Shangri-la
Chapter 15
Iris didn’t want to ever take her foot off the gas. The pedal was pressed down to the floor it was like she wanted to push it clear through to the road beneath them. Then, glancing down, Iris saw the speedometer and she felt wildly out of control, sure that they were going to die.
“Slowly ease up on the gas,” Lotus murmured, holding so tightly to the handle over the window that her fingers were white with deep red lines through her knuckles. “Don’t you dare touch the brakes.”
Her words triggered Iris’s brain back into thinking, and she relaxed her foot on the pedal, but her throat wasn’t ready to speak.
“Keep going until we run out of gas.”
“Oh!” Iris looked down at the empty gas gauge. “Shi–”
“Don’t worry,” Lotus interrupted. “We’ll be fine.”
“But what about Alder? He’ll catch up to us while we’re stranded on the side of the road.” Iris felt herself panicking, sure that all of it was her fault.
“His animal is a hawk. He’ll catch up to us no matter what.” Lotus was oddly calm, almost serene as she turned to look out the window, brushing her hair out of her face. “Shangri-la is on our side, so we can’t lose.”
Iris nodded, adjusting her grip on the steering wheel so that she felt more secure. If she could just bring herself to believe in Lotus, then she could relax. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t force away the sickening uneasiness that settled in her stomach.
They drove on in silence, waiting for the inevitable death that would soon occur. It seemed that at any moment the car would sputter and start slowing down, and each second that it sailed on only made the time more terrible and uncertain. Until, finally, the engine died and the drifted to a stop.
As Iris turned to Lotus, the older woman pulled out her cell phone and pressed the speed dial. Iris could hear the other end ring, then a male voice answered.
“Hello Oran,” Lotus said. “Come find us.”
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