Chapter 36: Arcadia Spire
Sitting in the passenger seat of Sergeant Kelley’s supercar gave me time to pull together my frayed emotions as we enacted the next part of Everglaive’s plan.
Everglaive had been pleased when I walked out of the building and told them I wanted to be a combat-focused Magical Girl, to directly fight the Anathema. Naiad had been encouraging too, and Sergeant Kelley, well…
Glancing at her from the snug, impossibly comfortable seat I found myself in, I saw she still had on a shark-like grin as she hummed happily. She’d been ecstatic at my announcement, informing me she already had some ideas on getting me proper training with firearms as well as some tactics for leveraging my stats.
I pulled my eyes away, briefly looking over the interior of the car again. It was mostly colored black with red accents, giving it a dark and mysterious feel. The surfaces were all smooth curves and glass displays that made the entire thing look more like a futuristic spaceship than anything else. Even Selene looked intrigued from where she sat on my lap.
I squeezed her tight as Sergeant Kelley picked up the speed, passing a car only to take a sharp turn a moment later, somehow making the maneuver without jostling us about. It didn’t take away from the fact that I could see how close she was passing some of the vehicles, and although I couldn’t see the speedometer, I was pretty sure we were going way faster than we should be, especially in a city.
It also didn’t help that somehow all the lights along our route were green, letting Sergeant Kelley drift through traffic with impunity.
Thankfully, the traffic in Arcadia was relatively tame. One of the bonuses of having a city custom designed and teleported in as a finished product was that it had an extensive public transportation system built into it. The thorough subway lines and extravagant monorails were bolstered by numerous city buses that helped cut down traffic significantly. While traffic could still be pretty thick during rush hours, I’d heard it was still way better than most modern cities.
Of course, that just meant Sergeant Kelley had ample room to maneuver between vehicles to shave off as many seconds off our commute as possible.
I’d already let out a few strangled yelps as Sergeant Kelley weaved through afternoon traffic with almost casual disregard. I’d only realized I was squishing Selene to my chest when one of her tails flicked into my face after one particular turn.