Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

The shop that they were standing in was so shady it put Bianca's to shame. And that was saying something considering that hers was mistaken for being an abandoned building at least once a week by squatters looking for a place to crash. Bianca nudged at a lone screw that lay on the bare wooden floor with the toe of her boot, sending a cloud of dust hurling into the air. She wrinkled her nose in disgust.

Rick had insisted that this would be their best bet in securing transportation, but she was beginning to have her doubts. Glancing around the small shack of a building, she took in the dingy lighting, the work tables propped up by what seemed like hope and will alone, and the greasy oil that glimmered on nearly every surface. The faster that they got far away the better.

A short, greasy man sat on the tattered armchair in the center of the room with his feet resting on the desk in front of him. As much as she tried to stare him down, the man refused to meet her eyes and instead seemed totally focused on picking at the splintering wood of his arm rest.

"And I've told you five times now that we don't want a street car. We want something that can go through the desert." Rick sighed, his patience clearly wearing thin already. His wife's grip on his arm tightened slightly as if telling him to calm down.

"I have already offered you my best cars. There is nothing else that I can do." The man said, his accent garbling his words so badly that Bianca had to strain to understand him.

Rick placed one hand on the man's desk and leaned in closer, "I know for a fact that you have an old army vehicle sitting out back right now."

Bianca say the man's eyes flicker up to meet Rick's for a split second before darting away. He gulped. "You ment that car? Why didn't you say so? I will give it to you for 150. Very cheap."

She could hear Jonathan gasp slightly at the mentioning of such a large sum. If they were back in Britain, they could buy a brand new ford for the same price and two of the car in question.

"I don't really think you understand what I've been telling you," Rick said, his voice dangerously low. "We need that car. So either you can let us buy it off of you for a reasonable price, or you might not be in business for much longer. Do you get where I'm going with this?"

The man nodded slowly, as if it pained him to not squeeze as much money from the customers as possible. "Fine. Fifty and the car is yours. I'll even throw in an extra tank of gas just for being such a good customer."

Bianca wouldn't have be surprised if Rick had reached out and clocked the man for giving so much sass right there and then. Instead, she watched as he reached into his pack and pulled out a ratty old wallet. After counting out the exact charge and throwing it onto the man's desk, Rick turned around and said, "Why don't you two go and put all of our things in the car. Jonathan and I can stay here and pick up the extra parts that we might need.

Bianca nodded, thankful for a chance to escape the shop, and was back outside into the boiling sun before Evy even had a chance to follow her. Thankfully, the large pile of trunks and bags that they had unceremoniously dumped on the ground before entering hadn't been disturbed. She went for one of the largest ones and started dragging it towards the back of the store.

"Oh, Bianca, let me help you with that!"

She felt the other end of the trunk being lifted into the air and the weight being taken from her. "It's fine, Evy."

The trunk was tugged back as her helper stopped in her tracks. Bianca whipped around to face the woman, nearly losing her balance when her cane got caught in the soft sand. The other woman was looking at her intensely with a strange look on her face. Bianca wasn't used to people looking at her with something other than barely disguised pity.

"Miss Bianca, do you like us?"

That was the last thing that she had expected to come from the woman's mouth. Her expression must have signaled that she had been caught off guard because the woman continued, "I mean, I know that this is all an awful lot to take in at one time and I don't expect you to welcome everything with open arms, but..."

"But what?"

Evy avoided meeting her eyes as she spoke, "Sometimes I feel as if you don't exactly want to be around us." She glanced up suddenly and began to look panicked. "I'm so sorry. That was incredibly rude of me."

Regret washed over Bianca as she thought back over the last few days. She knew that she could be short with people on occasion, but besides Louis and her family, there weren't many people that she was around often enough for them to comment on it. 'I never meant to upset Evy. Jonathan maybe, but not her.'

Seeming to notice her discomfort, Evy shook her head, signaling that she didn't need a response. Bianca turned back around and took a few steps forward, still struggling with the weight of the trunk.

The car that they had just purchased was not a sight to behold. Rust dotted its frame and the windshield seemed to have a coat of sand ingrained into the glass. But it was a desert car, the same that was used by the British during the Great War and would get them across the desert twice as fast as conventional means if they were lucky. With barely enough room for two and no roof to shelter them from the desert sun she could tell already that it would be a tight and uncomfortable ride.

With the help of Evy, the first trunk was heaved into the trunk and shoved around to make as much room as possible. Bianca glanced down at her hands which were already turning red from the work and sighed. "Evelyn?"

Evy, who had already started back towards the front of the shop, stopped, "Yes?"

Looking everywhere, but at the woman she was speaking to, Bianca said, "I don't...I don't dislike you. In fact, I really admire you. The way you're able to pull yourself together and take charge like that is something that I can only dream about doing myself."

She paused and snuck a quick glance to make sure that she was still listening, "I guess you all are already a team. You work together, you know one another and you get along and then here I come and mess it all up. I'm just some cripple that's caused far more trouble than I'm worth." She laughed hollowly.

"Oh, Bianca, surely you don't mean that?" she was back at her side in a split second. "We may be family, but you're not unwelcome here in the least!"

Bianca studied the woman's kind face and felt embarrassment and regrets wash over her. It seemed to click suddenly in her mind how foolish she was being. "Thank you, Evy. Thank you so much."

The emotions that she had been holding in seemed to overflow at that moment. Her knees turned to jelly and her eyes began to build up the tears that she had been denying for weeks now. She quickly turned her head away. "I'm sorry, it's just been a rough time lately with this and Louis...I don't know what's wrong with me."

Evy whipped out a handkerchief from her breast pocket and held it out to Bianca, who took it with a shaky hand. "It's alright to grieve, Bianca. I know that when my parents passed away I was a royal mess for months."

Before Bianca got a chance to thank her again, Rick called out from the store. "I thought you two were moving the bags, not having a gossip session!"

"Oh, hush up! It's only been a minute." His wife called back to him. Bianca sniffed and mopped up the tears that had managed to escape and shoved the used cloth into her own skirt pocket. With one last smile at each other, the women went to go help the men.

For the life of her, Bianca couldn't tell where she was. She turned around in circles, taking in the sights before her in awe. It was some kind of court yard, she could see that much, with crystal blue pools on both sides of the path way that seemed to stretch on for miles and impossibly tall pillars reaching up to the sky. Even the air that she breathed in seemed clean and somehow more vibrant. It was like paradise.

She began to walk forward, the heat of the marble warming her bare feet with each step. The wind whistling past her ears brought with them the sound of chiming glass and the soft notes of music.

"Hello?" She called out to the empty space, for once not feeling foolish for speaking to no one.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when she received an answer. "You shouldnt be here. A raspy a ghostly voice ran through her mind. What do you seek in the book? What ever treasure you look for, the price is too great. Turn back. Leave your quest."

Bianca spun around in an attempt to locate the source of the voice, but found that she was still alone in the court yard. Who are you? She asked, "Are you that prince that Evy was talking about? Oh, what was his name? I'm sure it was something ridiculous."

The voice returned and if she didn't know better she would have sworn that the speaker was standing right next to her, "I am one of the chosen guardians of the book. The Gods will not look kindly at your refusal to stand down. You will be punished if you continue."

Panic was beginning to grow in the pit of her stomach. "No, you don't understand. We dont want the book, we're stopping this guy from getting it. He's insane! You'd understand if you met him."

The voice was coming from all directions now. "You refuse to stop your quest. The gods will not allow this. You will be destroyed by the trials before you get even close. You have made your choice, and now you will have to face the consequences."

The wind swirling around her began to pick up speed. She was forced to close her eyes to shield them from the harsh blowing and the whipping sand that it carried with it. Bianca felt her knees buckle and her head pound as marble below her began to tremble. The whispering voice of the guardian was joined by others, all morphing together into a constant drone of words all run together. Just when she was sure that she had reached her limit and her vision began to go dark, one voice in particular jumped out from the rest.

Louis? She thought through her muddled mind as she drifted into consciousness.

She woke with a start. Her head shot around as she took in the sights of the desert dunes and the dark sky up above them. It took a moment, but she soon realized that they were still all in their designated places in the car, with Rick and Evy both sprawled out in the front and her still placed on top of the luggage. A smile wormed its way across her face when she noticed that someone had been kind enough to drape a blanket across her lap while she had slept.

Running a hand across her face, Bianca thought back to her dream. Now that it was over, she realized that it was nothing to even worry about. For as long as she could remember, her dreams had been vivid and they always mixed in pieces of her daily life in with them. It was hardly a surprise that she would dream about the book when they were in fact chasing after the thing. She couldn't even begin to count the number of dreams that she'd had that included Louis since his death either. They were starting to become the standard.

The feeling of movement at her side shook her out of her thoughts. She turned just in time to see a sleeping Jonathan slide even closer to her. One arm managed to squeeze its way around her middle as he dropped his head onto her shoulder, effectively trapping her.

Her first instinct was to shove the man away, but the longer he stayed there, the more warmth transferred from him to her. And in the desert in the middle of the night, you need as much warmth as you can get. So, with a final sigh and a resigned roll of her eyes, Bianca shrugged back down into a better sleeping position and closed her eyes yet again. Thankfully, no one was awake to see the ghost of a smile that crossed her lips at her new found comfort.

"If you want them awake so bad, then why don't you go get them up?"

"Because, I'm in the middle of something, darling. Just go over and knock on the windshield or something."

Bianca lifted her head, still dazed and confused about just where she was and what all the noise was. The bright sun hurt her eyes as her brain fought to come up with an explanation as to why she was crammed into a corner on top of someone's suitcase. The sight of the surrounding desert seemed to bring it all back to her.

She sighed and tried to stretch her arms above her head like she usually did after a nights sleep, but found that they were trapped to her side by a somehow familiar weight. She inwardly groaned and turned her head to face the body that had draped its self across her own. Now she remembered.

With one sharp jab with her elbow, she forced Jonathan awake and then quickly dropped her own head back down to feign sleep. There was no need to make this any more awkward than it needed to be. She could hear him jolt awake and soon felt him lift himself up from the slouched position he had managed to fall asleep in. Both arms remained entangled with her.

"I forgot that we were still in this godforsaken desert for a moment." He groaned to himself. She smiled slightly at his comment. She was glad that she wasn't the only one to make that mistake.

The leather case beneath them squeaked as he slowly, gingerly, pulled himself away from her. She noticed the loss of heat immediately and for a moment she was tempted to lean back into his side.

Bianca could hear him jump from the car and onto the sand below and took that as her cue to wake up again. She stretched out her arms and worked to get the feeling back into them. Taking a moment to look around at her surroundings, she finally noticed the sight before them. An oasis, full of date trees and ferns stood high above them not a hundred feet away. She could hear the sounds of the birds and she could have sworn that she could pick up the sound of running water as well.

"So, is this it then?" Jonathan asked.

Bianca swung her legs over the edge of the car and prepared to jump down as the other three began speaking.

"We're pretty sure." Rick said.

His wife turned back towards the car and stopped for a second when she saw Bianca. "Oh, do be careful with that. The last thing we need is someone getting a twisted ankle, or worse out here. In fact, Jonathan, why don't you go and help Ms. Bianca get down from there."

Jonathan looked from his sister, to the car and then back to Evy. Seeing that it had been an order and not a question, he rolled his eyes and walked back to the car where Bianca was waiting with crossed arms and a stern expression.

"Well?" he asked when he stood directly in front of her.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "What? Aren't you going to help me? Or am I going to have to call Evy back over here?" Her tone was serious, but the slight twist up to her mouth made him think that there may have been a spark of playful teasing hidden in her words.

"If it's what the princess demands, then I have no choice." he said. She found herself being easily lifted from the rim of the car and placed down on the soft sand bellow. Bianca nodded her head slightly at her helper before turning her back on him to search for her cane in the piles of stuff that had been thrown into the car. She could head a faint sigh from Jonathan then the sound of him walking away.

With her cane in hand, she finally made her way to the edge of the oasis where the others were waiting. Her mind was still foggy with sleep, but she was awake enough to know that there was something odd about the large cluster of trees that stood before her.

"Well, come on."

Bianca looked over just in time to see Rick disappear into the brush with Evy close on his heels. As she scampered towards the tree line, she saw that Jonathan was waiting just at the edge for her. When she was nearly there, she asked, "Do they always just barge right in like that? I mean, they honestly have no idea what's going on."

Jonathan pushed a few of the low hanging branches out of the way like he was opening a door for her and said, "You have no idea. It's a wonder they've lived this long."

Bianca's mouth crept into a small smile as she slid past him and into the dense forest. If those two could survive things like this every day, then she at least had a bit of a chance herself.

Rises from the depths of hell, posts a chapter, slides back down into the underworld in shame