Airborne Saga: Grounded Part 19

The cab driver left, tires squealing over the slippery road.

"Keep your eyes open." Avery warned her.

Leela bit her quivering lip but Avery couldn't tell if the girl's reaction came from fear or the cold.

"Do you really think Mikhail will come chase us here? I mean, what did you do exactly?" Leela asked, turning her attention inward.

"I should clarify everything actually." Avery mentioned, now thinking about it. Leela had only gotten one version of the story and it wasn't the right one. Filling Leela in on everything wouldn't only put the girl on the right track but give Avery someone to vent to.

"Yea, you have a lot to explain." Leela pointed out.

The rain slowed, clouds being blown through the atmosphere quickly. Using the opening, Avery beckoned Leela to run across the street together. Puddles splashed up soaking their legs, but the water falling from the sky wasn't nearly as severe. Hitting the sidewalk, they cut through the lawn of some business to arrive at the hotel's parking lot. They reached the brick overhead canopy and slid to a stop. A hotel valet stood by the entrance. Perking up when they arrived, he gave them a long look.

"Checking in?"

"Uh, not yet." Avery trembled, and wrapped her arms around herself. Sopping wet, her makeup had run and the black mascara now left splotchy lines beneath her eyes. Blood still marred her clothing from the attack and she had bruises galore over her face. Combined with raggedy hair and the radical tattoo on her arm, she probably didn't look like the average customer. "We're waiting for someone." She added before the valet could call the cops. "Can you tell me if he's checked in yet?"

The valet's face lit up and the young man strode behind a podium. A short amount of digging produced a white sheet full of printed text.

"We haven't had anyone new arrive since eight this morning." He surmised after scanning the list.

Avery shot Leela a sideways look and their eyes met. Mason didn't make it yet. The Band had been on the rooftop at Samuel's compound. So where did that put everyone on Avery's team? Either gone or dead. And if they were gone, then they should be heading here.

"It's okay." Leela said quickly. "The storm probably slowed them down. He'll be here. It'll just take a while longer."

Wanting to believe that, Avery nodded. Leela suddenly stepped up and freed the shiny black credit card from her pocket.

"Alright, then we'll get a room." The girl headed inside and left Avery to follow.

They got a room disturbingly quick and within ten minutes, they were in a room with the deadbolt on and the curtains tightly shut. The room had the heater blasting and while warming up, they dried off. Avery dragged a towel over her face. Her eyes kept burning and muscles felt the weight of fatigue. Drying her face, she plopped the towel down in a pile at her feet. Her eyes went to Leela where the girl worked her hair into a messy bun and fixed her ski cap.

Without a fresh pair of clothes, there was only so much they could do. Avery just looked like a soggy version of a college student.

"You should take a nap." Leela mentioned. "You look like you're about to collapse."

Avery shook her head.

"I can't sleep until Mason gets here. You know he should have been here by now. It'd take a harpie half the time to arrive." She gestured to the clock. An hour. A full hour since the incident, since Rafael and the Band members stood on the top of Samuel's compound, and there hadn't been a single sign of Mason yet.

"I mean, you don't think he ran into Mikhail do you?" Leela clearly didn't intend for her question to blindside Avery but it succeeded.

"I hadn't thought of that. Oh no." Avery raked her hands through her hair. Eyes shimmering and cheeks red, the panic attack couldn't be stopped now. She let out a gurgled gasp. "What if he died? You know the last time I got to see him is when Patrick was talking about us making out. What if that's the last thing he ever got to think about? What if he thinks that I don't care about him anymore?"

"Avery, he's not dead." Leela reached out and grabbed Avery's shoulders as if anchoring her to Earth. "And he won't think that. I've seen him and you. He's smarter than that, Avery. He knows."

Avery sat down on the bed but didn't calm down much.

"Yea, I guess so..." She tried to reason that Mikhail didn't confront them at Samuel's compound for a reason. Avery tried to remind herself that they had time.

The minutes kept ticking by and Leela finally approached her again.

"Take a nap. I'll be awake. And when he shows up, I'll get you." Leela offered. This time the offer seemed more tempting. So she gave in.

Moseying over to the bed, she collapsed into the starched sheets. The hot room combined with the soft bed worked her over. Her mind still spun with heavy thoughts, but exhaustion won out. Avery fell asleep quickly but didn't antic.i.p.ate the vivid dreams to come.

She took a breath of smoky air and recognized the bitter thick stench immediately. She'd been here before. The world around her remained the same. She stood in a warehouse, the barren building that rusted at the edges with decaying paint and splintered wooden floors.

The ice cold feeling of absolute panic followed. Every sensation disturbingly real, she let them move her. Feet pounding, she raced for the exit. A door waited at the end of the hall but just as she made a swipe for the hot metal k.n.o.b, a voice called her out.

"Jericho." The voice hissed.

Whirling in place, she faced the harpie. Soot smudges stained his face and long wiry hair threatened to cover his narrowed black eyes, but Avery recognized Mikhail. She knew at that exact moment she stood in one of Jericho's memories again, looking through the man's eyes to an incident that played out long ago.

"I trusted you." Mikhail hissed, darkly intent on his focus. "I trusted you, and you betrayed me."

She backpedaled for the door but couldn't turn her back to open it. Instead, she hit the wood and raised her hands.

"It's not like that. You don't understand." Her words slipped from her, already scripted. "Don't make me fight you. I don't want to become a murderer."

The words fell upon deaf ears and Mikhail advanced. This time, for the first time, Mikhail's knife became visible by catching the red light. The fire kept roaring, smoke kept exploding, and Mikhail kept getting closer. Her time was running out. Reacting the only way she knew how, Avery lashed out to protect herself. Bringing a leg up, her foot met his chest. The move was defensive, not offensive but managed to do both.

Thrown off balance Mikhail tumbled backwards and smacked the floor. The violent motion sent a vibration rippling through the building. The roof gave and broken timber rained down.

Droplets of fire splashed and scattered. Smoke blinding, Avery didn't hesitate. Whirling, she went for the door. The handle stung with hotness but she still opened it and staggered outside just aware of Mikhail's footsteps right on her heels.

She cleared the outside and glanced around desperately. Smoke billowed into the air but she forced herself to look through it. The place was empty with no one around to help.

Swearing darkly to herself, she turned and faced Mikhail. He stormed out of the building after her, knife still wielded.

"I did this for you, Mikhail. You weren't going to stop unless I did something." She shouted again, ready to fight.

"I never asked for your help!" Mikhail took another swipe. She dodged sideways, the point of the blade barely brushing her but summoning a stinging all the same. She kicked out again but Mikhail used the wider opening to avoid it. He danced around her, waiting for another chance to strike.

"No but you needed it. Magic inside your body. Dangerous. Deadly." She kept talking, pleading for some type of words to end this.

Mikhail gave her such a dark look, it was bone chilling. Turning the crimson decorated dagger upright, he readied to strike again.

"I don't care." He said in a deadly controlled voice.

"It would be dangerous to you, Mikhail. No one is meant to hold that much magic. Its overload and it's deadly. I saved your life before you had to learn on your own that it wasn't possible!" Her last words didn't work either. Mikhail made his last lunge.

The blade made contact with her shoulder. It sounded with a sick crunch and sent her sprawling into the dirt. She hit the mud before a gush of blood surfaced. Writhing, she tried to move but her muscles didn't react right. She couldn't get up.

Forced to wait for another blow, she shut her eyes. But another blow never came. Avery looked up to spot Mikhail's pale face. The dagger still lingered in his hand but his arm dangled lax by his side. Black eyes wide, he stayed frozen.

Avery knew at that moment. Mikhail had never killed before. He had never struck out at his friend before. The first time shock gave her an opening. Reflexes revitalizing, she sprung to her feet. Wings opening behind her she caught her balance and swung out violently. The impact knocked the knife from Mikhail's hand and knocked Mikhail back to his senses. They both dove for the weapon in the same moment but she got to it first. Grabbing the blade, she turned and swung madly landing scarring blow after scarring blow.

Blood splattered and Mikhail fell back. Mikhail's bone-chilling scowl would be the last thing she remembered before waking up.

"Avery, Avery, come on, get up!" Leela was shaking her when she snapped too. Blinking at the bright room, Avery took a moment to reorient herself.

The familiar hotel room fell into place around her as well as the snug cotton blanket drawn up to her chin. She looked at Leela next and found the tiny girl's wide brown eyes glazed with concern.

"What's wrong?" Avery found her voice and quizzed Leela immediately. The girl bit her lip and took a moment to answer.

"Well, Mason's here."

Avery shot up in the bed suddenly glancing around the room.

"Where?" Avery untangled herself from the mess of blankets and hurried to stand.

Then she noticed the front of the room for the first time. The carpet had been spotted brown, and crimson smeared the walls leading to the bathroom. Avery's heart threatened to stop. She didn't ask Leela anything but ran for the bathroom. The door remained open and spewed halfway over the porcelain tub was Mason.

"Mason!" She gasped, winning his attention.

Propping his head up, he looked at her. Bruises were apparent on his face.

"Whoa, stop with the water works crazy human. I'm okay. It's not my blood. At least not most of it." He offered her up a light smirk.

She smacked him and Mason flinched, his c.o.c.ky smile disappearing.

"Shut up! I thought you were dead." She wiped at her eyes and managed to sober up a bit.

"I'm glad to see you're alright too. Really." His seriousness and genuine concern returned as well and readjusting his back against the wall, he pressed a hand to his shoulder wound.

She remembered how to react properly and went for the first aid kit under the sink. His wounds were shallow but still needed attending.

"Mason... about the Patrick thing." She started but his hand suddenly came up. Touching the side of her face, he stopped her.

"I'm not stupid, Avery. I know it was Patrick's idea." His fingers traced over her cheek, her ear, and into her hair leaving a burning trail in its wake. "I knew this would happen."

"What?" Avery's voice broke and her heart sped up a beat.

"You do know that none of this had to do with Adalyn. It's not about me picking between you and Adalyn. I've already done that."

"Yea, you said that." She didn't know where he was going with this but she did touch his hand that lingered in his hair.

"You know I was intending to go to home. But I was also intending to take you with me when I went."

Avery's breath left her. Forcing herself to speak, she answered. "Mason, what about the not being able to take a human thing? What about marrying a proper bride for the throne?"

He made a disbelieving face.

"Since when did you ever care about being proper? You hid a harpie in your backyard for half a year." Mason reasoned.

Avery cracked a smile. A new wave of exhilaration washing through her veins, she squeezed his hand.

"You're dead serious. Then why didn't you say anything until now?"

He took a painfully long time to answer. And when he did he slowly explained, "Do you remember when we were in Samuel's library, preparing to fight. You called Adalyn a few nasty names and I told you to get off her case. I had told you that Adalyn was like that because of what she'd been exposed to her entire life."

"So what?" She failed to see any connection between her and Adalyn.

"She was corrupted by her life. She had to become nasty and ruthless because of how unforgiving society is. Don't you see it, Avery? Patrick trying to get into your head was only the start. All of the harpies will go after you if you come with me." His hand trailed over her hair and tugged absently at the strands. "I don't want them to corrupt you. I don't want them to scare you, hurt you, or make you change."

"I'm not afraid of harpies." She snapped back but Mason still shook his head.

"I know you're not. I know you have the personality of a harpie sometimes. But I don't want the constant pressure to corrupt you. I'm afraid you're already letting it. You apologized for not killing Mikhail. You actually apologized for not killing another person."

She opened her mouth to protest but his expression stopped her. Mason looked sad, not like he was mocking her. His hand kept brushing over her hair and she leaned into his touch. An ugly feeling set in her stomach when she knew he was right.

A year ago the idea of hurting another person would have horrified her. Now it horrified her a little less. A tiny change but everything started with only one step.

"You see what I mean. I didn't tell you earlier because I'm not sure I want to bring you into that world."

"You're telling me now though..." She prompted quietly. The conversation was beginning to hurt and the uncomfortably dangerous topic made the air thick. She held onto him.

"I'd have to protect you. I'd have to keep you sheltered from that. But then I'm not exactly a knight on a white horse."

He dropped his hands and looked toward the floor. Her skin crawled with anxiousness and she sat on absolute edge.

"No. But then I can protect myself too, Mason. I'm not weak. And together, we'd be fine. We've survived worse."

She willed him to believe her. Mason caught her eyes again.

"I'm not sure you would want to get into it." He said.

"Well, isn't that my choice?" She asked him.

"Do you know what It. Bd be asking, Avery? I'd be asking you to move in with me to the harpie court..." He trailed off, his face taking on a pinkish hue. The air seemed hard to breath and Avery stared at the ground, certain her face was burning too.

She knew the implications before he said them. It'd gotten very serious very fast. But rightfully so. They'd been to h.e.l.l and back together and still stood side by side. She didn't doubt her feelings for him either though she had yet to put them out on a silver platter. Mason inviting her didn't leave much room for confusion on his opinions either.

She considered laying out every bit of the pro and con list but it didn't matter because Avery already knew her answer.

"I don't intend to let other harpies tear us apart. I want a shot at a real future..." She managed to speak up. "...so maybe if you ask me nicely."

Her fingers were shaking but she reached out for his hands. Mason took her hands and pulled her closer. Suddenly inches apart, he used a single index finger to lift her chin up. Eyes meeting, he asked.

"So Avery Zane. Would you like to come with me?"

She licked her lips wet.

"Yea." Her voice was light but he still heard it. Leaning forward, he sealed their lips together, only the kiss was fleeting. Mason's head went up and his eyes went to the door.

"Eva's here." He suddenly whispered. The moment lost, Avery snapped back to reality and the ugly memory of the battle at hand.

"Mason, we need to go to the harpie court now. It's our only chance to outrun Mikhail."