“What’s happening in there?”
Asher closed his eyes for a moment.
“Panic,” he said, rising up and once again trapping her in his gaze. “One of the students is afraid of falling, and though she doesn’t mean to, she’s about to send theTraumzeuginto a nosedive.”
“Will they be alright?” Hailey was thinking about Fin.
“It’s only a dream, Hailey. It will be uncomfortable, but they will wake up soon, and they will no longer be aboard theTraumzeug. They will be back inside the Luftzeug,” he explained, and Hailey finally realized the airplane was the Luftzeug on Earth, an airplane making its way from Pittsburgh to Alaska, but in the Aether, it was theTraumzeug, which looked like something out of a Salvador Dali painting.
“I’m going to remember this, I can feel it,” she said, her eyes fierce with determination. “And I’ll remember you, right?”
Asher hesitated.
“You’re outside theTraumzeug. It’s hard to know. You may indeed remember—”
She held her arms out, throwing her head back.
“Finally!” she said with a laugh, and then she collapsed onto the grass once more.
“It is good to see you smile again,” he told her, and her smile widened. “I’ll see you very soon, Hailey.”
“It’ll be a dream come true, Asher.”
In front of her eyes, the eddying skies of the Aether morphed into the cold metal ceiling of the Luftzeug. She squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again, finding herself tucked warm and snug inside Fin’s sleeping bag, while he snored with one arm draped lazily across her. As he stirred, he curled his arm and pulled her into a tight cuddle as if she were his own little teddy bear.
If she could have moved inside that mummy bag, she’s not sure she would have. She woke up feeling like she was in love, so instead of shrugging Fin away, she relaxed and let him hug her, enjoying every second until he woke and let her go.
Groaning, he raised his arms in a great stretch. As he sat up and rubbed his eyes, Hailey feigned sleep and listened to him struggle against the turbulence as he made his way to the front of the plane.
The PA clicked and made a brief feedback howl before Fin’s voice rang through.
“That was absolutely pathetic,” he said, as lumps of sleeping bags stirred to life. “I should fail all of you. But the shame of walking into Chinook Hall in your current state should be punishment enough, so you’ll all receive a C.”
A chorus of groans rose up.
“Everyone except for Hartley did exactly what I told you NOT to do, and now look at you.” Fin threw his hand up, and several students gasped and whimpered,clutching their sleeping bags. “It’ll be a cold walk to campus if you lose your sleeping bag,” he warned.
Hailey saw many naked shoulders poking out of the floor. She wiggled her own shoulders out and was relieved to find herself still fully clothed. But she was one of few.
“Where are my clothes?” one of the female students cried.
“Probably in the Aether where you left them.” Fin answered her in his most caustic voice as the plane descended. “Be thankful none of you dreamed of losing your teeth.”
“My teeth!” another yelled, showing a gaping hole where two incisors should have been, and Fin pointed at him in reprimand.
“I told you not to panic. The school will fit you with falsies, so calm down.”
Just then a crewman handed him a steaming paper cup, and he lowered his handset, nodding his thanks. He swirled the cup twice, downed its contents like a shot, and clicked the mic.
“Students,” he said, “when we arrive at the campus, some of you may think you’re hallucinating. You’re not. You’ve all received your initiation charge, which has made an irreversible change to your brain.” He tapped his head with the mike. “No more Aethereal camo for you. From now until the day you die, you will see Aethereal creatures and phenomena as they truly are.”
The stubble-fur guy just made a whole lot more sense.
“Try not to stare at them. At best, they’ll be offended. Some may bite.”
A murmur meandered through the cabin, with several students taking an eyes-on-the-floor posture.
“Oh, and nobody back home will believe you,” Fin finished. “Now everyone get ready for landing.”
