~ eleanor morgan book two ~
ISAAC AND FLORENCE were sitting at the motel table poring over maps when I woke up. Three cups of Starbucks were centered on the table. I inhaled the scent and shuddered when I realized how good it smelled. This adventure was destroying my discerning palate. Before too long, I’d be willingly downing Folgers crystals and swearing it tasted like my usual roast!
“Are you going to lie there thinking about coffee or are you planning on joining us?” Florence asked without looking up.
“I need you to teach me how to shield my thoughts better.” I hopped out of bed and headed for the coffee.
“I’d settle for teaching you how to shield your body better,” Florence said after a quick glance in my direction.
I looked down at myself. Yep. Completely nude. “Sorry.” I hustled towards the bathroom only pausing long enough to grab my bag and snag my coffee.
I rewarded myself with a life-affirming sip of Americano after successfully putting on each article of clothing and weaponry. Properly caffeinated, dressed, and armed, I returned to the main room.
“What are you looking at?” I eyed the maps of Ohio, Illinois, and Tennessee covering the table.
“Mounds,” Florence said.
I snickered. “Glad you two found a way to bond.”
Florence glared at me, but the hardness in her eyes quickly gave way to an amused twinkle, and she snorted. “You are ridiculous.”
“That’s why everyone loves me. I’m fun.”
“Barely-controlled chaos is not everyone’s idea of fun.”
I fluttered my eyelashes at her. “C’mon, Florence. You’re having a little fun, aren’t you?”
“Between harnessing powerful magic I never dreamed of, breaking ties with the coven I regarded as family, and fleeing my home with a wolf and a dragon?” She smiled. “Maybe a small bit of fun.”
Isaac ruined my moment of triumph. “Did you know there are over seventy American Indian burial mounds in Ohio alone? I was wondering, Princess Pandemonium” — I stuck my tongue out at him — “if you could narrow it down?”
“I narrowed it down to mounds, didn’t I? Why do I have to do all the work?”
“Because you’re the only one who can find and open these gates. We’re the sidekicks,” Isaac said.
“I prefer minion,” Florence said.
I rolled my eyes. “You guys are great sidekicks, but to graduate to full minionhood, you’ll need to do a better job of anticipating my needs. Better coffee. Better beer. Maybe a foot massage every afternoon.”
Isaac laughed. “Can you come look at the map?”
Isaac’s map was marked with lots of large purple “x’s.” Florence had a tourism guide open with a list of mounds. I sat down and stared at the purple marks. Nothing jumped out at me. Not even a general pull of “start here.”
“Ummm…” I said. Profundity, thy name is Eleanor. “Maybe I’ll feel something when we get closer?”
“This area is bigger than the Black Hills,” Isaac said.
“Bite me.”
“Pressuring Eleanor to pick a location will probably have a detrimental effect on the overall results. We have over a month to find the gate and can get to Ohio in two reasonable driving days.”
I tried to shake off the panic-inducing pressure and concentrate on the map, but I couldn’t focus.
“Why don’t we start driving? We can figure it out on the way,” Florence said.
“Breakfast first?” I asked.
“Of course. No one wants to be trapped in a car with a hungry dragon.”
“I’m not that bad.”
“Yes, you are,” Isaac and Florence said together.
We packed up and headed out. I gazed mournfully at the minivan. “This is a far cry from the beautiful truck you bought me in Portland.”
“We’ll trade it in again soon,” Isaac said. “We’ll need something older with no computer parts. We’ll want to start collecting gasoline. Modern gas stations won’t work if the grid goes down.”
“By the end of this journey, we might not even have a working car,” Florence added. “Be grateful for what we have now.”
That shut me up. I’d mourned the impending loss of the internet, but hadn’t thought through all the implications of throwing the world back to a pre-Industrial time. The minivan suddenly looked shiny and new.
“Fuck,” I said.
“That about sums it up,” Isaac said.