Only got two more chapters after this! :O
To propheciesandbluecookies- YES! It was Geryon's ranch! :D
To 8Ball3- And I've never even been to Texas! (I just kept playing cowboys in my head, that worked :P ) And I needed some last minute drama, no biggie :P
Ok, first of all- ow. Second of all… Storm bit Louisa's hand.
"Ow!" Louisa hissed, withdrawing and shaking the injured appendage. "I am tryin' ta help you."
You are balding me.
"I ain't baldin' you!"
Look! Look at what you did! Storm snorted at the floor. Louisa didn't look down, narrowing her eyes at the pegasus instead. Storm did not appreciate that, aiming to bite her hand again. My poor feathers! She accused, ears lying flat. Louisa sighed. She stood in a small scattering of baby feathers Storm had been moulting. Louisa had simply cleared the excess from Storm's wings, not very many considering the filly wouldn't stay still and seemed intent on eating her human's arm. You are balding me!
"I ain't!" To Louisa, the pile of baby feathers was perhaps enough to bury a twig. To Storm, it was like Louisa had come along and plucked her like a bird for dinner. "Stop bein' such a prat."
You're a prat. Storm huffed. Louisa reached for her again and she whinnied, bouncing out of range. Go away, you monster!
"If it itches later, I ain't helpin' you." She raised an eyebrow. Storm pawed the ground, shaking her head defiantly. Louisa shrugged, grabbing up her backpack.
Storm's wings were now large enough to begin flying. They were not yet fully grown, maybe another year or so, but advanced enough to get her above the treetops. She was also able to carry Louisa on her back now too, for short periods of time, albeit only walking, something they both enjoyed- Louisa's feet hurt, so it was a relief, and Storm liked tipping her off into piles of mud, which was fun. Debatably fun.
Louisa reached the top of an incline, sighing. She carefully stepped over a patch of daffodils, a cool breeze wafting their scent up to itch her nose. Walking from Texas to San Francisco was, unsurprisingly, taking a hell of a lot longer than planned. They had gone the wrong way to start off with, reaching the border to Mexico only to be chased away by border patrol and a flurry of bird ladies. They got held up in San Antonio by a talking statue that insisted it was giving her profound advice but only ever told her to brush her bed and make her hair.
When Louisa told it she didn't have a bed, it became rather angry and accused her of wasting its time. It became even more irate when she asked how a statue could be busy.
Up to Dallas, where they restocked. Took a wrong turn into Oklahoma, wandered around for a week, the end of which came with a rather aggressive pigeon wanting her sandwich. Storm thought it was most amusing. Louisa did not.
The Kansas-Arkansas debate came up again. Louisa forgot Huxley wasn't there with his map anymore and cried herself to sleep in the roots of an oak tree. That did her no favours- nightmares were only just behind her eyelids, waiting to pounce.
The next thing she remembered was Valentine's Day. Between Arkansas and Colorado Springs, her memory was empty. She recalled the nightmares. Always. Then she was looking at the mass of roses and heart-shaped chocolate boxes being snatched up by men laughing and joking about leaving things to the last minute, but also looking rather panic-stricken that they had.
Restocked in Utah. Down to Arizona, wrong turn into New Mexico and then back to Arizona. Louisa finally relented and stole a map. She knew exactly where San Francisco was, despite the letters swarming around and refusing to stay in place. San Francisco was on the edge of California, near the top. Arizona clung onto California's butt, as Storm described, somewhere in Phoenix.
"We're lost."
We're not lost.
"We're always lost."
Well, yeah. But that's not the attitude to have.
"What is then?"
Something with a smile? Or with apples, preferably.
"Ya've had three apples this mornin'."
Two.
"Three."
No, I want two more.
"No."
You're starving me.
"You're fine."
I'm skin and bones, me.
"Mm-hm."
Are we really lost?
"I think we're here."
The map's upside down. Storm snorted, laughter glimmering in her eyes. Louisa grumbled, squinting at the map. She turned it over, delighting the pegasus.
"You're upside down." She complained.
They reached California at the beginning of spring. Three or four months, it had taken, Louisa wasn't exactly sure which, but definitely in that area. If she was reading the map right and if it wasn't upside down again, they were getting close to- and she had to ask someone to help her read this- San Bernardino. Louisa called it San Bern. Too many letters.
This is where she stepped over the daffodils. She lingered by them for a moment, watching them bob in a gentle breeze. Arnie liked daffodils.
Ooh, yum. Storm decided, sniffing the flowers.
"Don't eat them."
But I want them!
"Leave 'em alone, Storm. C'mon." Louisa motioned with her head and kept walking. Storm huffed sulkily, plodding along behind her and grumbling. "I can hear you."
Turn your ears off then.
"That ain't how it works."
Should be.
Storm nudged her at some point that night. They had hunkered down in a park, bundled under blankets rather than starting a fire. Louisa had been drawing, letting her hand drift across the paper, thoughts elsewhere. She had thought Storm was asleep, debating pulling some more of her moulting feathers off before she woke up to bite her again. She was just reaching for the down when Storm's head popped up. Louisa froze, but the pegasus was looking away from her, ears pricked.
"What is it?" She asked, voice no louder than a whisper.
People? Storm tipped her head, huffing uncertainly. I think it's people.
"Not monsters?"
No?
"That helps." Louisa sighed. She stowed her things away in her backpack, rising. Storm snorted, tottering to her feet and taking the lead.
Her head swivelled this way and that as they walked, listening and sniffing the air. Louisa kept a hand on her watch, stepping carefully through the undergrowth, keeping half her attention on the floor, lest she tripped headfirst over something in the dark.
This way. Storm directed, about ten minutes later, taking a right turn between some bushes. Louisa followed, sleeve snagging on a branch. She pulled herself free. Storm was crouching behind yet more bushes, watching something through the leaves. It's people. She confirmed. Louisa knelt beside her, looking too.
Unlike her, these people had lit a fire. Like her, they were kids. A tall blond boy was dropping sticks into the flames. A dark haired girl was playing with her bracelet. Beside her, a girl closer to Louisa's age, with curly blonde hair tied back from her face. She was leaning on the older girl's shoulder, asleep. I think they're like you. Storm supplied quietly. Louisa grunted in response. Of course they were like her.
"Let's go."
But-
"Last time we found people like me, I got 'em killed."
That's not true.
"They're dead, ain't they?" Louisa retorted in a hiss. Storm's ears flattened, she huffed. Louisa sighed, rubbing at her face. "I'm sorry. Let's… let's just go." The pegasus nodded, rising but keeping her head down.
Once they were out of earshot, Louisa sighed again, scratching her behind the ears. "I'm sorry, Storm."
I know.
"Can't do it again."
I know. I just don't like seeing you alone.
"I'm not alone. Got you, ain't I?"
Be grateful.
"I am."
Does that mean I can have apples now?
"No."
Don't like you.
"Don't like you either." Louisa stuck her tongue out. Storm bit at her fingers. Louisa swept her hand out of the way, mollifying the filly with another ear scratch. "Love ya, Storm."
Love you too. Now feed me.
