Chapter 6
MAEVE
Ari
Send a picture of the clouds so I can at least pretend you’re having a good time.
Maeve
No.
Ari
Come on, Maevey Baby, don’t ruin this for me.
Maeve
The blinds on the window don’t open.
She’s not here to know that I’m lying, and the reason I refuse to open the blinds on the window is because I’m fucking terrified.
My hand is gripping my phone tight enough that if the screen shattered, I’d not be surprised.
Nora
You’re panicking, aren’t you?
Maeve
No. Panicking is for the weak.
Ari
And me, clearly.
Maeve
I agree, Ari.
Nora
You didn’t see her opening the jar of gherkins just now.
Maeve
That’s fair.
Nora
Tell me five black things you can see.
I frown, not sure what the point of this little game of hers is. I glance around the cabin, but I can’t focus past the loud ringing in my ears. The edge of my vision is fuzzy, and I can’t tell if the majority of this panic is coming from my chromius or myself.
Maeve
Lucifer’s eyes.
Hadrian’s soul.
Nora
I meant more like your seat belt and the carpet.
But I suppose I can give you the gothic bonus points.
“Where the fuck is your belt?” Hadrian demands, striding towards me with urgency. His baby blue eyes narrow in frustration, and he bends down to grab the longer end from where it’s dangling.
I flinch as he snaps it into place, scrunching my eyes closed as the feeling of it digs into my stomach.
He’s so close to—too close. He can hear my uneven breathing, see the pained expression on my face, and smell the fear dripping from my scent.
Fuck.
Lucifer hisses under his breath, low and dangerous.
I don’t open my eyes.
I can’t.
The cabin pressures with my heartbeat, every breath tasting like plastic and recirculated fear.
“Get the fuck away from her, you idiot,” the imp snarls. “Why would you fucking do that?”
“It’s a safety restraint, not a fucking boa constrictor,” Hadrian mutters. “I didn’t think it would set her off. Won’t happen again.”
Lucifer’s hiss is somehow more deadly this time. “Go sit in the corner before I snap your neck.”
My eyes are still squeezed shut, but the moment I feel the belt come undone, I can breathe again. It doesn’t even matter that he accidentally touched me as he did it because the moment I look down at my stomach, I see he’s got his hoody wrapped around his arm.
“He’s a fucking idiot,” Lucifer says softly. “You’ll be fine, okay? No seatbelts needed. Just smooth sailing.”
I grimace but nod my head, my entire body trembling.
A flight attendant appears, all neutral makeup and formal clothing. Everything feels professional about her, and I could easily ignore who she worked for if it wasn’t for the sterile sweetness of the compound clinging to her.
It makes me ill.
“Herbal tea?” she offers, smiling at me. “Calms the nerves. Most of our nervous fliers like this blend.”
I don’t look at the cup on her cart, instead eyeing the packet she pulls out of the top drawer.
My stomach turns to lead. Acid climbs my throat as I stare at the packet in her hand. The familiar white corner on the tea bag, the blue stripe down the middle. It’s a special blend made at one of the dispensaries on the compound.
Of fucking course.
The one they gave me whenever I was in the hospital. My body remembers the calming effect before my brain fully recognises the danger of it.
Honey on top, chalk beneath, and the kind of calm that makes consent easy to fake.
Even now, Adrian’s playing his games.
“I don’t ingest gifts from men who think I’m an experiment or their bribed airline staff,” I say dryly, dismissing the nervous woman.
Luc’s smile goes feral as he rises from where he was kneeled beside me. “You heard her—fuck off, and take your stupid drinks with you.”
“Ah, man,” Hadrian mutters, eyeing up the cart with greedy eyes. He reaches out, for what I don’t know, but I laugh when Lucifer slaps it away.
“You put something in your mouth and die, that’s on you,” Lucifer warns.
The pegasus grumbles but lifts his hands up in submission. She wanders away, her head hung low, but I don’t feel any guilt.
Adrian made it clear that they were his staff, and this was his plane. I’d be a fool not to be cautious.
My phone buzzes in my hand, and I immediately reach for it. The group chat with Nora and Ari is on mute since they spam me far too much for my liking, and only a few people can bypass the ‘Do Not Disturb’ feature on my phone.
Draven
I hope you’re staying calm, little angel.
I’m just about to leave now but wanted to check in and see if there’s anything you might have forgotten from your apartment.
Ari tattled that you brought no clothes, so I grabbed a few of your things just in case.
I frown, but my phone buzzes before I can reply.
Draven
I know you have clothes at the compound still, but on the off chance that someone has been poking around, I got some.
I hope I’ve not overstepped, angel.
My heart thuds, and the dread in my stomach has lightened into something unrecognisable.
A warmth tingles through me, and I haven’t even realised that Lucifer has gone over to argue with his cousin rather than reading my messages over my shoulder.
Maeve
You haven’t.
Thank you.
Draven
That’s my job.
You’ve got about thirty minutes left of your flight, so if we don’t speak until tonight, just know that I’m doing everything in my power to support.
Maeve
You didn’t have to do this for me.
I don’t even understand why you would.
Draven
Do we have to understand everything in the world?
Stay safe, little angel. I’ll see you tomorrow.
I know that even if I do reply, the extremely confusing man won’t reply. My stupid chromius tries to crawl towards the screen, almost as if she can travel through it to him.
She’s an idiot, though.
I glance over at the Graves men, intrigued by the way they’re reacting. From the moment we stepped on the plane, they both seemed off-balance. They knew exactly where everything was, showing how often they’ve been on this—or one like it—but they’re not happy about being in the familiar environment.
Luc is pacing the aisle, flipping a coin between his fingers. The metal clicks in steady rhythms, the metallic heartbeats keeping time with my own uneven ones.
I don’t know if his imp is causing bother or if he’s just struggling by himself. Hadrian’s arguing quietly with the safety card, pointing out wing and exit flaws like he’s about to redesign the CAA.
I think he forgets that we don’t all have wings.
I check the placard by the galley, wondering what else he could take offence to, when I notice something off.
There’s an engraved code on the wall, and I lean in to read it.
G-AX87.
G-AX87.
My stomach dips.
“Lucifer,” I call, already standing. The moment nothing is touching me, I can breathe a little easier, but, unfortunately, what I’ve just noticed kills the relief dead.
“What’s wrong?” he demands. Hadrian jumps up to come over to see what I’m pointing at, but I wasn’t calling for the idiot.
Lucifer’s gaze follows my pointing finger, and his whole body goes very, very still as my insides do the exact opposite.
“I don’t get the relevance in the code, starlet,” Hades says, slow and wary.
There’s that stupid name again, and, combined with his ignorance, it makes me want to scream.
Or vomit.
“Our plane was meant to be G-AX78,” Lucifer says calmly. “Uncle Ades has sent us on the sister jet, clearly. The seven and eight are swapped.”
“Wasn’t that the plan? We wanted a decoy, didn’t we?” Hadrian says, half-hopeful.
And completely unhelpful.
“Yes,” Luc says, eyes on the attendant who suddenly finds the ceiling fascinating.
“I just prefer when we pick the decoy. Or when someone who isn’t missing brain cells does it.
If you were looking for the jet we’re hiding on, wouldn’t this be the first one you checked after realising we weren’t on the original? ”
My thoughts exactly.
“This is starting to feel like he’s sent us into a trap at stupidly-high altitude when I can’t fucking fly,” I hiss, glowering at his nephews.
I can’t take my anger out on the devil himself, so they’re the closest thing.
Lucifer shakes his head. “I don’t like it either, but, unfortunately, there’s not much we can do from up here. Trust me—we’ll not let anything happen to you, and we’ll make it down in one piece.”
I heave out a sigh, not sure how to handle this. My anxiety is harder to ignore, but we’re going to be there soon, so I can’t medicate the pain away.
“Draven’s got a friendly face meeting us on the ground,” Hadrian reminds me, and I shake my head, not knowing how any of them thinks there’s friendly people on the compound. “Keep breathing. We’ll be okay.”
I hate that my lungs listen to him.
Where’s your submission when it’s me making the demands, you useless organ?
I slide back into my seat, grateful that Adrian’s obsession with me extends to replacing the furnishings on his plane to my preferred fabrics. I just wish that the seat wasn’t so hard, so big, and so touching.
I just need nothing to touch me right now.
No clothes. No hair. Not even a breeze that can agitate me.
I click on the group chat with the girls, trying to let their normality distract me. I don’t participate, not now that they’re just debating whether brownies are better when they’re hot, or cold.
The correct answer is room temperature—so they don’t upset my delicate sensory processing disorder.
“Let’s just make this flight with the fuel,” Lucifer says, dropping into the seat opposite me. His blonde hair is messy around his face, and he smirks at me.
I know the imp is out to play because his eyes are pure black, and, honestly, a little indecent for public spaces.
“If Adrian thinks he chose the board, he can be the first piece I knock off it,” I mutter, wishing I had a blanket as another shiver wracks my body.
I know it won’t do anything, considering the cold has leaked into my bones at this point, but I need something.
The plane hums. I count the blacks. I breathe.
I do not break.
I was a victim.