Chapter 3

1-14-2030

I saw on the news there's a group hoping to build a pagan temple near Austin. In the past there's been a bit of resistance from people about that sort of thing because of all the racist bastards who've tried to set them up. Those guys aren't even really pagan. They're just assholes. Anyway, everyone's still trying to clean up and rebuild after Feb 17th, so the whole thing was just a footnote at the end of the broadcast. Maybe I'll visit it one day? Unless it was made by racists. Then the building might just have an accident. >_>

- Personal journal of Page Simmons, volume 1, page 200

"Don't worry, your car's perfectly fine, Neoni," I say as I look over my bag one more time. I've packed my best shift-ready clothing, including the newer sets. Still, it's mostly empty. Since I've had to maintain a full shift the last two months I've given up trying to wear anything that can't keep up with my powers. I've also shredded a few shiftable shirts the last few weeks as well because, as much as I hate to admit it, I do not have as good a handle on my powers as I did before hitting my Cool Down Period.

I'm running out of clothes.

Needless to say, my walk-in closet is still empty, and my dresser isn't much better. I should go shopping when I have time. It would be easier to do it online. At least I'd avoid stares that way.

Holiday shopping in December sure was fun.

I've even taken to reverting whatever I'm wearing back to Basic when I'm home. At the moment it looks like I'm wearing a pair of loose dark colored pants and a very similar long sleeve shirt over a black tank top style undershirt. The fabric has a bit of an iridescent sheen thanks to the variety of metal threads coated in reconstituted wool fibers. This set is one of my more versatile ones but it's a prototype that wasn't meant for sale. The final versions of these available in stores look more fashionable when not shifted. More like regular clothing rather than the blank pajamas I'm wearing.

I beta test for AnyWear, a brand owned by my friend Tali Ayoub. Sometimes she sends me things that don't make it to market, like my boots. I still don't know when or if they'll be available for purchase but they're amazing. They look like old style leather tanker boots when not shifted but I've changed them into everything from flippers to inline skates. These boots are also the only thing I was wearing that survived my fight with Ezekiel. Don't worry, I wasn't completely naked when I dragged him out of the lake...

And he wasn't dead for long.

I use my shapeshifting powers to alter my clothing into a pair of heavy black jeans with integrated knee pads and an armored leather jacket, leaving the undershirt a tank top. I can change it to something else if I need later.

"I parked it in the exact same spot it was in before we went to the airport," I explain to Neoni over the phone. "It's locked and secure. I even washed it."

"You didn't have to wash it," Neoni replies.

"Oh, ho, ho, yes I did," I reply. "Got strafed by a flock of grackles on the way back to Little Asgard Heights. You would've killed me if I let that sit for six months."

"I would try but we know I wouldn't win that fight," Neoni says with a laugh. "It'd be like a gnat trying to fight a tiger. You sure about driving all the way to Kentucky?"

"Absolutely," I reply. "Things went smooth enough with me dropping Eterna off at her folks' place because I stayed in the car. No one saw me. Pretty sure people at the airport saw me thanks to...people just recognize this form as me now. It'll be a lot easier to ride my bike than to fly commercial. I can wear my helmet."

"But you'll be out on hotel costs," she counters.

Not if I don't sleep, I think to myself.

According to the travel app on my phone the trip from Austin to the CoL Lab in Eastern Kentucky will take about twenty hours nonstop. I will have to take breaks to charge my bike and eat. Okay, honestly, I could power it myself. It's electric and I know for a fact I can generate enough power from my body to keep it charged. It might burn out the bike's motors. I can also go without eating but don't like foregoing that many biological processes that often. Skipping sleep for a day is something even a non-CoL can do but I can manage it without becoming fatigued thanks to my powers.

I am supposed to be human, not a walking power plant, I remind myself just to make sure I don't go with the 'no stops' idea.

Will fuel myself up while I do the same for my bike. Feed. I will feed myself, not fuel. Again, very human.

"It's not a problem," I say. "Just give me a call if you need anything on your trip. During your layover, or even if you're in the air. I just want you to be safe."

"Thanks, Dad," Neoni teases. "I'll be fine. I've got to go find my gate. Drive safe, Page."

"Fly safe. I'll see you at the lab in a couple days."

No reason to let on that I'll be there tomorrow.

It's not quite ten in the morning. The sky is cloaked in gray mammatus clouds, like a mass of dreary cotton balls floating over the world. I feel the chill through the glass as I draw the shades on my bedroom window and the sliding glass door to my upstairs balcony. I grab my small duffel bag from my bed and head downstairs.

My apartment is still pretty bare bones. I moved to Austin in September and have lived here about four months. I mostly have the furniture the unit came with; a small living room set with a couch and plush chair, a coffee table, a little table for a retro DVD/digital media player and large TV that came with the place. There are a couple chairs and four stools around the kitchen counter and breakfast area. Upstairs I have a bookshelf filled with, well, books. There's also a small desk with my family photos on it, a queen sized bed, side table, and dresser that the apartment came with up there.

I shut the shades to my downstairs window and lower balcony doors. Glancing over to the still mostly bare end table in the corner of the room to my right. A lot of people have the space set up as an altar to whatever god or ancestors they prefer. I have a caramel macchiatto candle sitting on a red table runner. It feels empty.

I wish I had a statue to set up, I think to myself before remembering the small set of carved wooden idols Ash made for me a few years ago. at the moment they're on the bookshelf in my bedroom upstairs. It doesn't take me long to retrieve them and set them up. The altar is still pretty pitiful but at least it's looking more like one thanks to the little Loki, Odin, Freya, and Thor huddled behind the candle. The only thing missing now is an offering of some sort. The six pack of beer from my fridge that I'm never going to drink dwarfs the candle and the idols when I set it on the table.

"Loki and Odin please accept this offering. Please keep an eye out for me during this trip," I say, then I add. "The rest of y'all can have some too if you want."

If the gods are watching, they're probably laughing.

I grab the plastic bag of chocolate chip cookies from the counter and add them to my duffel bag before slinging it over my shoulder. It's still empty enough that it should fit in my bike's main storage compartment and yet I feel like I've over-packed. The plan is to go to Dr. Hailu's lab for a few days to check-in, make sure Neoni is settled, and say 'Hi' to the other folks who work there. Afterward, I'm to come back to Austin, help my sister Constance finalize arrangements with a memory facility for our mother, and look for an office space to rent with the help of my secretary, Thunderskull.

I pick up my motorcycle helmet from the breakfast table.

"Time to go," I say to myself.