PART ONE.

While Maximilien couldn’t fully relax, not with knowing how far away the earth was, he decided that if he sat in the middle of back bench, and concentrated on the tablet that Leonardo had passed back to him.

An uneasy silence had fallen over the three men, and Max was uncomfortably aware this was the longest the three of them had been alone together. By themselves, without potential supervision or intervention. A shiver raced up his spine, and he held himself more stiffly against the leather seat.

“I wonder how long it will take to get to Paris?” Richard asked suddenly, looking over at Leonardo, who had taken the opportunity to press his face against the glass and was scribbling furiously.

“Tap the center panel, it has the rout mapped out for us, and will have an estimate.” Leonardo never took his eyes off the ground. Max leaned over slightly, trying to see past the other man’s broad shoulders. He caught sight of swirling sketches, thick lines and sprawling city maps.

Richard raised an eyebrow but sighed and did so.

“Seven hours?!” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Dear lord.”

“It’s faster than three to six months it would have taken us.” Leonardo pointed out mildly. Maximilien smiled slightly.

“Less comfortable though,” Richard grunted and stretched his back. “An ale wouldn’t go amiss right now.” Max noticed that Leonardo turned all of his attention to the man when he did this, intelligent brown eyes watching carefully. His pen stopped abruptly and Leonardo flipped to a blank page, rapidly scratching out curves.

“Well the faster we get there, the faster you can have your ale,” Leonardo said calmly.

“Praise the lord,” Richard said dryly.

XXX

Clio sighed and sat down cross legged on the self piloted hover car. The three men inside did not know that technically, their trans-Atlantic flight in vehicle as small as this shouldn’t be possible, but she did. At the moment she was using her own personal powers of plot to move them more quickly forward. If anyone ever caught on to them, she felt confident in her ability to navigate them away from danger.

“You’re an awful lot of trouble for minor bi-pedals, you know,” she muttered, crossing her arms.

“Humans, they think they know everything,” Spectra said, sitting down next to Clio. “You should see mine. He’s already stopped an assassination attempted and found roommates and he’s only been there for twenty-four hours!” The anthropomorphic hyena grinned proudly.

“If only, I’ve put up with weeks of this,” Clio rapped her knuckles on the roof.

Spectra smiled even more widely, sharp teeth glinting in the sunlight. They hung past her lips, shiny and clean. “Oh please, I know you like the hard cases, and humans most of all.”

Clio sniffed dismissively but did not refute the other Muse’s rather appropriate understanding of Clio’s unique tastes in narratives.

“Only because I was raised on earth, nothing more,” she defended herself. Spectra smirked and laughed, dissolving with the wind.