none on the outside. Greenery sprawled around and above, past the solid glass walls and ceiling, primarily responsible for our ability to breathe.
Sofia and Derek then took their seats in front of the control panel, strapping themselves in. Tristan, Amal, Nethissis, and I occupied the lateral seats, with a good view of what would soon be revealed through the massive windshield.
“My heart is thumping,” Amal murmured, clicking her safety straps in place. I could tell she was nervously excited. Her pulse drummed in my ears.
“Enjoy the cruise!” I said, offering her a broad, stewardess-like smile.
Derek glanced out through the windshield as the light bubble swallowed our shuttle. The interplanetary spell was activated. Nethissis’s eyes darted around the ship. She was as skittish as Amal, and it was downright adorable. Behold, the swamp witch who faced dozens of roiled-up Hermessi and an evil Reaper and lived to tell the tale.
Naturally, I was poking fun because I needed to take my mind off my own sharp edge. Deep down, I was nervous too, but I’d made a name for myself as the brave and composed one of the Vaughns. Tristan’s hand covered mine on the armrest. He knew. When no one else could figure me out, he read me like an open book.
I gave him a half-smile, and he paid me back with a wink, as if to say, “Chill, sis. We’ve got this.”
The takeoff startled us, as the spell bubble lifted the shuttle off the ground and darted upward through The Shade’s protective layer of eternal night. My stomach was tiny, reduced to the size of a pea, but I soaked it all in. The humming of the interplanetary spell. The rumbling of air brushing against it as our speed increased through the sky.
“We’ll be breaching the atmosphere soon,” Derek announced, kicking back in his seat. He didn’t need to take hold of the shuttle until we reached Trexus-2.
Light was filtered through the smoky windshield, but we could still see the sparkling sun as it hugged the world below. The dark blue ocean unraveled beneath, meeting the clear blue sky on the arching horizon. My heart soared along with our shuttle before everything shook to the core. Friction with our planet’s atmosphere was always the bumpy part of the ride, but we moved through, eventually, and the cosmos opened before us.
I found myself in awe of the view. Billions of stars exploded across the pitch-black canvas. The neighboring planets turned slowly under the sun’s amber eye. Mars, with swirls of red and orange. Our moon, a giant pearl on the dark side of Earth, casting its light through the night. Beyond, I could see Jupiter and Neptune rising, titans that had been given the names of ancient gods.
This was the next step in my development, as a vampire and as an explorer. Memories of my brother and me begging our parents to take us on safari trips in West Africa emerged. I could almost see myself back home, in the mirror, scabs still healing on my bony knees, as I put on my Indiana Jones style hat and brown leather satchel, grinning and looking forward to finding ancient artifacts somewhere in the heart of the old continent.
Of course, all I got at the time was a jeep ride through the local plains and jungles, observing lions lounging in the sun, giraffes meandering toward the watering holes, elephants nudging their little ones across the golden fields, and cheetahs racing to catch antelopes that ran like the wind. Years would pass before I’d get my chance at explorations of my own, so I’d had to make do with what my parents had given Tristan and me.
“What’s on your mind?” my brother asked, as the spell bubble shot through space at a gazillion miles per hour.
Inside the shuttle, the temperature and pressure were perfect, and we did not feel the discomfort of being hurled through the galaxy at light-speed. It didn’t seem to make Amal look any better, though. The poor soul was as pale as a sheet of paper, occasionally sipping from a water bottle to keep herself hydrated. I realized then that it wasn’t the actual mission that had made her somewhat skittish. She just really hated flying.
“Our first safari trip.” I chuckled. “Remember that one?”
“Oh… yeah. You were so disappointed,” he replied, the memory glinting in his green eyes. “I loved it, but you were all pouty because we weren’t going to visit any archeological sites or ruins.”
I shrugged. “Meh. There