Page 92 of A Subtle Scar
I heard a whoosh of air, felt a gust of wind, and stopped when Charon touched down in front of me, his wings out.
“I’ll carry you. You point, and I’ll take you there. You’re in no shape for a run, Chandler.”
“Fine. Whatever,” I said.
“And I get to teleport after you or what?” Hermes sounded mildly contrite. I wanted to give him a kiss on the cheek and tell him it was okay. I didn’t. It would have been weird and inappropriate. I would have kissed him right where his dimple normally formed.
“You look good in that shirt,” I said, which was still weird. I didn’t behave like this, and once this case was done, I should probably make an appointment with a neurologist to get checked out.
“Thanks, baby,” Hermes said and rubbed the back of his head.
The shirt he was wearing still rode up to reveal a slice of abs, but I only had a moment to admire them.
Charon picked me up in both arms as if I weighed nothing.
“Huh,” I said. “I don’t normally get picked up this easily. No pun.”
“Well, I can sweep you off your feet until you get used to it, darling. Hold on tight if it helps, but I won’t drop you.”
“If he does, I’ll catch you,” Hermes added.
Charon growled. “Hermes, when have I ever dropped a person I didn’t mean to drop, ever?”
“Oh, fine. Just hypothetically, I’d catch our boyfriend.”
“Fucking teleporters,” Charon mumbled, but the sound of his massive wings beating drowned out his voice.
Flying was a dream everyone had at least once in their life, and if it wasn’t a dream, it was a daydream. Still, nothing could have prepared me for how Charon’s massive wings stirred the air and propelled us up. He barely beat them twice before we lifted, and I watched them move, the strength evident even under the magnificent feathers.
The wind got in my eyes as we rose, and I held on tightly to Charon’s neck as I did my best to keep my eyes open so I could still make out where we had to go.
“That way, take me there.” I pointed with one hand. I held on to him with the other, my grip around his neck tight. This did not feel safe, and the ground receded quickly with each powerful wingstroke, which I saw when I glanced back down to Hermes.
Out of the corner of my eyes, I spotted the golden-haired god, following us in leaps of teleportation.
The orderly fields ended where a tall, solid-looking fence marked out a border. I pointed ahead, across the fence, to what was behind it. Something drew me there, something that felt like Victor’s smile, seen through a distorting lens.
From up here, the thick underbrush was a solid, brown-green blotch. I couldn’t really see, but some of the shrubs had to be thorny, they looked like the kind of thing that came with thorns, and it all formed a second border that would have made crossing it not appealing.
I lost Hermes as Charon and I flew over the wall of shrubs.
This had to be outside the city limits, and more importantly, it was quite possibly a different jurisdiction. The woman in the research field had still fallen within the Brunswick PD’s jurisdiction, but I didn’t think that was the case anymore. Still, I needed to pass this along, needed to let Rice know where we were headed, but I wasn’t even sure yet where that was or what we would find once we got there. All I knew was I had tofollow, had tofind.
Past the shrubs, we saw wild growth, a few trees dotted in with ground that was waking under a blanket of spring flowers.
I pointed a little further to the left, and Charon course corrected. I had no idea whether he was going fast or slow, but the wind up here was making my eyes water, and I kept my mouth shut because I didn’t particularly want to swallow any insects.
Hermes joined up with us again, his wide shoulders appearing in the wildflowers.
Across a small creek, I spotted something interesting: footpaths. They wound toward us from the direction of a small hillock which was once again topped with bushes and trees.
“Land, over there,” I said, pointing at one of the paths.
Charon descended. I didn’t know whether he was dropping quickly for him, but it felt like it to me. I clutched his neck with both arms as the ground came closer. On top of that, I squeezed my eyes shut and buried my head against the side of his neck.
Irrational fear of heights, insects, snakes, or whatever else was not something I did, but being carried in the arms of a death god did strange things to my lizard brain.
“It’s fine, darling. We’re back on the ground, see?” Charon said.
