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  Harold turned his back, but Jet clearly had too much to drink despite the early morning hour. He shoved Harold in the back so hard he bumped into Knox and Avani, throwing them off balance. Harold whipped back around to size up Jet, and his eyes grew dark with anger. He lunged at Jet with such force it pushed Jet backwards, then the punches started.

  “Damnit,” Lacey said. Her tone made it sound like Jet did this on a daily basis.

  “Dios mio! Shouldn’t someone stop them?” Avani asked with manicured hands over her mouth.

  Willow watched the brawl from afar with everyone else. “Nah. Best to let them get it out. You know how men are....”

  “Tell me about it!” Lacey scoffed. “It’s one of the reasons I hate going out with him anymore. Always used to get kicked out of bars because of this crap.”

  Knox entered the conversation. “Bars? How old are you?”

  Lacey widened her eyes. “Uh, twenty-one.”

  “Yeah, sure you are,” Knox guffawed.

  “Alright, I’m only nineteen,” Lacey said. “But I’m not the one on trial here.”

  Devon stood in front of Sydona watching them like it was a UFC fight match. He mimicked their punches and grunted with each swing he took to an invisible opponent.

  “Oh, Devon.” Lacey noticed too. “Don’t watch this. Come on, let’s get some food from inside.”[SD284]

  As Lacey and Devon went back inside, Avani leaned over to whisper into Sydona’s ear. “She don’t want him watching a fight, but she’s okay with him going on this mission where we could die?”[SD285]

  Sydona shrugged. She had a good point.

  “Do you think we should break them up now?” Raoul said.

  Sydona nodded. “Yeah, I guess we should. Do it your way though.”

  Raoul perked up. “Okay!”

  A trail of red and orange dust followed behind him as he quickly flew to the brawl. He waited for a moment when they both took a short break from beating on each other, flew up their shirts and tickled them.

  The once stressful, bloody fight was instantly turned into a giggly, high-pitched laugh fest. Jet’s laugh was so high pitched it crushed his manly tone he worked so hard to get. It caused everyone else to laugh along with him. Raoul exited his shirt, and his smile went to a frown instantly. His face turned twenty shades of crimson, and he stormed off to grab his stuff. Jet didn’t speak a word to Harold the rest of the time.

  “Hope you all had your fun. Do you think we can get going now?” Knox said.

  Jet wiped his nose, smearing blood all over his face and matching his skin’s new color.

  “That should be yer new nickname, Raoul. Raoul the Diffuser,” said Willow.

  “Not nearly as catchy as Willow the Widowed though,” Sydona added.

  “Your nickname is Willow the Widowed?” asked Knox. “That’s so wrong…”

  Willow shrugged. “Gia gave it to me.” She sighed heavily.

  Lacey and Devon came out with more supplies and whatever food was left inside. Sydona made sure to pack extra fruit for Raoul in her tote. After several more minutes of packing and strapping things down so they wouldn’t fall out of the sky, they were finally ready to take flight. Lacey took hold of Devon since he was small enough to carry. The others got in formation from left to right: Avani, Harold, Silas, Sydona, Knox, Willow and Jet.

  Raindrops hit the pavement and her skin. Sydona took a deep breath of the fresh rain on dirt smell and exhaled. The bigger group gathered in the [SD286]road as it was the only place big enough for everyone to run together. Lacey and Devon stayed behind. Once everyone was ready, they took off running as fast as they could; Raoul helped to dust everyone as much as he could. Willow started out slow, but the more dust she received, the easier it was for her to make strides.

  Soon, everyone’s feet left the earth, and they flew over the trees. A plethora of reactions surrounded her. Devon’s contagious laughter rose up from behind, Willow cursed and laughed, and Harold kept asking questions like: “Have you ever gotten bugs in your teeth like a truck grill?” and “What if I need to use the bathroom?” The rain was rough at first, coming at them as they soared easily at sixty miles per hour, but it soon faded into humidity.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Sydona looked to one side and studied Silas’s wind bearing profile. He looked hard and brave. His lashes fluttered to keep his eyes from drying out. She had heard of some folks buying goggles. Some even had helmets[SD287] in case they ran into something like a bird or worse, and others had kneepads for rough landings. It was fun to picture Silas with that attire; he looked like a pilot on his way to end the war.

  To her left, Knox held her arm with his, and with its massive size, she felt there was no way she could fall. His look mirrored Silas’s but with a bit more smirk on the edges. She was proud to have him by her side. She couldn’t help but feel envious of his bald head, which was shiny from the rain. He had no hair to whip him in the face from the unyielding, icy wind.

  Occasionally, someone in the group would ask how the humans were doing, while others would yell out when they saw too much traffic below. They would either turn the line or go up higher. She didn’t know how high they were, but she imagined about eight-hundred feet. It was enough to have people on the ground not question what it was they were seeing in the air.

  Sydona wondered how Raoul was doing. They had flown roughly two-hundred miles, and he had been sprinkling dust the entire time. He would inform her when he needed a break, [LM288][SD289]but they also had to calculate if they would be able to land with a group so large. They avoided cities and towns of any kind and stayed near the forests and farms. The larger cities were dangerous and full of people who might spot them, and they took an extra thirty minutes each time to go around them. Landing would also give them the opportunity to check the map and make sure they weren’t going in the wrong direction.

  Sydona had never flown for so long at one time. It sometimes felt she was in a dream with the scenery she encountered. Her eyes closed, and she pretended she wasn’t being held onto. She swore she could smell the mountains, streams, rivers and fields of yellow and purple flowers far below. They reminded her of her home. She thought of Raoul again.

  “Hey.” She looked around for his glowing orange light. “Raoul, you okay? Do you need a break yet?”

  He joined her and stood on her shoulder blade, clearly out of breath.

  “You need to let me know if you need rest, buddy. I don’t want you overworking yourself,” she said over her shoulder.

  He patted her on the head and focused on breathing. She took his pat as confirmation for a break.

  Sydona yelled as loud as she could to either side of her. “Hey guys, let’s find a landing. Willow, Harold--Raoul’s not going to dust you anymore, but you should be fine. As long as you keep a hold of us, you won’t fall. The weightlessness will gradually fade off, though.”

  Knox replied, “Over to the left looks like a good spot, in that field.”

  “There’s a farmhouse over there though,” yelled Harold.

  “It’s far enough away from where we’re going. It’s fine.”

  The party began to descend as they slowly angled their body vertically. The speed decreased dramatically, and the ground grew closer every second.

  “Whoa, whoa! Slow down! We gonna crash!” Willow screamed.

  Silas yelled out, “Level out everyone!”

  The formation was falling apart. Some of them were straight up and down, while others flattened themselves out to prevent landing too fast. Harold and Willow especially spazzed out. Sydona didn’t like the feeling either since she was no longer in control. She couldn’t break away from the group and do it herself. They had to work as a team.

  Sydona shouted, “Everyone stop! We need to work together. Look at the person beside you and match their positions. If we mess this up, we could get seriously hurt! All together at the count of three, we slowly go vertical. Got it?”

  Everyone verbally agreed,
but the landing strip was running out. Raoul regained some energy and took the lead to see everyone in front of him and correct them if needed.

  Sydona counted down. “Three.”

  “Willow, you’re going too fast!” Raoul shouted. “Look at Jet next to you and do what he’s doing!”[SD290][LM291][SD292]

  “I’m tryin’!” she spat with a groan.

  Jet howled a laugh.

  “Two,” Sydona continued.

  “Avani, you are still too vertical. We need to slow down,” Raoul corrected with a softer tone.

  “I know what I’m doing, muchacho. You try doing this with people strapped to either side of you!” she argued.

  Sydona yelled irritably. “ONE!”

  “Alright everyone, nice and easy.” Raoul held his arms out as if he were an orchestra director helping everyone play the right notes.

  But it worked. Eventually they all got on the same page and landed smoothly on the blue grass below.

  Willow rolled on the ground back and forth, thanking God profusely that she was still alive. She pulled up tufts of grass and kissed them. Lacey and Devon landed just after them, and Devon had a smile plastered on his face.

  “Is Willow always so dramatic?” Lacey asked as she brushed her auburn and pink hair out with her fingers.

  Sydona nodded with a snicker. She copied Lacey and groomed the knots out of her hair[SD293]. Everyone took a few minutes to catch their breath and enjoy having their feet back on the ground. Knox wasted no time in pulling the map out from one of his many pockets.

  “Alright, we just passed this river, and that mountain is to the north of us, so I think we’re right about in this area.”

  Willow finally came back to reality. “How much more flyin’ we gotta do? I don’t know if I can do it, y’all…”

  Jet laughed loud enough for everyone to hear.

  Harold took notice and couldn’t bite his tongue. “You got somethin’ to say, slick, ya better just say it!”

  Silas marched over to Jet and went chest to chest. Sydona couldn’t hear what Silas said, but whatever it was, it calmed Jet down. The two men glanced over at Harold. Jet hung his head, and Silas gave a nod.

  “Harold,” Knox called. “You know how much longer?” Harold joined him along with Willow and Avani as they took a look at the map, figuring out the time and distance. Sydona wanted to be included in the plan, but she also wanted to see how Devon was doing.

  Lacey greeted her with a bright smile as she made her way over. Devon picked flowers he found randomly sprouting about and showed them to Lacey. Most of them were white flowers with petals that delicately flew off with a gentle breeze like summer snowflakes tickling his nose.

  “How ya doing, girl?” she asked.

  Sydona shrugged. “I’m more tired than I thought I would be. Watching Raoul fly around like he was on speed was exhausting. I knew he would be too proud to tell us when he was tired.”

  “He’s a special guy. Our fairies would never do anything like that. We wanted to bring them, but they don’t really do things like this.”

  It suddenly dawned on Sydona why Devon never seemed surprised to see Raoul in the car; he lived with two of them. Raoul was just another fairy. “What do your fairies do?”

  Lacey shrugged. “Oh, ya know, they love to sing. Everything revolves around them singing, learning new songs, vocal cord stretching. It’s fun but gets kinda old after a while. They need a place to showcase their talents.”

  Devon groaned. “They sing soooo much. It’s so hard to sleep sometimes!”

  Sydona laughed. She was somewhat happy not to have that issue with Raoul. He couldn’t carry a tune if his life depended on it. Sydona lowered herself to Devon’s level and balanced on her toes. “Did you enjoy flying with everyone?”

  “It was such a blast! When are we going again? Soon, I hope!” He jumped with so much excitement his glasses almost fell right off his nose.

  “I hope so, too!” Sydona grinned. She rubbed the top of his head and stood back up. She talked softer so the ten-year-old wouldn’t be able to hear as much. Devon soon got bored though and ran off to find more flowers for the bouquet. Sydona bit her lip and fidgeted with her nails as she worked up the courage to talk about a sore subject.

  “Hey, um, can I talk to you about Jet?”

  Lacey looked over to quickly search for him. He was by himself, somewhere far away from the group. He lifted his arm, and it was clear he was drinking from his flask again.

  “I know, I know. He has his problems. I’m working on it…” she said with her head low.

  Sydona furrowed her brows. “Lacey, let me just say, you shouldn’t be the one working on anything. He should be. This is his problem. Not yours.”

  Her face turned away, embarrassed. “I know.”

  Sydona licked her lips and took a deep breath. “We’re not in the best position to take him to AA meetings or anything… but if he doesn’t get his alcohol problem under control, he could be a danger to more than just himself.”

  Lacey whipped her head back to meet her gaze with angry eyes. “You think he’s the only one with an alcohol problem? I don’t recall Jet getting so wasted he passed out and knocked himself unconscious.”

  Her breath quickened and the incident before her blackout came rushing back. “That was different, Lacey…”

  “How?”

  “I--” Sydona paused, trying to understand why she was suddenly being put on trial. “Well, you saw. I thought I killed him… I think that was reason enough, don’t you?”

  “Reason enough? You know what you sound like?” Lacey said and pointed sternly at her boyfriend, stumbling around in the grass.

  “Are you serious right now?” Sydona said louder.

  Silas walked up behind her. “What’s going on here?” he asked innocently. Lacey rolled her eyes and flounced away from the conversation.

  “Lacey’s accusing me of being an alcoholic like her deadbeat boyfriend over there!”

  Her muscles began to tighten. Silas avoided her gaze[SD294]. Her heart dropped into her stomach.

  “Do you think I am?” she asked Silas, almost forgetting about Lacey.

  “No! Not at all. She’s known you for a little while, and this was the first time you got drunk like that, right?”

  Sydona furrowed her brows. “Right! That was not me. You know it wasn’t.”

  “I know. You—had a reason to[SD295],” he said softly.

  Sydona’s rage shifted. For a moment, she knew she should be angry with the doctor. But it flowed over her so strongly she had to release the rest of it. She stormed back over to Lacey.

  “I know you don’t know much about me, Lacey, and I won’t deny that one night I had too much. But if you [LM296][SD297]knew all the crap I have been dealing with lately, you would want to drown it in anything that made you feel even the tiniest bit numb. Like nothing could touch you.”

  Lacey listened to her words, but it didn’t seem to change her mind much. “I like you, Sydona. I really do. But please stop acting like you’re the only one who has problems. We all have them. Don’t make excuses and start blaming others for something you are equally guilty of… Come on, Devon, let’s go see Jet. See how he’s doing.” She guided the boy’s head and took one last glance at Sydona before walking across the field.

  “What is with everyone today? Is it a full moon tonight or something?” she asked Silas who took a seat on the ground.

  He shrugged. “Yeah, I dunno.”

  “Why didn’t you defend me back there?” She knew she sounded like a woman with a boyfriend who needed to stand up for her no matter what. She didn’t need him to defend her, but it would’ve been nice to hear. He could have at least showed he was on her side.

  “Come on, Syd, just let it go…” he lay back with arms out.

  She sighed heavily. This was their biggest difference. Sydona was stubborn, hard-headed and had a hard time letting anything go, while Silas hated confrontation, was easygoing and didn’t lik
e to argue. She wanted to know why though. Her display in front of Lacey was embarrassing, and he made it worse. Maybe she should have taken a more direct approach and talked to Jet himself. But it was too late for that now.

  “You know me better than that…” she said in a soft tone.

  Silas’s chest expanded, and he let out an irritated breath. “I do know you. And I know there was stuff in your coffee this morning. My dad was an alcoholic, Syd. You gotta try harder to slip things past me. I can smell that shit on your breath from a mile away.”

  Her nostrils flared, and she suddenly felt hot all over. She wasn’t slick. It was hard to hear Silas now compare her to his father. It seemed worse than being compared to Jet. The grass tickled her neck as she lay down next to him.

  “I’m sorry…” she said.

  “We all cope with things differently. Alcohol, punching things, running away… I just don’t want this to get worse. We need you. I need you. You’re not the same when you drink.”

  “There’s a lot of things that aren’t the same about me lately.” She paused to let a tear roll down. “I don’t even know who I am anymore. I can’t even look at myself in the mirror without wanting to cry.”

  Silas tenderly grabbed hold of her hand and entwined his fingers between hers.

  “You’re Sydona Fucking Wilder. You are… the most passionate, the most hard-headed, loyal and focused woman I’ve ever met. That will never change. You have to know that. Your ‘flaws’ are what make you amazing. I wish I had that fire. You care so much. And that’s what makes you the best person for what we’re doing right now.”

  Her head turned sideways, and she smiled wide at Silas. He turned his head too and leaned in for a kiss.

  “Can that be my new nickname?” Sydona asked in between their kisses.

  “If you want it to be,” Silas said and rotated his body so he could wrap his other arm around her and squeeze.