26
SAM
The highway stretched endlessly ahead of us, as it had for the past ten hours. We were somewhere south of Oklahoma City, nearing our destination.
Nearing the place that had been agreed upon.
"I still think we should have flown," Ezra said.
I glanced at her in the passenger seat. She had both legs up on the dashboard, and the open window was making her hair blow around crazily. But she didn't care, because she was enjoying the fresh air and the view of the countryside.
That's what I loved about her: she didn't give a damn what other people thought. Not even me.
"Well," I said judicially, "the last time I got off a plane my entire world got flipped on its head. I'd prefer that didn't happen again."
"Oh?" she drawled. "I think it turned out pretty good for you." She gestured at her body like she was Vanna White showing off a gameshow prize.
"That remains to be seen."
She punched me in the shoulder, and I grinned from ear to ear.
We began seeing mile signs for the Red River, and before we reached it our destination rose up from the prairie on the left. The WinStar Casino was like the Vegas strip in miniature: one long structure that was a facade of Roman architecture, New York skyscrapers, and Greek ruins. It looked ridiculously out of place on the border of Oklahoma and Texas, but I guess that was the point. The sign by the highway broadcasting the casino was as large as the Coliseum itself.
"Largest casino in the world," Ezra mumbled, reading the words on the sign. "Huh."
We drove around the outside of the casino in silence, both of us nervous about this rendezvous. And probably because of the feeling in the totem, the power we were nearing. I knew Ezra could feel it too.
All the casino parking was outdoors, except for the employee parking garage on the opposite end from the highway, close to the resort golf courses. I ignored the "EMPLOYEE PARKING ONLY" sign and drove inside, then circled around in the semi-darkness.
I considered making a joke about how Ezra and I had seen a lot of parking garages in our week together, but my anxiousness held me back.
I slowed down when we reached the fourth floor. It was abandoned except for a single car at the opposite end, which was parked backwards in its spot so it could look out over the garage. I neared, but then realized it wasn't the car we were told to look for: it was white instead of black.
But then it flashed its lights at us twice. I parked three spots away from it, turned off the engine, and took a deep breath.
We exited our car at the same time as they exited theirs.
Ethan looked exactly the same as he had in Belize, but entirely different at the same time. There was an intensity to his eyes that hadn't been there before. Determination that I felt inside my chest too.
We shook hands awkwardly, then embraced like the old friends we were.
"Shit, it's good to see you," he said to me, even though we'd spent our vacation together last week. He waved someone over. "This is Jessica."
I nodded to Jessica, then introduced them to Ezra, who stepped forward with her arms crossed, suspicion on her face.
We stood like that for a few moments, and then the two women moved their hands simultaneously: Ezra into her pocket, and Jessica into a purse. They came out with the two totems, each of them glowing gently with light, green and blue. The pulsing seemed stronger now that they were together.
Now that we were together.
"And here I thought I'd nabbed the only feathered man in the country," Ezra muttered. "Sam doesn't seem so exotic anymore."
She nudged me in the ribs to let me know she was joking.
"I'm so sorry Ethan." The words poured out of me. "I don't know why I kept it a secret in Belize. I thought you guys would make fun of me, or insist the totem was some tourist trinket..."
Ethan waved it all off. "I'm just as sorry. Besides, it's not our faults. I don't think we were supposed to tell anyone about them, at least not at first. I don't think they would have let us."
They. The totems. That sounded right.
"Yours was in that weird tunnel you disappeared to?" I asked. When Ethan nodded, I said, "Mine was in the wall. In that big room."
"You threw up after taking it, right?"
"No," I said, "I actually vomited before I took it. Once I had it everything felt better."
"Weird," Ethan said, as if that was the weirdest part of our totems-that-turn-us-into-gryphons situation. "So she's your mate?"
"Fuckin' right I am," Ezra said.
"Hey, calm down now. Just making sure it's the same for all of us." He looked back at Jessica. "The bond we all share. It affects our powers."
"We've learned that too," I agreed. "So... is it just us? You and I?"
Ethan took a deep breath. "That's the thing."
He led us around to the back of the car, each of us squeezing into the narrow space between the bumper and the garage wall. Ethan popped the trunk to reveal an ancient wooden chest reinforced with iron bands. This was the source of the immense power I felt, not Ethan. Whatever was in this chest.
Even if Ethan gave me a hundred guesses as to what was inside, I never would have gotten it right.
He lifted the sword reverently, one hand on the pommel and another cupped underneath the blade. Aside from the sword's beauty, which was ancient, what immediately drew my eye were the four glowing gems in the grip: a rectangular emerald, a round sapphire--that's me! I thought--a teardrop ruby, and an oval onyx stone. All of them glowed like Christmas lights, even the dark onyx.
They were so beautiful that I almost didn't notice the other two gems, a triangular amethyst and a square diamond. They didn't glow at all. The dim sight of them made me strangely sad.
"Do you feel it?" Ethan asked softly.
I focused on the glowing gems again. Ethan was the emerald; I could feel his presence strongly, with him and the totem so close. And obviously I was the sapphire. But the ruby and onyx were fainter, and mixed together, making it difficult for me to sense.
"Oh!" I said when I realized.
Ethan nodded.
"So... is it all of us?" I asked. "There were only five of us in Belize, and there are six gems..."
"I talked to Orlando," Ethan said, gently putting the sword back in the chest. The garage felt too dark when he closed the lid, then the trunk. "He's gunna take the Texas Eagle train here from Chicago. He'll text me when he has a ticket, so we know when to pick him up from the station. We didn't say too much on the phone, but it's the same for him. All of it."
I knew what all of it meant. "Good," I said. I waited for Ethan to say more, but he stared down at the trunk of his car, like he was looking through it at the sword.
Ezra reached for my hand, and squeezed it tight.
"What about Roland?" I finally asked, thinking of the ruby on the sword.
The silence stretched.
"Ethan," I said slowly. "What about Roland?"
Ethan took a long, deep breath, then held Jessica's hand too. He looked around the garage, at the floor and the ceiling, then finally at me.
"He's not answering his phone or email," Ethan explained, words heavy with meaning. "Sam, I think he's in trouble."