Lexen took off then in a squeal of tires. He leaned over and whispered to Emma in the passenger seat, and she nodded. I noticed the other two guys do the same thing to their mates.
“Don’t say anything important, the car could be bugged,” Xander said, close to my ear.
I nodded, sinking back against the chair. Exhaustion was starting to press on me. I’d barely slept last night, and then when we’d supposed to be resting today, I’d been … really busy with Xander. I had no regrets about that—I’d never forget my afternoon with him. But it did mean I was edging toward needing some sleep.
“The airfield is about forty minutes away,” Xander told me. “Why don’t you try and get some sleep.”
How the hell he knew I was tired was beyond me. I was doing everything in my power to appear like I had my shit together. “It’s fine,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m perfectly fine right now.”
He wrapped an arm around me, pulling me against his chest. “You need sleep. You also need food. I can’t remember the last time we all ate.”
On the plane, if I recalled correctly. Which was hours ago. It was nearing nightfall now. The storm clouds still hanging low over Astoria had washed the world in darkness. Shifting around in my seat, I gave up fighting my heavy eyes and allowed myself to relax against Xander. I might have been naked with him a few hours ago, but sleeping was a completely new sort of vulnerability. My body apparently trusted him though, because I almost immediately fell asleep, waking only when the car pulled to a stop.
Xander brushed a hand across my cheek. I lifted my head, groggy and disoriented, and it took me a few moments to remember what had happened, to remember that we were on our way to find a stone, and we had a small entourage of evil psychopaths with us.
I didn’t even want to know what that chick had meant about wearing Callie’s mother. Just no.
Xander lifted me up. I shook my head, trying to wake properly. “You can sleep again on the flight,” he told me. “Even with special tech, it’s still going to take quite a few hours to get there.”
Special tech indeed. When we exited the vehicle, it was to stand before a gleaming black beast.Nighthawkwas etched into the side of it in large letters, and I noted that it appeared to have twin engines on either wing, plus rotors on the top. I blinked as I stumbled closer, still half asleep.
“What the hell sort of material is that made of?” I asked, trying to see it clearly.
The black metal, constantly shifting color, shimmered silver one second, black the next, even going almost sky blue.
“Looks like it has chameleon technology,” Maya noted. “My dad told me that the government has been working on this for our defense systems. The aircraft will mimic its surroundings, blending right in so they can stealthily fly over enemy territories.”
That was exactly what this helicopter-plane was doing. If you changed the angle of your head, it looked different. Two pilots were waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs. Laous crowded right up to them, a creepy smile on his face
“Welcome aboard,” the first pilot said in a serious tone of voice. He looked between all of us. “I’m Major Kenneth Cole, and I’ll be guiding this aircraft for you this evening. We will be departing at eighteen-hundred hours. Please make your way on board and secure yourselves into one of the chairs. We move extremely fast, so it’s best to remain seated and buckled in at all times.”
Major Kenneth Cole was certainly confident. I wondered if he knew that almost all of his passengers tonight were aliens … of some description.
Laous tilted his head to the side. “How long will our journey be?”
The human met his eyes dead on. No fear at all. “No way for me to estimate that until we’re in the air. It will be at least three hours.”
Laous just nodded, pushing his way on board, his people right behind him. I almost chuckled out loud. It was like being forced to go on vacation with your most hated family members, knowing you were going to be stuck doing activities with them for days on end.
Chase was the first of our group to step onto the silver stairs, Maya right behind him, followed by Daniel and Callie, then Lexen and Emma. Xander ushered me in front of him, and then he brought up the back of our group. We stayed close together, and I hated it when Chase entered the black beast, disappearing from sight.
Thankfully we weren’t far behind. When I stepped in through the front section, it was to find a huge round open area, seats backed onto either wall. Nothing fancy like Xander’s private plane; this was bare basics. I quickly crossed to the seat beside Emma and dropped into it. The straps were harness style, but easy enough to buckle up, with a single clip over my chest. I tightened each side of the shoulder straps, pressing myself back into the chair.
It wasn’t the most comfortable way to travel, but it was probably safest. Xander took the seat directly across from me, which was good and bad. I couldn’t accidentally touch him, but I got to stare at his too-perfect face for three hours.
I noted that Laous already had his head back, eyes closed. He was so damn relaxed. The Daelighter didn’t strike me as the stupid kind—he’d already stated that this was probably a trap for him—so he knew we had no plans to just hand the stone over to him without a fight. So why all the confidence?
It made me uneasy.
My worries were cut off when the engines roared loudly around us and the wall behind my chair started to vibrate. Unlike a normal airplane, there was no long takeoff. We pretty much started to roll, and thenboom, we were in the air. There were no windows for us to see the progress, but judging on how quickly my ears blocked up, we were rising quickly. Opening my mouth a few times, I shook my head to clear it.
“Are you doing okay?” Emma asked, shooting me a worried look.
I blinked at her for a moment, wondering what the hell she was talking about. Then I remembered. The last flying incident, which hadn’t gone over so well.
“Uh, actually, I’m fine.” I really was. I’d barely even thought about the fear that had rocked me on our flight from Hawaii. “Maybe … my body is not as shocked because we flew just recently.”
Emma nodded. “Yeah, I would guess that it would be a daunting experience the first time you fly … when you’re more used to swimming.”
