Even with the warnings, what happened next hit the three boys with complete surprise. Evan hadn’t taken three steps when whole plane shook spastically and dropped a couple thousand feet, as though free-falling. Not having heeded the repeated warnings and instead choosing to continue their furious discussion standing in the aisle turned out to be a really bad idea after all.
Alik, Evan and Creed flew up and hit the ceiling of the cabin. They scrambled to regain their balance but everything was happening so fast, even they couldn’t help but be thrown around the cabin. The nose of the plane dipped and with it anything that wasn’t bolted or secured. The overhead compartments popped open releasing even more debris into the storm that was the inside of the private jet. Oxygen masks burst out of the panels above the seats and an alarm screamed a high-pitched, “beep, beep, beep!” The aircraft was making terrifying noises, sounding distinctly like metal on metal screams.
Their fight abruptly interrupted, the three metas scrambled to their seats and for their safety harnesses. Even during the brutal turbulence of the plane, Evan crawled back toward his sister’s gurney. He was more worried about checking Meg’s oxygen levels than himself, despite the airplane safety rules. The plane was leveling off some by the time he could get the mask over his own face and secure himself in the seat closest to his patient.
Everything happened in the span of no more than three minutes, but it left everyone onboard rattled and out of breath. Finally, the plane felt like it was leveling off and the sadistic screaming of the alarm stopped. Captain Jacobe’s shaky voice came over the intercom. “Mr. Young and guests, I hope everyone is okay back there. That was a highly unusual pocket of fast forming wind conditions causing us to drop…uh, thirteen thousand feet. We’re now traveling at an altitude of about fifteen thousand feet above sea level, and boy, if you look out your window, you can almost see the scales on the fish!” No one laughed at his attempt at humor.
“Yes, well. We’re going to stay at this altitude for a while, hoping to avoid any more surprises. Missy will be back momentarily to check on you and straighten up the cabin. My copilot, Mr. Trainer and I are sincerely sorry for the scare and will do our level best to make the rest of the flight as smooth as possible.”
The passengers were silent for a few minutes, still recovering.
Alik broke the quiet. “If my sister dies because of you, I’m going to rip you limb from limb.”
Creed looked warily at Alik and took a slow, deep breath and slowly released his vise grip on his chair’s arm rest.
Alik was rubbing his temples as though trying to fight off an oncoming headache. The vein in his forehead was bulging as it always did when he was angry. Evan glanced at his brother and thought how grateful he was not to be the object of Alik’s anger. He was up and out of his seat again, checking Meg’s vitals and making sure none of her tubes or monitors had come undone during the turmoil. Once he was satisfied she was stable, he returned to his seat. He was exhausted and revved up at the same time.
“If Meg were awake, she would be the one ranting louder than any of us.” Evan was staring at his sister’s pale hand as it lay vibrating slightly with the movement of the plane.
Picking up on Evan’s lead, Alik forced himself to calm down and think of his sister. “Oh yeah, you think we’re upset? You just wait till Meg wakes up. And if I were you, I wouldn’t even bother trying to explain yourself. You’d just better run!” Alik mused affectionately at his big sister, thinking back to many an argument back on the ranch.
“I saw her fight that day on the hospital lawn,” Creed said. “If you two hadn’t ganged up on her, she would have won.”
Alik was smiling softly at the memory of it. “Yeah, she was pretty mad. She’s one tough girl, I’ll tell you that.”
“I don’t know what I’d do without her,” Evan confessed softly.
“You don’t have to worry about that, Evan. We’re going to get her better,” Alik glared at Creed.
“I know it doesn’t help matters, but—I’m sorry. I never knew what it was like to have a family. Watching you guys with your mom and Theo and Paulie these last few days has made me do some serious thinking.” Creed looked earnestly from one brother to the other. “Listen, guys, I don’t want to be a bad guy. I really just want to make it all right,” he said.
Alik and Evan exchanged looks. They were trying to decide whether this guy was full of it or if he was being sincere. This is the kind of situation where they would usually defer to Meg’s skill of being able to feel people’s emotions. She would be able to tell if he was honestly remorseful, or if it was just a lie.
Alik squinted at Creed. “Meg would know whether or not you were lying, but she’s not able to help now, thanks to you. So we’re going to have to find another way to figure out your true intentions.”
“Let us contact our mom to warn her that Williams knows her location and is probably setting her up as a target,” Evan said calmly.