“This is a pointless, can’t we just do something else!” Ryan yelled pulling at the ends of his hair.
I chuckled taking all of the poker chips from the middle of the table and began stacking them in front of me. “You’re only upset because you finally found something you’re not good at. And I, for one, am loving it.”
James smiled over the book he was reading on the far side of the plane (Kit sitting next to him, but too lost in her story – which she has read only to distract herself from the fact that she was in a plane -- to know what was going on with the rest of us). “Oh believe me, you’re not the only one enjoying it.”
Ryan let out a noise close to a growl and swiveled his head around so he could look at James. “No one even asked you, douche bag!”
Willow laughed from Ryan’s right side. “I see you’re going with the stereotypical insults today.”
Ryan gave her a death glare. “You’re hardly doing any better than me! And my insults are inventive and… and… uh… and insulting!”
Willow put a hand over her heart dramatically. “That cuts deep, man.” This caused James, Eryx, and I to burst into fits of laughter, while Ryan did anything but pout. “Besides I’m good at poker, the only reason I’m not winning is because I think Ari has way to much experience at this! I mean, she practically took half chips! Are you a gambler?”
“What else would I be?” I got out between chuckles.
“Can we get back to the game? I bet Ryan will be out within the next hand.” Eryx muttered looking Ryan in the eyes with a slight smirk on his face.
Willow faked shock. “Not you too!”
Right after the words left Willows mouth the plane shook violently for the eighth time within the hour. The plane wasn’t exactly up to standards, and with the storm we were flying through, it seemed a little nerve racking to be in.
James shuttered once it stopped swiveling and we (Willow, Eryx, Ryan, and I) began restacking our poker chips. “That one was a lot bigger than the others.”
Willow nodded looking out at the window with a frown on her face. She bounced back from the incident in Mexico City, but she still seemed shaken up in moments when it got too quiet and allowed her to swim through her thoughts. “Should we really be flying through this storm?”
Eryx sighed and leaned back. “Arianna is here, what’s the worst that could happen when you’re flying with a child of Zeus?”
“You’re forgetting it was a week ago that I fell out of a twenty foot tree and broke myself.”
He rolled his eyes. “No, you jumped from a tree, Zeus probably didn’t save you because it was your own stupid fault. Well, Ryan’s too, but you should know better than to listen to him.”
I crossed my arms with narrowed eye brows. “Whatever! I’m just saying that I’m not a guarantee safety net. Maybe we should just land for a few hours…”
Kit finally looked away from the book she was reading to roll her eyes at me. “Yes Ari, why don’t we just land in the middle of the rain forest at ten at night. Great idea.”
James shrugged. “I mean we’re gonna have to go through the rain forest to get to Machu Picchu anyways, why not now?”
Ryan jumped at the chance to make James look dumb. “We need to get some supplies first, or do you wanna rely on the land for food and shelter?”
Willow shrugged. “I don’t see why not. People survived for thousands of years off this land, we – the children of the gods -- can’t make it a few days?”
Eryx gave her a look. “We don’t know if it’s be ‘a few days’ that’s why we need to get some supplies – in case it’s more than that.”
The plane shook again, this time because lightning had it – small electric shocks showed all around us, the book James had set down caught fire. James immediately did his best to stomp it out while Kit jumped up and huddle between Willow and Ryan for protection.
“Okay. Landing sounds okay to me.” Kit squeaked.
I laugh and laid back on the ground. “So now you agree, when you get your head out of the clouds and realize your worst nightmare is playing out around you.”
Eryx raised his eye brow. “Worst nightmare?”
“She’s afraid of planes.” Ryan supplied as if it was the most obvious thing, but everyone (excluding me) seemed not to notice.
“I’m not afraid! Just… just… scared, okay!? How are you two so calm just laying on the floor like this isn’t happening!?”
I said, “Because we’re winning poker.” At the same Eryx answered, “Because we have Zeus’ kid, and even if we didn’t we can’t land yet.”
I looked at him. “We actually really should land, this is kind of dangerous.”
Ryan shook his head. “That’s not part of the plan, plus we’re perfectly safe.”
James shook his head. “This plan you and Eryx came up with is gonna get us all killed, and this plane isn’t only older than my mother, but it’s not meant for people. Oh and let’s not forget – there’s no pilot!”
Ryan stood up and got in James’ face. “The plane is powered by magic, magic of the gods, do you really think they’d let something bad happen to it! Especially, while their children are in it!”
Kit stood up and got between the two, shoving Ryan so he stumbled down into a sitting, and very concerned looking Willow. “Right now isn’t the time for fighting. The plane is powered by magic, so we can probably tell it to land or something.”
Ryan looked at her angrily. “But the plan!”
Willow shoved his shoulder angily. “You and Eryx aren’t in charge, we are a team! And teams work together! And, four out of six say, screw your damn plan!”
That’s when the plane shook rapidly again, this time was the worst. This time it was so bad that the unbelievable happened. The door broke open.
The standing James and Kit were the first to get sucked out, the poker table following after them.
Then it was Willow, who did her best to claw at the hole where the door had been, but failed as she glided out of it.
Ryan was out of it shortly after her, a wide variety of words tumbling out of his mouth as the wind swept him away.
Eryx and I, being the farthest from the door and because we had been lying next to each other, went out at about the same time. The biggest difference between the two of being that, as we flew out his head banging onto the side of the plane, rendering him unconscious.
It was dark and cold as the constant water pellets hit my back. For a few seconds I was again reminded of only a week ago when I fell from the tree. How painful it had been. How much worse this fall would be.
That was when the pain hit me. Not the pain of hitting the ground. This burning pain, one that can’t even began to be explain, began to burn its way through my back.
My screams of agony were all lost into the rushing winds around me. The mixture of tears and raindrops began to blur my vision, my glasses lost somewhere in the storm.
Then an instinct came to me, through the pain and rain I looked around. Eryx. He was the only one of my friends close by, the others had been swept out of sight, into oblivion. My shaky hands reached out to him, finger tips barely touching him. That is until a stronger feeling accompanied the overbearing pain, and I somehow got very close to him and wrapped my arms around him.
Then I was gliding. Smoothly making my way down from the skies, the strong feeling and the pain never leaving me.
When I finally hit the ground it was a very rough landing, I stumbled and Eryx fell from my arms, but that was the furthest from my mind. The pain had multiplied, it burned all over. I couldn’t even scream or think, all I could do was feel that new unfamiliar pain.
My eyelids became heavy. The last thing I saw before falling into the darkness was Eryx’ face, it looked as it did when I had attacked a god. So full of disbelief and shock… and just the slightest bit of admiration.