Steel Flight [Completed]

Chapter 36: Green

Jack usually seems happy.

I don't want to be happy; I want to be alive.

"Let's go see what's on the other side of that stream!"

I shrieked and whirled. Jack reflexively shot back a few feet and held up his hands. "Sorry," he said. But he grinned anyway.

I shook my head. Both to the question, and to him. "We don't have time."

"Sure we do. So long as your screech didn't wake up the other two, and somehow, I don't think it did, we have at least a little while." He flew back over, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Last night, I accidentally whacked Colton in the face while turning over and he didn't even flinch!"

I bit the inside of my lip.

"Come on. It'll be fun." And he soared out of the cave.

Of course I followed, just as I always did. "Are you sure about this?"

"Of course I'm sure."

I stumbled on a stone and Jack reached out a hand to steady me. Stone. That's what that building was made out of.

"Are you okay?"

"What? Oh. . .yeah. Yeah I'm fine." I looked up to find Jack peering into my eyes. I stepped past him and looked off to the horizon, where a liquid orange stream met a dawning sky. I squinted at the stretch of earth just below the warm yellow streaks.

"Jack, I think I see something. Beyond the stream."

He dropped nearly to the ground beside me. "What do you see?"

I breathed in the hot smell of scorched earth. "Green."

Jack nodded slowly and darted a glance my way. Then, without warning, he shot forward, hardly pausing to throw a, "Race you!" over his shoulder.

I snorted. Not likely. I had more dignity than that. Then I looked down at my ratty clothes. Oh. . . right.

I shot off after Jack, and would have passed him within seconds if I didn't keep half-stumbling over rocks.

"City girl!" He was flying backwards, almost laying down in the air, and smirking at me.

"If you were down here on the ground instead of cheating I'd already have beaten you!"

He raised his eyebrows and turned over. And promptly flew into a red mound. That was all the motivation I needed to put on a spurt of speed and inch my way past him.

"Hey! Slow down!" he yelled after me.

I glanced over my shoulder to make sure he could hear me clearly. "As if!"

A few more steps and I came smoothly to a standstill just back from the edge of the stream. Jack pulled breathlessly to a stop beside me, laughing in bursts. A small smile crept onto my face. A part of me savored this moment, already wondering if I'd ever get another like it. Then, together, we looked up.

I had indeed seen green. Before us, across the stream, lay a vast green mountainside dotted with blossoming trees and queer houses built halfway into the mountain, with roofs that curved up and in to meet at a point. Pink and pure white blossoms drifted by on the wind. I followed the slope of the mountain with my eyes, gaze flowing over the scattered houses. There were even a couple on the peak! Up that high the stream was blue.

It seemed we weren't the only ones up with the sun. People moved about everywhere I looked- children raced each other through the blossoms, women gathered to chatter, and old men ran their hands through a mesh of fabric. The fastest of the children bounded toward us, eyes on the orange stream, until her eyes lifted and she noticed us. Then she skidded to a stop, mouth gaping open in awe. The stillness rippled back, until everyone had stopped what they were doing to stare.

"Um, Jack," I said softly.

"Don't panic," he answered. He flew confidently forward, stopping right over the stream.

I palmed my face. My first suggestion would not have been to blatantly show off magic before we'd even talked to any of them.

"People of the Eastern Mountains!" he yelled. I'm not sure why. "We're not here to steal your great secrets! Friends under one moon together await the one sun!"

I stared at him. Had he lost his mind?!

He just smiled at me.

I shook my head, hoping he really did know what he was doing.

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