Lightning raced up the power line and struck the ground behind us.
“What the hell is that?” I shouted as I ran.
Snakes of blue lightning arced out from the downed power line.
Well, that was certainly some sort of nightmare. I ran harder.
Geraint swore. I saved my breath, though my energy flagged. I was in good shape, but extended sprints were not an activity I engaged in, well, ever.
Nic grabbed my arm and pushed some of his essence into me. With that energy boost, I kept up my speed until Robby slowed. We all stopped and looked behind us.
Tendrils of blue crawled along the ground as if searching for us.
“What do we do?” I panted, leaning over, and resting my hands on my thighs while I caught my breath.
“Call the authorities,” Robby said. “Then call for a ride. It’s the only thing we can do.”
I pulled out my phone and debated who to call. My choices were my parents or Ash or Casey. Maybe Ash would be available.
I dialed her number, but the phone went to voicemail. She was probably in court. Hopefully, my parents weren’t teaching right now.
Dad picked up on the second ring. “Hi, Spark.”
“Hey, Dad, the van broke down just off the interstate. Any chance someone can come out and get us?”
“We’ll send someone right now. Everyone okay?”
“Yeah. Just a breakdown.” I didn’t want to worry him over the phone.
“All right, honey. Be careful and we’ll get someone out there to pick you four up.”
“Thanks Dad. Love you.”
“Love you, too, Spark.”
If only he knew the day we’d had. I’d tell him some of it later.
“They coming?” Geraint put his arm around me.
“Yeah.”
“Great. Robby is finished dealing with the police on the phone, and the blue power snakes have vanished.”
Sighing, I leaned back into my partner’s solid embrace. “Good.” Our cuddle was short with the sun pounding down on us. I glanced over at Nic. The sun had leached most of the color from his complexion, and exhaustion tugged at his expression.
“Your highness, you should get out of the sun,” Robby said, gesturing toward the tree line. It was much closer after our sprint away from the downed power lines.
Nic nodded, and after a quick glance at me, dissolved into wisps of shadow.
“The two of you should join him,” Robby suggested. “Stay close to the road.”
Wordlessly, Geraint and I trudged toward the tree line. We both eyed the power lines warily, but they stayed quiet. Plenty of people would be without power from this. Hopefully the power company would get out here quickly and fix everything.
We made it to the shelter of the trees without incident and joined Nic in the shade.
“Are you okay?” I went over to my prince and touched his arm. My hand sank into his shadowy form as if pressing into a cool gel.
“I am, thank you. I simply need rest after all the sunlight, and holding myself to one form for so long today. It is getting easier as I practice, but today took quite a bit of effort.”