Stars of Fortune (The Guardians Trilogy, #1)(14)

“And more private,” Bran added, as he’d had the thought himself. “It gets a bit awkward trying to discuss hunting for stars and evading dark gods in hotel restaurants. What do you think, Sasha?”

She stared out at the sea, and the skier flying along the blue behind a bright white boat. “I guess it’s more practical.”

“Done,” Riley announced. “I’ll make some calls.”

“To your contacts,” Bran finished.

“Pays to have them. Gouvia,” she added as they came to another village. “Old Venetian shipyards. Multiple beaches and coves. May bear looking into.”

Sasha had time to consider the sun-washed color of buildings, pedestrians in holiday gear, a stream of coastline before the village lay behind them.

“You don’t appear to need a navigator.”

“Not yet.”

Sasha got used to the speed, at least used enough for her heart to stop knocking at every turn of the road. She soothed herself with the sea, the movement of it, the scent of it in the blowing air. The fragrance of flowers mixed with it as they bloomed wild and free on the roadsides, their colors more vivid and intense than any she’d seen. Madly red poppies springing out of a field, greedy morning glory smothering hedges in violent blue, the curving branches of a Judas tree bursting with searing magenta.

She was here, Sasha thought, to find answers to questions that dogged her. But she was here in such bright, hot beauty, and that alone was a personal miracle.

She gave over to it, lifted her face to the sky, let the warm, perfumed air wash over her.

Riley had some tidbit about every village they passed through. Sasha wondered what it was like to be a kind of human guidebook, to have traveled so widely, to actually and actively seek out adventure.

For now, she let herself be in the moment, one of sun, speed, scenery.

She could paint for years here.

Maybe her heart knocked again when they sped along a stretch with sharp turns, with the sea a breathless drop tucked close to the road.

Gradually they turned west, bypassed a large and busy town Sasha identified on the map as Kassiopi.

The road snaked again, skimmed by a lake she longed to sketch.

“Coming in to Acharavi. Originally called Hebe—probably after Zeus’s daughter—in ancient times. Then Octavian sacked it in like 32 BC, so the current name, which basically means ‘ungracious life,’ since being sacked and burned is pretty ungracious.

“We’ll take a pit stop there,” Riley continued as they flew by a water park. “And I’ll make those calls. Albania.” She gestured to the land mass across the water.

“Albania,” Sasha repeated, both giddy and astonished. “Imagine that.” A family water park where she could hear squeals as kids came down the slides on one side, and the coast of Albania on the other.

Was that really any more amazing than a star of fire?

Acharavi bustled with its wide array of shops lining the main street. April had barely begun but holiday-goers thronged the resort town, wandering the shops or enjoying lunch at one of the pavement cafes.

“Spring break,” Riley commented, and turned off the main road. “A lot of Brits and Americans, I’d say, because I see a lot of pale skin that’s going to burn. Hope you stocked up on the sunscreen, Irish.”

“I’m covered there, thanks.” The minute she stopped, he boosted himself out, rolled his shoulders. “You picked a good spot to stretch things out.”

“Aim to please.” She pulled out her phone. “If you two want to walk down to the beach, I’ll catch up.”

Golden sand, sea oats, blue water, and the boats on it, some trailed by skiers. And Albania shadowing the horizon.

Sasha grabbed her pack. She wanted ten minutes—maybe twenty—just to sketch.

“You’re going to want to get yourself a hat,” Bran told her. He took his own, dark gray with a wide, flat brim, and dropped it on her head.

“If I’d been wearing one, it would’ve blown off in the first five minutes.”

“She can drive.” He hoisted his own pack on his shoulder as they walked. “So, did anything strike you along the way? I’m thinking she’s doing this coastal tour to see if something does.”

Of course, Sasha thought. Not just a wild ride along the coast—but another kind of search.

“I should’ve thought of that. No. It’s all beautiful, even at the speed of sound, but I didn’t feel anything. I don’t even know if it works like that. I’ve never tried.”

“Why not?”

“Having something unusual, it separates you, makes you feel like the odd man out, I guess. I used to want to fit in, so much, then I finally realized, well, that’s not going to happen. I’ve just focused on my work, at least until all this started. And now . . .”

“Now?”

“I’m in Greece and I’m looking out at Albania—so close it looks as if you could swim to it. It’s more than anything I could imagine.” She closed her eyes, breathed deep. “Even the air’s exotic. But if she drove here, stopped here hoping I’d have some sort of vision, it’s not happening.”

“I think it won’t be so easy.”

She thought of the visions she’d had. Blood and fear and pain and the dark. “No, it won’t be.”