Page 93 of Dark Witch: Twin Destinies

As both rotors whirred to life and the helicopters lifted off the ground, Edgar's gaze flicked to the other aircraft, but so far, Kalugal seemed to be doing fine. That didn't last long, though.

When the wind picked up, as it usually did at this time of day, Edgar's gut twisted with worry as he watched Kalugal's helicopter wobble and sway in the air like a drunk on a tightrope.

Thankfully, Yamanu had his eyes closed, or he might have lost his concentration upon seeing Kalugal's precarious maneuvering of his craft. After a few moments, though, the winds subsided, and the rest of their journey was uneventful.

Edgar waited for Kalugal to land first before maneuvering his helicopter to land a safe distance away.

He felt like he had run a double marathon, and after killing the engine, he just leaned back and closed his eyes for a moment.

Yamanu's massive hand on his shoulder startled him. "Time to unload, buddy."

"Yeah. I need a moment after watching Kalugal in the air."

Yamanu winced. "That bad?"

"For a novice, he did okay, but it was stressful."

"I get it." Yamanu opened the door and jumped out.

As the two of them worked to unload the stasis chamber from his chopper, maneuvering the heavy, awkward container onto the waiting truck and securing it beneath a tarp, Edgar glanced over at Kalugal's chopper, wondering why the guy hadn't emerged yet.

Had he been as stressed as Edgar during the flight and needed a few moments?

That wasn't likely. Kalugal was too full of himself to doubt his ability and get scared.

When they were done, they started toward the other chopper, and Edgar knocked on the window to get Kalugal's attention. "Are you all right in there?"

The guy lifted his head from the screen of his phone and opened the door. "Of course, I am. I was going over my emails while waiting for you to come and unload the equipment."

Edgar gaped at him but then closed his mouth and looked at Yamanu, who shrugged. "I guess we are the hired help."

Kalugal got out of the craft. "I can help if you need me to," he offered in the least enthusiastic way possible.

"That's okay." Yamanu clapped him on his back. "Edgar and I got it." He smiled at Edgar. "The faster we get this done, the faster we can fly back, right?"

With a sigh, Edgar turned back to Kalugal's chopper and started unloading stuff.

They were halfway done when Edgar realized what had been bothering him.

At least half an hour had passed since they had landed, and with how tiny the town was, Jasmine couldn't have missed it even if she tried, and she hadn't come to see him even though he'd been gone for almost twenty-four hours.

Then again, Jasmine was human, so she might not have heard the landing. Except, the other ladies had, and they would have told her.

He had to concede that she didn't feel like coming over and saying hi.

70

ARU

As four o'clock neared, Aru got more and more nervous despite the operation going well. The queen had promised him an answer today, and he was afraid of what that answer would be. He'd been praying all day to the Fates that it wouldn't be an order to kill the twins.

"What's wrong?" Dagor asked. "You've been uncharacteristically quiet all day."

"Really?" Aru forced a smile. "I didn't know I was all that chatty on other days."

"You know what I mean. You've been frowning, and I even heard you cuss a few times, which is even more unlike you than being all up in your head and not talking."

"I'm just worried about the operation," Aru said, trying to inject a note of casualness into his tone. "Kalugal is an inexperienced pilot, we have a Chinese military base that is probably in uproar because their radar is not working, and we are running against the clock to get what we can out of the pod."

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