Eventually we made our way out of the garage and began a drive away from campus. The van had small little lounge chairs in the back, that were surprisingly comfy… but surprisingly close together. I sat next to Luke. His sister, and Caleb sat across from us. The ride seemed bumpy at first, but eventually smoothed out as night fell. Within minutes I felt a weight hit my shoulder, I rose a brow and looked over, Luke had passed out next to me, and was snoring on my shoulder, I laughed, and moved his head down to my lap. 

“Sorry you got stuck with taking care of him” Sabrina laughed. I smiled, and shrugged.

“I guess even Luke needs sleep huh?” We all chuckled. 

“To tell ya the truth he didn’t get much sleep last night… I woke up once late at night and he was just staring up at the ceiling…”

“That’s how a lot of us were…” Caleb muttered. There was a solemn silence

“To be honest this probably hit Luke the hardest… I know we all want to be magi more than anything or we wouldn’t have done this to ourselves… but Luke… Luke has more to prove than any of us… he’s already an orphan, a variant, the “weird” one in our group…” we all glanced at him. Sabrina gave a soft smile, and tears welled up in her eyes. “... but he is the most smart, funny, caring, loving, hard working person I know on this planet… but he’s never given credit for it.” Sabrina cleared her throat, and blinked the tears away. I glanced down at Luke, a smile growing on my face too. I could see what she meant, just a few weeks and I had already been able to see what she was talking about…

“Hey, you two.” Caleb yelled up to Harry and Lauren

“Yeeees?” Lauren called, sing songingly back to him.

“You two even know where we’re going?”

“South.” Harry said

“Harry thinks if we head south before we find a boat we may find some clues along the way… the goal now is to get to Florida.” Lauren explained. 

“We’re heading to the site of that one news cast?” I asked. Lauren glanced at Harry, then nodded, smiling. “I can promise you, so is everyone else.” I muttered “... the HAA assholes will definitely be there, not to mention maybe some others…”

“But we left first remember? Luke made sure of that.” Harry said, determined. The two were like brothers sometimes… “he did his part, now it’s my turn to get us there first.” Lauren glanced at Harry, then smiled back to us. 

“In the meantime!” She said cheerfully. “Let’s play a game!”

“Uuuugggh” Caleb groaned, moving his backpack behind his head. “I’m going to sleep. Wake me up when we’re th-“

“Ok Caleb! Truth or dare?” Lauren called. He rose a brow. Caleb rolled his eyes, and shrugged. 

“Truth.” 

“Yay! How many… ladies have you been with?” She giggled raising a brow. 

“What kind of question is that?” Caleb groaned. 

“The one you got asked because you picked truth.” Lauren said quickly.

“I don’t want to play anymore.”

“Answer the question Caleb.” Sabrina smirked, nudging him with her elbow, he glanced at her, then back to Lauren, and sighed. 

“If you mean what I think you mean. Three.” He muttered. Harry laughed quietly in front. “And how about you tin can? Since this is so funny.” Caleb crossed his arms. Harry stopped laughing, Lauren’s eyes widened and she turned to Harry, scratching the back of her head. There was a long silence….

“None.” He said quietly. 

“What??” Caleb laughed. “None??? Oh man…” he slapped his knee. That sort of surprised me too. Harry was a pretty good looking guy, not my type but I could definitely see the appeal, he seemed tall, strong, too quiet for me though.

“Don’t tease him! There’s no judgment in a game of truth or dare.” Lauren scolded. 

“That how your cheerleader friends play?” Caleb rose a brow. “How bout this then… how many guys have you been with?” There was a short silence, For the first time this drive, Harry broke concentration on the road and glanced over at Lauren, whose face grew red.

“Uh…” she muttered. 

“Look we don’t have to play anymore…” Sabrina said, worried everything was getting out of hand. Harry remained locked onto Lauren. 

“Well… uh… four.” Lauren said quietly. 

“Ok there’s the answer then, we’re all done with that game.” Sabrina said standing up. Harry remained looking at Lauren, then moved his attention slowly back to the road. Luke moved in his sleep, he now sprawled over his chair, and faced the ceiling of the van. 

“All I wanted was to sleep.” Caleb said quietly, putting his hands behind his head, shutting his eyes. In a few short minutes, everyone drifted off to sleep besides Harry and I. 

“You’re a perceptive girl…” Harry said quietly, I jumped in my seat, not expecting to have a conversation with Harry of all people. 

“I…”

“I know you saw… me looking at Lauren.” 

“Look it’s none of my bus-“

“I need your help…” he said quietly, I rose a brow. Mine? “I don’t know how many relationships… if any you’ve been a part of… but I need help…” there was a silence between us. “Four??” He whisper yelled. I remained silent. “That seems like a lot to me… that feels like a lot… four people… four other people… four other guys-“

“Harry…” I said, cutting him off. “...let me ask you a question…”

“Yeah.”

“Are you a particularly worrisome guy? Overthinker? Self conscious? Not very confident?”

“That was four questions.” I waited for the answer “yes.”

“Then your feelings are valid. You’re right to feel what you feel about what that number means to you. But so is she.” Another silence.

“But… “ Harry sniffled… this must’ve really been bothering him for him to actually display emotion… did she mean this much to him? “... am… am I just number five?” I could hear his voice waiver as he forced the sentence out. My heart just about broke. Poor guy…

“Of course not Harry.” I said quietly, I sighed and shook my head… I didn’t think I was helping the situation at all. “... Harry… can I guess where the issue is coming from?” 

“Yeah…”

“The nature of your social status. You think because you’re a variant she’s above you.” There was a long silence… thought so… “let me tell you a little life lesson…” I said firmly. 

“You’re not that much older than me Yaknow that, right April?” Harry chuckled, I laughed, and nodded. 

“But I’m wise beyond my years.” I teased. “... listen… you… like everyone else in this world. Need to stop seeing the world through the lense of variant versus poor. Labeling yourself as a ‘mutt’ helps not one person on this Earth. It’s a word that puts people down, no matter who uses it and the longer people keep complaining about their ‘disadvantages’ because they’re a variant, the longer we’re gonna have problems. I’m ‘pure’” I said through air quotes. “... my parents are! And we had to work for every single thing we earned. Enough putting people in boxes, saying pure is better than variant, and over generalizing. What you’re talking about when you say that is the stereotypical version of you, one you don’t need to adhere to!” I stopped, just now realizing how long I'd been talking. Another long silence floated across the van. When suddenly Lauren shifted and sat up, glancing over at Harry. 

“Hey there…” he said, keeping his eyes glued on the road ahead of him. 

“Hi…” Lauren returned sensing his tension. “...you uh… want me to drive?” Harry was silent. 

“No I’m… im ok.” He muttered meeting my gaze through the rear view mirror, I rose a brow and gave him a ‘you need sleep’ look… it’s a very specific look. 

“Ok…” he said, Lauren rose a brow, and smiled, as Harry pulled over. The two switched seats, and Lauren began driving again. In a few moments Harry was out of it… I soon joined in on the sleep.

…

“Hm? Where am I?” I muttered standing up slowly. I glanced around the area I was in… a white mist shrouded most of my view. I narrowed my eyes, attempting to concentrate my vision… nothing happened. I tied my fiery red hair back in a ponytail, and stepped forward cautiously. “Helloooo?” I muttered slowly wading through the mist. I rose a brow, and knelt down, placing a hand on the ground. “Wh…” I rose a brow. Grass? I felt around… a lot of grass… I picked a blade, and stood back up. “Whhhaaaat the hell?” White grass? Suddenly my vision unfocused on the grass, and to a figure walking toward me. I narrowed my eyes. It was surely a mans figure… broad shoulders, at least six foot… I couldn’t see any hair on his silhouette… but it seemed like he was wearing a hood of some sort. I stepped closer. As I did small white roots rose from the ground locking my feet in place. “H-hey!” I grunted, yanking at them. My vision returned to the ma- he was gone. “What the…”

“So this is who they’re sending?” A voice came from behind me, sending a wave of chills down my spine, I turned my head… nothing… “I expected more…” the voice now said

“AAAHH!” I yelled, as I turned to see the man, inches from my face. “Wh… who… who are you?” The man remained silent. I rose an arm. “... tell me Wh-“ as I said that, I noticed the white roots had encased nearly my whole body. They collected at my neck now, slowly crawling up my body, they lowered my arm to my side. 

“Now now young lady…” the man chuckled. “... so impatient… shouldn't we wait until aaaalll the pawns are in place?” Pawns? What was he talking about?

“You aren’t strong enough to target the king yet.” He bit, drawing centimeters from my face. Suddenly the roots encased my whole body into blackness…

…

I woke up in a sweat, breathing heavily, trying to gain my surroundings…

“GOD DAMMIT!” Luke roared. “... we been at this driving thing for how long now?”

“We still have about seven hours, and sit down!” Sabrina scolded, Luke crossed his arms in a huff.

“Uuuggghh I’m so bored!” Luke groaned popping out his phone, and tapping away. 

“Maybe you could read up on the site of the last expedition?” Sabrina muttered, waving her phone in his face. “Says, when that man punched the barrier, it literally left crystallized shards of mana floating around in the ocean.”

“The spell was called Furious Piston.” Luke muttered. “If performed correctly it can literally tear magic right from a source.”

“So let’s assume I got hit?” Caleb asked

“It would shatter the magic right outta ya.” Luke made movements with his hands to symbolize “shatter”

“Yeah… so because the dome was comprised completely of magic, it just destroyed it.” Sabrina explained. I was still trying to recuperate from the dream I had…  who was that guy? How did he know me? The cloak he had on…

“Yo April!” Luke called, I glanced at him. “Wanna play a little song while we drive?”

“W-well I…” me? Play?

“Come on! It’ll be fun!” Luke yelled, pumping a fist into the air. 

“Luke, don’t pressure her.” Sabrina growled. Luke sighed, and shrugged. 

“Fine. Harry?” Silence… “haaaarrryyy?” No response. Finally Luke leaned over the edge, and turned to the passenger side. “Yo! Har!” He called. 

“Stop it Luke! He drove a lot last night he’s tired!” Lauren said shooing Luke off. Luke grunted, and flopped back into his seat. 

“Hey! Why don’t we-“

“QUIET BAKER!” We all yelled, breaking into laughter at the end. 

The rest of the trip took, as Sabrina said around seven hours we had stopped a few times for bathroom breaks and what not, but after the longest seven hours of most of our lives, we arrived in Miami at about late afternoon. The city was bustling of course, large cityscapes and skylines filled our view as we inhaled the warm air of Florida. We stopped near a large hotel toward the eastern coast of the city. Lauren parked the van, and we all got out . 

“WOOHOOO FINALLY!!!!” Luke yelled exploding from the van. 

“I’ll go get a room, if it means being away from that.” Caleb groaned, gesturing to Luke. We laughed as he disappeared into the hotel lobby. 

“Ok.” Harry said quietly, pulling out a map. “...from here we’ll take the walk to the docks on the lower east coast and take a boat out to the ocean.”

“Are we even gonna be able to do that?” Sabrina asked. “None of us have our licenses.” We all shook our heads. 

“We got a room.” Caleb returned, swirling a key around his finger.” He stopped, glancing down at his stomach… “Now for food…” he muttered. 

“We could always get like… I don’t know Chinese or something and take it back to the room.” Sabrina shrugged. 

“No one else wants chinese.” Luke groaned, sliding past everyone. “I’ll cook something. April, come get food with me.” Luke said, walking away from the group. I glanced at everyone, then followed Luke. We walked for a few minutes in silence, which was unlike Luke until we found a small supermarket...