Page 9

Ihadn”t heard anything. How had the monster snuck up on us like that? This place confounded me, since it worked against all my senses. Nothing operated like it was supposed to in these areas, making it as strange to work with as the Higher Plane.

”Everyone, stay calm and silent,” Lyra whispered. Her voice was perfectly composed, though I could hear her thudding heartbeat. Humans were louder than they realized in tense situations. ”We need to avoid a fight if we can.”

We remained still in the craft as the creature stalked and lurked around the plane. The visible breath fell over the window again, but I saw nothing in front of the plane. It was coming from something that we couldn’t see. Leaves crunched underfoot. The sounds were crystal clear now.I usually relied on my heightened senses like any other vampire, but that ability hadn”t served me well on this mission, thanks to the properties of the Leftovers.

But now, I felt the monster’s aura. An itch settled into my bones. This was how an aura always came to me—grating, at first, with a buzzing that settled into my body. Darkness was easy to sense, since it was almost primitive when I felt it. A creature’s aura had to be sensed from a short distance away, making it a distinctly different physical sensation.

”In front of the cockpit windows,” I whispered evenly. Cam was closest to the area, and Lyra motioned for him to move back to the center of the plane. I couldn”t see the creature, but I knew it was there. In the dark plane, Lyra shot me a look.

”You”re sure?” she asked. Her voice was filled with worry. This reminded me of the time Irrikus sent invisible forces to us, but this beast felt all natural… or as natural as things from the Leftovers could be. The leaves stopped. We gathered on the side of the plane, hoping to hide in the shadier parts. Sike fiddled with his scanners as the screen flitted in and out of service from some kind of interference. The device let out a high-pitched whine that the humans couldn”t hear. It was wince inducing from the sheer sound, but it was the only thing giving us a good eye on the creature. I stared at its strange elongated shape on the screen before it went black again. It was immense, and it should”ve been visible to us based on its position. I thought only Irrikus had that kind of technology. Is this some kind of creature with a cloaking mechanism?

The dying sunlight showed nothing outside, but the sensation in my bones gradually faded. It would be okay. The creature was farther from us now.

”It”s moving away,” Sike said. His screen blipped out. He gave it a small smack, but the scanner stayed black. I stepped toward the plane”s window and strained to sense anything. Indeed, the aura was moving farther away from me. The buzzing sensation deep inside my body gradually faded, like a river running dry. If I concentrated, I could sense a few of the rodent creatures very faintly in the tree line. The creature was retreating back into the Leftovers. Whatever it wanted, the monster had struck out.

I sighed and turned back to Sike. ”Did you manage to record any readings of that thing?”

”I think so, enough to give us something to go off of… when the scanner comes back online,” he said and gave a shrug. The comms in our ears suddenly sparked to life with a soft crackle. Everyone tensed at the abrupt sound, our nerves still raw from our unwanted visit.

”It”s me,” Arlonne said clearly. Her voice sounded strong at the moment, like she was right here with us.

Bryce hurriedly turned the volume down. ”We need you to be quiet for a moment. We had a monster visitor.” He held his breath as a brief spot of fog floated by, but it looked more like a passing cloud. The aura grew weaker still.

Arlonne grunted softly. ”Interesting.” She spoke in a whisper, sounding hoarse and alert. ”We”ve got weird creatures in our area as well… I”m sure that we”re close to your area on the Immortal Plane side. Be careful.”

My pulse staggered as the itch came back in a flood. It started at the base of my spine this time, and the sound of soft vibrations made me stand to attention. I gestured toward the side. Lyra pushed the others back against the wall as Bryce whispered fervently into the comm, ”Okay.” It was simple and low enough that, hopefully, the creature wouldn’t hear.

Too bad we can’t actually see it.

A cry like nothing I”d ever heard ripped through the air. It was like a child sobbing intertwined with a wailing animal. The sound wrapped around the small plane like a howling wind. My entire frame was buzzing from head to toe. Sike sucked in a sharp breath as he sensed it, too, and the screen sparked back to life. Whatever it was, it was coming back.

”It”s returning,” I warned them. Lyra darted beside me, but it was futile to look out these windows. There was no way to tell where the creature was, besides the faint foggy breath in the cold air. I pressed my hand against the plane, hoping to use the metal frame to sense its approaching steps more accurately than the vague sense of its aura… but sounds and even sensations were so different even on the outskirts of the Leftovers.

An enormous force slammed against the plane. I caught Lyra before she could lose her balance. Cam shouted as he fell into Sike, who used his arm to shield Cam”s head from hitting the side of the plane.

”We have to get out there,” Lyra yelled over the chaos. The beast knew we were here, now. No point in whispering anymore. “If it breaks the plane, we’re done.”

”Not out there,” Bryce snarled. ”We’ll use the plane first!” I stepped aside as Bryce ran for the controls. He flipped a switch on the control panel as another hit rocked the plane, and the engines churned to life with a roar. Lyra slammed a button, releasing a flurry of darts from the side. I recognized them as the anti-redbill devices that the Bureau used to use. They were still installed on their planes. Another, fainter wail sounded, but now the sound came to the left of me. A claw, or something sharp that resembled one, scratched at the metal side of our plane. We careened into the wall. Cam and Lyra fought to wrench the emergency exit open on the side as the plane steadied, rocking back and forth into place on the grass. Lyra jumped out first, and I followed immediately. Raising her gun, she fired a shot toward where the last hit came from. It sailed through the air but struck nothing.

”It”s headed to the front,” I told her, sensing it moving toward me. A nearby aura felt like an uneasy sensation accompanied with a rush of heat, if the signature was big enough. My body surged forward as adrenaline flooded me. The aura darted over to our side. ”It”s waving back and forth, like a snake.”

Lyra swore. ”It”s going to hit the plane again.” She yelled for the others, but Bryce demanded we get back inside.

”We”ve got to take off,” he cried. ”It”s going to destroy the plane. We can’t fight this thing if it’s invisible, and we can’t let it take out our plane.”

Lyra fired a parting shot in the direction I pointed, trying my best to figure out where the creature was. We were rewarded with another wail as we scurried back inside. Bryce smashed another button to release more anti-redbill weapons.

”Buckle up,” Lyra said. My stomach lurched to the side as Bryce initiated the takeoff sequence. I felt for the creature with my senses, seeing Sike fumble with a scanner that still had a dead screen. The beast was on the side, likely recovering from the shots just fired at it, but it was definitely still moving.

”Now,” I told Bryce. ”It”s recovering for the moment.”

The plane propelled forward with a sharp movement. I fell back into a seat and scrambled for the seatbelt. Even as a vampire used to flying redbills, I hated these deadly metal contraptions that humans insisted on piloting. It was completely unnatural in sensation. Redbills fared much better, and I could actually bond with them, just as I had with Drigar.

Lyra helped Sike with his seatbelt. The plane accelerated forward and gave a mighty lurch when Bryce raised it off the ground. A thump sounded from the bottom of the plane, making my stomach clench. The monster was fighting to get to us, even now.

”Hold on,” Bryce yelled as he pushed the plane harder and faster into the sky. Up and up we rose. Sharp nails snatched at the plane”s frame until the aura itself was attached to the plane. Bryce grunted as the unexpected weight threw the plane completely off balance.

We rose at a sharp angle as the beast desperately scraped at the tail of our plane, trying to succeed in getting on top. The smell of human panic, sweat and stress hormones, made the experience doubly overwhelming. Bryce maneuvered wildly, attempting to throw the beast. It was to no avail. I heard the metal crumple around the monster’s grip.

”Its aura is as powerful as ever.” In fact, I felt the burning sensation grow stronger. The monster thudded against the plane and suddenly disappeared, but the aura jumped up above me. I turned to Bryce. ”It”s on top of the plane.”

”Oh, excellent,” Bryce snarled and jerked the controls to the side. Lyra tensed in her seat as the plane shook. It was too rough for her to stand, and there was no way to attack it while it was on top of our rocking aircraft. We were helpless in this moment, utterly dependent on Bryce’s piloting skill. The plane straightened out for a moment as we had to coast above some of the nearby trees. Lyra quickly undid her seatbelt and threw herself out of her seat. She dashed over to the puncture marks forming in the top of the plane and aimed her gun, waiting for the metal to split open from a powerful claw. The aura above me froze and then moved to the side.

”It”s coming around,” I warned her. She gritted her teeth in frustration and fired a round, but the bullets flew through the air without making contact, crumpling the plastic walls they hit. My stomach clenched as the tingling in my body grew larger, as if a wave of the creature”s aura had come smashing down on me. ”Lyra, stop.”

She paused. Heavy thuds battered across the ceiling and the left side of the craft. Cam jostled in his seat from the force of the beast’s movements, looking green in the face. His gaze went to the back of the plane.

”The shots are enraging it,” I cried over the sound of screeching metal. A horrible grinding noise caught my attention from the side window, and the plane dipped sharply. My hopes dropped as I realized the creature must have hit our left engine. The metal above us crinkled under the weight of the beast. Wind whipped around as the beast tore at the ceiling, pulling a chunk back like the top of a metal can. I spotted the distinct hints of white claws and noticed something dripping.

We could see it. Or part of it.

I chucked what I could throw at it, using the heavy toolbox next to me, as it was the first thing I could grab. If we were going down, tools for the plane were the least of our worries. The beast was thin and spindly, shaped like a lizard, with long teeth in a large mouth. Whatever cloaking or camouflage it had was failing, revealing strangely milky skin with leathery scales. It reached down to swipe at me, but I drew my blade and slashed up as Lyra fired another shot. The beast howled, and now the sound overwhelmed us with its ghastly tone. Away from the ground, it was twice as loud, even with the wind whipping around us. Leaving the Leftovers had finally allowed us to hear it in its full glory.

Bryce slammed his hand on a red button, and a panel opened, revealing parachutes. Lyra fired at the creature as Bryce yelled for me to grab the parachutes. I”d never used one before. I threw them to Bryce, Cam, and Sike, saving one each for myself and Lyra.Cam ignored his, providing covering fire while everyone else donned theirs.

Luckily, backpacks were easy enough to put on without instructions. I glanced at Lyra, and she gestured to the cord on my parachute. ”I”ll tell you when to pull, if we go down,” she said as the plane rocked. Sike and I had sat through a brief tutorial on parachutes before the mission, but it was nowhere near enough to prepare us for a situation like this. Even with my advanced healing and strength, I didn”t want to take a fall from the sky like this.

Lyra quickly hoisted the backpack over her shoulders as Bryce steadied us. The plane gave a creak as Cam pulled back to shoot at the beast while Lyra buckled herself into her parachute. As the white skin flashed again, his bullet made contact with the creature, earning a scream. My blood staggered with adrenaline.

”We can hurt it if we see it,” I yelled. Unfortunately, it was good at dodging. The creature forced itself through the opening on the top of the plane, its body slamming against the walls. Its huge body left it no room to turn, and the rest of us were forced to the sides of the plane. I threw myself in front of Lyra and Sike. Lyra fired over my shoulder, nailing the beast in the shoulder. It slithered out of the way with a pained wail.

A pulse rocked the plane.The world slowed down. The creature’s aura was gone in the next moment. I whipped around, but it was nowhere to be found. Instead, there was only the cracking of the plane and Bryce’s screams as the metal groaned. The middle of the plane tore at the bolt seams. More air rushed into the craft. The plane began to slowly tear off at the joint, creaking savagely from the force.

“The monster is gone,” I cried. Sike held on to his scanner for dear life. The screen was flitting on and off madly. Cam gasped, darting for something in the back of the plane. The tear in the middle was only a few inches right now, but it was getting bigger. Was he grabbing our supplies? I sighed when I spotted him pulling the spiky blue creature from its cage. The plane groaned. He wasn’t going to make it back to our side, and this plane was going down. We needed to parachute out of here, but we all had to be together.

Bryce pulled himself out of the pilot chair and grabbed his parachute. ”We don’t have time. Watch—”

As he tried to warn us, the plane groaned again and split further at the seam. Now, the metal was barely holding itself together.

“We have to go,” Lyra screamed. “Everyone, prepare yourselves.” She, Sike, and Bryce were already at the edge of the seam, ready to jump.

“Cam, get over here,” Bryce yelled. Lyra bellowed his name, but it was no use. Cam was focused solely on rescuing the injured creature that had found us earlier, not even pausing to put on his parachute. He grabbed the animal, wrapping it under his jacket and holding it close to his chest. It scratched at him fiercely, but he shoved it down and zipped up his jacket, despite the creature fighting against him. The metal wouldn’t hold much longer, and he wasn’t with us. I had to go for Cam. If I went fast enough, I could yank him back over to our side. The necklace I wore from the Arbiters gave me exactly what I needed. I concentrated on where I needed to be and jumped across the breaking plane as it finally split in two.

For a brief moment, my hand automatically went out to grab Lyra”s hand by instinct. Her hazel eyes—wide and panicked—flashed before me. I barely missed her hand, brushing the backs of her fingers. She fell away from me as I plummeted with the back half of the plane. I screamed her name, but it was taken by the wind.Somewhere, I heard them shouting, but the sounds faded farther and farther away.

The plane was falling impossibly fast. Fear rushed through me. The cells of my body vibrated against the strangeness of the air. Pure energy rushed through me alongside the terror, but I needed to grab Cam. I yanked him toward me in the falling debris.

He gasped a startled apology as we tumbled out of the plane, and his hand went to my parachute to rip my cord. The last thing I saw was my parachute blooming above us as the creature against Cam’s chest let out a startled cry that was quickly crushed by the wind.