Chapter 21: Start of a Road Trip
After introducing Kol to the new members of the coven, Max noticed a few things.
First, Kol and Kai did NOT get along. Or, rather, they were too similar in nature not to antagonize and test one another. And they were constantly vying against one another for Max's attention. And while it started off amusing, it quickly became old.
Unlike Kai, however, Kol and Marcus got along rather well, though Max sensed that had something to do with Marcus being straight — and the fact that he behaved very professionally, very subordinate-like to Maximus more than anything. Max also reckoned that Marcus' blatant dislike of Kai earned him brownie points in Kol's eyes.
'What a petty man,' Max thought privately; however, internally, he found Kol's behaviour — as well as Kai's — kind of adorable on some level, but he'd never tell them that. 'Never. They both already have immense, world-level egos. There's no need to expand them anymore than they already are.'
By imprinting runes on trees around the Sacred Grove in a 3-mile radius, Max had created a spell on the fly that allowed him to create an anchor point to the grove itself, linking the grove, forest, and Nemeton itself to both Max's psychic dimension and the Verbatim Stone. Both of which fed off of and fed into one another, multiplying the power network, kind of like a feedback network loop.
In essence, Max created a closed circuit network whose power supercharged and constantly fed all three components involved. It was a genius strategy, and one that essentially gave Max a new source of Earth magic power to draw from.
"And how did you meet Max? I'm pretty sure being daggered and desiccated for almost a century, wouldn't allow one to even know of him — or anyone, really," Kai questioned Kol, his face showing genuine interest and one would even call it innocent had it not been for the mocking way in which he said it. "Do you even have an idea on pop culture? How old are you, you old bat man?"
And the tone in which he said that, too. The context and phrasing as well. Basically everything. There was nothing subtle about his distaste for Kol.
"Weren't you sealed in a prison world for wanting to murder your last coven?" Kol's voice was sharp, vicious and deadly in all the right places. "I would question why you think you're worthy of joining this coven, when you're still planning on murdering your last one."
"Actually, I will be murdering my last coven —- The rest of them…Er, most of them, anyway," Kai murmured, smiling innocently. "And you still have yet to answer the question: What do you know about pop culture? I'm curious how old you are… I'm thinking somewhere from medieval archaic to ancestral prehistoric."
"Tch," Kol wanted to murder this witch — and he would've, too, had Maximus not forbade him from doing so — And, based on Kai's knowing smirk, he knew it, too.
"I'm waiting…," cunted Kai, clearly amused.
"Huh…Like how you're still waiting for your coven's approval?" Kol shot back, grinning impishly. "Sounds like you got daddy issues. You should take care of that, y'know."
"Interesting theory," Kai set his jaw. "I do want to ask: When you're daggered and rotting, for centuries at a time, what hurts more — The physical pain of desiccation, of actively feeling every second blood runs dry within your body and unable to do a thing about it or the emotional grief and baggage that comes when you realize it was because of family that you ended up in that situation to begin with? I am very interest in your answer, so please, answer honestly."
'This bloody bastard wants to die!' Kol gave Kai a death glare; Kai just smiled innocently and waved like he didn't just weaponize Kol's internal thoughts against himself.
Meanwhile, Max and Marcus were turning out the entire conversation, focussing on the bundle of paper Max had spread out before them on a stomp: A highly detailed map of the U.S. it was so detailed, in fact, that everything was labelled — back streets, hidden locations, even shady buildings forgotten by Google Maps.
"I've used my magic to create this map, and I've circled key places across America, you'll find the winning lottery tickets. I've even enchanted your eyes to be able to see which tickets are winners when you get to the corresponding stores," Max explained, grasping the Verbatim Stone, he whispered a chant, similar in-tone to how a certain one-eyed, raven-loving Asgardian from the MCU enchanted Thor's hammer. "May all who are properly marked by this stone have access to up to 25% of its power."
The stone glowed, and all three men — excluding Max — felt their coven crest tattoo light up and power flood their veins.
"There, now, no matter where you are, you'll have what you need to defend yourself," Kol said slowly. "Not that you hadn't had it before, of course. You can utilize adaptive magic now; nothing too dramatic or overpowered, just basic adaptive magic. Additionally, all your spells have an automatic 25% power boost when channeling the stone, so be careful when channelling its power."
"I will," nodded Marcus.
"This will be a cross-country errand, with countless stops. Are you certain you want to do this Marc?" Max questioned again.
"The coven needs its own funds," Marcus stated, shrugging. "We cannot keep relying on the funds of other covens like the Westphalls or the Bennetts or even just the wealth left behind by my own Martin coven, especially if we're trying to build our own. Plus, I'll get to meet other covens, learn from all kinds of witches, practice new magics and try out different magical artifacts along the way, so I don't mind this."
"Good," Max took out his keys. "The Camaro is enchanted to never run out of fuel, so gas money shouldn't be a problem. I've also enchanted its mileage to always remain optimum and its maintenance to be proper and self-repairing. It's been bought in my name and its insurance, liscencing, and registration fees are already paid for the year, so you should be perfectly fine."
Before Marcus could take the keys, Max grasped his wrist in firm hold.
"Marcus… If anything happens to my car, to my baby girl, I will kill you. Do you understand?"
Gulping, eyes wide, Marcus nodded his consent and Max gave him the keys. And after rolling up the map and saying his goodbyes, Marcus left for the car.
"If he's taking the car, then how are we getting out of here?" Kai questioned.
For once, Kol also agreed with Kai, wanting to know himself. "How do you intend to get home?"
"Out of the forest? Portaling," Max said simply. "Home? Not quite."
"What does that even mean?" Kai questioned, while Kol merely shrugged in confusion.
After sending a message to those at the mansion, Bonnie and Grams, Max drew the coven crest into the ground, using representational magic to impart the crest onto Kaleb from a distance. He even texted an explanation to his cousin on why he did it and the privileges of having the tattoo, how it vanishes whenever not in use and how it empowers spells when channelled.
He needed Kaleb to stay in Mystic Falls, and keep tabs on everyone in Max's absence. And sure, Max could check in using the spell he placed that allowed him to see into the town at any time, any place, but it would much more simpler to have someone inside the town giving him updates in his absence.
Kaleb agreed, of course. He just wasn't too happy about not being able to come with Max, and that Max wouldn't be back for at least another month. Still, he was happy that he was at least able to help Max with this.
Deciding all was finished, Max snapped his fingers and a portal leading to one of his father's out-of-state houses, specifically the garage of said house.
He led Kol and Kai through it and into a six car garage with a 2010 grey Dodge Challenger, a 2010 crimson Mazda RX-8, 2 Camaros, a red and a black one. There was a black 2010 Ford Mustang and a 2010 Mazda CX-9 SUV.
"Whoa," Kai was genuinely impressed by the collection. "Nice collection."
"These are… cars, right?" Kol questioned, curiously, causing Kai to roll his eyes. "Who owns them?"
Max grabbed the keys to the 2010 Mazda CX-9 and hopped into the driver seat as Kol blurred into the passenger, causing an annoyed Kai to enter the backseat. Opening the garage doors, Max said "My father's," and drove off, closing the doors behind him.
[Sixteen Hours Later]:
During the past 16 hours, Max drove from Virginia to the Carolinas, and the various cities within and marked each city and town he visited with the same original surveillance spell he used on Mystic Falls —-- Only the towns he used this on were towns with known supernatural communities. He also marked these cities with his stone, anchoring them as access points to teleport or portal within their borders.
'This way, whenever I get the Travelers and bind their curse to the Verbatim Stone, and my psychic dimension, they'll be able to access these cities without bringing them disasters,' Max pondered as he drove into Sumter, South Carolina. 'The upside to that, so long as they stay within the borders of the cities I've marked, or within my own psychic dimension itself, they and everyone around them will be safe, the downside is that, well, they won't be able to enter locations unmarked by the Verbatim Stone's power for long periods of time without their curse activating, but this still beats their nomadic lives they've had to live for so long a time, so I'm not tripping.'
Yawning, Max looked in the back through the rearview mirror and noticed Kai spread out in the back across all 3 seats in the very back. 'Looks like he's off to sleep,' Max thought, before turning right and noticing Kol was looking — No, staring —- at him. "What's up?"
"Why are you doing this? Helping us, I mean?" Kol asked, curiously, surprising Max. "We're nowhere near saint-like, so we obviously haven't earned it. There's no viable reason why you should want to help any of us, so why go through the trouble?"
Max stayed silent for a moment, thinking up his answer. 'I could lie, but… maybe I shouldn't… so then, a half truth it is.''
"Reality is like a river," Max began, as he drove. "Each decision creates other lesser river routes, and each new route creates more new routes in an infinite measure. In the original route, you and Kai were destined to die as villains in someone else's story."
When Max released this bombshell, Kol's eyes widened, and the sound of clenched fists was picked up by Max's senses coming from the backseat.
"You're saying… I was destined to die?" Kol inquired. " 'As a villain in someone else's story'? Am I a charity case? Am I supposed to be grateful that you took pity on me? I don't need—."
"None of you are charity cases. And no, 'destined' is a gateway term for the lazy," Max said, almost dismissive. "I wouldn't have intervened if you were only charity cases. I certainly wouldn't have given you power, that's for sure. I am a… apathetic person at the very least, and a cold nihilist with immense power at most. I don't feel very easily, least of all relate."
This gave Kol pause as he looked quizzically at Max. Max's awareness ability had him sensing Kol leaning closer his way, likely curious as to what he'll say.
"Yet your stories resonate with me. A young warlock forced to become a monster by a family too afraid of death. A warlock born to inherit a house but failed in meeting its expectations. And a young witch who sees too much to be considered normal and is too different to become what those around him want him to be," Max summarized. "Our stories are basically the same font, different wording. We're misfits. Outcasts. Three sides of a 3-sided dice. If we can't fit into the world, we may as well make a world we can fit into together."
A silence fell in the car as all of them digested this. Kol seemed to consider the words and eye Max much more positively than he had before somehow. Kai even seemed more relaxed and at ease back there.
Eventually, Kol asked, "So where are we going?"
"Our immediate destination is the Olympic Peninsula. I've got something to pick up there. Plus, there's a little town called Forks there I need to visit," Max began his explanation. "There's some scouting I plan on doing for future adventures. That said, our main destination on this road trip is a familiar one for you, Kol."
"Oh?" Kol raised a brow. "What's this?"
"New Orleans, Louisiana," Max answered, yawning. "But first, before anything, let's spend the night at a motel. Who knows? We may even be able to have some fun…"
Kol grinned at that and Max could swear he saw Kai shaking in anticipatory laughter, but he couldn't be certain.