Karin
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One more flight, and then we’re back in America. I sighed happily as I sank back in my seat and threw my head back. Our last flight.
My eyes popped open as I felt someone slide into the seat beside me. It was Ash, the really shy boy who couldn’t sit still. He immediately noticed my glance, and eyed me wildly with his stormy eyes. I must not have looked very threatening at that moment because he relaxed considerably.
“...Ash, right?” I piped up with some effort. He graced me with a curt nod and gazed at the seat in front of him. “My name’s Karin. I’m shy too, it’s okay,” I added quietly so only he could hear. His eyes smiled slightly in appreciation but he didn’t say anything back, so I let him be. I was thinking about how pretty Ash’s eyelashes were when Sebastian came down the aisle.
He saw Ash in ‘his’ seat and took a sudden, startled step back. He began to charade from a safe distance, throwing his hands upward and complementing the action with a look of betrayal on his face. I gave him my best I’m sorry! face and just got a pout in reply. “I think Sebby’s scared of you,” I whispered to Ash mischievously as Sebby tried to slink around him, unnoticed. He grinned a little before his walls came up again and the stoic composure returned.
I frowned. How does everyone in this club do that? And why?
As I pondered this, several more Russian passengers boarded the plane and situated themselves all amongst us. I could feel Ash stiffening up and I noticed his knuckles were turning white from clutching the armrest so hard.
“Hey, it’s okay,” I found myself cooing to him. It was such a strange feeling, comforting someone that was scared. Is that how Sebastian always felt when he woke me from my nightmares...? “They won’t bother us.”
“Look at them,” Ash murmured, his voice high. “They’re all sketchy. I don’t like it.” He looked genuinely scared as he shrank down in his seat.
I took another look at the new arrivals. They were all men, and large ones, too. And when I say large, I mean their shady trenchcoats couldn’t even obscure their robust bodies. Unlike the facade we had just pulled off, these guys looked like legitimate Mafia members.
No, I’m just being paranoid and stereotypical. I scolded myself as the plane took flight. These guys are just fit Russians on a plane, that’s all.
I could tell Ash wasn’t the only one getting restless. The whole club was buzzing nervously. Griffin managed to engage in a manly staredown with the largest one. If the situation didn’t frighten me so much, I probably would’ve laughed. Akira was oblivious to the tension, working away on her laptop. Dante and Acacia traded troubled expressions. Sebastian looked back at me anxiously.
Suddenly, a pang of terror reverberated down my spine. They aren’t wearing trench coats, I realized. They’re all wearing black lab coats....
And then, by some silent cue, they all attacked.
Since Sebastian had his head turned, he didn't see onslaught coming. He must’ve seen the look on my face, though, because he whipped around just in time to whack the gun out of his aggressor’s grip and away from his head. My eardrums nearly exploded when the gun fired, and I heard Sebastian snarl in pain.
“Seba-” I screamed, but suddenly a trenchcoat enveloped me, choking off the rest. I frantically pulled my head out of the nearest opening, only to find a warm hand pushing me back down.
“Stay.” Griffin whispered fiercely, and then he charged forward. I cowered in my makeshift cocoon, watching the battle ensue from the open stitches in Griffin’s coat. Ash was nowhere to be seen.
The sounds were awful. Again, two cracks of a gun sounded and were answered by an awful scream and a strange, reptilian cry.
I was so caught up in the sounds that I didn’t see the mass of black trip on his feet and tumble backwards. He landed on me like a bag of bricks and I squeaked rather loudly. “какого черта” he growled, and I punched him in the nose as hard as I possibly could from underneath the coat. It probably hurt my fist more than his nose, but it provided a good enough distraction. Dante threw him off of me and knocked him out cold with the back of his fist.
“The pilot is dead!” Acacia screamed from the front of the cabin, and I my insides did a somersault into arctic waters. We can’t all die here, like this. This can’t be our last flight.
I noticed one of the enemy sneak to the back of the cabin and out through a de-pressurized door. He had a parachute on his back. I don’t think anyone else saw him amidst the chaos.
By now, more than half of the lackeys had been taken out. It was a risk, but I came out of my swaddling and yelled above the battle’s uproar. “They’re escaping from the back of the cabin!”
Akira heard me and whipped her head around in time to see another slink through the back door. She growled a curse, pounced on the nearest man making for the exit, and ripped the parachute off his shoulders.
“Everyone grab a parachute!!” She ordered, tossing her catch to me. I barely managed to catch it when the plane shuddered violently. Sebastian appeared beside me and quickly made sure that I was okay.
"Okay, there's 3 parachutes and 8 of us," Sebastian's mind was working furiously. "Oy, Puff!" Griffin turned around incredulously and ended up taking out a guy with his unfurled wings. "Pick up one of the girls! You too, Dante. Fly out of here and find us." Sebastian tossed his iPod with the tracking program to Dante and started strapping on the parachute. “We gotta get out of here, NOW!” Ash rushed past him and out the backdoor with a parachute she'd deviously acquired. Aaralyn was right behind her with one of her own. She certainly learned fast. I was especially glad she was okay, since she’d only just joined us.
"Come on," Sebastian smiled wildly and pulled me into his arms. Oh, no. I wasn't ready for this at all. But with a click of a buckle and a leap out the door, we were falling through open air. Sebastian hollered and whooped as we tumbled through clouds and atmosphere, leaving the plane and our assailants behind. I pretty much screamed bloody murder the entire way down.
I dared to open my eyes. They were instantly met with a spinning black landscape and two deployed parachutes floating peacefully below us. "'You ready?" Sebastian grinned. No, no I was not ready. But thanks for the warning. Sebastian yanked the cord on our harness, and it felt like Gravity yanked us back just as hard.
“That was awesome!” Sebastian yelled, exhilarated. I kept my eyes closed as we floated all the way down to the forest floor. As Sebastian and I tumbled over one another and I managed to tangle myself in the deflated parachute, I wondered where on Earth we could be.
It didn’t take long to find Ash and Aaralyn, since they’d jumped only moments before us. Sebastian decided it would be best to stay put and set up camp for the night until the winged boys and their carry ons found us with the tracker. He was right. Within an hour, the wyvern and werewolf came strolling through the brush, followed closely by Dante with Acacia in his arms.
Sebastian came over to them immediately. “What happened? Is she hurt?”
Griffin growled with annoyance, “I am fine. Shot through the wings, but thank you for asking.” Akira punched him in the shoulder and he winced a little bit.
Sebastian ignored him as Dante tried to explain. “She just fainted on the way down. I don’t really know what happened.” He looked kind of embarrassed, like he thought it was his fault.
Sebastian smiled a little. “Oh, well if that’s all.... Akira, are you okay?” She was clutching her shoulder tightly, and a nasty scratch raked across the bridge of her nose. She just shrugged a little.
“I’ll live,” she sniffed, holding her head high. “How ‘bout you?”
He nodded. “I just got grazed,” he murmured, shrugging the arm that got hit. Again, Griffin sarcastically muttered something about his wings taking two bullets head on and Sebastian shot him a look of pure
vexation.
“Please excuse me,” a sweet voice called out through the darkness in the trees. Everyone in the club jumped at the unfamiliar tone. “If you don’t mind my saying, you ladies and gentlemen look like you could use some hospitality.” By now, the voice had stepped out of the woods and we could see her in the firelight. She looked like a reincarnation of the dolls I used to play with as a child, with incredibly long, blue hair and a gorgeous ornate dress fit for a princess.
“I am Colette Marie Duncan,” she curtsied to the open-mouthed, very confused lot of us. “Pleased to make your acquaintance!”
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Yes, Karin still thinks Ash is a boy xD Haha
(The little blurb of Russian in there just says, "What the hell..." xD)
:) Okay guys, feel free to write about your perspective of what happened on the plane! <3 I tried to make it pretty open-ended, with Karin not seeing much of it happen.
Colette will be posting her story soon as well. It doesn't matter if they overlap, it's all just one big story anyway. ;) And then we're off to America!
~harvestmoonluvr
