Page 9 of An Accident Waiting to Dragon

Shadow.

“Holy shit,” she muttered.

But it wasn’t that, or the rattling and shaking of the aircraft, that sent her heart into her throat. It was the figure of darkness, floating directly in front of her.

A wraith.

That’s what was after her? The death dealers were rare, even more secretive than pixies, and damn hard to escape.

Adrenaline pumping, searing her skin, she stared, and it stared right back.

The creature floating just ahead of her plane reminded her of the human depiction of reapers—the black cloak hood pulled over so she couldn't see its face, tattered at the sleeves and the bottom. No feet though. Wraiths didn’t have bodies the way humans did, the way pixies did. They were physical and could be injured, but at the same time, they were just… darkness. She didn’t try to reason with how they worked. They just did.

She swore the damn thing smiled at her though.

Did wraiths have teeth? She’d never really thought about it.

The thing shot forward, straight for her, and no glass windscreen was gonna keep it out. It could pass right through anything clear like that, the same way shadow did.

Pure instinct had Gwen shoving the stick straight forward, putting the plane into a sharp dive. A hand of shadow passed in front of her face as if the wraith reached for her but missed. Keeping an eye on the altimeter, she didn’t pull up. She probably couldn’t outrun it, but she could damn well try.

Any second now she’d get to the bottom of the clouds and be able to see where the water was. Right?

She found herself leaning forward like that would help her see it sooner.

The needle turned over, inching down faster than she liked as she blew through thousands of feet. It was a miracle the plane hadn’t stalled yet.

If I don’t see anything but cloud by two thousand feet, I’m pulling up.

Actually, that was probably foolish too. These islands were mountainous and could reach heights between six and twelve thousand feet. What if she flew right into one?

Gwen held herself tightly, like she was bracing for the impact coming at her any second.

I’ll probably be dead before I know what happened.

Not exactly a consolation.

She was probably dead anyway because the second she landed or crashed, whichever came first, the wraith would have her.

Suddenly, she burst out from under the clouds which blotted out the sun so that it was like night had fallen. But at least she could see in front of her. A movement out the side window caught her eye, and she jerked her gaze that direction just in time to see the wraith coming straight for her.

Damn that thing moved fast. Bat out of hell didn’t even begin to cover it.

Gwen forced herself to sit still, intending to wait until it got close enough before she flipped the plane and hopefully outmaneuvered it.

She gripped the stick harder, ready to react.

Then, just as her tension reached fever pitch, a flicker of shadow overhead dimmed the cockpit half a beat before something massive slammed into the wraith from above.

CHAPTER THREE

Gwen

* * *

The thing that took out the wraith, dragging it down and out of her sight, was so big it kept going by her window in an undulating current of scales.

A dragon.

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