Kori POV
Kalia smiled at my resignation to see this moon lady. My grip remained tightly on the steering wheel from the intense pain my damn birthmark was giving me. Why did my mom’s family have some sort of weird blessing from this moon person? It seemed odd that my family was the only one to have such a connection to a Greek god. Actually, all of this was otherworldly. Kalia was just quietly watching me as I was waiting for her to say or do something. Felicity glanced back and forth between us, waiting to see who would blink first.
After ten minutes of this quiet stare-down, I wanted to get things moving. “Are you taking us or what?”
Kalia gracefully sat backward in the seat. “You see…”
“There’s always a catch,” I sighed. “I am already regretting this.”
Kalia tried to speak, but Fe beat her to it. “Korinne, you can’t just assume it’s going to be bad. Let the crazy lady speak.”
“Hey! I am a well-respected nymph, thank you,” Kalia defended.
“And I am suffering from internal burning. Move it along, nymph,” I countered.
Kalia mumbled to herself about breaking some rule and just shook her head. “Fine, we will take the human too.”
Felicity’s mouth opened to say something, but she decided not to say it. I wasn’t going to be as considerate as her. “We are both human, nymphie.”
Kalia looked at me for a moment and decided to disregard me. “Buckle up, This car is going airborne.”
“WHAT?” Fe and I yelled at Kailia.
It was too late. The sky nymph had begun brewing a storm around my little car. The car began to rise above the ground, and the jeep passing by just honked at us as we rose. Did they think this shit was normal? Wait, why did we need to fly to this Selene? Why couldn’t we just drive there? I didn’t have a chance to ask before I felt my car thrust forward on the wind. My stomach started jumbling in addition to my body felt as if it was on fire. Pain enveloped me as the car swayed in the wind. I was riding a breeze to some far-off place. This felt like a scene out of a fairy tale, except I had a nymph instead of a fairy godmother. Oh, and I didn’t want any of this.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Felicity was in awe of the clouds floating by and the bright blue skyscape that surrounded us. I didn’t have a chance to enjoy the sights as my body demanded that I deal with this constant pain. The steering wheel was useless in this case because I couldn’t steer the wind. Kalia held her arms out keeping us steady on the breeze. Her magic was breaking every law of physics that I learned in high school. Why did all this magic have to break so many natural laws of science? I preferred my simple world to this supernatural one that Kalia was dragging me into.
“Where are we going, Nymphie?” I asked.
She looked up at me annoyed as if I was breaking her concentration. “It’s not easy keeping this car in the air, little wolf.”
“Then tell me where we are going,” I responded, ignoring the wolf nickname.
“We are going to Greece, right?” Fe interjected. She paused her sightseeing to join in the conversation.
“You would think, but Mount Latmus is in what you call Turkey. Now, why don’t you sleep or play on those silly rectangles that light up? It’s going to be a long way to Turkey.”
“Silly rectangles that light up?” Fe giggled at Kalia. “I think you mean smartphones.”
Turkey…I was supposed to be going to a beach house in Georgia. Not that traveling abroad is bad but… “Shit. We don’t have passports. What if shit goes south? We could get stuck in Turkey!”
“You are in constant pain from a crescent moon birthmark while riding in a car flying on the wind, powered by a sky nymph. We are dealing with magic, and you are worried about the passports?”
“Duh! I want to make sure I can go home after this,” I said, feeling annoyed at the situation, and the heat in my body was causing me to start sweating.
Kalia groaned, “I will guarantee your passage home when your business is done with Selene.”
“Ugh. Why am I the only one concerned right now?” I looked over at Felicity who just raised an eyebrow at me.
“I am not concerned because I have already started a backup plan. You know, I always have a solution,” Felicity pretended to pout. “Marcus already knows where we are going, and he’s ready to find us if need be with our passports that we got two years ago.”
“There. All settled. Can you two please be quiet now?” Kalia whined.
We did have passports, I just forgot all about them. We left them with her parents, so they wouldn’t get lost with all the moving. It’s hard to concentrate when you are becoming a human fountain. “Thank goodness, your brother has our backs, and that was rude, Nymphie.”
“Whatever. Just let me focus okay?” Kalia closed her, blocking us out as she sailed us through the clouds.
Felicity just sighed looking at the blue woman. “I guess our vacation has turned into an adventure.”
“An adventure that I didn’t want,” I groaned from the pain. “This is more like a bad dream where I suffer through pains that my ancestors caused.”
“Kori, I know your anxiety is skyrocketing, but I am on it. You don’t need to worry.” Felicity tried to comfort me. She eyed me up and down, paused for a moment, then grabbed a towel from the floorboard. “Here, try to stay dry…or as comfortable…as you can.” She handed me the towel.
I knew she was just trying to help me, but there was no way to tame the wild ocean of anxiety swirling around inside me. It’s something I have to live with since my parents died. There's no everlasting cure for anxiety. It just is. Sometimes it feels like a thousand pins pricking me and other times it feels heavy like a steamroller plowed me over. Although, right now, I just feel helpless with a side of dulled pain pulsing through me. Felicity was right when she said this is anything but natural. When did my life become a fantasy novel?
"Kori?" Fe whispered, trying not to disturb Kalia. "Are you spiraling?"
"Maybe? I am not sure. Let me just try to deal with all of this for a while," I sighed. This is my reality, and I am going to have to be okay with it.
