Chapter Sixteen: Seriously, Where Are We?
"Two-Bit?" Carmen said. "You can stop hanging on like your life depends on it." They were soaring smoothly now.
Two-Bit relaxed his grip on the carpet, but still hung on anyway. Carmen noticed this. "You're not going to fall off, even if you wanted to. See?"
Two-Bit let out a yell as Carmen flipped the carpet over and they were flying upside down. "Relax," Carmen commanded. "Look! I'm not holding on, I'm not falling." She snapped her fingers under Two-Bit's nose.
The carpet turned right side up and Two-Bit let out the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding in one long whoosh.
"Don't," he said menacingly, though, to his chagrin, his voice still trembled a little, "ever do that again." Carmen shrugged ambiguously and Two-Bit fumed silently.
"Where are we going?" he asked to break the silence. "Lilanazar," Carmen replied calmly. "Yeah right," Two-Bit said. "Seriously, where?"
"I told you," Carmen said seriously, turning to him. "Lilanazar."
Two-Bit nearly exploded with excitement. "Really?" he exclaimed. "You mean it? This ain't some kind of joke?"
"I mean it," Carmen said. "We couldn't go there before because Mordred would have found us. But it's the only place I know to look."
They drifted on in silence. Two-Bit looked down. "Wow," he said in awe. "That ain't Tulsa, I can tell ya that."
"That's Chicago. We lived there once," Carmen remembered wistfully. "Right after we left Lilanazar."
But Two-Bit wasn't paying attention to that. "Glory," he said. "We're over Chicago and we haven't been flying ten minutes!"
Carmen shrugged. "We're going pretty fast. Mach 3." Two-Bit froze. "Mach 3?" he repeated in hushed tones. "You mean to tell me we're going three times the speed of sound?"
"Yeah," Carmen said. "Ain't there supposed to be a bang when the barrier breaks?" Two-Bit asked suspiciously. "You forget," Carmen said. "I'm a sorceress."
Two-Bit lay back and looked up. "Why's the sky dark?" he asked. "It ain't even five yet. Wait," he said before Carmen could even open her mouth. "Let me guess. We're flying above the earth's atmosphere, right?"
"If we're above the earth's atmosphere, why can we still see cities on earth, smarty?" Carmen said witheringly. "We're just in a different time zone now."
Two-Bit stuck his tongue out at her immaturely. "How much longer?" he asked presently. Carmen shrugged. She wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her chin on her knees. "Cold?" Two-Bit asked nonchalantly. Carmen shook her head. "Nah. Just thinking."
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Russell's Finder's senses were tingling. She was close by, he knew. But where? And even if he did find her, how was he supposed to get some part of her without her or the mortal noticing?
"Damn," he muttered under his breath. "Should've been apprentice to somebody normal."
Night had fully settled over Lilanazar. As enticing as the city was by day, it was even more so by night. Trees flung shadows onto the midnight pavements in the feeble glow of the crescent moon, hanging laundry rippled in the gentle breeze, and stars were scattered across the sky like diamonds.
But none of this was on Russell's mind tonight. If I were Carmen, where would I be? He thought. Hmmm…library?
His palms began to itch. She was nearby. His ears cocked and his head jerked in the direction of the Library. He broke into a run.
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Carmen landed the carpet gently. "We're here," she whispered. Motioning to Two-Bit, she pulled a safety pin from her pocket and began to pick the lock of the door manually. Any magic at this hour would be detected.
Turning to Two-Bit, she made a zipping motion across her lips. He nodded seriously. They crept inside the Library and shut the door silently.
The Library was eerie at night. Carmen inhaled deeply at the familiar smell of books. Using the faint moonlight as a guide, Carmen made her way over to the card catalogue. A quick search told her that the book she needed, Partnership, was on the shelf right behind her.
"Here," Two-Bit whispered, handing it to her. Carmen leafed through to the chapter she was searching for. She began to read aloud softly.
"'The magic of one in two souls may come about by either the birth of twins or the sacrifice of one's magic to another who was previously mortal or of magical birth.'"
"Come again?" Two-Bit's face bore a look of utter confusion. Carmen rolled her eyes. Was this guy completely dense? She ignored him and scanned the page for where the book stopped relaying information about twins.
Her eyes widened as she read the section about "sacrificed magic to a mortal."
"What?" Two-Bit hissed. "It says, 'if the two are to hold a strong bonding they may exchange personages for a temporary period and exchange back at will.'" She looked up at Two-Bit. "We can switch bodies."
"Tuff!" Two-Bit whispered excitedly. "When? Anytime?"
Carmen nodded. "But we have to kiss to do it," she said distractedly. She was reading further, looking for ideas.
"Big punishment," Two-Bit said sarcastically. Carmen replaced the book on the shelf. "Come on," she whispered. "Let's get outta here. It's gonna take all night to get home."
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Unseen, unheard, Russell watched them leave. "Gotcha," he whispered triumphantly.
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Anyone got any ideas as to what should happen next? Much appreciated.