Dear Alex A.

Chapter 23

"Flight 338, now boarding." The woman repeated for the umpteenth time. A grouchy Fay flung her bag over her shoulder as she got in line. First class gets to board first. Eliza skipped gleefully behind us while Daniel and Shawn sauntered closely behind. Andrea had called me earlier this morning to check on our status and keep me updated with how the rest of our team was doing. They were all stressed, especially Evelyn. Several species of Nigtwalkers had begun to appear more and more frequently, but any kind of action had stopped. It was like the calm before a storm.

"Something big is going to go down soon, you guys need to find Fay's dad and fix this ASAP. I don't like this feeling at all." Andrea's voice sounded frustrated and if I didn't know her any better, I wouldn't of detected the slightest trace of fear. But I do know her, and it definitely caught my attention.

"Enjoy your flight." The attendant scanned my boarding pass, her red eyes gleamed as she smiled, I could see her fangs but no one else could. I swallowed my distaste and managed a nod as I walked away. Half the passengers on board were Nightwalkers from what I could tell, all different kinds too.

"Girl snap out of it! Isn't this your first time on a plane? You should be excited!" Eliza shook Fay who still looked like she was pouting. She had been in a bad mood since she had woken up, but claimed it wasn't a hangover. "Was it because you didn't get your mid-" Eliza began with a smug look in her eye. Immediately, Fay's hands covered the girl's mouth, both murder and embarrassment in her eyes.

"Girl's find your seats, you're holding everyone else up." Daniel stuffed his backpack in the storage bins above the seats. Shawn remained silent as he took his seat across from his beta. Eliza had an empty seat across from her, she prayed aloud that she's get to sit with some hot rich guy. Fay and I shared a pod, but she refused to look at me while we waited. Her gaze remained
elsewhere, looking out the window, or the other passengers who passed by.

"Did I do something wrong?" An hour and a half into the flight and I had reached my limit. She finally looked at me but said nothing, only shook her head. Yes, my perfect match...the one who hates communicating clearly. "So what's wrong?"

"Nothing." The flight attendant served us our food and poured us drinks, "Can I have some lemon please?" The woman have her a slice of lemon which she proceeded to squeeze into her mineral water. The beverage fizzed more violently.

"Then what's with the bad mood? You scared of flying or something? You know planes are safer than-"

"I'm not scared." Which that statement itself was major BS, I could tell she's been nervous about being in a plane since before we boarded.

"Then?" I leaned on the edge of the little table between us. She kept her eyes on her cup, the tip of her nose was turning red, the color gradually spread to the rest of her cheeks. "Hello..?"

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking." Shawn sank in his seat after tightening his seat belt. I didn't bite back my laugh in time; we made eye contact and I swore he died a little on the inside." We may be experiencing some mild turbulence for the remainder of the trip, we'll be expecting to land in Phoenix in about half an hour. Please remain in your seats and keep your seats in the upright position. Thank you for flying with us today."

*** Fay's POV***

The seat belt sign lit up and the flight attendants strolled by, waking sleeping passengers and doing attendant stuff. I looked out the window and saw the clouds, it looked like hell below.. Literally.. The storm clouds were so thick and dark, it was as if they were made of smoke that escaped from the pit. Nothing could be heard from outside but my inner ears twitched at the faintest disturbance. A screech that didn't belong to any bird I knew, let alone one I've heard of that a plane couldn't drown out.