CHARLIE
“This is an asinine idea,” I shouted over the drone of propellers.
We had the planes out of the ditch and lined up for takeoff on the lane.
Bo had already settled into his seat, his flight helmet and goggles on, a big, goofy grin plastered on his face.
Kitty had her hair tied up in a scarf and wore a pair of sunglasses and one of our grandma’s camel hair church coats to stave off the high-altitude chill.
Kitty looked more like a moving picture star going on a car trip than an airplane pilot.
I had sunglasses on, too, a pair of Bo’s old aviators. Now that I was a vampyre, the sun hurt my eyes—and it seemed to get worse every day.
“Fun?” I gritted my teeth. “You do realize that even if we make it across the sea, we’ll be dropping into a war zone full of hostile knights, evil mages, and soulless monsters, right?”
“Oh, don’t be such a drip,” she said, waving my concerns away with a flutter of her hand.
“I’ve been writing about Maethalia for years.
Now, I’ll finally get to see it. I was supposed to go months ago—when you took my place, if you recall.
No way I’m missing it this time. Now come on and help a girl up, would you? ”
She offered me her hand. Instead, I took her by the waist and hoisted her up like a sack of grain.
She gave a little scream as I plopped her onto the plane wing.
Then I stepped back and watched with crossed arms as she clambered up and eased down into the cockpit onto Bo’s lap, giving him a teasing little wiggle as she settled in.
Both of those fools looked incredibly pleased with themselves.
It was good they were enjoying the moment, I guessed, since they were probably about to die a fiery death.
“So, she’s the eyes and you’re the hands?” I called up to Bo.
He gave me a thumbs up.
I shook my head. “It’s still not too late to change your minds,” I shouted over the engines.
Bo cupped a hand to his ear. “What?”
“We can’t hear you!” Kitty called, with a glee that told me she heard me perfectly. She and Bo both laughed.
“Dumb bastards…”
I rolled my eyes and stalked toward my plane, grumbling as I went. Maybe I’d get lucky and lose them in the air, I thought. Except the old red Sackman Comet Bo had fixed up for me was such a bucket of bolts, the old mail plane was probably faster than she was…
I jerked the blocks out from under both plane’s wheels, then vaulted up and into Ruby’s cockpit.
Even with the blood thirst boiling in the back of my mind, I felt great as I buckled myself in.
The smells of leather and oil and burning petrol set my heart beating faster, like they always did.
I released the brake and immediately the plane lurched forward, building up speed as it bounded down the rocky farm lane.
I pushed the accelerator forward. Faster. Faster. Then, we were weightless.
I pulled back on the stick, climbing, watching the farmhouse and fields fall away beneath me.
When I’d cleared the row of trees, I looked back, half dreading that I’d see the mail plane strewn across the fields behind me, or hung up in a treetop.
But they’d managed to take off and were climbing steadily behind me.
Kitty raised her hand, waving to me like we were running into one another at some garden party and not riding machines comprised of wood, cloth, and screaming engines up into the sky. Bo was grinning just like she was.
“Idiots,” I grumbled again, shaking my head. But I was smiling, too. Dangerous or not, part of me loved that Bo was getting to fly again.
For my part, I’d truly never get tired of this feeling. The thunder of the engine. The cold wind on my face. The gorgeous panorama of land and sky.
I might be undead now. But damned if I didn’t feel alive.
As if all that wasn’t enough, I was going back to find Essa. And once I found her, I would never let anything—even death—keep us apart again.