Chapter 11
When I inspect my leg I find that the car that hit me caused some bruising and made small cuts in my skin. I place disinfectant on the cuts before bandaging them and looking over to Felix, who's eyes are fixed on the road ahead. I slide my jeans back up and fasten the zip and button.
"Hungry?" Felix asks.
"Starved." I nod, leaning back on the seat. We go through the drive-though of a fast food place and order meals. We pull over on the side of the road and Felix climbs under the car to find the tracker while I walk around to the front to look under the hood.
"Got it." Felix calls, getting up and throwing away the tracker. We climb back in and quickly drive away, beginning our meals in silence. Once I finish I put the rubbish in the back seat and lean my seat back to rest.
"How did you do it, anyway?" I ask, closing my eyes.
"It was the noises of the plane that woke me up. They had me on the seat inside and mustn't have expected me to wake up so early. It wasn't that hard to get a hold of one of their tranquilliser guns and take their car. I grabbed one of their earpieces and figured that they were after you. How did you get this?" He taps the map on the dashboard.
"I stole it from an old lady." I mumble it and smile at Felix's chuckle.
–
We drive along with the radio on and I rest my eyes, occasionally drifting in and out of sleep. I offer to take over driving but Felix remains adamant the whole drive. I wake up when we come to a full stop and Felix unbuckles himself from the seat.
"We're not too far. I'm getting supplies, got any money?" I nod and point to the backpack at my feet. He grabs some of the cash and closes the door. I drift back to sleep until he comes back, opening my door. He catches me by surprise and I sit up quickly at the sound. He's already leaned in and we almost head butt each other. I gasp at our faces just inches from each other and he raises his eyebrows in surprise.
"I just needed more money." He says, one of his hands on the bag by my side. My heart beats fast in my chest and I can smell his pleasant scent. Felix slowly moves his hand from the bag and places it on my cheek gently. I lean back against the seat and bite my lip, knowing that this is bad; And what's about to happen is even worse. My heart, however, aches and I find myself placing my hand over his on my face. He leans closer to me and our lips meet, slowly at first and then with more pressure. His other hand moves to my waist and I press my body closer to his, deepening our kiss. I move my hands up to his hair and we pull away for a moment to breath heavily, looking at each other. He moves in to kiss me again and I allow him, by now he's kneeled half in the car and half on the ground outside and our bodies are close. His hand slides down to my thigh and I let out a gasp of pain as it runs over my bandage; which causes him to quickly jump off of me in panic.
"Sorry- did I?-" He stutters, looking down at where my bandage is with worry on his face. I keep my eyes on him.
"I'll go-" He steps back out of the car and hits the back of his head on the door frame. I sit forward quickly to check if he's okay and he rubs the back of his head while looking at me with an odd expression; he looks guilty. I gulp and silently hand him my backpack. He takes it from me and hurriedly turns to walk back into the small shopping complex he came from. As soon as he's out of sight I pull my door shut and look at myself in the mirror. I run my hands through my hair and try to calm my breathing. I make eye contact with myself in the mirror again and curse at the judgemental eyes looking back at me. I know I can't handle the awkwardness of the conversation to come so I slide into the back seat and feign being asleep for when Felix returns.
When he does come back to the car I hear him place the new supplies on the passenger seat along with my backpack. He pauses for a moment and I have to fight the urge to peak and see what he's doing. I wish I had fought harder because when I do open my eyes I find that he's staring right back at me. We both go silent and he blinks at me for a moment before turning around and starting the engine. I rub my eyes in frustration and bury my face into the leather seat. For the rest of the drive I I keep quiet in the back seat and Felix says nothing from the front.
–
I'm lying on my back and staring at the stars when Felix stops the car and clears his throat.
"We're here." He says. I sit up and look over at him. He has the map in his hand and we're stopped by a road sign. I look around us and through the darkness I see nothing but a large area of rice paddies.
"So, what now?" I ask, looking over at him. Felix is already looking at me and when our eyes meet he gulps. I can tell he's wondering how I meant that, and if I was referring to what we had already done. I turn away from him and step out of the car to look around; Felix does the same.
"I remember hearing that there was one of those protection spells around it. We're both used to magic so I suppose we'll just split up and see if we feel anything." I say, walking around to the passenger side of the car and grabbing my backpack.
"Okay, but-" He pauses and I turn to look at him. "-Just... stay close, okay?" He says.
"I can take care of myself, you should know that by now." I roll my eyes at him and walk off, trying to hide the slight limp I walk with. I continue walking with purpose and within a few minutes I hear Felix running up behind me. I stop walking and turn to him.
"What is it? Did you find it already?" I ask.
"No I just figured that when the farmers work on these paddies they cover every inch of it. If there's going to be a secret witch hide-out they'd probably base it in the forest over there." He nods to the tree line behind me and I can't help but feel embarrassed.
"Good point." I say, without turning back to him. We walk off side by side towards the tree line and neither of us say a word. We begin to walk through the forest when I finally glance over at Felix.
"What supplies did you buy?" I ask. He reaches into his bag and hands me a case of tranquilliser bullets to go with the gun I have in my bag. I take the case and look at it, bringing the gun out of my bag.
"Where did you get these?" I ask with surprise.
"I met a few contacts while I was working with Gao's men. They showed me ways to get a hold of certain items that wouldn't usually be sold in shops." He says. I load more of the bullets into the gun to fill it and smirk.
"They're illegal aren't they?"
"Very." He nods; Reloading his gun with the bullets as well.
"So what else?" I look over at his bag and he stops walking to dig through it.
"More medical stuff and some food." I try to concentrate on the noises around me to see if I can notice anything out of the ordinary. My focus is broken when Felix breaks a twig when he steps towards me.
"What your plan with this anyway?" He asks.
"We're going to storm the castle." I smile, holding the gun up and switching the safety button off.
"Okay, but seriously Lena- What's the plan here? There's a good chance we could be killed."
"Do you remember when Li would be at meetings all day so you, William and I passed the time by playing poker?" I ask, walking ahead to look around.
"Yes, you usually won. To be fair though, it's hard for a man to bluff when you look at him." I turn around to smile at him and he smiles back at me.
"Poker was always my game." I stop walking. "I got the map from a witch who told me that Li is a powerful warlock. I can tell he's the type of person to have some influence both in the oil business and in his family's social circles."
"Li is a warlock? As in an actual magic-wielding male witch?" Felix raises an eyebrow.
"Yeah, he's a pretty good liar too. Anyway, I don't think that these witches are going kill his fiancé." I notice an odd shape carved into the tree I'm standing next to. I walk up to it and trace my finger over the carving, it appears to be some sort of rune.
"This is the guy who you knocked out and whose parents you pointed a gun at- do you really think he still loves you enough to protect you?" He has a smirk on his face as he asks and he joins me by the tree to look at the rune.
"I think you're forgetting how deeply men tend to feel for me." I say it jokingly but notice that Felix has taken another step towards me.
"I think I have a pretty good understanding." He says, slowly moving closer to me. His fingertips brush against mine on the tree and his face is close enough that I can smell his breath. I look up at him and inhale slowly, feeling my chest constrict as his lips draw closer to mine. Then suddenly I hear something odd near me.
"Do you hear that?" I ask, breaking the silence and causing Felix to snap his head up to attention. He furrows his eyebrows and slowly nods.
"Sounds like... flickering flames." He says it with curiosity and we both look around. I notice another tree near us with a similar carving on it- another rune. I step towards the other tree and that's when a light pops up in my peripheral. I look over at it and am taken aback when I realise I hadn't noticed the large cave entrance sitting among some rocks.
"You see this, right?" I ask Felix, my eyes wide.
"See what?" He hurries to my side and steps back when he notices the torches hung on the outside rocks of the entrance.
"I think we found it." He says. We look at each other and worry crosses Felix's face once again. I slide my hand down to his and he grips onto mine, squeezing it lightly.
"We'll be fine. We'll just go in there, get Peter and get out. Simple." I smile half-heartedly to him.
"It's not that I'm worried about." He says.
"What is it then?" I tilt my head.
"I worried about what will happen between us after we get Pan out. And the fact that that's my biggest worry right now just makes me feel guilty- because Pan is like my brother." I consider this and look to the ground out of guilt. If I were asked to choose between them I still don't have a clear answer. All I know is that it's time to prioritise; and getting Peter to safety is at the top of the list. I move my hand out of Felix's and place both hands on my gun.
"Let's just make sure he's okay- alright?" I ask, turning to look at Felix. His expression quickly changes and all emotion fades away. He grips his gun expertly and lowers his posture to begin walking with stealth. He nods to me and starts to move to the entrance; as I look at him I can't help but be reminded of a soldier.