Chapter 17
Abe couldn’t believe the last day. He’d been to Solrelm and then to a headquarters that was beneath the earth outside the city in Interealm. A place that he’d been to in more than one life, what did that mean? The chances of being in the same place in more than one life? He was sure, but it had to be rare and for a reason.
Bohdi knew of the circle of stones, but it had been labeled as the forbidden area, so no one had been there, and they’d only seen it from the air. So here he was, in a small plane flying over it to look. His soul had been here before, had ridden horses to it, so how and when did it become the forbidden area? No one had explained what had happened there. Was anyone left that even knew? He didn’t know.
“Why do the two of you look so chill with this?” Rafael checked his lap belt once more.
Abe glanced at his father and smirked before answering his uncle, “We’ve been through a few wars on this side.”
“In all your years, you’ve never been on a plane?” His father turned and glanced out the window.
“No,” Rafael shook his head, “we have planes in Alterealm, but I can port anywhere I want, so why would I get on a plane?”
“I’m with him. I’m not a bird.” Aunt Daxx grabbed the shoulder harnesses and looked at them.
“I think this is amazing.” Liri smiled wide, “Flying. I’ve barely been allowed in a car my entire life—too dangerous,” she mimicked in a lower voice, “and now I’m flying.”
Abe looked at his father and wondered if he was having trouble near her. Was it the fact that she was from Solrelm, or, he looked down at his hands, it couldn’t be that Aunt Rae was half Solrelm and Bastian; he had no inclination to bite either of them. Blowing out a breath, he hoped they were going to reach this ‘forbidden’ area soon. Being in a space this small with her was making him edgy.
A phone ringing startled him. His Uncle answered his phone.
“She what?” He scowled, “Where?” His eyes went wide, “do you have anything more than that?” He unclipped his belt, leaned over, and looked out the small window. “Shit. I’m not doing this, Chase. Come and get me.” He turned and looked at everyone else, “us.” Abe watched his shoulders stiffen. “Find out.” He stabbed his phone with one giant finger and then turned back to face them. “That was Chase. Crissy had a vision.”
“Oh?” His dad leaned forward. “Does she know what we’re facing when we get there?”
“If we get there.”
“I’m sorry, did you just say if?” Daxx sent him a look that would spoil milk.
“Yeah. Criss saw a plane crashing…”
“Our plane?” Daxx undid her lap belt. “Is Troy going to port and get me?”
His uncle shook his head. “We can’t port to moving things.”
“What? Since when? That’s a stupid clause.” Daxx got up and looked out the window. “It’s trees down there, a lot of trees.”
“How does the plane crash?” Liri got up and went to look out the window on the other side.
“He didn’t say.” Rafael was typing with jerky motions on his phone.
Abe looked at his father, who sighed and unbuckled, and got up. He moved up to the pilot and spoke to him.
Unclipping his belt, Abe got up, moved to the back of the plane, and looked behind the seats. He almost heaved a sigh of relief when he saw the parachute packs there. Pulling them out, he set them on the seat. Four, there were only four. He glanced over his shoulder like he needed to do a visual count, even though he already knew there were six bodies on this small plane.
“All Criss knows is a mage is involved,” Rafael said and then watched Emil.
“I hate mages,” Daxx swore a few times. “Can he land somewhere before this happens?”
His dad turned around, “no, there’s nowhere clear enough to land.
“So, what does that mean?”
Abe held up one of the packs and waited for his father to look at him; when he did, he held up four fingers. The ‘well, shit’ look on his dad’s face summed up the situation.
“Here’s what we’re going to do.” He jerked his chin at Abe, so he’d bring the packs forward. “Raf, you get this on,” he took the pack and held it out to him. When his uncle just sat there, his dad smirked, “It’s a parachute.”
His uncle took it slowly. “You want me to jump out of the plane?”
“Unless you’d rather take a chance in the crash.”
“I’m going to find this mage and shove my…”
“I am not jumping out of a plane.” Daxx shook her head.
“No, you’re not.” His dad told her.
Daxx nodded. “Good.”
“I’m jumping. We’re going to do a tandem jump.” He took another pack, turned around, and set it beside the pilot.
The pilot did something with the controls, then turned and looked at him, “you’re sure this is happening?”
His dad nodded, “If Crissy has seen it. It’s happening.”
The pilot gave him a wide-eyed look but then nodded. “Bohdi said you had a seer, but I was hoping for a different kind of confirmation.” He froze, “Shit.” He turned around, “I need to let Bohdi know I’m about to wreck his plane.”
Daxx was dialing her phone, “We’ll see about this.”
Abe dropped the other two chutes and turned around to dig in the cubby at the back of the plane. If they didn’t find any harnesses, tandem jumping would be complicated.
“Do I get a chute?” Liri didn’t sound as upset about what was happening as Daxx did.
“No. There’s not enough. Abraham will have to take you down.”
“I can’t wait.”
Abe glanced over his shoulder and wanted to protest, but it wasn’t as if there were a lot of choices. He wasn’t sure how he felt about having to strap the redhead to his chest, but he knew there was no way he could allow the pilot to have her that close to him in any life. He didn’t know why he felt so territorial and really didn’t have the time to self-reflect about it. Clenching his jaw, he turned back and dug with both hands looking for a way to secure the passengers to them.
“We’re five miles from the forbidden…” The plane lurched, and something started beeping.
“Troy, the plane is crashing,” Daxx said very loudly.
Abe found some strapping and held it up. It would have to do. He turned and looked at his dad, “We can tie it from our harness around their waist.”
His father nodded and held up a bag. “Long pointy weapons in here, please. I do not want anyone to be stabbed.”
The front of the plane pitched forward.
“Hitting the beacon now, Bohdi. See you on the flip side.” The pilot dropped the handpiece of the radio and put his arms through his chute pack. “You two know what you’re doing?” He looked at Abe and then at his father.
Abe nodded.
“Okay,” he turned to Rafael and then leaned over the seat to adjust the straps of the pack Rafael had put on. “When you see my chute go up,” he pointed to the release, “pull that.” His uncle nodded, his eyes wide with fear. “If nothing happens, you pull this one immediately.”
“What do you mean if nothing…”
“You want me to what?” Daxx barked.
Abe checked that the release was clear and then secured the waist. “Liri,” she looked so excited, he motioned for her to come closer.
“Five seconds, and I’m popping the door.” The pilot warned.
“Oh shit. Shit.” Daxx was in front of his dad now, her back to his chest.
Liri was right in front of him now; Abe only wanted to sniff her hair. Once he was back in Alterealm, he was going to go see the Doctor because there was a serious malfunction in his head. Reaching around her, he pulled the strap around her. If he wasn’t careful, the landing could damage her spine. “Once we’re out, I want you to wrap yourself around me until we’re closer to the ground and hang on, I’ll try to steer us clear of any trees.”
“Here we go.” The pilot opened the door, and the change in pressure pulled at him, and anything in the cab started to blow around. He watched the pilot go out the opening and then was pretty sure his father shoved Uncle Rafael out the door. With a quick glance at him, Emil wrapped an arm around Aunt Daxx and was gone from sight.
“Let’s do this,” Liri said, leaning into his chest.
Abe hunched down so he could get them out the door without incident. He didn’t have time to announce his every move when he saw how fast the ground was approaching them. There was going to be little time to adjust their position once he pulled the ripcord.
So much for a quick flyover to see if the forbidden area was, in fact, the stone circle out of his head.