Chapter 128 A disturbance
DAINE
We were almost there, just three hours from the mainland when I noticed the first weird occurrence.
The altimeter made a strange movement. It trembled. Not a drop, but a tremble. I shared a look with my first officer, Uriel, and then turned back to stare at the altimeter.
Seconds ticked by without any more odd movements and I had started to turn away, mentally dismissing the incident, when a vibration traveled through the yolk.
It was as if something had brushed up against the belly of my plane below.
“Check that.” Uriel muttered, surprised.
“I see it.” My eyes flicked to the system display, but there was no warning message. Cabin altitude was stable, and so were the numbers from each engine’s digital indicator.
Above all, the weather radar was clear.
There was no reason the aircraft should not be steady. But it dipped in an instance. Not so intensely as to cause alarm, but it was a dip regardless.
My gaze turned to the window, scrutinizing my surroundings in the complete silence. The pacific beneath us was black and stretching undisturbed. A sheet of glass that reflected nothing. And we were thirty-six thousand feet above.
I felt it for the first time then. Cold. Unmistakable. An ancient minus zero degree temperature that had nothing to do with the weather.
I had last felt it this intensely in 1879.
My spine locked immediately, and the tissues surrounding my wings started to itch.
Another shudder ran through the aircraft then, right across its central body that housed my passengers, and the distinct rattling of overhead bins followed. Autopilot disengaged, and I took manual control immediately.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We’re experiencing a brief area of unexpected turbulence. Please return to your seats and make sure your seat belts are securely fastened.”
A hush spread behind me on the plane, and I could feel their uncertain fear. A flight attendant burst into the cockpit then, looked between Uriel and me, and leaned in to exchange words with Uriel.
I reached into myself and began to feel through my passengers for the faint flare that was my wife.
Lys.
Silence. I corrected another dip just as the nose of the aircraft tilted forward.
“There’s nothing on the radar,” Uriel said, confusion in his voice the moment the flight attendant exited the cockpit.
“I know.” Aionis could control the weather like any other god. But then the audacity to pull this type of stunt while I was airborne meant he was becoming terribly desperate.
Little wife, I reached for her mind again.
She was there. I could feel her, the presence of her wolf, so strong I could almost touch her. There was also that lava at her core that was slowly beginning to answer Aionis’s cold pressure unrelenting around us in the aircraft.
You do not have to speak with your lips. I can hear you.
Mordaine?
There you are. Your husband seems to be botching his job. But the only way I can concentrate is when I am certain you are fine.
I could hear her heavy breaths, and the rustle of cotton against leather as she seemed to be shifting in discomfort in her seat. This was getting to her.
My doll. She was probably confused as she still had no idea who she was and what kind of powers she held.
Do you remember what I told you?
The aircraft dipped again. That idiot was sure milking this, taking advantage of my constraints. At this altitude, I would rip the plane apart if I shifted.
You are not dying, little wife. Breathe. This has nothing to do with the ascendant ritual, do you understand me?
I do.
Now I want you to breathe through this. And no matter what happens, do not shift. I do not want your claws out for even one second.
Yes sir.
Good girl. And I will be really pissed if you let your skin glow.
I have…
You do. You have control over it. Now sit quietly through this, read a book if you have to. I want you unaffected.
I paused, and then added,
I cannot have my wife panicking like the rest. That makes my failure more embarrassing.
Yes sir
And then I faced the aircraft squarely, gripping the control yoke the moment the cold force pressed us again. It was crushing us downward, clutching the wings of my aircraft's with its frozen fists.
The next few minutes passed with me countering every one of his attempts to take control of my plane. I steadied the nose before it could deepen, tapping the trim with my thumb.
My wife was here. My wife was here with a hundred others. The acute awareness of this kept me sane and in control. I resisted the urge to fight every bump.
Still breathing pet?
I was at that moment beginning to feel her restlessness again, a spike of heat that seemed to brush the plane from within.
I am right here. Anchor yourself to the seat. Kick your shoes off and press your feet to the floor.
I heard the heavy thud of shoes as the voices of the passengers rose, mutterings, prayers, silent tears. The turbulence had stretched beyond what was normal.
Done, sir.
The aircraft pulsed under me, a tremor. And then the wings inside the ballerina clapped together, Rhea settled, and the heat receded.
Good. Very good, little wife.
Finn. Finn was in trouble. As much as I would like to be optimistic, Aionis would not attack my wife without attacking him too. I was even more certain about this because I knew they were airborne at this very moment as well.
They most likely just departed Tokyo, bound for LA.
This was a provocation. The blue-skinned monster was placing a bet on two souls, watching for which of them would react to a near-death experiment. It did not matter to the bastard that there were over a hundred innocent people on board as well.
The cold pressure shifted for a second, and I could not delay any longer.
“Seoul Center. Silver Summit 281 experiencing moderate turbulence, request altitude adjustment.”