below.
It was far from the large cities I'd grown used to on this car ride. Small, its lights stuck out like stars against a dark landscape in the valley below. It looked like those little towns you'd see on holiday postcards, quiet and peaceful, which may be what I needed.

Alabaster pulled up to a small building, and I slumped back in my seat as she looked down the window.

"Welcome to Tim...Abbie!" The bird behind the desk grinned, "I haven't seen you in some time!"

"Always fashionably late, Eric." Alabaster grinned, "You be careful getting home to the kids."

"Will do."

Alabaster pulled away and I relaxed, sitting up again.

Alabaster saw this and grinned. "Relax, nobody here would even care if they knew who you were."

"To the world I'm either a killer or a lunatic..."

"Or just a new face in town. Don't worry, we can hang out here as long as we'd like."

Or at least until Iblis thinks I froze to death... The cold air that had entered the car while we were stopped had been freezing.

The drive down into the little town was without conversation, and I noticed lots of people still out on the streets, despite the weather.
Finally Alabaster pulled into a quieter part of town and then pulled the car into the garage of a small house. "Here we are..." she whispered as she got out.

I hesitated a moment, my hand on the handle, then slowly, I opened the door and exited the vehicle.

Here I was. In a strange place, in a strange house with somebody I hardly knew...

...And yet I felt more safe than I ever had before.