Ley Lines

Ley Lines
As soon as Derek was packed, he called his dad and made his way out of the Moonshadow Estate, ignoring whoever was protesting his leaving down the hall. 
Dimitri picked up, his tone a bit tired. "Derek, thank you for getting your brothers home. Everything alright?"
"Mostly..." Derek cleared his throat. "How's Kore?"
"Awake. Pissed off and arguing with the staff about not wanting to share a room with David. About what I expected." He sighed. "Did you want to talk to her?"
"Actually... I'm calling about the weekend." Derek's stomach jumped. "I wouldn't bother asking Sorelia, but I'm asking you because it's important."
"Okay, where is this going, son?"
"Nikolias is dealing with something that I thought it would be a good idea to be supportive of him."
"You want to go to Houston."
"Yeah, for the weekend. Is it... is it weird? Would that be okay?" Derek rubbed his palms over his thighs. "I just get a bad feeling. Before he left, he wasn't in a good place, and going back to Houston..."
"I'm not asking for an explanation; I just wanted to clarify: you're going to Houston."
Derek bit his lip. "Yes?"
"Do you have a flight?"
His face heated. "Well, no, but I figured I'd drive."
"You're going to drive across the country?"
"In Havoc, it's not quite a drive..."
"...can you drive Havoc?"
"I don't know."
Dimitri chuckled. "Okay. Well, why don't we confirm that you can get there via car? If all else fails, there is a flight leaping to Houston within a few hours."
"You're okay with this?"
"Why wouldn't that be okay with going to see your boyfriend in his time of need?" He chuckled. "Honestly, I was surprised you didn't go with him, or it hadn't come up earlier. I know how important he is to you... And how important you are to him. I think your intuition about him is spot on. Just promise to let me know when you arrive?"
"Of course... You should call Victor if she stays pissed off."
"Already did. He's bringing her chocolate milk."
Derek laughed, climbing into Mayhem. The screen lit up with a heart-eyed emoji. 
You're going to be with him? You're precious. We'll meet Havoc on the road.
Derek blinked, amazed that Mayhem already knew where he was headed.
"Are you okay with this? I thought magical cars get possessive of their owners."
As far as I'm concerned, you're both mine, and one should rely on their friends in their times of need. Havoc is such a bright, young spark. We will have a great deal of fun looking after you two.
Mayhem pulled onto the main road of Frey Shores next to where Havoc idled. A brief, happy honk and a returned one, and Havoc’s passenger door swung open. 
“Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Havoc express!”
Derek’s jaw dropped as he climbed out of Mayhem with his bag and into Havoc’s passenger seat. 
“You can talk now?”
The seatbelt snaked across his waist with a click. Mayhem glided away, and Havoc headed south. 
“I can!”
Derek chuckled at Havoc’s bright, bubbly voice, a cross between a spritely teen and a computer, though the inflection was really convincing. 
“I’m getting better and better. May-May will be able to talk soon, too. She’s probably going to sound so cool…”
Derek tossed his bag into the backseat. “Are you able to talk faster because you’re newer than Mayhem? Or is it just because you’re a different brand? Will Mayhem be able to navigate like you?”
A small cartoon version of Havoc drove onto her screen as she pulled onto the highway. His seat reclined. 
“That’s an excellent question! Sit back and enjoy a short lesson in how super special awesome I am and how I plan to help May-May reach her full potential!”
Derek chuckled, amazed at how bubbly Havoc sounded. 
“I was a crafted—handcrafted—secretly crafted—fancy crafted by the hands of those on high!” A burst of confetti exploded across the screen, and the cartoon Havoc leaned into the screen, winking with one large headlight. “But you can’t tell Niko’ I told you that.”
“That he’s a faros?”
The cartoon blinked, then the top exploded. “He told you? You two really are in love.”
The cartoon drove in a heart across the screen. 
“The Wolf Ruler and the Conqueror—no, Chief!” The cartoon froze, and a giant zipper appeared across the grill. “Pretend I didn’t say that last part.”
Derek scoffed and looked out the window as Havoc merged into traffic headed toward Portland. 
“Can I interest you in some music while we drive?”
“Maybe later…” The signpost for entering California passed by the window. “How are you crossing state lines like this?”
A scoff filled the cabin. “And what are state lines to me? Me? Nothing more than squiggly lines on a map. They’re not real. Only mundane cars navigate by streets alone.”
“And… what do you navigate by?”
“Ley lines!”
The words scrolled across the window shield as the California countryside blurred, dropping to a different stretch of forest. 
“What are ley lines?"
“Ley lines are the channels of magic that run through the world. There are lakes and oceans and trenches and rivers... All kinds, but the big thick ones form spaces between islands."
Where the geopolitical lines of state borders and city limits were something she cataloged and kept track of, her main method of navigation relied on the movement of leylines. It was a security feature in the Taimana brand of cars, specifically the custom cars for the family. Havoc was a little more special because of something Nikolias had added to her spell work. 
A map of the world filled the windshield, carved up by glowing lines and big patches of light. To the west of the California coast was a large dot of darkness reaching toward a long trench off the coast of the Philippines. 
"What are the black places?"
"Sinkholes. They're not good, but so long as they don't reach a ley line, things are okay. Sometimes small ones show up and drain the ley lines, but the big ones can be dangerous."
"Why?"
"They might turn into trenches!" A terrified emoji screamed across the screen. "The dead will rise up and devour the living! The skies will fall! Big, bad, terrible times!" 
One of the leylines northwest of Alaska seemed to be growing toward a smaller dark spot. 
"It's a very complicated job keeping the flow of magic in the world in balance. Everyone has to do their part." An eight-pointed star with a dot in the center appeared on the screen. "But things are okay for now."
"What is that?" Derek frowned at the star. "I've seen it before, but I thought it was some kind of cult symbol."
"The universe." Her voice turned ancient and airy, coming from everywhere. A moment later, the bubbly voice returned. "Niko' will be happy to tell you all about it."
Derek nodded and frowned as a leyline of cool green wrapped around most of western Greece and eastern Italy, and the sea between trembled and started to fade.