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“No, you detect a metric buttload of worry from me,” I retorted as I shot him a look of death. “I don’t want to have to peel your face off the windshield of any thunder just so I can kiss you goodbye.”
“I’m quite safe,” he insisted as he dodged around a slow-moving galloping horse and rider.
I was whipped to one side and caught the edge of the seating compartment to keep myself from banging into the opposite wall. “I can see that.” I also saw something else that hadn’t caught my attention earlier. “What’s that?”
“What is what?” Ben returned.
I dared stick my arm out beside him and point at the dash. “That big yellow button. What’s it do?” It was an innocent enough round button, but there was no text or symbols to indicate what it did.
Ben shook his head. “I don’t know, but I was informed by Mouse that I was to press that only under the most dire of circumstances.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “Did he give an example?”
“He mentioned severing flood or a calamity-age catastrophe.”
My face drooped. “And it would do what?”
He shrugged. “Apparently it allows us to flee from it.”
A twitch developed in my finger. “So that means we can’t press it?”
“It would be unwise.”
I dropped back into my seat and sighed. “Damn.”
“Would it be more exciting if I sped up?” Ben suggested.
I snorted. “Alright, I deserved that one, but I’d like to enjoy the scenery for the rest of the way.”
Ben bowed his head. “As you wish.”
Even with my plea to go slower, we still made incredibly good time and reached Validen by midmorning. Ben turned onto the narrow streets and slowed to a crawl to avoid the busy carts and pedestrians. Even with the comfortable pace we soon arrived at the place I now called home.
Tully greeted us with shadows under his eyes and his usual stoic demeanor marred by a yawn he couldn’t quite stifle. Ben smiled at his servant as he hopped out of the thunder. “I see the crows entertained you most of the evening.” Tully pursed his lips and nearly gave his master a scowl. Ben helped me out of the thunder before he clapped Tully on the shoulder. “Rest for a while, old friend. We will serve ourselves before we go visit the professor.”
My ears perked up. “Professor Impara? Why are we going to see him?”
“He may be able to provide us with information about that spinner spirit we witnessed on the tract,” Ben told me.
“So why don’t we see him right now?” I suggested. “I’m not too hungry yet.”
Ben winced and rubbed his posterior. “We must suggest to the trio that they add more padding to the seat, otherwise all those who buy one will demand a refund.”
I grinned as we walked side-by-side toward the house. “I’m glad now for my cushion of blankets.”
We supped and in an hour I found myself back on that cushion of affection provided by the kind Hannah. I enjoyed my sightseeing until the winding roads in the old city. We were a quarter of a mile away when Ben was forced to park us off the road as well as he could manage considering the tight quarters.
“We will have to travel on foot from here,” Ben told me as he climbed out.
“You don’t think anybody will steal it, do you?” I asked him as he helped me out of the back.
Ben smiled as he nodded at the complicated dashboard. “They would have trouble figuring out how to get the thunder started. Its mechanics are unique, even among thunders.”
We covered the rest of the distance in a short time and soon found ourselves in front of the metal door that led into the cistern. Ben tilted one ear toward the entrance and rapped on the metal.
“What is it?” snapped Impara.
“Two weary visitors,” Ben called back.
