I am so excited to finally see Memphis. I'm in my rear view as we hit the stretch of highway on the way to Nashville. Asphodel is snacking on some sort of cheese tortilla chips. We should have a plan for whatever happened to Garth.
"So where is Garth?" I ask, breaking the eerie silence between us.
"Well," Asphodel pauses. "He's probably on the other end of Knoxville for a start. His family is from Kentucky. they had a history of stirring up trouble in Jonesborough." She explains. "So likely someone is hunting him down, as there aren't many in his family alive." She adds.
"So you think someone kidnapped him?" I ask.
"it's possible. We may end up catching up with them. But that's where I figure he's being taken. Call it a gut feeling." She replies.
"Fair. so let's pump a bit faster." I push the car to speed up. We start averaging out at ninety miles per hour.
"You think we can get him?"
"We can try." I sigh.
It's hard to think of anything but how we are going to pull this off. I don't know a lot, but we can work to the best of our knowledge. It seems Asphodel has taken a sudden interest in minerals and rocks. She has a book in her lap. She must've gotten it out while I focus on driving. I don't have much of an attention span, so I tend to stay more quiet during drives.
The world seems so peaceful as we cruise along the highway. Nashville is only now a hundred and fifty miles out. We are making great progress, even if I feel like I'm losing total grasp of the time. We haven't slept yet, and this is tiring. I so look forward to having Asphodel take over for me after we stop. This trip is a long one. We have to make sure each other gets rest and we keep moving. Maybe then that's when we will be safest.
"Interesting. Didja know Amethyst is supposed to amplify witch's powers?" she says.
"No?" I reply, confused.
"Neither did I." She says.
I refocus on the road. She seems absorbed in this book for some reason or another. Now and then I can hear her phone clicking away with its keyboard. I think she is making notes. I guess she takes her studies seriously.
I hang right into the next lane over. A horn bellows and startles me and Asphodel. I must have forgotten my signal light. Oops. I wave at them and shrug. The gesture is hopefully enough for them to understand I simply made a mistake.
"What happened?" Asphodel asks.
"Forgot to use the signal." I admit.
"Oops."
"My thoughts exactly." I say back.
We both laugh lightly as the Traffic gets slower and more dense. We come down to a mere twenty miles per hour. Something must have happened ahead. Some cars are moving to turn around on the other side. The highway is shut down on half for some reason. I have to stop the car.
"Well, I guess we wait to see if we can still use the off ramp." I say.
"Damn. I wonder what happened up there?" Asphodel turns on the radio and tries to find a local radio station.
The radio greets us with unintelligible static. We are too far from the city to gain a signal. I sigh. Asphodel flops back into her seat. She kicks her feet up onto the dash.
"Shame that we can't make things fly. That would be cool." Asphodel says.
"Well, can we make things hover?" I ask.
"Yeah, some things." Asphodel looks at me wearing a quizzical expression.
"What if we used amplified versions of that?" I ask.
"I don't know. I haven't heard of it before." Asphodel sighs. "Although, amethyst, we probably can find easily." She says.
"And amethyst amplifies magic."
"Bay leaves help with manifestation..."
"Would quartz help?"
"It is a sister stone to Amethyst. it may just be the best option for amounts. However, for all that energy, we need grounding of some sort." She says.
"Well, we can always use another gem. We already are using two."
"Well, frankenscense may be an idea. as far as a grounding gem..." She drifts off as she scours her books pages. "obsidian may be our best option." She points into the book that has an image of a black shiny surfaced stone.
"Sounds good."
"Good thing gems are common for all kinds of things." She laughs.
"Really though. jewellery being a major one." I say.
The traffic moves a few feet before we stop again. We both sigh. It seems she is just as fed up with this long wait as I am. I can see a man far ahead laying out pylons for the traffic to follow. It is a slow process.
"Still wonder what happened ahead." I admit.
"Me too. I guess we can ask when we see someone." She suggests. "Although I can give you a bit of a lesson in magic while we are stuck in traffic." She chuckles.
"Oh, no. alright." I hesitate in my acceptance of the surprise lesson.
"So, there are five elements in this world. Water, Earth, Fire, Air and Spirit." She starts.
"But I thought there were only four?"
"The humans hid the idea of the fifth element when they first discovered witches. So they would snuff the knowledge we gathered in order to hide it. They assumed this would prevent a new generation of witches, but it's been proven wrong for centuries." Asphodel explains.
"Hey, you actually called them humans!"
"Perhaps you're softening me up too much." She laughs.
"Anyway, you were saying?"
"Oh, right? So not only are these elements vital to our Magick, but everything is either male or female. Everything also aligns with an element." She explains more. "Some have healing properties, some are hex ingredients. others for alchemy. Some even have use in the everyday lives of humans, but they won't admit its witchcraft." She laughs.
"Wow, so is everything connected?" I affirm.
"Yeah."
"So with that, we all have a way of accessing magic." I say. "If they have faith in what they are doing."
"Right." She nods.
We get to move another bit of roadway. We stop in only what feels like moments. We both groan.
"So, I guess this is gonna be a long time through here until we are in Nashville." Asphodel says.
"Why do I feel like Nashville is a bad idea?" I say.
"Spooked?"
"Call it a gut feeling..." I say as I stare up the lane. The man which was placing pylons has vanished. "Where did he.." I shift my attention.
I hear honking and a distant crash. Another crash. I can't tell what it is, but it sounds like crunching glass and metal. I hear more honking.
"What the hell is going on out there?" Asphodel asks.
"I don't know. The pylon guy went poof too." I admit.
"That's weird." She replies.
"Is it possible that's magic?" I ask.
"Doubt it."
She shakes her head. I know it may be a stretch, but I needed to know. We both look at one another. She raises a hand in an instant.
"Though it is possible to be someone's familiar. They can cause some serious damage." She repulses to the idea even in her face.
"Okay." I stare ahead and wonder what's up with this.
Asphodel starts gathering the bags and puts some of the cash from under the seat into one. I know she is thinking a worst case solution. We hear another loud crunch.
"What could be that loud? The cars aren't even moving." I look at the oncoming lanes and they are empty.
"Not on either side." Asphodel adds.
"So, what now?" I ask.
"Let's do something stupid." She says.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"Drive the oncoming lane. We can definitely find out what's going on." She suggests.
"What if traffic gets moving again?" I ask.
"I said something stupid."
"Fair enough. We can't just do that, though." I say.
"Why not?" Asphodel asks. "In the war, we got nowhere waiting around for anything."
"Ouch, that's a bit much."
"No, not really." She sighs.
"Fine. We take a random risk." I huff.
I step on the gas and slowly force my way into the oncoming lanes. cars blow their horns as I work my way through. Inch by inch. It feels like forever, but I find my way into the empty lanes. I put the gas pedal flat against the floor of the car. I huff again.
"Uhh, Annie..." Asphodel says.
"What, now it's too much risk?" I look at her.
"The Road is out ahead..."
"What?!" I look up and see the asphalt formed upward as if something crawled from underneath. "Oh, shit."
Before I can slam on the brakes, we hit the bump onto the newly made road ramp and go airborne. Within seconds I see people in their Cars on the other side of the road. Asphodel is gripping the handle above the window. I hope we can clear the cars. The speedometer is at one hundred and fifteen. Five cars in the far left lane from me and that's the next clear spot. We aren't going to do it.
"Asphodel brace your-" I exclaim and am immediately interrupted by the force of us landing on the trunk of the last car.
Asphodel stares at me in sheer disbelief. I pull us over back onto the right side of the road before stopping entirely. That was scary.
"I should slap you." Asphodel says.
"It scared me too." I laugh.
"You could have killed us both!" She shouts at me.
"But I didn't." I stick out my tongue.
"Smart-ass. Let's go." She slaps the dashboard.
I pull us back onto the road. Still, I have no idea what could've caused that. I can hear something clanging as it drags across the cement.
"That's not good."
"Well, you didn't kill us, but you may have killed the car." She sighs.