“Yes we just touched down mom,” Jack said as he tapped a hand against his arm. He leaned up on the top of his toes to look over baggage claim and see if it had started yet but no. The overhead light was indicating that their flight was going to start offloading soon but as for what soon meant he didn’t know.
“Good. I saw something on the news about a train derailing. Be careful out there,” he could hear the worry in his mother’s voice and he just smiled.
“Yeah Marco was talking to us about it. Seems like it was just a bad railing or something like that.”
“All that time spent on construction and something like that still happens,” she clucked her tongue and shook her head. “I’m glad you three at least made it safely.”
“Yeah me too. It was a pretty tame flight though,” he laughed and then heard a loud clang and watched as the light flashed. “That’s us. I’ll talk to you once we’re home home alright?”
“Okay. Love you Jack. And Marco and Sarah.”
“Love you too. I’ll let them know.”
Hanging up he looked past a few of the people and saw his partners standing near the bathroom. Sarah was shaking her hands out and Marco was on his phone, standing guard over their carry on bags. From the look on his face though things hadn’t gotten better back home with everyone else. Brushing his fingers through his hair slowly he sighed going back over to join them.
Wrapping his arms around their shoulders and smirked at them, “So it’s going to be a while before our bags come stumbling through and Marco’s got that look on his face. So what’s new over here?”
“You’re an idiot Jack,” Sarah said with a hard shake of her head.
“Hey I’ll retrieving luggage soon. You guys are priority,” his smirk fell away quickly as he asked, “What’s the update on Kat? She any better?”
“She’s gone back to sleep,” Marco said. “She was awake a little bit earlier but not for long.”
“They really did a number on her,” Jack said staring at the ground and fought the urge to be angry again. “Has anything happened to the others? Everyone still okay?”
“Yeah. Seth got off work no problem. Cal is back with Ben and has been reporting back to the group chat. They’re just waiting for us to come home and once we’re together again we can figure it out.”
“How many of them do you think there?” Sarah asked.
Jack walked forward grabbing one of their rolling suitcases, a dark yellow one that he knew was Sarah’s. Popping out the handle he dragged it behind and chased after his own. “What the dark knights? You think there’s more than one?”
“You’re really calling them that?” she asked rolling her eyes. She took a few steps back and pressing her back against Marco’s chest. “Ley made six of us. If Ley’s twin is anything like them then they didn’t stop at just making one of them. And that’s assuming they’re all human.”
“An alien strike force to hunt us down,” Marco shook his head. “Talk about unpleasant.”
“Not looking forward to meeting the dark knights,” Jack said finally tracking down the suitcases. “But I don’t think it’s that severe.”
“What makes you so sure?” she asked.
“As someone with a twin, trying to one up your brother is like second nature,” he placed a hand on his chin and shook his head. “If you ask me-“
“-And no one was,” Sarah whispered making Marco chuckle. Jack pinched her behind lightly and she squeaked hitting him back.
“Anyway. My guess is there at least three of them. Trying to do it better than Ley.”
“Half as many, twice as good,” Marco frowned and checked through his phone again. “Our ride is going to be circling through. Let’s talk about this more later with everyone else with us.”
The three of them maneuvered through the airport which was still crowded even at night. A special type of consistency that was a marvel in its own right. They got turned around once listening to Jack and went to the wrong door twice. But they looped back after following Sarah who took the executive choice from their boyfriend.
The cool Illinois air blasted at them and thankfully they had brought jackets. But even then it was frigid enough that they shivered hard. “Shit,” Jack mumbled wrapping his arms around himself. “I miss Cali already.”
“Seconded,” Sarah mumbled standing closer to him.
“Seconded,” Sarah mumbled standing closer to him. He wrapped his arms around her, his ring flashing slightly and they both warmed up almost immediately. “Mm don’t stop that.”
“Didn’t think our powers could have utility like this,” Jack said chuckling. “Definitely going to remember that.”
Marco took the lead next walking them past the bus pick up and to the ride sharing lane. There was a couple dozen other people waiting and the horn honking was as aggressive as it could be at this time of night at Midway. A black sedan crawled through and Marco stepped forward waving his hand.
“Marco?” the driver asked, rolling the window down and sticking his head out.
“Yeah that’s me. And these are the other two,” he motioned and Jack and Sarah waved in response. “We’ve got a decent chunk of luggage though so we’ll probably need the trunk.”
“No problem let me get that.”
The trunk clicked open and as turned back to his partners he felt the air ripple. His skin crawled, a sixth sense in him that screamed for him to move. He looked at Jack and Sarah and watched their faces shift into panic as if it were in slow motion. Then there was heat and everything moved at its proper speed.
He was launched forward tumbling across the ground like a sack of potatoes and the pain was muted as he rolled backwards. He grunted looking ahead and stared into the flames that had engulfed the car they were about to enter and for a second his thoughts went to the driver but then he stared at the winged individual walking through the flames.
Wearing armor that reminded him of their own and with massive wings they said, “Well well well. Look what I found. A few celestial humans. Can’t wait to kill you.”
The Harlequin Library 