Page 137 of Visions & Shadows

‘… uncontrollable fire is destroying parts of the Amazon forest. Everything is being done to stop it from spreading. And in other news just in, more than twenty whales have beached on the shores of Norway, causing chaos as rescue teams try to move them back into the ocean. Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station is unstable after another earthquake struck off the coast of Iwaki.”

“Jesus,” Jason mutters before turning off the radio. “Usually, I’d care about world news, but right now, I’m a little too stressed.”

I glance at Brenna and whisper, “Has it started?”

She nods, worry tightening her features.

Twenty minutes later when we reach the airfield, we wait near a hangar while Jason makes the arrangements to hire a plane.

I’m glancing around at the area when Jason comes into the hangar, an anxious expression on his face. “Let’s go.”

He leads us to a medium-sized plane, and just looking at it makes my stomach turn with nerves.

“I need someone up front to help me fly this baby. Who’s the fastest learner?” Jason eyes Finian and Raighne.

It’s literally the last thing I want to hear before boarding a plane for the first time in my life.

“I will,” Finian says. “I want to know what’s going on at all times.”

When we board the small eight-seater, everyone’s too damn calm. Am I theonlyone nervous about flying?

“We’ll be okay,”Raighne tells me mentally as he makes sure my safety belt is strapped on tight.

“Uh-huh,”I mutter.

It takes a few minutes before we taxi down the short runway, and when the plane leaves the ground, I shut my eyes while my stomach rolls with queasy waves.

I open my eyes again, and a wave of confusion washes over me. I’m looking up at enormous buildings. Skyscrapers made of crystal-clear glass shimmer in the sunlight as they rise to great heights.

People are going about their business when the ground starts to shake forcefully beneath my feet. I try to find my balance, but the ground is shuddering so severely that I fall backward, landing on my butt.

I hear glass shatter, splintering, and jingling high above me as the giant buildings start to crumble. They come down on us in a horrible rain of glass, concrete, and steel.

I only realize it’s one hell of an intense earthquake when the ground starts to tear open on the other side of the road.

At first, the crack is small, but as it rips jaggedly through the concrete, it grows bigger until gaping holes appear.

Debilitating fear and panic fill me, and I scramble to my feet, wildly looking around me.

God, I want this vision to stop.

The glass raining down on the mass of people pierces them. There are injured people everywhere, the gaping holes swallowing cars, buildings…everything in its path.

Wake up, Alchera! Wake up.

Horror soaks into my bones as I anxiously search for a way out of this disaster.

One after the other, the tremors grow stronger and they come faster by the second until it becomes near impossible to stay on my feet.

I hope with everything I have in me that one of my chosen ones isn’t here.

A sign crashes down next to me, barely missing me, and I let out a shocked scream as I scurry away from it while reading the words printed in bold.

SAN FRANCISCO BUSINESS DISTRICT

ShitShitShit. Doesn’t San Francisco have the worst earthquakes?

I scramble away and start running as fast as I can. When the ground shudders horribly beneath me, I grab hold of the nearest lamp pole and hang on for dear life while letting out a terrified sob.

---