It looks useful, and you have no idea what you’re doing !
She nods like I’ve made an excellent point, and she yanks down on the recliner thing. Immediately, the plane drops down and the breath leaves me.
Not a good idea.
We’re going to die, I moan.
Veah squints at the monitor. The wind from the open entrance in the back is suddenly fierce, chilling me bone-deep. Carrying with it the moisture of rain and the kiss of the storm.
We’re at an altitude of 3114 feet ! she says.
That’s nowhere near safe to jump !
But she is standing up anyway. The plane slides sideways, and I collide into her. Blinking the rain from my eyes.
Beads of moisture cling to her long, dark lashes. Her grey eyes are the colour of burning silver. Now that I know what she tastes like, I . . . I want to kiss her again.
This plane is going to crash, my common sense advises me. And you’re thinking of kissing her.
Yes, now shut up ! I think.
In hindsight, I probably should have listened to my common sense.
I hope you still have your parachute, Veah says. It looks like we’re going skydiving after all.
We are at the emergency exit now. The door-shaped opening reveals the sky below usand it might be slightly, incredibly terrifying that I can’t see the land through the storm.
I really, really hope we don’t end up in Kansas.
Are you ready ? Veah asks.
Fuck it. If we’re going to die
One thing, I say, and I grab her by the collar of her shirt. You’re hot.
Her mouth responds to mine, her lips crushing against my own, until all I taste is cherry and electricity. As I lean into her, her entire body supporting mine, it occurs to me in a haze that if she were to let go, right now, we would both go skydiving.
I think the same thought occurs to her too, because she is still kissing me as she lets us go.
When I was younger, I always imagined what it would feel like to touch the clouds.
I never thought I would fall through them.
The first ten seconds are terrifying. I can’t thinkcan’t breathecan’t do anything but scream. All that binds me to consciousness is Veah’s laughter, soft against my neck, and the overwhelming rush of adrenaline.
The air is cold, so coldbut the bite of the wind fades against the onslaught of rain, attacking my face like stinging bullets.
The entire world disappears.
My eyes are squeezed shut. A scream tears from my throat, but it never leaves my lips. I hold Veah so tightly I am sure I could snap her in half, but she doesn’t even seem to feel it. Her soft, chiming laughter is heatwarmthagainst my skin.
And then I feel her position shifther arms slipping away from me, letting gomy eyes snap openno, no, no
I am floating.
It’s the only way to describe it. Floating. My parachute explodes above me, a black shield, and the harness yanks me upward.
I taste copper and blood andit’s beautiful.
Veah opened my parachute before she did her own.
A hundred feet below me, blinking fast to see through the rain, I watch as her parachute balloons above her. And through the violence of the wind and the harsh howl of the thunder, I swear I hear her laughter, even now.
It bubbles out of me, toolaughter.
Wonderful, delirious laughter.
It does feel like floating.
I think I might be crazy. I think her crazy might be infecting me. But it feels lovely, and I don’t think I’ve ever felt like this. Free and alive, with every beat of my heart singing in tune to the shatter of lightning in the distance.
This is probably really dangerous.
But I really, really don’t care.
There is no way to keep track of the time. I only know it as the thick, heavy clouds begin to part. I am no longer enveloped in a blanket of thunder.
Below me, I can see land. Earth.
My adrenaline is beginning to dwindle.
Where’s Veah ? Something seizes in my chest. Sudden panic. She is nothing but a shadowed speck in the distance, far below me.
It might be the 3000 feet fall, or the injuries from the warehouse explosion, or even colliding with the ceiling of the airplane, but
I think I’m going to faint.
No, no, no. Not again, I think. Kaya, you can’t always be a damsel in distress.
I’m not sure I can help it this time.
I can only hope Veah is waiting for me. How dangerous is falling unconscious in the middle of skydiving ?
On a scale of one to ten . . .
Tough one. I’m going to be optimistic and hope it’s a nine.
But that nine starts looking like a one hundred as the wind pulls me sharply to the left. I don’t know how to control ithow to move myself backI only know it as I’m getting farther and farther away from where I see Veah’s speck
When did I begin to associate safety with Veah ?
Shit. Probably around the second time she saved my life.
I don’t want to break my legs.
Dear God, I pray, as my eyes close. I’m really fond of my legs. They’re useful for exercises like walking, running, dancing, andhopefullyfucking a particular girl. Please let me keep them.
Also, don’t kill me. That would be nice, too.
The breath leaves me all at once as I crash to the ground. I think my legs might be broken. I think my entire body might be broken.
I can only lay there, probably mutilated, and look up at the sky.
The rain is so pretty. Is that a bird ?
No, it’s a fucking plane.
Well, God, you had one job.
Congratulations. Don’t kill me.
Am I a joke to you ?
Actually . . . don’t answer that.