For the most part, David chose to walk with her, though occasionally he went aloft to scout. She studied the vegetation, tasted the leaves of a few plants, curious about their medicinal properties. Examined the array of lizards, turtles, bugs and snakes that populated their desert wilderness. It made sense the Schism would be here. Power was rampant among the silent, ancient rock formations which had sealed in evidence of life throughout the ages as the ocean receded from it. In her imaginings, she could see the whales swimming lazily by with schools of fish. Only they were great, prehistoric creatures, with much longer teeth and bigger eyes. If she focused, she could expand their size even further, take the distant rocks, put them underwater again, watch the baffled lizards float and swim, twist...
"Mina."
She tuned in to his voice to find herself in a shimmering heat current, a handful of panic-stricken lizards and snakes floating in it. One of the snakes had attached itself to her arm, considering her the most stable thing in the unexpected gravitational shift. Slowly, the other creatures drifted back to the ground, and the wavering illusion of water disappeared. David pried the snake off her arm and sent the offended reptile slithering off in a rapid sideways motion across the sand.
He gestured. "We're coming up on what looks like a highway. There's a roadside diner, about a mile that way." When he pointed, she made out the structure, the corners and lines too straight to be a contour of the Earth. "If you want, I can just fly you past it, or you can walk while I go over it, out of sight."
She studied it. "Something seems off about it. The energy is unusual."
"Yeah, but I don't think it's a threat. Jonah said things aren't always what they seem here. Real, but different. Like it might be something that does exist in the world, just not here."
Intrigued, she gave it a closer study, trying to determine the energy readings from it. It was a confusing mixture, though it seemed benign. "So you're saying this could be a diner from somewhere else, but the inhabitants don't realize they've been blinked into the Schism to serve a magical purpose?"
"Maybe. He didn't go into a lot of detail. He's still pissed off at me."
"I doubt that. He thinks you're making a terrible error in judgment. Because he's protective of you, the best thing he can do is get me somewhere that Dark Ones won't go. Then, assured of my safety, you can return to your platoon duties, where he hopes you'll go back to being sensible again."
David crossed his arms over his chest. "Really?"
"I suspect so." She went to a squat, considering the diner still. "I'd prefer to walk toward the restaurant. I want to go in."
In the proximity of a magical fault line, she knew it was possible that, having thought of what she could offer to David as a gift, the solution had materialized in the form of this diner. She just wondered what price it would exact or what it was seeking.
"Do you agree with him?"
"What? Oh. Would it matter?" She gave him an absent glance, but her mind had shifted to something even more unsettling. "David, my power is humming here, and it's getting stronger, the closer we come to the Schism. It's like feeling the blood in my body moving along, only I can feel its heat, the rush and speed."
"Is that good or bad?"
She was gratified, though a little disconcerted, that he picked up on her concern so quickly.
"I don't know. Just different. I think I like it," she ventured cautiously. "But since I don't know which part of me likes it, that's not necessarily a good thing. And this is a sentient magical fault line, which can also be trouble, because they're typically more curious than moral."
"So we could be walking into a kid's science experiment, where he's throwing us in the mix just to see what will happen," he observed.
"It's usually best not to compare an entity of uncharted power to a careless child."
"Point well taken." His lips curved, communicating a sense of irony she chose to ignore. Still, he joined her in a second perusal of the diner, his eyes giving it a harder study. Finally, he glanced at her. "Okay, then. You go toward it; I'll go over it. If something goes wrong, we'll figure it out, okay?"
She wasn't used to hearing that word. We. She found she liked it, despite her best attempt to disregard it. So she nodded.
"I'll be close." Reaching out, he brushed his hand along her arm, caressed her hip. "I'll come to your aid. If I think it's the sensible thing to do," he added soberly.
"I can turn you into a lizard. And pick you up by your tail."
A quick grin and he was gone, leaving behind at least one feather. Did angels molt? She should ask. For now, she picked it up and tucked it into her hair.
It came upon her sooner than expected. It was startling to be this close to a real human establishment, whether magically transported or not. There were cars in the parking lot, just four or five, but they were the first she'd seen close up. Mina was cautious, but reminded herself that she was dressed like the people in the diner, so she shouldn't cause remark, particularly when she took further precautions. Since either side of her face could cause excessive attention, she spun an illusion over it, making it unremarkable.
Interestingly, the power of the Schism tugged at it, making it clear that it disagreed with her decision to mask herself. However, she'd been making her own decisions and surviving because of them too long to simply abdicate that because a nameless, formless energy wanted to throw its weight around. When she yanked back, it finally let go, though with an impression of sullen acquiescence. She grudgingly appeased it by leaving her hand unchanged.
Though the odors of cooked food coming
from inside the restaurant were tempting, she lingered in the parking area to study the cars, peering into the windows. She wondered how it would feel to ride in one, particularly one with an open top where she wouldn't feel closed in as she went fast.
When she at last entered the glass front door, she jumped as a bell rang above her. She stopped, studied it, her hand gripping the door handle so hard her knuckles were white. David was nearby, she reminded herself. Using that to calm her nerves, she stepped inside to assimilate all the unexpected sights, movements and sounds around her.
A quiet murmur of noise. The clink of silverware, conversation, the scraping of chairs. It was like walking into one of her books, she realized. Just like the saloon. She would be one of the characters. But was she the main character here? What was the Schism's purpose?
"You can just take a seat, miss." This from a woman in an apron and a yellow dress, who breezed by with a pot emitting one of the strongest, most pleasurable aromas.
Examining the room, Mina moved to a booth. There were fresh flowers on each table, desert-type blossoms mixed in artistically with some dried grasses.
Mina, are you all right?
Fine. Just looking. Where are you?
She was curious, because he suddenly felt so close, an unexpected reassurance.
On the roof. It's pitched, so I'm on the back side, facing the desert, not the highway. If you need me, all you have to do is call me in your mind.
He'd already told her that. Twice. She pressed her lips together. "Okay."
She'd spoken without thinking and the waitress was now there, handing her a menu. Or rather, laying it on the table after a quick hesitation, for Mina's three-fingered hand was closest to the table's end, with the splint on the one finger and the bandage wrapped around the palm.
"Okay what, honey? Oh, my goodness, what happened to your fingers?" The waitress shook her head before Mina could think of a response. "I'm sorry. You don't have to answer that. I'm as curious as a cat on her eighth life. Things are always just popping out of my mouth without me thinking about it. Of course, then again, people are going to stare, so I always think, 'Isn't it more natural just to ask?' Then you can answer or not, but it's all out in the open, on the table."