Fabi/ParaFabi: Running in Ciiiirclessss

((You'll probably have already read this, but I'm posting it here anyway.))

There was a large fire-truck sort of thing, brightly painted with the words "Cut-N-Shoot Tourist Trap." It was rather odd-looking. Fabi accelerated slightly, glancing in her rear-view mirror. The van behind her had yet to round the corner. There weren't really any roads to turn down, unless she wanted to trust that one of the driveways or small neighborhood streets was not a dead end. Amulet transport was out of the question. She couldn't go back to Blogland or the library. Both were places she'd been known to visit. Both were places the Sanctuary could find her easily.
It was rather ironic that she was running from them; most of her friends worked for them in some way or other. Friends... It'd be really nice if she had friends right now, but it was hard to know who in Blogland would stand by her, and who would go to the law. When she had enough evidence, she could deal with the law herself, calmly and efficiently, reasonably and in a way that would keep her on the good side of the law, but until then, she was on her own. Sort of.
Her phone rang and she picked it up, holding it to her ear as she drove. She was pretty sure that wasn't illegal in Texas.
"Hello?"
"Violet-root, this is Foreigner, understood?" Her own voice.
Fabi smiled sadly. "Understood." They hadn't planned these code names before hand, but she knew exactly what they meant. Violet-root, purple carrot. Foreigner for the one from a different world. "What's been happening? Sorry if I take a while to reply, I'm trying to lose a tail."
"That's alright. We're planting amulets around the world, to make it easier for you to run. I'd like to assume that anyone smart enough to trace you is also smart enough to see you're not guilty, but the universe doesn't work that way." ParaFabi paused for a moment, then spoke a bit more hesitantly. "I...also called your friend, the one they think is an accomplice. She'll do what Teleporters do best and vanish."
"What about you? I mean, they don't know which of us to look for, really."
ParaFabi laughed somewhat bitterly. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." She heard the door open behind her and hung up, turning to see who'd entered the room.
Fabi sighed as she heard the soft beep. She wished she was better at lying to herself. Once she found a place to stop, she would call ParaFabi again and ask a lot of questions.
*******
Once she reached Houston, disappearing was child's play. Fabi took a last-minute right turn, causing cars to honk irritably. The Sanctuary van, stuck in the left lane, was forced to head on to the next street, still trying desperately to merge.
As soon as it was out of sight, Fabi pulled into a McDonalds drive-thru. She generally hated McDonalds, but the drive-thru was conveniently placed so that the restaurant building would hide her from view when the van made it back to that road. She waited for a minute or so, pretending to read the menu, then finally ordered a small vanilla milkshake. She liked milkshakes.
When she left the drive-thru, there was no sign of her pursuers. That was a good thing and a bad. Good that she'd probably lost them, but that she couldn't be sure of where they were. They'd expect her to go to the airport, though. This was going to be fun. In a mostly-but-not-all-the-way sarcastic way.
She'd booked the tickets under an alias her parallel self had used and made a set of ID's for. All she needed was a black wig...
Time to visit the party store. There were no perfect matches, so she selected a shorter one. People did have haircuts sometimes, after all. While she was at it, Fabi bought a black cape a multicolor face cream and fake blood. The people in the store would assume she was preparing for Halloween, and not pay much attention. Besides, she had something of an idea to make sure that when people looked at her, they didn't see.
*******
She was Judith Hansen-Getty. She must have been Judith Hansen-Getty, because she had the right boarding pass, driver's license, passport and business card.
She walked through the busy terminal, her shoes clicking slightly on the floor.
When people looked at her, they saw the black eye and the long red gashes on her face and quickly turned away. The black cape was still in her suitcase, she would find a use for it later.