There and Back Again

Apri was still giving Reyma directions when Blade pressed the button. There was a sharp hissing sound that forced a break in Apri's explanation, but she continued on as if nothing had happened. The tops of the tanks had slid from their places, exposing the insides of the tanks to the air.

Reyma had flown in her dragon form, since it provided more speed, but walked into the building in her human form. She approached Apri as soon as she reached the basement.

"Where is your pod?" she asked.

"I left it upstairs, since I didn't know what would be down here," Apri said. "Anyway, these are my clients, Angelo and Blade. Angelo's the blonde one."

Reyma introduced herself to them—very curt and quiet, compared to how she spoke to Apri—and she wasted no time in perching herself on top of the tanks and grabbing the people inside. Apri suddenly realized that she didn't know what the liquid inside the tanks were, but was relieved when Reyma's arms were unscathed.

Apri approached Angelo and Blade. "Reyma is kind of an amateur at the whole human interaction thing," she said quietly, "so please don't think she's rude, or anything."

Apri gasped, and then sighed in relief when Angelo pulled out the masks from his bag. She had completely forgotten that the tank people didn't have anything to breathe with. She only just barely remembered to tell Reyma to bring one. It was a small bubble over her mouth that was only really visible if you looked hard enough. They had used it for space travel before.

"I can't say I'm too good with hacking or anything like that," Apri said. "Dimensional science is more my speed. However...."

The detour had taken them ten minutes, and waiting for Reyma to get there had taken them four. That left them with twenty-eight. Apri did some mental math, factoring in distance and speed.

They would be cutting it close with this.

"No," Apri said. "We can still make it to the tower. Once we get there, it'll be a straight shot to the portal. We'll be cutting it close, but we'll make it with a little time to spare. However, we'll have to fly instead of run this time."

Reyma was already out the door, and Apri was behind her. Reyma deposited the tank people onto Shima's back, moved a good distance away, and began her transformation right away. When she was done, she lowered her nose so that everyone could get on. When Apri was safely on, she would get out of the pod and make sure the tank people were secure. She turned to her clients.

"Hop on!" she said. "Don't worry. Reyma's a very stable flier."

Apri followed Angelo's direction, and in turn patted various of Reyma's scales in the corresponding direction. It was a system that she and Reyma had perfected to be able to communicate direction without the roar of the wind restricting them. She placed all her fingers on the scale directly in front of her and Reyma descended.

When they landed, Apri let Angelo do his thing. She stroked Reyma's scales. It had taken them five minutes to get there, after flying over it once. They had plenty of time to spare.

Apri acted like she wasn't looking, her head facing away at just the angle for her to be able to peek at Angelo from the corner of her eye. Reyma just stared right at him. They both saw him place the letter and produce the small statue from seemingly nowhere, and they both decided not to ask.

Once Angelo was back on Reyma, Apri ordered her to lift off and began directing her once more. She wasn't confident that she would be able to find the portal without Shima's tracking. However, her worry was misplaced, as she spotted the portal in short time. Reyma set down, and once everyone was off, she transformed back into a human.