“Yes.” I shuffled in next to the two other passengers—two teenage boys, both wearing thick glasses and shirts with anime characters on them, both clutching comic tote bags to their chests. “Hello,” I said, smiling.
Both of them blinked at me and held their tote bags tighter. Neither responded. “Donovan, you’ll have to get in the front.”
He didn’t move. I glanced up and saw him clench his jaw. “Chosen. This isnotacceptable.”
“This is our ride to the Professor's house, Donovan. Get in.”
“You have small flightcraft in this realm. You have long vehicles with partition screens and small bars installed in them, I have seen pictures. Why are we sharing this small carriage with commoners?” He glared into the back of the car. The two teens cringed into their seats.
Amir hit a button on his phone. “Wait time fee, Miss Susan. Sorry, sorry.”
“That’s fine, Amir,” I said, letting out a sigh. The wait time fee would chew up the last of the money in my account. I turned back to Donovan. “Iama commoner,” Isaid, a little sharply. “This is perfectly decent transportation, Donovan, and it’s all I can afford right now.”
He frowned. “You cannot afford a carriage of your own?”
“No.”
He glanced at Amir. “Are you an honorable man?”
“Yes, yes,” Amir said, smiling so wide I thought his face might break in two. “Five-star rating. Three months driving in this country, my home, United States. You check.”
“Then the Chosen will sit in front.” Donovan’s tone indicated there would be no arguing. He stepped back.
“Fine.” I shuffled back out of my seat, while he held the front passenger door open. I settled into my seat. Donovan leaned in one more time and glared at Amir.
“If you touch her, I will disembowel you with a fork and use your entrails to string you from that bridge.”
“Donovan!”
Amir giggled. “No problem, no problem, my friend. No need to disembowel today. I do best service. Five stars! We go now, yes?”
“Yes, please,” I said faintly, as Donovan got in. I didn’t want to look, but I heard a whimper of fear from the two young men in the back seat, and I couldn’t help but turn my head. Donovan, huge, long-legged, wildly intimidating, sprawled out behind me, the picture of terrifying grace and menacing power. He took up most of the space in the back seat. The boys looked as scared as if they were sharing a backseat with a hungry panther. Both of them were sandwiched up against the other window, staring at Donovan like he was a god.
Amir pulled out onto Pine Street, heading towards Haight-Ashbury, and we weaved through the nighttime city traffic in silence for a few minutes. Mostly silence, anyway. I could hear one of the boys in the back breathing heavilythrough his mouth. Panting, almost. “We must get you your own carriage,” Donovan said gruffly. “This is unacceptable.”
“Five stars!” Amir’s mustache quivered in outrage. “I have five stars. You will not take my stars away from me.”
“It’s okay, Amir. We’ll give you five stars.”
His mustache pouted. “I am good service.”
“You’re doing great. Thank you.”
“Good.” He flung his hand towards the dashboard, gesturing. “You want music?”
“Oh.” The tension caused by the near silence in the car was so thick I could cut it with a knife. And it would be nice not having to hear the two boys in the back whimpering and panting in fear. “Yes, please. Music would be lovely.”
“Pop? Country? You like rap?”
“Whatever you like, thanks, Amir.”
Amir hit the console. A heavy trap beat boomed through the car, soon accompanied by a woman’s voice rapping the most sexually explicit lyrics I’d ever heard in my life. A different woman joined in with even more X-rated chorus. Amir happily nodded along to the beat. I had to press my lips together to stop laughing.
While the woman sang and rapped about how much she liked having her butthole licked, I risked a peek in my vanity mirror. Donovan was no longer brooding like a thundercloud. His head was slightly cocked, his brow furrowed, as he listened carefully to the music. “Is this… these… these female bards. They are popular in your realm?”
“Oh, yes, my man, yes,” Amir said. “Very popular. Top ten in charts, always.”
Donovan listened for a little while longer. “Your friend. The songbird. Does she perform ballads like this one?”
