Page 258 of Nobody's Girl

‘I was wondering,’ I send back.

He changes our direction and I follow him closely. He pounds his wings harder, making him go faster. I do the same to increase my speed to keep up with him. We enter the cloud bank and almost immediately the rain pelts us as winds push us around. It takes every bit of strength I have to keep myself steady.

I see the water spout I saw in my dream. It’s like a tornado but it’s made of water. Its spiraling dangerously close to one side of the plane. We see the plane turn around, going back in the direction it came from.

I follow Eden as he changes our path so we can get to it. As we near the plane, Eden flies around the back of it and I lose sight of him.

Crap! I’m alone over here. Okay, be cool, you knew this was going to happen.

I fly next to the plane, trying to remember the dream. I think I’m supposed to go up and get in front of the plane. As I fly by the side, I can see the faces looking out at me.

Oh, that poor lady is screaming.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” I cry out, but all that comes out is a thunderous shriek.

What kind of idiot am I? Eden just told me that would happen. Well, that probably made her feel even more afraid!

I focus on getting to the front of the plane. I remember Jeffrey is flying the plane, so he’s probably looking for us, so he can follow us out of this mess.

The wind is blowing so hard it’s difficult to move up to the front of the plane. I feel a difference in the air on my toes, or claws, or whatever they are. I dive my head down to bring my body into it, then I find I can glide really fast in this pocket of air.

Before I know it, I’m at the front of the plane. I dive a little more and I’m in front of it. Now I see Eden, I move towards him, we curve to the left some, and I can see the plane is following us.

The wind is hard, pushing back at me as the water pounds at me, like fists punching me all over my back. Lightning zig zags really close to me and I can feel the electricity from it. I can’t see for about a second from the bright flash. Then I see the edge of the storm. Thankfully, we fly out of it.

The air is so different it disorients me. I move my wings a little to find my stride. Eden moves us to the right. I see the runway lights shining up at us.

“We made it,” I shout, only to hear that shriek.

‘I really have to stop that!’

‘We’ll get used to it,’ Eden sends back.

We move away from the plane toward another part of the shoreline. I look back to see it land safely on the runway. As we near the place where we parked the car, we slow.

Eden must have spotted it because he makes a Bee-line for a certain spot. He hits the ground just before I do. I see his bird feet hit the ground and turn into his legs, then I touch down.

I transform back into my human body. We look at each other. “We did it! We did it, Eden!” I shout as I run to him, hugging him and jumping up and down.

He laughs and tosses me up into the air. “I know, Alyssa. That was great!”

Our first mission has been accomplished!

CHAPTER 41

KYLE

Laura is fast asleep as I wait up for Ally to come back from their first mission. I wanted to go, but with Laura knowing nothing about them I couldn’t.

I’m not sure how Laura and I will work out if I can’t tell her.

Ally’s stayed cooped up in her bedroom since they got married. I saw her briefly before they left for Miami, and she told me about her dream and saving people on a plane.

I bet it was cool, and I missed it.

So now I wait for the second-hand details and stew about my problems.

What am I supposed to do with my life now that I’m a primary protector to a mythological bird-woman? Can I still go to college? Will they go to Austin with me? Or do I have to go to a college in New Orleans? When can I tell Laura about their secret? How will she take it if they do let me tell her?