Kenji nods, and with a sudden heave, shoves open the airplane door. Air rushes in fast and hard, nearly knocking us off our feet.
Quickly, we all link arms, Nazeera and Aaron holding up the outer edges, and with a few reassuring shouts through the howling wind—
We jump.
It’s a terrifying sensation.
The wind pushes up fast and hard and then, all at once, stills. We seem to be frozen in time, whirring in place even as we watch the jet fall, steadily, into the distance. Nazeeraand Aaron appear to be doing their jobs almost too well. We’re not falling fast enough, and not only is it freezing up here, oxygen is scarce.
“I’m going to drop my hold on your power,” Aaron calls out to Nazeera, and she shouts back her agreement.
Slowly, we begin to descend.
I watch as the world blurs around us. We drift downward, unhurried, the wind pushing hard against our feet. And then, suddenly, the bottom seems to drop out from under us, and we go shooting down, hard, into the terrain below.
I give out a single, terrified scream—
Or was that Kenji?
—before we pull to a sudden stop, a foot above the ground. Aaron squeezes my arm and I look at him, grateful for the catch.
And then we fall to the ground.
I land badly on my ankle and wince, but I can put weight on my foot, so I know it’s all right. I look around to assess the state of my friends, but realize, too late, that we’re not alone.
We’re in a vast, wide-open field. This was, once upon a time, almost certainly farmland, but it’s now been reduced to little more than ash. In the distance appears a thin band of people, quickly closing in on us.
I harness my powers, ready to fight. Ready to face whatever comes our way. Energy is thrumming inside me, sparking in my blood.
I am not afraid.
Aaron puts his arm around me, pulls me close. “Together,” he whispers. “No matter what.”
Finally, after what feels like immeasurable minutes, two bodies separate from their group. Slowly, they walk up to us.
My whole body is tense in preparation for an attack, but as they get closer, I’m able to discern their faces.
They’re two adults:
One, a slender, stunning woman with closely cropped hair and skin so dark it gleams. She’s luminous as she walks, her smile widening with every step. Beside her is another smiling face, but the familiar sight of his brown skin and long dreadlocks sends shock and panic and hope rushing through me. I feel dazed.
Castle.
His presence here could be either good or bad. A thousand questions run through my mind, among them: What is he doing here? How did he get here? The last time I saw him, I didn’t think he was on my side at all—has he turned against us completely?
The woman is the first to speak.
“I’m glad to see you’re all right,” she says. “I’m afraid we had no choice but to shoot your plane out of the sky.”
“What? What are y—”
“Castle?” Kenji’s quiet, tentative voice reaches out from behind me.
Castle steps forward just as Kenji moves toward him, and the two embrace, Castle pulling him in so tightly I canpractically feel the tension from where I’m standing. They’re both visibly emotional, and the moment is so touching it puts my fears at ease.
“You’re okay,” Kenji says. “I thought—”
Haider and Stephan, the son of the supreme commander of Africa, step out of the crowd. Shock seizes my body at the sight of them. They nod at Nazeera and the three of them separate to form a new group, off to the side. They speak in low, hurried whispers.
