The sky - or, more precisely, a part of it - was falling.
Violet scrambled to her feet, leaving her books (stacks and stacks, holding down the edge of the blanket she'd been sitting on, all on various topics. Swimming, fighting, building- they were all there, including one Twilight Saga stuffed between two much more practical tomes) behind her as she ran closer to the water. She could see the dark shape - it looked like a giant bird, and then-
It wheeled to one side, and Violet's mouth dropped open, completely agape. Nimble fingers grasped the purple ribbon across her shoulders, tying her hair back even as her bare feet sunk into the sand.
It was unsurprising these days that Violet ran towards giant things that fell from the sky instead of away; it was a habit that went hand in hand with midnight swims and picking fights. Still, she skidded to a stop as the person - the man, really - dropped the wings to the sand and she was torn, her mouth moving to form words as she stared at the wings, the wings that were lying there, braces and
( ... )
She looked to be around my age, although her clothes were unlike any I'd ever seen before, and the sight of them made my cheeks flush. I averted my eyes and concentrated on the fact that she seemed to speak English. "I'm fine, miss." Perhaps I should have been scared, but despite everything the sky was still my element. It was a sad thing to see the wings on the beach crumpled so, and the girl seemed to notice it as well.
"Where is this place?" Seeing it brought back memories of the island the Aurora had crashed on. No doubt Kate would want to examine the local flora and fauna when she arrived.
If she arrived.
I pushed the thought from my head, squinting my eyes against the sun in anticipation for the dark shape that was due on the horizon any moment now. Kate - I didn't dare to think my Kate, even to myself - was clever. She would find a way.
"It's an island. Sort of... not on any map, and not really reachable unless you're-" Violet paused for second, her mouth pursing like she was trying to reason with herself before she settled on the right word. "... special."
She took another step - towards the wings, not him - and then chewed on her lip. "I'm Violet. Don't- You should pick those up. Did you make them?"
"An uncharted island?" I'd heard of such things from weary sky sailors. Rumours of a fabled triangle somewhere in the Pacificus that churned with bad weather all-year round. Islands so small that they'd gotten overlooked by the map makers. Yet it didn't explain the sudden shift in temperature and climate.
Her words directed my gaze back to the wings, and I was almost reluctant to pick them up, forlorn as they were. Bending down, I reached for the straps and swung the contraption over my back. A trail of feathers fluttered to the sand.
I shook my head. "No, I didn't make them." Briefly, I thought of the Hyperion, with all of her gold and treasures sinking to the bottom of the ocean. We were lucky to be alive, and I didn't regret my decision, but I couldn't help but wonder what other inventions Grunel had stowed away in his workshop. But now was no time for such thoughts. I nodded in her direction, for it would be improper to offer a handshake. "I'm Matt."
Alistair had thought he'd officially seen everything there was to see on the island. There were things he still didn't exactly understand, but he felt comfortable in the knowledge that there wasn't much that could surprise him any longer about this new place.
Seeing someone fall from the sky was a new one.
Alistair wasn't actually sure how he was supposed to deal with the situation. He was pretty sure no one was going to believe him when he told them he'd found a person that fell from the sky that day. Duncan growled at him, the warhound equally unsure what to think, but he motioned for him to stay put. The person didn't seem to be a threat, and he always had the sword that was currently strapped to his back if need be.
"Uh, hello there," he greeted, trying not to look as bewildered as he felt (people could fly? Sarah hadn't told him that). He probably wasn't doing too good a job of it. "That was quite an entrance. Are you alright? It seems you've lost your...wings."
The sun was beginning to be unbearable, even with the hood of my sky suit pushed down. I didn't blame the man for his confusion, I must have looked a frightful sight falling from the air like that if he'd seen it.
"I'm fine, thank you." And I was. I'd checked for broken bones and mercifully there had been none. There would be bruises in the morning, but I was no stranger to those. No sky sailor or adventurer worth his salt would complain about bruises from an aerial landing.
The sound of growling reached my ears, followed instantly by the sight of the sword that the man was carrying. He seemed friendly enough in his actions, but the evidence before me seemed to say otherwise. If he was a native to the island, I should be on my guard. "Are you from here?" I asked, grateful for having left my wings in the sand and the oxygen tank beside it.
He was surprisingly calm for a man that just fell out of the sky. He suspected he'd be more than a little startled himself, but then, he would have never been up there in the first place.
"Yes," he answered, because at this point, it was true. He'd been there for months now. "And...I am going to take a wild guess and say you are not. Correct?"
"Yes." it seemed to be a nice enough place to live on. Plenty of trees and fruit, and water too if they had one of those new-fangled mechanical purifiers. A small slice of tropical paradise, and I would have enjoyed it immensely had I not been landlocked and feeling utterly foreign. "How many people live here? What's the nearest body of land?"
For a moment, she thinks she's going to faint. It's been almost two years exactly since she last saw Alex Rider's face and, looking at this kid, she knows that that's not who he is, but it's a shock all the same, akin to seeing Hiro's face for the second time. For a moment, she can just stare at him, hands resting on her bump, but then her knees buckle and she sits down suddenly in the sand.
"Miss! Miss, are you alright?" I felt clumsy on the sand, still used to the weightlessness of air, but managed to cross the space between us in short order. She was pregnant, and I'd probably given her quite the shock. Kneeling on the sand beside her, I felt a pang of guilt in my gut for it.
"Oh, honey," says Charlie, a little weakly, reaching out to touch the side of his face, just grazing his cheek before she lets her hand drop. "Listen to me, causing a fuss, and you're brand shiny new."
It was a simple touch, but enough to remind me of my mother and all the trouble I'd caused her with this salvage business. And the worry that she'd suffer if I didn't find a way off this island in time to intercept my letter. She'd already lost my father to the skies, and I hated to think what her reaction would be if she thought she'd lost me as well.
"Welcome where?" I asked, wondering if there was a telegraph machine on the island that I could use. Slowly, I got to my feet, holding a hand out to the woman and attempting to look reassuring. Stupidly, for it seemed to be the other way around right now. "Do you need some help getting up?"
"Hey, you new here?" Walt calls out, questioningly. He's seen that on look on people's faces, people who had just arrived on the island- he's pretty sure his own face looked just like that when he got here... only a lot more devastated.
"I think so!" I hollered back, my heart beginning to thump uncomfortably loud in my chest, but whether it was from adrenalin or something else, I couldn't say. "Are there co-ordinates to this island, or a radio here?" If I could only reach the Saga, we could launch a search for Kate and the others. Or perhaps they were already aboard, and she was worrying about me.
I tried not to imagine how vexed with me she'd be when I finally saw her.
At the question, Walt feels his face scrunch up in unpleasantness. "Yeah, about that," he says, scratching the back of his head with an apologetic half-smile. "We don't have that kinda stuff here. Letters don't go out, either."
He remembers when he found out about that, and how much of a let down it was.
"Why not? I have a letter to send. It's rather important." I winced, hoping that sounded a little less pompous than I thought it did, but it was urgent. I'd told Baz to assume the worst if he hadn't heard from me in a month. Our journey aboard the Hyperion had taken two weeks at most, but I hated being the object of someone's worry. Especially my mother's. I had to find a way to intercept the news of my death before it reached her.
As a child of the god of the sky, Thalia had a tendency to look up just as often as she looked down. This place may be the exception to a large number of rules that she knew and held dear, but that didn't mean that any threats couldn't strike from above.
Always be prepared. That was how she lived and how she intented to keep living.
When she saw that thing, whatever it was, land she had picked up speed as she approached it. Ever ready to fight against what it might be, she fingered the hilts of the knives in her arm guards. It was only when she was within twenty feet of it that she realised it wasn't an it but a him and apparently he was a moron.
Planting her combat boot clad feet in the sand, she wished she had worn pants instead of the shorts she had on. Additional protective coverings were always good. "Are you a moron?"
Twenty seconds later, a girl approached me. She was strangely dressed and had knives strapped to her arms, but even so I couldn't help the indignation that rose in my voice. But my mother (and plenty of officers aboard the Aurora) had taught me to be polite to girls, so I swallowed it reluctantly.
"No. If you're talking about the wings, there was hardly another choice of escape."
"I am and did you learn nothing from Daedalus and Icarus?"
Being frank had always served Thalia well. Just because she didn't know this guy didn't mean that she wasn't going to call him out for acting stupid. Everyone could justify everything, but that didn't make it okay.
She should know. Her whole life had been something of an over the top justification. Hands on her hips, she stared at him looking seriously nonplussed by the whole thing. "Escape? What were flying monkeys on your heels?"
"The ship's gas cells were punctured and we were losing hydrium fast at 20,000 feet. She was bound for the water and I've never been keen on drowning." The words came out more sharply than I intended, but I was starting to like this girl less and less, and got the distinct feeling that she was goading me. I was lucky to be alive, I knew. I didn't need to be reminded of how lucky.
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Violet scrambled to her feet, leaving her books (stacks and stacks, holding down the edge of the blanket she'd been sitting on, all on various topics. Swimming, fighting, building- they were all there, including one Twilight Saga stuffed between two much more practical tomes) behind her as she ran closer to the water. She could see the dark shape - it looked like a giant bird, and then-
It wheeled to one side, and Violet's mouth dropped open, completely agape. Nimble fingers grasped the purple ribbon across her shoulders, tying her hair back even as her bare feet sunk into the sand.
It was unsurprising these days that Violet ran towards giant things that fell from the sky instead of away; it was a habit that went hand in hand with midnight swims and picking fights. Still, she skidded to a stop as the person - the man, really - dropped the wings to the sand and she was torn, her mouth moving to form words as she stared at the wings, the wings that were lying there, braces and ( ... )
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"Where is this place?" Seeing it brought back memories of the island the Aurora had crashed on. No doubt Kate would want to examine the local flora and fauna when she arrived.
If she arrived.
I pushed the thought from my head, squinting my eyes against the sun in anticipation for the dark shape that was due on the horizon any moment now. Kate - I didn't dare to think my Kate, even to myself - was clever. She would find a way.
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She took another step - towards the wings, not him - and then chewed on her lip. "I'm Violet. Don't- You should pick those up. Did you make them?"
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Her words directed my gaze back to the wings, and I was almost reluctant to pick them up, forlorn as they were. Bending down, I reached for the straps and swung the contraption over my back. A trail of feathers fluttered to the sand.
I shook my head. "No, I didn't make them." Briefly, I thought of the Hyperion, with all of her gold and treasures sinking to the bottom of the ocean. We were lucky to be alive, and I didn't regret my decision, but I couldn't help but wonder what other inventions Grunel had stowed away in his workshop. But now was no time for such thoughts. I nodded in her direction, for it would be improper to offer a handshake. "I'm Matt."
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Seeing someone fall from the sky was a new one.
Alistair wasn't actually sure how he was supposed to deal with the situation. He was pretty sure no one was going to believe him when he told them he'd found a person that fell from the sky that day. Duncan growled at him, the warhound equally unsure what to think, but he motioned for him to stay put. The person didn't seem to be a threat, and he always had the sword that was currently strapped to his back if need be.
"Uh, hello there," he greeted, trying not to look as bewildered as he felt (people could fly? Sarah hadn't told him that). He probably wasn't doing too good a job of it. "That was quite an entrance. Are you alright? It seems you've lost your...wings."
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"I'm fine, thank you." And I was. I'd checked for broken bones and mercifully there had been none. There would be bruises in the morning, but I was no stranger to those. No sky sailor or adventurer worth his salt would complain about bruises from an aerial landing.
The sound of growling reached my ears, followed instantly by the sight of the sword that the man was carrying. He seemed friendly enough in his actions, but the evidence before me seemed to say otherwise. If he was a native to the island, I should be on my guard. "Are you from here?" I asked, grateful for having left my wings in the sand and the oxygen tank beside it.
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"Yes," he answered, because at this point, it was true. He'd been there for months now. "And...I am going to take a wild guess and say you are not. Correct?"
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And she's still just staring at him.
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"We should get you out of the sun."
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She drags in a breath and smiles.
"Welcome."
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"Welcome where?" I asked, wondering if there was a telegraph machine on the island that I could use. Slowly, I got to my feet, holding a hand out to the woman and attempting to look reassuring. Stupidly, for it seemed to be the other way around right now. "Do you need some help getting up?"
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He shrugs it off and waits for the kid to reply.
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I tried not to imagine how vexed with me she'd be when I finally saw her.
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He remembers when he found out about that, and how much of a let down it was.
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Always be prepared. That was how she lived and how she intented to keep living.
When she saw that thing, whatever it was, land she had picked up speed as she approached it. Ever ready to fight against what it might be, she fingered the hilts of the knives in her arm guards. It was only when she was within twenty feet of it that she realised it wasn't an it but a him and apparently he was a moron.
Planting her combat boot clad feet in the sand, she wished she had worn pants instead of the shorts she had on. Additional protective coverings were always good. "Are you a moron?"
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"No. If you're talking about the wings, there was hardly another choice of escape."
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Being frank had always served Thalia well. Just because she didn't know this guy didn't mean that she wasn't going to call him out for acting stupid. Everyone could justify everything, but that didn't make it okay.
She should know. Her whole life had been something of an over the top justification. Hands on her hips, she stared at him looking seriously nonplussed by the whole thing. "Escape? What were flying monkeys on your heels?"
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