Half-Blood Curse

7 - On the Run

"Wait here."

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Sonia speared him with her concerned gaze before he could leave the car.

"The house was under a false name," Lucas said. "They can try and find out who's house you were hiding in, but it won't lead back to me. I'm safer in public than you are right now."

"Okay," she sniffled, hunching down in the back seat next to Maestro's carrier, which was still rattling with angry yowls and growls.

"I'll be right back," Lucas reassured her. He left the keys in the car for her in case she needed to make a fast getaway, and jogged through the parking garage. It took a few minutes to navigate his way through the pick-up/drop-off traffic, but soon he was inside the Seattle airport.

They had taken the rideshare to Danielle's house, and she had immediately given them the keys to her car and her blessing to get lost as long as they needed to. There were tearful good-byes, and Danielle began making plans to flee the country with the rest of the coven while Lucas and Sonia went on their own to the airport.

He didn't know where they should go, but he would take the first plane out of Seattle and figure it out from there. He jogged to the customer service desk for JetBlue, because it had the shortest line. He tapped his foot and earned irritated looks from the people around him, but he couldn't seem to help it.

The screens behind the counter advertised flights scheduled to leave for L.A., New York, Miami, and several other places. The soonest flight would take them to Atlanta.

There was a colorful flash on the tv screens playing the news, indicating a breaking news report. The sound was muted, although the subtitles were on, and Sonia's face was the first thing Lucas saw. His jaw almost hit the floor.

Rogue Wizard in Chicago Alpha Attack Identified ran across the bottom of the screen as a serious-faced reporter spoke silently to the camera. Lucas read the subtitles as fast as he could.

It was a perfect plan, Lucas realized. She would be enemy number one and the most hunted person in North America. Lucas looked around and realized what he hadn't before. At the entrances, there were extra security officers studying the faces of everyone who walked inside. Lucas had no doubt there was at least one wizard on stand-by to come confront Sonia if she tried to get through the airport.

"Hey, move forward," a disgruntled man behind Lucas nudged his back, and Lucas was startled to realize the line had moved quite a bit while he was panicking.

"Forgot something-" he mumbled, and left the line. He walked outside as casually as he could, his mind racing.

He walked straight back to the long-term parking lot where Sonia was waiting. He sat in the car, slammed the door shut, and put his head on the steering wheel.

"Fuck," he said tiredly.

"What happened? Are you okay?"

"The airport is out."

"Were there wizards there?"

"Probably, but that's not the only thing. They're framing you as one of the rogue wizards that attacked Gabriel."

"Oh shit."

"Yeah, my thoughts exactly."

"So what do we do now?"

Lucas took a second to think it through. His entire soul throbbed with the need to go to Chicago and ask for Gabriel's pack protection. Two birds, one stone, his weak heart argued. He and Sonia would be protected from the council, and Lucas would be with Gabriel.

But, of course, I'm only protected from the council if I lay low and give up rune-work.

"Lucas," Sonia patted his shoulder. "We'll figure this out."