Song of the Day | Rocksta by 1300 | Spotify | YouTube
"I need to fuel up."
They swung into the petrol station across the street. There was one other car pulled up, but the driver hurried out, his shoulders hunched, not looking their way. He had a face mask on.
“What does he think that’s going to do,” snorted Red.
“People want to do things to feel safe,” Soda said with a frown.
“Better off finding a suit of armour,” joked Red. He pursed his lips at Soda's silent disapproval.
She got out of the car and wandered inside, idly looking at the foreign snacks, strange but familiar because of Hollywood. She wondered what they tasted like. She decided on a whim to grab a few, and fished around in her bag for some money. She had a small wad of US dollars. She grabbed a few random things, whatever looked the least neon-dusted, and took them up to pay.
There was a TV at one end of the counter, showing some American news panel of dudes in suits and one old lady who looked like she ate babies.
“Of course it’s the End Times! God has finally forsaken us for allowing so many perverts in our country!”
“We need to be deploying our nuclear arsenal with preemptive force!”
"This is some kind of deep state hallucination! We need to wake up!"
The man behind the counter was South Asian in a pretty typical polo shirt and jeans combo. He was idly watching the TV and didn't seem too troubled by the apocalypse news. As Soda paid, the tension in the room crept upwards until her heart was pounding. The air fizzed with electricity. Her hair stood on end and she shivered. What was this feeling? She made eye contact with the attendant, and immediately saw that he also felt it, and was afraid.
“You need to leave this place,” he said in a low voice, heavily accented. “You are bringing this here to me.”
“Dude, what? We’re not bringing anything–"
Rowan burst through the glass front doors, shattering them as she sailed through the air. She crashed into the ground and slid to the opposite wall. Soda gaped. For a moment there was ringing silence, then:
“You see! You see! You think I don’t know a bloody sorceress when I see one pull up in an enchanted car?”
The attendant was shouting indignantly. Soda stared at him dumbly.
“Get behind here, idiot!”
She snapped her out of her daze. She scrambled over the side of the counter, and they both crouched down, waiting to see what would happen next.
“Rowan?”
This post is for subscribers only
Chapter Eight: Insects and Lavender Fire
Ruining the fixtures, is everyone a wizard? Things coalesce