“I’m touched,” Logan said as his stomach growled with hunger. They had been so focused on getting away from the scene of the crime that they hadn’t eaten much more than a granola bar and some candy that they picked up the last time they stopped to get gas. It had to have been five or six hours ago. Logan was sure that he wasn’t the only one who was starving at this point. In the distance, he could see a large neon sign that flashed, “Truck Stop, Exit 96.” It was like an oasis that sprung o”t of the vast emptiness of the plains and called to him like a siren. He flicked on his turn signal and headed toward the exit. “I don’t know about you guys, but I could use some grub.” Logan patted his stomach. “Bro, I could probably eat an entire cow right now, and that’s not just the munchies talking!” Rafe agreed. “We’re always read to eat.” Abina nodded. “Earth Realm’s food is much tastier than what we have back home.” “I think anything would taste be
The four of them walked over to the restaurant side of the truck stop, and Logan was hit with the aroma of buttery homemade mashed potatoes mixed with freshly seared steak and a hint of hoppy light beer. Kelda and Abina plopped happily into a booth halfway down the restaurant. Logan sat down across from them and slid across the vinyl seat toward the window. As he slid, his hip crashed into an unseen force, and Rafe let out a yelp. “Hands off the merchandise, bro,” Rafe’s disembodied voice laughed. “Good evening, folks!” an overly excited waitress greeted them. The woman in front of them had to have been in her late twenties or early thirties at the latest. She wore her strawberry red hair back in a ponytail, and her hair stuck out from the clasp of her black baseball cap. She wore a tight red v-neck underneath the apron that hung off her torso and carried a handful of straws and her notepad. The server’s jeans clung to her wide hips, and Logan could nea
Logan muttered a string of curses as he swerved the car to dodge the hail of bullets. The sudden movement jolted the elves awake, causing Rafe to slump over in his seat and the goblin to look around in confusion. “What’s going on, Logan?” Abina asked as she rubbed her eyes. “Somebody’s following us and is trying to—Get down!” Logan yelled at the two women in the backseat. All three of them managed to duck just as Lola’s back window shattered. Chunks of plastic sprayed through the interior of the car, but they all appeared to be unharmed, except for Rafe. The goblin reached up to touch the spot on his head where his left horn used to be. “My horn!” he cried. “My beautiful horn!” “I thought man-made weapons couldn’t hurt elvess?” Logan asked the experts in the back as he swerved to dodge another hailstorm. “They must be enchanted,” Kelda warned. “Can you see what we’re dealing with?” Logan asked the elves as Lola lurched to the left once more. “The
Logan spoke up, “I’ll do it,” as ice began to kill his stomach. Kelda nodded and then stepped away from the man. His eyes grew wide as Logan raised his hand, but then a red flash of Magicfire emerged from his palm and burned the man’s head off his shoulders. Then the smoking body fell to the pavement of the highway. “I'm not going to let anyone attack them without paying the price,” Logan said, smiling at his two beautiful girlfriends. “That includes humans, demons, elves, or gods.” “He deserved it,” Abina said. “You did the right thing.” “That’s right,” Rafe said, smiling at Logan. “No one fucks with the Rafester and his crew, or Logan will fucking melt their faces off!” “Let’s get going,” Logan laughed, and then they all turned and walked back toward Lola. “That was a close one,” Rafe patted his broken horn as the four of them slid back to the car. “Thankfully, the ‘ol dynamic duo of Rafe and Logan were here to kick ass and take names.” “Rafe an
“Nope,” Rafe’s disembodied voice whispered as the salesman finished showing them a brand new silver coupe. “Not a worthy successor to Lola.” “It’s nice, but I think we might have to pass on this one.” Logan shrugged to the dealer. “We need four doors.” “Let us try this again!” he said as a forced smile arose on his face. “What are you looking for in a vehicle? You said you wanted something that would be good for cross-country travel, and something that would be able to fit at least five people at a time.” “But still affordable,” Logan added. “I know, we’re quite picky!” “Not at all, Mr. Pearson! We just haven’t found the right car for you yet.” The dealer smiled and gestured to the enormous fleet of vehicles that stood before them. The nice man in the truck had dropped them off at a small dealership just outside the Boston city limits. Logan had tried to give the truck driver a few hundred dollars for letting them tag along on his trip, but he refused. Inste
The brisk New England wind blew through their hair as they drove past the beautiful coastline. Kelda and Abina couldn’t stop staring at the ocean, and Logan couldn’t blame them. They were from the dark realm, and he didn’t imagine that they had a lot of water there. Rafe puffed his joint and took a break every few minutes to sing along with the upbeat song coming through their speakers. Even after buying Shadow, their pockets were full of riches that Logan could only have dreamt of before. There was only one thing that stood between the four of them and a lifetime of happiness: Azar. “How close do you estimate we are, Darkspawn GPS?” Logan asked Rafe jokingly as he turned down the music blaring through the Jeep’s nice sounding stereo system. He shrugged. “I dunno. Ley Line cartography isn’t really an exact science. I just know that we have to go to this little town on the coast of Maine. We’re only about thirty minutes away, but from there it’s anybody’
Right before either of them could say their part, the waiter returned with their order on a rolling cart. He plopped down four plates on the white tablecloth, each containing a bright red lobster that still steamed from the cooking process, along with a small container of butter sauce. The waiter smiled as he passed out three small forks, the kind typically used to pull the meat out of the shell of the crustacean. Next, he tossed down a basket full of the region’s famous cheddar bay biscuits. Last but not least, he set down three wine glasses in front of them and then produced the restaurant’s most expensive bottle of merlot from the lower tier of the cart. The man brandished a wine opener momentarily before he jammed it into the stopper on the merlot and twisted, and the bottle opened with a small pop as the red wine was exposed to the air for the first time in years. Logan suggested, “Would it be possible to taste test the wine first? These girls over h
“None taken. There’s just something that’s so satisfying and surreal about being out there in the middle of the night, alone with nothing but yourself and the surrounding spirits. I totally get it. Here.” Thomas pulled out a pen and scribbled down the GPS coordinates onto a napkin. “Use them wisely, fellow legend trippers.”. Logan nodded at Thomas as he shook his hand again. “Thank you, Thomas.” The man smiled at the girls before he turned and walked back to his table. “He loves your purple contacts,” Logan informed the elves before motioning for them to follow him as he tossed down a few hundred on the table. “We need to find Rafe and get out of here. If that guy is right about the coordinates, then we may have found our Chapel!” Abina questioned, “But I thought he said it was just a giant field in the middle of nowhere?” “Exactly,” Logan explained as they followed the hoof prints in the sand along the beach. “Think about it. A wide-open field in