He flashed his fangs at me in jest.
Claude plopped down on the U-shaped couch to my right. “In my day, trains were the only way to travel in style.”
Adam stood in the hall and opened a frosted-glass door. “Is this the bathroom? I’m not showering in the hallway. If I have to take a piss, we’re pulling over.”
Eve peered into the bathroom. “I hope nobody ate any beans.”
Viktor climbed into the passenger seat and slammed the door. “Drive.”
Since the engine was already running, Shepherd put it in gear and headed out. The jolt from him hitting the gas made Christian lose his balance.
Carol ambled from the rear of the camper and yawned as she unzipped her black jacket. “Are we staying in here thewholetime? I get claustrophobic. I need to walk around in an open space and use a real bathroom. When’s our next stop?”
Adam knocked into her as he jogged toward the sleeper. “Is that a TV? I got dibs!” He hopped over my legs and put his hands on the bunk. “How do you get up?” Without waiting for an answer, he stepped on the couch and climbed up the incorrect way. Then he dropped a ladder over the edge. “Hey, Eve, check it out. We can watch TV.”
As soon as she climbed up behind him with their bags, they slid the privacy curtain closed, and the sound of an old movie blared, followed by bickering.
“Turn it down,” Viktor ordered, knocking his fist on the roof. “I cannot hear myself think.”
Carol opened the fridge and found a can of root beer. “Can I have the bed?”
The four of us looked between each other. Christian and I didn’t need to sleep, so it was up to Claude and Blue.
“I’ll go with you,” Blue said, rising to her feet. “I could use some shut-eye.”
“You’re wearing an axe,” Carol said, eyeballing the tomahawk.
“File a complaint.” Blue patted her shoulder as she walked past. “Kid, the axe stays with me at all times. But I’ll take it off. Come on. We’ve probably got a long drive ahead.”
Claude found the cushion for the center of his sofa and was attempting to curl up and get comfortable. That didn’t leave anywhere else for Christian to sit except beside me.
He took a seat to my left and put his arm across the back of the sofa. “Maybe Viktor will let you ride on top later on if you ask him nicely.”
“You only live once.”
“Aye, but when you’re an immortal, you can die a thousand times.”
Viktor turned in his seat and handed Christian a map. “I cannot see the tiny print. How far until we reach Interstate 77?”
Christian didn’t need anyone to turn on a light to see the map. He gave it a firm shake and held it up. “Wouldn’t Route 460 be faster?”
“My contact specified we not go that route. There is a band of rogues who know that Potentials are smuggled across state lines on that highway. They do not know where we take them, but they ambushed the last group and kidnapped the children. No one survived. We do not know how they found out, only that someone on the last team must have leaked information. That is why I’ve taken every precaution.”
Christian straightened the map and studied it. “If I had to guess, two hours. And where do we go from there?”
Viktor twisted around in his seat. “The less you know of the specifics, the better.”
I glanced at the map and quietly spoke to Christian. “It’s not a big state. If we’re there in two hours, we could probably drive all the way across the state in less than four hours. That means we’ll be wherever we’re going by morning.”
He folded up the map. “Unless there’s more to the trip.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Did you ever wonder why he chose a camper?”
“So we’ll blend in with all the tourists?”
“It’s a little early in the year for camping, and we don’t exactly pass for hunters.”
