“Then let’s go. I want to see you take off,” he rolled his eyes, but didn’t object.
We walked across the drive way and into the airport. Omaha’s Eppley Airfield was small and practical. Since Omaha didn’t fly directly International, all flights would have to make a connection somewhere else. Avalon’s was Minneapolis, mine was thankfully Atlanta.
I could feel Avalon’s magic strong and purposeful as he checked in and handed his passport and ticket to the clerk. I took notes silently beside him. My first use of magic on a human happened today with the substitute and I was filled with guilt afterward. Avalon used magic seamlessly with humans and I could tell from his aura that he didn’t feel the least bit guilty.
After a minute though, I could see why. Avalon’s magic helped the human girl to focus. Everything with his check in went quickly and smoothly and neither one had anything to complain about. He only bent her mind a little bit, but it was for her sake, as well as his. He noticed my observation and then turned to give me a look that said, “And that’s how it’s done.” I rolled my eyes, but was inwardly impressed.
I gave him a long hug at the top of the escalator leading to his terminal. He let me and didn’t let go until I did. I tried to find the right words of encouragement but nothing poetic came to mind. He smiled at my efforts and then winked before turning to walk away.
Be safe. Do not do anything stupid while I’m gone. His stern voice was in my head, but inwardly I was too choked up at his show of affection to respond.
“Did you hear me?” he turned around to walk backwards towards the security checkpoint.
I nodded affirmatively and wiped a tear off of my cheek. He shook his head and then he was to security and having to take off his shoes and jacket; oh no, his jacket. I realized for the first time that Avalon changed clothes before he left school. He was dressed very nicely in a tailored black pin striped suit and white shirt with a green tie underneath. He put his shiny black shoes into the bin and I noticed that even his socks were fancy.
It was my turn to check in and I was standing there looking lost in a gross school uniform. I was apparently planning to storm the courtroom and demand Lilly Mason be freed from tyranny and unlawfulness in knee high socks and a plaid pleated skirt. Awesome.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
I took a quick glance at Evangeline’s passport before handing it over to the desk clerk, a twenty something girl with too much make-up on. Luckily for me, Evangeline’s passport picture was taken when she was ten and so there was a little leeway for growth.
Although she was still a brunette six years after the picture was taken, my shade of brown was not so nutmeg, but rather just straight black. And her eyes were definitely blue, and mine were definitely not.
The clerk looked at the passport picture and then at me, and then back at the picture and then again back at me. I gave her a nervous smile and tugged on my newly purchased red Nebraska football sweatshirt. I released my magic full force through my veins, knocking over a display a few feet away. I jumped, startled and realized if I didn’t get my magic under control, they were going to call the police. Who knew magic could get nervous?
“I hate that picture,” I cleared my throat and tried to sound confident. I attempted to send some magic her way again, but was afraid I would knock her over too if I didn’t relax.
“Hmmm….” she frowned suspiciously. “Do you have another form of ID on you? A driver’s license or something?” she put the passport and ticket on the counter and tapped her fingers impatiently.
“Y-y-yes I think I do,” I stammered out, pretending to dig through my bag looking for it. My bag was not that deep, it was just a backpack and mostly empty since I had left all of my books in the car, but I needed to milk it for all it was worth.
“Isn’t that your wallet?” she asked, as the item in question nearly fell from my hands. I gave her an irritated half-smile and handed it over. Once she saw not only the picture, but the name on it, this half-assed plan was over.
A creepy crawly feeling of irritation swept over me; I just wanted to get on that plane. I glanced over at the clerk and felt the same sense of irritation flood her, and that was when I realized I didn’t have to be smooth. I didn’t have to do what Avalon did. It was great that he could make other people feel safe and secure and smiley, but that was just not me right then. I was pissed, I was irritated and I was in a big freaking hurry. If nothing else, I could at least make her emote with me.
I released my magic a little too strongly and I saw the young clerk take a visible step backwards. I began to feel guilty for hurting the poor girl, but then she gave me a dirty look that reminded me a little too much of Seraphina. Suddenly she was looking at the clock and processing my airline ticket. She let out a huge huff of impatience, handing me my respective papers quickly.
“I assume you won’t be checking any bags?” she looked disdainfully at my worn out book bag.
“Nope,” I said, returning her irritation with a smile and breathing a sigh of relief.
She turned to the next passenger in line and I ran up the escalator. It could not have been that easy! Finally something was going my way. I didn’t slow down until I made it through security, to my terminal and onto the walkway.
A pretty flight attendant with perfect posture greeted me at the doorway to the plane. I handed over my ticket grateful for assistance and she pointed just inside the doorway to a luxurious first class seat next to a window.
I sat down heavily and breathed another sigh of relief. I took a hair tie off of my wrist and knotted my hair into a messy bun on the top of my head. Per instructions of the flight attendant I stored my nearly empty backpack underneath my seat and buckled up for safety.
I looked out of my window at Omaha for one last time; I had never flown before, let alone overseas. I had no idea what to expect and less of an idea what to do when I got there. After my connecting flight in Atlanta I would be non-stop until Romania. The bright afternoon sunlight flooded my window and I relished in the warmth and security of self-righteousness. Lilly needed me and I refused to let her down.
–-
I breathed in the smoke and smog that met me outside the dingy glass doors of the airport in Timisoara, Romania. The wide-lane street in front of me was full of small cabs in every color. Most of them were driven by middle-aged, olive-skinned Romanian men with mustaches and cigarettes. And all of the cars looked at least fifty years old.
I walked over to one of the parked Dacias, waiting to take me on the next leg of this exhausting adventure. I tugged at the oversized cruise wear I acquired at a gift shop in the Atlanta airport and realized that it was not nearly warm enough for the cold and dreary autumn of Romania.
“English?” I asked hopeful, to a gruff looking Romanian man wearing a worn out black leather jacket. He shook his head and grunted what I took to be an amused laugh.
I pulled out the English to Romanian dictionary I also purchased at the Atlanta airport and searched for the T section.
“Statie?” I stumbled through the word, using what I knew from my Spanish pronunciations to ask for the train station.
“Da, da. Timisoara?” he clarified our destination, since the airport was outside of the city a little ways.
“Da.” I repeated the Russian “yes”, most Romanians used.
He nodded his head towards the back seat and I climbed in. The springs underneath the well-worn upholstery dug into my sore legs. I yawned, but refused to close my eyes. Not that I necessarily trusted this stranger, nor did I know how long the ride would be exactly, but there was much too much to see as we made our way towards the western metropolis of Timisoara.
Communist block apartments rose on every side of me; the tall, simple, concrete buildings emoted a melancholy dismalness that was enforced by the incessant rainfall. Small corner shops and gypsy children begging for money lined the now narrowed streets as I held on for dear life. The driver swerved in and out of traffic more precariously than Avalon and not nearly as gracefully.