Chapter 23
Tori was kind.
The driving lessons did not start with a manual, but with an automatic. Nikki appreciated this beyond words, as they had never been behind the wheel of a car in their life. For the sake of the car—and people’s safety—less complications at the start was for the best.
This was only semi-planned. On the night they’d rescued the kittens (which had found new homes in Burkhard, with an entire clan to spoil them), Nikki had mentioned something about wishing they could drive.
Tori had promptly offered to teach them.
It didn’t take much thought on Nikki’s part to accept.
Dominique had joined in too, eager to learn a basic life skill.
Tori drove both Nikki and Dominique out to a random deserted parking lot with cones, away from all other obstacles. Which just proved Tori was as smart as he was kind. And then he switched seats with Nikki, letting them take the wheel first, which made him brave.
Nikki settled behind the wheel with a mix of anticipation and nerves.
The idea of being able to drive, and not have to ask someone to drive them—that was huge.
The independence in the ability alone made them super happy.
And the ability to leave in a hurry, to get away, quieted their demons a little.
On the other hand, big car. Really big car.
Couldn’t Tori have picked a smaller car?
Nikki was going to kill all the nice, orange cones. They were calling that right now.
“Okay, first thing. You know where brake, gas, all that is? Good, good. You want to use your right foot for both gas and brake.”
Nikki would not have done that. They would have used their left foot for brake. “Uh…why?”
“Because when you drive a manual, you’ll need your left foot for the clutch.”
“Oh.” Nikki filed that one away.
“Second, I know having this much vehicle around you makes you a little nervous. But as long as you keep your awareness on your surroundings, you’ll be fine.
Just remember, if you lose control of the vehicle for whatever reason, do two things.
One, emergency brake is right here.” Tori pointed to the long, narrow handle in the divider between them. “That’ll stop you pretty quick.”
Nikki gave the brake handle a pat, and then promptly prayed they would never have to use it in an emergency.
“Second thing. Turn off the engine. If the car doesn’t have gas, it doesn’t go vroom.”
Nikki gave him an admiring look. “I never would have thought of that.”
“My uncle taught me that. Came in handy once, as the cruise control jammed and over-revved the engine on me. Turning off the engine was the only thing that would stop the car.” Tori shrugged.
“Lesson stuck with me. I figured I should pass it along. Now, you ready? Don’t feel like you need to go fast. Go as slow as you like, or as fast as you like.
The important thing right now is to get a feel for the car. ”
“Okay.” Nikki started up the engine, put it into drive, and gingerly put their foot on the gas.
It still lurched forward faster than they’d anticipated. Damn, it was touchy. Nikki throttled back the pressure and tried again. Good, okay, that felt more controllable. They were going only fifteen km/h but who the hell cared. They were moving.
Nikki was driving.
Nikki was driving. They never thought to see this day. Nikki beamed.
And promptly ran over an orange cone.
“Keep in mind you can’t give something too much space when you turn,” Tori counseled. “Things are a little deceptive in the mirrors, too.”
“Right.” Nikki focused a little harder and tried to get this whole car-space dimension thing down. No more hitting orange cones.
They weaved in and out, backed up a few times, ran the course again. Tori had been very generous on how he spaced out the cones. Nikki managed to hit three of them anyway.
This driving thing was more complicated than it looked.
Nikki stopped at the end of the course and put the car into park. They huffed out a breath, looking in the rear-view mirror at the destruction in their wake. “I think I might need a breather.”
“That’s fine. Dominique, you want to switch?”
“Yeah.”
“Alright, sit tight a moment, I’ll re-set the cones.”
Tori hopped out of the car and walked back to the first felled victim, not at all bothered.
Nikki got out to let Dominique in, but they both paused outside the car, standing and stretching for a moment.
“I’m really glad he offered this,” Dominique admitted. “Not being able to leave on my own bothered me, but I didn’t know how to fix it.”
“Yeah, same. But Tori’s history is similar to ours, in a way. I think he gets it. It’s why he offered. If the others had still been here, we would have had a car full of people.”
Dominique gave a bittersweet smile. “But it’s good for them that they found their family.”
“I’m not saying otherwise.” It just felt unfair, a little.
Out of all the mages rescued from the Jaeggi, only Nikki and Dominique had no family left.
With the others, Gunter and Cassie had been able to find family.
They’d started looking the minute they got people’s names, or so Nikki understood, eager to reunite families.
Those who wanted to be trained in magic hooked up with the other clans for training.
Those who wanted to stay, stayed. Long-lost mages had reunited these past weeks with many tears, hugs, and words of gratitude.
It had been very heartwarming scenes, but… part of Nikki remained envious.
It wasn’t a scene they would ever have.
Seeing it play out brought back old memories for Nikki.
They’d told Gunter of how they’d been taken in by the Jaeggi, but in truth, there was a lot about that night they didn’t know.
Nikki still wasn’t entirely sure what had happened to their parents.
They were there, then gone. The Jaeggi had said they’d died and they would now adopt Nikki.
But that was just what they’d been told.
Nikki had no details, no way of knowing what was the truth.
They didn’t think their parents were still alive—the Jaeggi would have taken all three of them if given a chance.
But Nikki wasn’t sure how their parents had died, either.
Maybe they should look into that. Nikki felt ready for the truth, however dark and bitter it may be. They’d rather have the truth than not knowing.
Tori walked back, and Dominique slid into the driver’s side, making adjustments and commenting as she did so, “You have short legs, Nikki.”
Grinning, they sassed back, “Bite me, Dominique. I bet you hit more cones than I do.”
“There’s a challenge. You only left two standing.”
Nikki had no retort.
By the time Nikki returned to the castle, they were feeling far more comfortable driving a car. They’d managed to run the whole course without hitting anything, thank you very much, and Tori had promised another lesson on Saturday. So clearly, they hadn’t scarred the man for life.
But once back, Nikki became a person on a mission. There were some questions they wanted answered, and they had a feeling they knew the right person to ask for help.
Cassie was in her lair—aka workroom—when Nikki knocked on the door, calling out a cheery, “ENTER!”
Nikki stepped inside, looking around curiously as they did.
Nikki had never actually been in here before, just caught glimpses through an open door while passing by.
Cassie looked very ensconced, like a spider in its web.
Only instead of dead flies, she kept dead coffee mugs, stacks of paper, and fuzzy blankets.
She turned, blinking behind yellow-tinted glasses. “Well, well, look who’s here. How did driving lessons go?”
“I think pretty good. Tori said we’d do it again Saturday, so…”
“Can’t have traumatized the man too bad if he’s offering to teach you again. Cool. What can I do for ya?”
Nikki took the chair she waved them to, likely here for Sasha’s sake or any visitor who dropped by. It was plush and comfortable, so Nikki settled in easily.
But once there, they didn’t quite know where to start.
Frowning, they tried to phrase what they wanted to say in their head before launching it out there. “I wonder if I could have your help researching something.”
“I’m always down for research. The more challenging, the better. Whatcha got?”
“I don’t know how my parents died. What happened. The Jaeggi only said they died protecting me, and that I was now theirs. That’s all I was ever told.”
Cassie’s expression closed down into an angry frown. “I think we can guess something of what happened. But you want details.”
“Yeah. I don’t…I mean, I know it won’t change anything now. But I don’t even know if they’re buried somewhere.”
“Too many questions for you to get closure.” Cassie nodded, expression supportive. “I getcha. Okay, let’s start with what you do remember. Where were you when the Jaeggi took you? What are your parents’ names? Can you give me an idea of month and year this happened?”
Nikki told her, watched as she noted it all down in a new document before turning to another screen and typing into a Google search bar. As she typed, she directed, “Text Gunter and get him up here.”
“Uh, why?”
“Because he’s fluent in Dutch and I’m not.”
That was a fair point. Someone had to be able to read all of this. “Google Translate isn’t really to be trusted.”
“Oh hell no. And for this, we want to be accurate.”
Nikki fished out their phone and texted the request. It took only a minute to get a confirming text from Gunter that he was on his way up.
Cassie gave a grunt. “I’ve got an old article that’s been scanned in from a library in the town you just gave me. Your parents’ names are in the article, and the month and year line up. It looks like…a report on their deaths? I’m guessing, due to the picture.”