Watching Heirs Unnaparent

Destiny's Melody (لحن القدر)

Ahhhhhhh!"

The scream erupted from his lungs before he even knew what was happening, before his feet ever left the ledge, and long before he found himself plummeting to the earth with enough momentum to be an asteroid. The sky and the land flipped-flopped and the wind tore across his face and arms, seizing his hood and throwing it over his eyes. He flailed his limbs, trying desperately to find some way to right himself and correct his tumble, but found no relief as his descent continued. Lorr hollered something into the nerves of his brain but it was overshadowed by the tremendous blast of fire and flames that rushed out the now-exposed window above his head. Below, people screamed and fled at the first signs of danger and a group of school-aged students all bolted for cover.

"Good! At least the kids know how to run!"

And everything was spinning.

Oh, kalimati, everything was spinning.

"You're falling! That's probably why!"

If Nicholas hadn't been about to become a permanent splatter against the earth's surface, he might have considered throwing up what was left of the mediocre sandwich he'd shoveled in for lunch. The one he'd skipped out on with Milo to meet Kat instead. Somehow, that didn't make things any better now.

He was still falling.

"Still falling"

"This is defiantly making my fear of heights worse"

He was still going to be completely, totally, unquestionably dead.

His vision honed in on the pavement rushing toward him and he prepared himself, knowing there was no way, superpowers or no, he was going to walk away from this one.

"My heart can't take this anymore!"

Brace for impact! Lorr screamed and Nicholas threw his arms over his face, a second scream and his heart already leaping into his throat.

He was just feet away from death now.

"God. Please help""

It was all over. Milo was going to get everything he wanted and the Guild would never know what hit them. The world would be destroyed by those lacking honesty and loyalty and there would be absolutely nothing he could do about it.

"Fight!"

"How can he?"

And Nino would be one of the ones who would suffer because of his failure.

"Don't think about me during this!" Nino told Nicholas although Nicholas could see very faint tears slowly starting to form on his waterline.

Nino, Chris, their mother; whatever happened to them, it was all going to be his fault. He hadn't protected them. He hadn't kept his promise after all.

"Don't think about us Nikolas! Fight for us!"

Tears pooled his eyes as he closed them tightly and prayed that it would be over quickly, that Lorr would at least be spared. Maybe he would somehow be able to escape Milo's evil plans and find another holder, one who could do what Nicholas could not; who could be the hero he hadn't been, who had access to more money and more wealth and more pancakes, who understood and appreciated the kwami's bottomless pit of a stomach and his odd inability to understand humor or jokes or sugar.

"Pardon? Sugar?"

He prayed the hippogriff would forgive him for being such a lousy holder, for being too prideful and self-centered and thick-headed to see what was right in front of him when he'd had it.