Chapter 33: Falling

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-Jack

"Whoo! Yeah!" This was even better than in my dreams! Dropping straight down through the air, my stomach doing somersaults. . . This was the life.

"JACK!"

Uh oh.

I flipped to fall headfirst and put on some speed. I reached for Skai and she clung to me, trembling like a cold kitten. Then I flew to the right and caught Colton.

"Again! Again!" he said, just as my younger siblings used to. Grinning, I obliged. Skai clung tighter as I swooped down to catch him. I could hear her gasp of breath in my ear.

I caught Colton a few more times, until he couldn't talk for his laughter. Then I glanced sideways at him. "Where do you want to go now that you're free, Colton?"

He grew quiet. "Where are you going?"

I glanced over at Skai. The next step would be to give the magician his Flight, but he hadn't exactly given us directions. So while I didn't know what our next destination should be, I was sure Skai did, and a few more to boot! My dad would have liked her. Even when she ran, she had an end destination, and a plan to get her there. Unlike me. I just ran.

"Juxtaposition!" she yelled over the wind.

I nearly stopped dead. "What?!? Have you forgotten the crazy lady and police after us?!"

"We need to get to the hospital!" There was a pause. "And Fyrn isn't crazy. Just a horrible friend."

"I meant Madame Noire."

"Oh."

"Uh. . . Someone gonna fill me in?" asked Colton.

"If they capture us, it's over."

"Gee, thanks."

"No problem."

"Well, if you're going to Juxtaposition, you can drop me off at the Farmlands. Maybe my caravan's still there!"

"Sure, we can drop you off there," I said. "Though I don't know that we're going back to Juxtaposition."

"Look," Skai said, still clinging to me tightly. "We'll go straight to the hospital. Nothing to-"

I missed the rest of what she said as the clouds parted to reveal the most spectacular view I'd ever seen: the Eastern Mountains from above. And even better, the sun was beginning to set behind their majestic blue peaks. I often imagined if you took the watered-down blue from all the sky and condensed it into a single jutting point, it would make that same beautiful deep blue. Or maybe the mountains' blue came from the dreams I felt sure had created them.

"I'm hungry," whined Colton.

"Well we can't eat and fly," I said. "Why don't we land down there and have a snack?"

"With chameleon horses after us?"

"I still say that's a terrible name," Colton interjected.

"We'll hide down there. Besides. It's almost night time. There's no way we could get to the City before dark. Might as well sleep here and figure out our plans in the morning."

Skai was wavering. I could tell.

"Please," I said.

That did the trick.

"Oh, all right. Just hurry. We need to find a place to hide."

A very, very small part of me worried this might be a mistake. If the chameleon horses could smell us. . . No way. The stories about this place were true. Senses were misleading here. Definitely.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Comment below: what did you like? Dislike? I'd love to hear from you!


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