Jess grinned. "Yeah, I have that. I do know that much about traveling. And you can't take more than three ounces of liquids on the plane, right?"
"In carry-on. You can have whatever you want in checked luggage."
"Really? Damn! I could've brought my big bottle of shampoo."
The waiter brought them a large bag with their burgers and fries. Jess had also ordered a milkshake. "This might be my last chance to have a traditional all-American meal for a while," she said around the straw.
"It's Italy, not the moon. They have food there. Meat, even."
She threw a french fry at him, and grabbed a handful to munch on as they walked back to the car. "How do you know? Have you been there?"
"Not to Italy. I've been to Greece and Switzerland, though."
Jess looked delighted. "That's so awesome. What was it like?"
"Er ..." In Greece, he'd been poisoned by gargoyles; in Switzerland, he was too groggy and out of it to remember much. He did vaguely remember very pretty mountains and gardens. They had been staying in a lovely chalet belonging to Uncle Heikon's mate. "Scenic," he said. "Very pretty."
"I can't even imagine traveling enough to be that matter-of-fact about it," Jess said in rapture. "I've never been anywhere, really. This is going to be so much fun."
"Jess, you almost died earlier today. This is going to be incredibly dangerous, and I wish you would just go somewhere safe, far away from all of this."
Jess sobered. She leaned an arm on the roof of the car. The sun had set, and in the lights of the shopping plaza, her face was a study in shadow. An evening breeze tugged strands of hair loose from her braid and swirled wisps around her face.
"I know," she said quietly. "I understand that. But, believe it or not, I've been in danger before. I'm not afraid. I'm excited about this. Don't take that away from me."
"I just want you to understand how serious this is."
"I do," she said. "But I can understand that and have fun too."
Maybe, Reive thought as they got back into the car, he'd spent too much time viewing travel as something he had to do, not something that was fun to do. His clan had dispatched him all over the country, and occasionally the world, to gather information and deal with problems. He wasn't sure if he'd ever traveled anywhere just because he wanted to go there.
And he didn't dare tell Jess the real reason for his urgency. He was racing a clock, but it was a clock only he knew about.
But maybe she was right. Maybe, just because this was a necessary trip, didn't mean it couldn't also be a fun trip.
"Gosh, I'm starving," Jess said through a mouthful of fries. "Lunch seems like it was a thousand years ago."
"I really don't mind driving while you eat, if you want me to. I'm not that hungry anyway."
"Yeah, I noticed that." She frowned at him. "I've never seen a big guy like you who didn't eat like a horse. Did you have a big lunch or something?"
"Yeah," Reive said, trying to remember what he'd had for lunch, or if he'd bothered with lunch at all. "That's exactly it."
"Well, you can steal some of my fries, if you want."
She held one out temptingly at about mouth height. Reive hesitated, then took it carefully from her fingers with his lips. Very carefully, so as not to brush her skin, because he didn't need this attraction getting any more out of hand than it already was. Not when he was a dead man walking.
The french fry was hot and salty and greasy and good, with just a hint of ketchup.
Maybe he was hungry after all. Just a little bit.
Jess
Jess stirred, waking from a restless sleep. Someone was jostling her arm. She turned her head, squinting dazedly, and saw Reive leaning toward her in an airline seat. For a moment her mind was a complete blank, and then it all came back to her: driving to Indianapolis with just enough time to catch the flight he'd lined up for them, changing planes in New York, and then the long night flight over the Atlantic, which she had mostly slept through.
"We're flying over Italy," he said softly, and Jess woke all the way up, jolting out of her dreams to the sound of cabin announcements and the closeness of other passengers around her. "I thought you might want to see it."
Jess sat up, stretching and yawning, and peered out the window. The last time she'd looked, there had been nothing to see but the dark ocean below and a sliver of light on the rim of the world. Now they were flying over a patchwork tapestry of green and rusty red. Long shadows stretched out in the morning sun, across vineyards and olive groves and little hill towns with twisting, medieval streets.
Italy. She was captivated. They flew over a freeway streaming with traffic, and even that seemed wondrous and foreign from the air.
She was glad Reive had taken care of the arrangements, from buying tickets to taking the lead through security; she had simply followed along with everything he'd done. They had left her car in long-term parking in Indianapolis. She was still in a daze; the night flights had made the whole thing blur together into a hazy jumble of airport terminals and too-narrow seats.
She wished she had been more awake and less rattled for most of it. She wanted to remember all of this. For her entire life, she'd dreamed of having the money and leisure to travel. It would have made her quest to find out about her past much easier, too. She could have gone to famous libraries and museums in London and Paris, examined books much older and rarer than anything she could ever afford to buy herself.
But now they were really here, in Italy. An overhead announcement declared they would soon be landing in Rome and gave instructions in English and Italian for going through Customs, and a flight attendant came through, passing out Customs declaration forms.
Jess was delighted to find that she could, if not entirely understand the Italian, at least suss out enough of it to get the gist from her knowledge of Latin and other Romance languages.
She couldn't help feeling like, in some ways, her entire life had been leading up to this.
"Excited?" Reive murmured, and when she grinned at him, he grinned back, a flash of white teeth and warmth.
As delighted as she was to be doing this, she was delighted five times over to be able to do it with him. Exploring Rome on her own would have been wonderful, but having Reive with her elevated it to the level of—okay, honeymoon was taking it too far, definitely. But she couldn't imagine being happier.
Keep in mind there are gargoyles after us, she reminded herself. And cultists.
"How likely do you think it is that they'll come here?" she asked quietly as they began to collect the small items around their seats.
Reive didn't have to ask who they were. "I'm not sure. We'll just have to keep our eyes open and be careful. It's unlikely they could have beaten us here, at least."
They were standing now, waiting for the line of yawning tourists and other travelers to start moving. A woman getting a suitcase down from the overhead bin bumped Reive's arm, and he flinched and swayed, his shoulder hitting Jess.
"Are you okay?" Jess asked, surprised. He seemed to be in pain.
"Fine," Reive muttered, grimacing. He stuck his gloved hand awkwardly into his jacket pocket and pulled in a little bit, leaving the aisle clear.