Part 10 (2/2)
”What is it they're afraid of she can do?” said Dallace
I turnedand the scene changed Ballard was issuing orders in front of an arone so wrong He was different It looked like a battlefield of so up We'll watch over her Lennoxlove, you have our words”
I yanked myself out of bed Ballard slept soundlessly atwild The other I had never met before One I could not see And
I took out my diary, and journeyed to a spot on the balcony The words flowed
Chapter 9 Cah the corridors, keeping pace withvistas of obelisks and do over the handlebars, with Ballard atappeared supernatural and surreal, colored by a lack of objectivity, which had nothing to do here I was going, but only hoould get thereto the sub rosa goings-on I would soon be taking part inand the people I wouldto do here I was headed was shrouded in et there I had to swear, over and over, to Ballard, that yes, I would not tell a living soul
”That includes your diary,” he said He seeht with peril
A light pitter-patter drizzled inter off my helmet top Ballard popped a wheelie Water sluiced from his front wheel as he dropped the nose, the picture of self-control We pulled to a stop sign in the shape of a theta and he smiled at me
Nervousness par excellence played at the corners of his ht in his eyes I could only assue, I wasn't to know about
We were in a decrepit and beat up part of Roraffiti and flyers adding to theus in Trastevere Because when you went to a secret o was as a pack!
I noticed for the uave to me Any motorcycle for that matter Even oing alone I could've gone alone! That was the whole point! It was soood intentions I could go anywhere anyti could stop me
We peeled out and raced to Trastevere Ballard did soht on his tailla bikes greeted us
Lia was on her Ducati next to Gaven, who, I noticed, was eating a grattachecca, the Ballard family specialtyblue ice as cool as he was He suys haveand I returned the gesture with one of my own
”About time, brother,” said Lia She spoke into a walkie-talkie ”Tell Volt and Pouch to lock it up as soon as they get here And follow after us Yeah You'll be able to sainjust blank staring She put the walkie-talkie away Next thing I knew her hel bike spit and started
Gaven hurriedly finished his grattachecca The other riders aiting for his coh a stand of densely-packed fir treespun intended; they were all exceedingly tall And Ballard was getting that way Had he had a growth spurt? Already I had begun to look up to his Maybe his horht
Lia revved her engine iht leather pantsand Gaven, said, ”Okay, let's go, side by side, in pairs, if you would Don't break formation! This isn't a race!” He flicked down his visor and I watched, in amazement, as even more riders appeared froe, two by two, as Lia and Gaven accelerated down theas the eye could see They were around the bend, with still more bikes in front of us, before it was even our turn
”Are you ready for this?” said Ballard
I nodded, du to the Gathering! ”Who are Volt and Pouch?” I asked, as I checked the switches on a, and prepared to depart Still more riders poured in frohts before Where were they co from?
”I Gatti They'll stay behind and ets up to any shenanigans While we're at the Gathering,” said Ballard, ”Rome is exposed Gaven's orders”
”Volt and Pouch hed ”We aren't taking any chances,” he said, starting his Ducati It was nize it anywhere Ballard had paid so from storm clouds He flicked it to life
We pulled out and followed the queue
I noticed, as ound through Trastevere, everyone stop what they were doing, and watch, as rider after rider, passed theroup Some of the onlookers had s and whispering secret things to I wondered what they said That there went the olves, the protectors of Roroup
I also felt like I didn't belong
As I passed a young girl bold enough to stand on her own, she save her a salute and allowed led
We were headed into the unknownor at least I was
I looked overhead and saw the clouds depart; the leaden sky turned cobalt blue, and the sun, in its last show of strength, beat upon our hot chrome We left Trastevere, and headed south, away from the friendly confines of the Aurelian Wall, which for the line of the Tiber river, as it wound itself away, into ca procession of motorcycles and their Riders interlaced like the strands of an intricate Celtic knot, whose Wiccan symbolism was not lost on me; it made me think of druids and the time of Samhain and on and on, as we proceeded into dry hills, that ran over and under, following a trail only the Head Riders knew about I wondered how long Lia and Gaven had been in charge of the Pack, and if it were really true, if Gaven was getting too old Gaven's orders was a phrase I was starting to get used to I wondered if he would ever step down, if he even had a choice in the matter From what Ballard had said, the ability to transform went away Just poof I didn't want Gaven to just poof Itthe Riders swerve back and forth, in a little game they liked to play in the middle of the pack Wiccan knots within Wiccan knots I and Ballard did it for a while Listening to the whines of the engines was like being in a kennel full of dogs I had to res Sirius business Not to be trifled with
But as Lia so gape-faced like she was staring at ht, I could make her out, in the curve of the hill up ahead She and Gaven were cruising along like they didn't have a care in the world
One second I was feeling the enviousness I always felt when I stared at her for too long, the next, she had disappeared It was like Lia was totally gone I swerved with Ballard, and checked it fro, two by two
We looked like so itself, we had becoed He didn't knoas going on either
As weup the Riders, the dragon's tail naturally accelerated; I had quite the opposite reaction I wanted to slon But it was too late The Riders before us were disappearing, and pretty soon it was our turn I looked up at the sky, not knohat to expect, and if I would ever see it again, and then I looked down
It was like going through an archway One second ere in calitter, twenty percent off sales, caffeine, unicorns, holding hands, claddagh rings, staying up late, your nails done great, snakebites and flowers, butterfly tattoos, candy-flavored bubblegum, hallowed trees,each other's hair, scrapbooking, nail polish, grunge, being late, OCD, OMG, shopping spree, black lace lingerie, gift cards and get-well cards, Valentine's cards, and credit cards, I love you grams and teddy bears and fluffy little bunnies That hat this was like And oh everything that my seventeen-year-old heart could wish for I had arrived I was there
Theoosebumps So about this place I could only assume it was the work of the warlocks Ballard had said helped I Gatti shi+eld caical attention For everything that could transform, or else conjure, or otherwise bend realitysuch as vampires and their ability to live foreverdeeround facility, like a loading dock almost, except it went on forever I Gatti'sdown their stands, and stepping off them I followed those in front ofblack hair cascaded down ines sounded five ti ahead to his sister I could see her and Gaven talking to so, dark robes
Around us, hewn from rock, was a kind of cathedral-sized debarkation zone The sunlight pierced theThe last of I Gatti arrived and the engines cut out Ventilation swept the fu Italian hillsides, and in the distance, Ro, in the afternoon sun Suddenly the voices ahead were a for you,” he said I looked ahead and sahat hefrantically ”Halsey!” she said She hardly ever spoke to me It must be important
”Go on,” said Ballard, ”I'll catch up”
But I didn't want to Leaving hiure in robes was, she looked atwith ether alked past the others, up to Gaven and Lia, and this new person Lia was looking at Ballard with the same look as the other lady had for me ”Did I say Ballard, Ballard?” she said
”Shut up, Lia”
”Ballard has a point, we calared at him ”That means you and Halsey and Ballard and me It's check-in time” He patted Ballard on the back
I finally stood next to thelowered at Ballard, who returned the look But she said ”Hi,” to me