The plane was pretty cool. At least initially it was. Afterwards, I grew sick of all the flying.
It was roomy, spotless, lavish. All to ourselves.
Anyhow, me, Aar, Bee and – might as well count the inactive beagle – See had zero idea what our destination was. Only Mr. Om knew, and the pilot who had to take us there. The latter was being paid extra to keep this trip a little secret.
We were going to meet a very dangerous witch and make a simple life-or-death bargain. Which if we failed to strike would be extremely painful for all of us.
So yeah, no sweat, no pressure.
I sat on my seat, and immediately felt my eyelids dipping down. Eyes closed, belt buckled, I could feel the plane moving along the runway. I could feel the sickly somersaults in my stomach as it took off. I thought I even heard See growling, which he rarely ever does.
And then, abruptly, I felt an incongruous chill creep up my legs.
Slowly up to my armpits, almost freezing me. I didn’t think the altitude had anything to do with it, so I opened my eyes.
'Surpraaaaayyyyyyyssssssee, Marry-wee-wee!’ the spirit hissed, right into my face.
Her colored outline was glowing with a brilliant intensity; in fact, it almost blinded me. Her translucent buttock took rest on the seat beside me.
‘Es! What are you doing here?’
‘Always friends, right?’ she chirped, looking out the window. For someone who can levitate on her own, she seemed overly joyed to be on an airplane.
‘That neither makes sense nor answers my question,' I mumbled, but didn’t push. She won’t listen to me anyway.
And it was kind of comforting to have my first proper friend be by my side. She might be irritating, but call me crazy here – Es can also be quite lovely at times. Her presence alone made me feel loads better about our quest, like the aura of optimistic people always does. Positivity can be pretty contagious, believe me.
Sometimes I wish I could see the world with her bulb-like eyes. She probably sees butterflies and rainbows everywhere.
Oh, how I’d kill to be Es. Carefree, careless, pure.
But who am I kidding, right? I’m on a bloody treacherous quest and the probability that we will get killed is a drop-dead hundred.
A quest. That’s what this is, isn't it?
Never thought I’d go on one.
Anyhow, here we are. Me, my two human friends, an enthusiastic spirit and a particular Mr. Om.
(Also the pilot, but saying that reduced the awesomeness level of the situation, so let’s just ignore him, shall we?)
Whoo. All caught up, I think.
This is where we are right now. About to land.
And I’ll be reporting what’s happening to you now. Live. As it happens.
On we go. Buckle up.
We are now where we started in the first chapter.
The book's going to change tense, since we'll be reading things as they happen, if you get what I mean.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is where the REAL fun begins.
*train whistle sounds*
**choo-choo **