Airborne

by Constance Sharper

  “Oh. So has my brother found a way to remove the magic then?”

  Avery cursed herself. Eva was just getting answers. She let out a breath, ready to end the conversation and finish sneaking out of the vent. Eva then said something that prevented her.

  “So you won’t cooperate with us to help yourself? I envy that. Take your chances. You have a lot of nerve for a human. But what about your little girlfriend? Would you cooperate with us to save her?”

  Avery’s heart skipped a beat. The Band did have Leela. She shifted hard and smashed the metal until the resonating clank ripped through the vent line.

  “Touch her and die.” Avery hissed through the grates.

  “Sorry, girl. I’m not trying to hit a sore spot. I’m just making it easy. Besides, now I don’t think you’re getting off this island without help so when you realize that you need me... Well, I’ll find you.”

  Avery opened her mouth to retort, to threaten, to think of something completely nasty, but she never got the chance. The door in the room clicked open and Eva’s attention turned elsewhere. Without another moment of hesitation, Avery pushed her way through the vent.

  Leaving the grate behind her, she turned another corner and saw a dead end. She scooted up to the final grate and prepared herself to melt through the screws again, but this time the grate gave way when she barely touched it. Avery scrambled to catch the metal before it shattered on the floor. Now forced to move quickly, she popped her head into the open and glanced around anxiously.

  The room was empty. Deeming it safe, she wedged her way out and touched the concrete floor gratefully. Her muscles eagerly stretched in the new space but the appreciation was short lived.

  The vent trail had let out into an empty storage room. The room only had the single door and lacked any windows. If Avery’s internal compass put her right, the vent had led her along the perimeter of the building and dumped her in the back corner. She’d have to walk right back through the hallways or worse, the lobby. Without Adalyn, that ruse wouldn’t work well twice. Plus, she completely lacked the ability to call Adalyn. Mulling on her limited options, Avery was forced into deciding on one. She dusted herself off and made her way for the waiting door.

  Nineteen

  Avery closed her eyes and listened intently over the pounding of her own heart beat. The door had led to a short hall from which she couldn’t peer around the corner, but she’d heard the sounds of abundant activity outside. Footsteps stomped the carpet floor, people laughed, and doors creaked open and shut. The sharp scent of coffee and sweet baking pastries wafted in the air. There had to be at least a dozen people. Maybe more.

  Avery opened her eyes and stared at the ugly floral wall paper across the hall. Just from the décor on this side of the building, she didn’t think she’d come out anywhere near the police headquarters. Rather the offish green, pink, and tan color scheme seemed more like a home with an atrocious decorator.

  Chase had once told her that if you acted like you belonged, then people didn’t question it. Of course, he’d used it to cut school and sneak into the girl’s dorm rooms. But, the theory probably presumed the same. Avery decided it was that or attempting to blow them out of the way with her barely contained magic. Neither sounded very appealing but the former sounding less dangerous all around, she decided.

  Sucking a deep breath into her chest, Avery turned the corner. She could see now that people lined the hallways. The most predominant of them were the harpies that chatted and laughed until their voices echoed off the high ceilings. Stark white uniforms and coffee cups in hand, the harpies looked like working stiffs on break. The smaller people in the hall must have been human. They lingered nearby and stayed quiet. Avery let out a breath, disbelieving her own luck. All the other humans resembled her down to the correct clothing and it made it easy for Avery to blend in.

  Speeding up her pace, Avery began to maneuver between the shifting crowds. She knocked into a few feathers and elbows but if the harpies ever even gave her a second look, she didn’t know about it. The shocking wave of success saw her all the way to the end. That was about when her luck ended. Avery had slipped around the side of one last harpie when something compelled her to look up. The blue uniform struck her first. Only then did the harpie’s familiar face sink in. The same guard that had given Adalyn and Avery a hard time coming in stared back with wide eyes and arched brows.

  “You.”He stuttered.

  Fight turning to flight, Avery spun and ran. She heard the harpies shouting behind her.

  “Security!”

  She slid out of the hallway into the main three story lobby. Flashes of white came from everywhere. Harpies descended from the air with the heavy flapping of wings. Footsteps rushed in her direction. Avery saw them in glimpses. She kept moving. With help from her initial charge, she knocked the first two harpies backwards. Their lanky bodies sprawled to the ground and they were, at least temporarily, impeded. She dashed through the opening but the harpies were gaining on her fast.

  Hands tore at her hair and shoulders. The flying harpies struggled to get a working grasp on her. Using her burning magical arm, she swiped at them. Then something caught her eye. A window sat open just at the end of the lobby. Too small for a harpie, the irrational part of her mind told her to go for it. Yanking Jericho’s journal from the draw band of her pants, she held tight.

  Just as another harpie dove for her, she jumped out the window. She clipped the upper sill and the glass shattered. Smashing into the ground outside, she absorbed the force of the crippling impact with her shoulders and rolled on the floor. Glass rained down.

  Just as shock had swept over her, the harpies behind her came to a dead halt. Knowing she’d earned only precious seconds to escape, Avery forced her aching body to its feet. She’d stumbled into a garden but didn’t take in the scenic view. She took off down the stone trail. The pavement took a sharp left and just as Avery could see the next corner, she skidded to a stop.

  “Shit!” She cursed.

  The harpie blocking her path didn’t seem nearly as surprised. He apparently recognized her as soon as she’d recognized him. The harpie Samuel looked different now than he had in her vision from Jericho. Age had more substantially ravaged his face until his wrinkled skin drooped over his dull eyes and thin frowning lips. His skinny body hunched until his presence came off smaller than hers. Smelling like a concoction of must and citrus, he still held some aura of wisdom.

  Unsure of whether or not to backpedal into the police or risk pushing past him, she stayed still.

  “I’d beg you not to steal from me.” He said, startling her. “But in this case only, perhaps I would condone it.”

  “What do you mean?” She didn’t try to play dumb but it certainly came out that way. Jericho’s journal still clenched between her white fists, she knew the what and not the why.

  “Come, walk with me child. You’ll be in no danger here.” Samuel didn’t wait for her to finish speaking. Turning around, he began a slow tread into the garden before them.

  Avery sent one more wearily glance backwards. She should have heard the heavy boots slamming on the floor and the shouts or loud demands of the security team. As soon as Samuel had appeared, it seemed like everyone else had taken the opportunity to disappear.

  Slowly, she began to follow. The garden finally earned her specific attention. The roses weren’t in bloom but the thickets of the red and white flowers lined the brick pavement. Ahead, she heard the distinctive trickle of the fountain before spotting the glittering blue water in the light. During the night in her memory, the garden was beautiful. But today with the sun lighting it up in a healthy orange glow, it was absolutely stunning. Looking at it brought back the images from Jericho’s dream and such a threatening headache, Avery barely heard Samuel speak.

  “This was my daughters doing. No more scandal needs to be brought to my name.”

  “I take it Adalyn...” Avery began while watching him. Samuel had slowed and stopped by the
fountain. Folding his wings, he sat and stretched out his long legs, just like Jericho had. The familiar image brought flashes to mind and Avery pushed a hard palm to her temple until it faded.

  “I needn’t interrogate my daughter for her motives are so easily predictable. The word is out. Jericho’s famed amulet runs in the form of a young human girl. As Mason attempts to reconcile his banishment, Adalyn helps him. Together, they help the young human girl find a fair resolution and to do that, they must know what they are up against. They must steal Jericho’s journal.”

  Gathering quickly that nothing would get past Samuel, she didn’t deny it.

  “If we could get it out of me, then I’ll give the book and the magic back. Then you’ll never hear from me again. Scouts honor.” She said.

  He didn’t so much as smile.

  “I’ve read Jericho’s journal many times so forgive me if I already see how this will end. But as such, I find no harm in allowing a few days time for Mason to give it his own opinion. Perhaps as Jericho’s own blood, he’ll find reason in it that I don’t.”

  “That’d be great.” She muttered. Her migraine came back as if something about being in this place set off the magic’s memories of Jericho. Unable to think straight, she only pictured her dream. She pictured the glowing multi-colored hue of the garden, the massive blossoming roses, and the same trickling fountain in the moonlight.

  Samuel kept talking. “But the book and you shall not leave. There is another island just off this coast that Mason can still step foot on. This will be the only place I allow you to meet and study it.”

  She tried to nod but the pain in her head became impossible to ignore. Avery let out a pent up growl. The world kept spinning and she tensed her calves to keep her upright. The images in her head kept playing until that became all she could see. And suddenly she was Jericho again, standing by the fountain and looking into a much younger face of Samuel. She held the same ragged red book out.

  The sky had darkened in seconds and she stood below the stars.

  “This amulet is different.” Her whispers kept up, distorted in Jericho’s deep voice.

  Body rocking, Avery half knowingly pressed her hands to her ears. The dream flickered and the world changed from day to night and back again in seconds. The sky increasingly resembled a strobe light.

  The whole illusion dizzying, she staggered. Opening her eyes, she stared at Samuel basking in the green and blue fountain lights under the night’s sky.

  “Samuel, you have to promise me!” Something possessed her to say. “Samuel, you must watch over Mason for me. Consider it my most important wish.”

  The dream dissipated and she found herself back in reality under the real sky in the real heat. Samuel still sat on the fountain, staring at her with nothing more than a bored expression. He didn’t look like he heard any of Avery’s schizophrenic rambling. Rather, Avery only stood with her hands pressed to the sides of her heads and jaw clenched shut. It took a moment for her to regain control of her muscles. Straightening her arms to her sides, she blinked at him.

  “You said...you said another island?” She gasped.

  Her voice came out normal, light, and distinctively female. Jericho’s booming voice had certainly left even while his last words still floated in her head. She forced herself to pay attention to the situation at hand.

  “Yes. I have already taken it upon myself and contacted transport for you. It is waiting for you at the end of our conversation.”

  “And Mason?” She asked.

  “I’m sure Adalyn is in the process of informing him now. He will show. Of that I have no doubt. Though I suspect his crimes are great, Mason has always made the distinction of being better than his sister. He could have just turned you over and more than likely had his banishment removed. And yet, he still insists on saving a human’s life.”

  Avery didn’t like the way he belittled the word human but she didn’t dwell.

  “I guess that’s what happens when you fight for your life together.” Avery offered the comment only for Samuel to give her a calculating look that she couldn’t decipher.

  “I’m not fond of his ideas child. I doubt they will work. I’m not fond of his affections for my daughter either. I don’t want to revoke my offer to help him... but let’s say I’m beginning to think I’m more foolish by the second for doing so.”

  “You’re doing it because Jericho asked you to. I know he was your friend. I know that you don’t want to see Mason fail.” She said quietly, immediately regretting what possessed her to say it. Pressing the book to her chest, she backed off a step.

  Samuel’s brown eyes darkened substantially but he didn’t raise his voice.

  “Turn around and go with your escort.”He said stiffly.

  For the first time, Avery noticed the hovering presence behind her. Another harpie in a sharp blue suit held his hand out. Feeling more awkward by the second, she took the guard’s hand and soon watched the island disappearing below.

  Thoughts of Jericho and his only son consumed her mind. She didn’t count the time but soon, the harpie’s wings stopped thumping and began to glide. Turning her cheek, she glanced below them. Sure enough, the outline of another island could be spotted in the blue sea below them. This one was instantly and distinctively different. Not only smaller, it didn’t have any signs of a tropical paradise like the first. Instead, mountainous terrain disturbed the sandy beaches and turned the entire island into a black rocky mass. Amongst it, only one building stood out. The grey brick was actually built into the raised terrain and had no windows and only one obvious door. Avery’s gut told her exactly what she was looking at.

  Built into the island was a prison.

  Closer down, she could see the outline of the flat roof top. On one side sat a tall wooden desk. In the middle sat a few lone steel seats. Behind that existed a mass of benches. The wide open space on the roof top had obviously been utilized for a courtroom. One stop shopping, Avery thought bitterly.

  The harpie landed her half a mile north of the foreboding building and atop a high, flat rock. Small benches had been nailed into the ground out here. The guard landed and shoved her towards one.

  “You’re leaving me here?” She asked the guard. Stone faced and still, the sharp suit never answered her. But then another voice did.

  “That’s because we aren’t technically prisoners yet.”

  Avery whirled to find Mason landing himself. The sight of his familiar brown hair, green eyes, and cocky smile made her heart sing.

  “Yea, well you have no idea what I just went through.” She grinned at him.

  Mason happily beckoned her closer until the two stood next to each other and further from the guard’s earshot.

  “Knowing you, I don’t doubt it.”

  Avery fumbled to free the Jericho’s journal from her waist and held it out to him. Mason never took it. Green eyes squinting, he swayed to the side and sat at the table instead.

  “Open it.” He said.

  Avery instinctively wanted to push the book at him again but held herself back. Mason had purposely avoided it. Cracking the book open herself, she flipped through the pages. Jericho had originally divided up the sections by a date at the top of the page and neat paragraphs with uncanny cursive. Halfway into the book though, the paragraphs became undefined clumps of text and the cursive became sloppy, barely comprehensible print. Instinctively beginning there, Avery settled into the uncomfortable seat and struggled to decipher the text.

  “What’s it say?” He asked her.

  She made a face.

  “It’s jumble about the amulet. With terms I don’t even understand.” She admitted. Jericho’s journal made no attempt to fill in magic amateurs either.

  She flattened the book on the table.

  “Is that all it says?”Mason asked next.

  “It goes on about the amulet for awhile,” Avery stopped when she caught his eyes. “It doesn’t say anything else. Like about...ya know… his life.” She e
xplained, finally understanding Mason’s reluctance. The shadows in his face clearly revealed that he felt guilty about his father. Avery wouldn’t relish the thought of reading the journal in that case either. Apparently satisfied it had nothing but information on the amulet, Mason finally snaked a hand across the table and pulled the book in front of him. His eyes moved across the text lightning quick.

  “Good. This is promising.”

  Avery let herself smile.

  “Can you do it in three days?”

  Mason nodded.

  “I’m certain. This is the opportunity we needed. We’re safe from the government and the Band in the meantime.”

  Avery’s smile faded.