There's A Fine Line Between Coincidence & Fate ✓

Chapter 15

I was jostled awake when the car came to a stop. Blinking through the rising sun that was already way too bright, I saw we had made it to the Royal Airfield. I was quickly reminded of the events of the past twenty-four hours and a fresh wave of guilt wash over me. Jack was gone, he was really gone. I half expected him to pop out of the backseat, laughing at this great prank he pulled off. But he wouldn't. He wouldn't even make it home and I would have to find a way to explain all of this to our parents.

Before I could get too into it and let my emotions get the better of me, I felt whatever I had been resting against start to move. Looking up I realized that at some point during the ride I had moved to lean against Ardeth in my sleep. I blushed when he looked down at me with a smirk on his face. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry." I said, stumbling over my words in embarrassment.

"It's ok, you looked too peaceful to move." He assured me.

"Did you know you talk in your sleep?" Rick asked with a shit eating grin on his face.

"What did I say?" I asked, mortified.

"Oh, nothing of too much importance." He replied, with that smile still on his face as he gathered his weapons sack from the boot of the car. Now I was worried. I couldn't have said anything too embarrassing, otherwise Ardeth wouldn't have been so calm. Ardeth, meanwhile, was chuckling to himself as he exited the car before offering me his hand to help me out of the vehicle. I accepted his help with a grateful smile and then made my way to the front of our little lineup with Rick.

"Now what the hell did I say?" I asked him, terrified that I had spoken too freely in my sleep.

"You were mumbling a name." Rick said, wagging his eyebrows at me.

"Please tell me it wasn't Ardeth's. I really don't need that right now."

"Then I won't tell you." Jonathan said with a laugh. I risked a look over at Ardeth who was doing his best to not look in my direction, still chuckling.

"Well shit!" Things couldn't really get worse, could they? I thought as we walked up to who I'm assuming was our pilot.

"Morning Winston. A word?" Rick called ahead as we approached this old man sipping his tea atop one of the sand dunes watching the sunrise.

"What's your little problem got to do with His Majesty's Royal Air Corp?" Winston asked Rick.

"Not a damn thing." Rick responded.

"Is it dangerous?"

"Well, you probably won't live through it." Rick said seriously.

"By jove, you really think so?" Winston asked, excitedly.

"Well, everyone else we've run into has died, why not you?" Jonathan added. Ardeth and I just shared a weird look.

"What's the mission then?"

"Rescue the damsel in distress, stop the bad guy, save the world." Rick informed him.

"Ha ha! Winston Havelock at your service." He said with a salute. He led us down the sand dune and back towards the landing strip. We came up to his plane and I couldn't help the nervous laugh that escaped my mouth.

"Um, gentlemen. Not to be that woman, but there are only 2 seats and 5 of us. How're we going to make that work?" I asked nervously. Winston started making preparations, checking the plane to make sure everything was in good shape for flying.

"Let's see, I'll take the back seat with the gun. Jonathan will be on one wing and you and Ardeth will be on the other." Rick laid out the flight plan, smirking at me the whole time. I balled up my fists, wishing I could have decked him right then and there.

"That doesn't make much sense though, does it? Shouldn't Jonathan and I be on the same side, since we're smaller than Ardeth?" I asked, doing my best to avoid looking in Ardeth's direction.

"Normally I would say yes, but if something were to happen and you got loose of the straps, Ardeth is stronger and can keep a hold of you." I unfortunately couldn't argue with his logic, although it seemed like Jonathan could. He was insisting he was just as capable as Ardeth was. I smirked at this.

"Ok fine. Let's do this." I said before walking over to the plane and waited for Rick to help strap me up. If only Jack could see me now, I thought. Tears started forming in the corner of my eyes and I hastily wiped them away. Now was not the time to break down. My heart hurt in a way I never thought possible. I wouldn't wish this kind of pain on anyone. Jack had been the only thing in my life that I could count on, even our parents weren't always on my side with things. I didn't know how I was going to be able to go home and face everything that had happened in the months since we left.