I can't believe I may have just killed the car. We are just under a hundred miles out. That's going to take hours to walk. Asphodel is glaring at me. She gets out and looks underneath. She pops her head back up and shakes her head.
"We need a new car?" I ask.
She just nods in response. I groan. Of course I get to be adventurous one time and I accidentally killed the car. Asphodel rests her head on the hood in a slouch. She opens the door and gets the bags she got from Sam's earlier. I take the keys and get out. I lock up the entire car, just to be safe. Garth, if he is okay, may want to fix it up again.
"Way to go, Annie." Asphodel says.
"Sorry." I say.
We both walk in an awkward silence. I can't help that we unexpectedly landed on someone's trunk. It isn't like I could tell there was backed up traffic. Even if she finds it obvious, she wanted me to use the oncoming lane.
"I didn't think you even would have the guts for that, let alone for you to hit the rubble like a jump!" She exclaims.
"Well, I didn't like the idea of staying in the oncoming lane." I explain.
"So you took a leap of faith?!" she exclaims, near at the volume of screaming.
A "Yeah, well, you did kind of keep pushing the issue." I say.
I cross my arms and continue walking. I know if we follow the road, we will get there. I try to think of a solution. I doubt we have enough cash for a new car. I can't even buy a car without a co-signer. I sigh with an audible exhale.
"Well, how do we end up getting a car?" I ask.
"I don't know. We haven't got enough to even make a down payment. Unless you have a crazy credit score." She sighs.
"Touche. so how can we make enough to buy? A whole car outright?" I ask.
"Even if we did, I don't know the enchantment to get us across the ocean." She glares at me.
"Well, what if we do a different one?" I ask.
"Annie, that's not likely to even be possible." She huffs. "Magick has a very delicate balance." She adds.
"Okay, so what makes this so hard?" I ask.
"We would need to have years of knowledge from other witches in a matter of an instant." She sighs.
"So, how do we do that?" I ask.
"You can't." She says.
"Oh."
"Well, unless..." she thinks out loud for a moment.
"Unless?"
"Well, it's a huge stretch, but being able to access the network would be good." She replies.
"We can access a network, where do ya wanna go?" I shake my phone.
"Not that kind of network, Annie. it's a psychic network. A place where only talented people or really focused witches can access. It's like a connected subconscious." She explains to me.
"Is it part of the ethereal realm?" I ask.
"Kind of. It is, but it's also tied to this realm, too." She explains.
"Okay. so how do we get to accessing that?" I ask.
"I don't know. Some monks have found ways to access the network. Witches have too, but some are simply born connected to it." She elaborates more precisely.
"Born connected?" I ask.
"yes, usually they are called indigo children or star seeds. The ones born amongst the humans normally flee to the monks or hide their ability all together." She places a hand on my shoulder.
"So then, how do we learn to do that?" I fire yet another question.
"I don't know." She replies.
It has been at least thirty minutes of us walking with traffic coming upwards. Very few cars are passing from behind. That road should be on the radio announcing its closure, I figure. It's odd that no one seems to know the roadway is out back there.
"Doesn't the radio usually let people know when a road is out?" I ask.
Sirens approach from up the road and shoot by us with great speed. The wind nearly blows us both over. I huff.
"They will soon, based on that." Asphodel laughs.
"Think Garth is gonna be mad about the car?" I ask.
"Nah, that is just one of his. He has others stashed all over the place." She sighs.
"Then what's wrong?" I ask.
"Well, that's the car Garth, and I brought you to Melinda's in." She says.
"During the war?" I ask.
"Yes." She pauses. Her head faces the ground and she sighs. "Thankfully, we don't age like humans." She admits.
"What do you mean? I look Sixteen. I am sixteen." I reply.
"No, your human age is Sixteen. You were Five already as a witch. Our years' work is very different. Time for them is a small span and we call our years faster. You're actually amongst us, more like Twenty Three." She explains.
"Huh.. what?" I don't understand the implications already.
"Melinda kept you only aware of your human life. Our time exists separate from the humans." She says. "The human years and time lapse is different because they have no magic in their blood, at least, typically. Once magic activates, we live our years in shorter and faster time periods, but to a human, it's actually less time. We simply experience time in a very different way." She adds.
"It sounds like the theory of relativity applied to the understanding of linear time." I reply.
"the what?" she asks.
"humans use physics to understand their world, rather than the seven Hermetic laws." I reply. "physics is how everything pretty well exists and why. To simplify what it is." I explain.
"they use this in place of witchcraft, I see." Asphodel seems to get it.
We keep walking down the long road. I look up as the sun starts to come over the horizon and get to see a wonderful City line, the streetlights were still on, making the city look like a wall of lights. I am absolutely absorbed by the sight. Asphodel grabs my shoulder and shuffles me a bit.
"We are still a way to go yet, Annie." She says.
"Right." I exhale.
"Ideas on how to get transport from new York and then Europe may be something worth thinking about." She says.
I think for a moment. I let the thoughts go through of ways we could make money. Then a stroke of genius hit me. I am glad she thought about it.
"How much money have we got?" I ask.
"Well, we have five thousand to last us to get us to Europe and who knows how long after then?" She explains.
"Why not buy a busking setup and a license?" I ask.
"What are you getting at?"
"Well, we can use magic in music, what if we used a song that made people want to give us money when we sang it?" I ask.
"Uhh..." she thinks and stares blankly as we continue walking. "I think we can. It should be like setting up a money bowl but with a bit of music to help amplify intentions." She thinks aloud.
"So, the answer is yes?" I ask.
"bay leaves.. we have most of the supplies..." She rambles to herself. It's at this point I realize she probably isn't even noticing that I have been addressing her.
"Asphodel..."
"I can prep the candle work for when we do bight shows should we actually want to make it look like a cover for you." She then faces me.
"Uh hey, welcome back to earth." I say.
"We can do this and get away with it." She says with excitement bursting in her voice.
"So that's a yes?" I ask.
"Yeah." She nods with approval.
"So, I guess music class wasn't useless after all." I laugh.
"Good thing. Next question was gonna be, I hope ya know how to play something cause I don't." She sighs.
"Oh, right, I guess you were in high-school when the war happened, huh?" I ask.
"Just out for a couple of years." She smiles.
"I'm sorry."
"What could you have done? You were still just a baby." She says.
"Five witches years still is infancy, huh?"
"You have a lot to learn." She laughs.
She really hasn't any idea on what I have to learn yet. I come to think this is just because of her growing up with witches around. I envy her for that. However, I am still glad to have the good experiences with humans.
"So, Asphodel..." I start to speak.
"What's up, Annie?" she looks at me as if she was expecting some terrible news.
"Am I starting another war by doing this?" I ask.
"Who knows Annie. all I know is that, because of Sven, you are destined for great things." She says to me.
"I see." I sigh. "So then why are we referred to as the Crescents of Night?" I ask.
"it's a clan's coven name. that has been ours since as far back as our family knows of." She explains.