Page 16 of Song Bird Hearts

“Get some rest,” Gilden tells me. “We’ll be there soon.”

And against my better judgement, my eyes fall closed and I slip into sleep lulled by the sound of the engine.

* * *

I wake up with a jerk when the plane suddenly plummets just enough for it to make my stomach flip before it evens out. I grab at Knox, panicking, until he shrugs me off and shoots me a look.

“It’s just turbulence,” he grumbles. “Calm down.”

“Why does it feel like a roller coaster?” I ask, leaning my head back and closing my eyes.

“It’s hot air. Thermals. We’re passing over sun-heated terrain—barn roofs, gravel roads, blacktop. The air rises, curls, and punches us in the gut. Bigger planes absorb it better. We ride it like a canoe in rapids.” When he realizes I’m not exactly following, he just says, “it’s a flying lawnmower with dreams. It catches every damn bump in the sky.”

“Okay,” I grunt, when it does it again. “Why won’t it stop?”

He points out the window. “We’re flying through a storm, too.”

In front of us, dark clouds form and move, a sight that would almost be beautiful if I wasn’t so terrified. “Why can’t we fly above it?”

Knox chuckles and it’s the first real emotion I’ve heard from him. “What do you think this is, Decatur? This plane don’t go that high.”

“Okay, then we can go around it?” I offer, clutching at the seat.

“Don’t got enough gas for that and it’s not safe to land. Straight through is our only option,” he says matter-of-factly, as if we’re not flying a tin can into a literal fucking storm.

“Don’t worry,” Gilden reassures me from the back. “It’ll just be a little bit of rain.”

It is, in fact, not just a little bit of rain. The plane begins to whip back and forth, dropping and rising with the wind currents. Knox tries to explain again all the technical side of things, but I’m so focused on trying to calm my stomach, none of it sinks in. Knox eyes me carefully.

“Don’t you dare,” Knox growls.

The turbulence gets to me so fast, I’m helpless to stop it. I try everything I can to stop it, to not embarrass myself, but I’m a slave to the pit in my stomach that opens up and then forces its way out.

I lean forward, trying to at least avoid any of the instruments. Unfortunately for Knox, that leaves his shoes. I barf there in the little plane, all over the floor, my stomach cramping painfully as motion sickness gets to me.

“I’m so sorry,” I rasp, my face hot with shame. “I’m so, so sorry.” Tears well in my eyes. How much longer do we have to fly? Oh god. I just puked on his shoes and we can’t land. The tears trickle over. It’s just too much after everything else happening. Now I’ve gone and puked on this attractive man’s shoes.

“It’s alright,cher,”Gilden says from the backseat and hands me a clean rag to wipe my face. “It happens to the best of us.”

Knox doesn’t say anything. He just sighs really heavily, reaches over to the latch on his door, and pushes it open just slightly to let some of the smell out. My face gets so hot, it feels like I’m on fire.

I consider leaping out of the plane right there. Only my fear of heights keeps me firmly planted in my seat.

Otherwise, the open air seems a better option than the quiet disappointment coming from Knox in waves. I think I’d have preferred his anger. . .

Chapter9

Wolf

Istare at the little marker on the map, watching as the red dot moves across the states rapidly from Tennessee to Wyoming. Grinning, I zoom in. She’s just crossed over into Wyoming and will likely land soon. That tracker I slipped into her denim jacket paid off.

“Good girl,” I hum under my breath, impressed that there’s more to Valerie Decatur than meets the eye. She’s going to need that resourcefulness if she’s going to make it out of this alive.

Livestreaming. She ousted the most dangerous Foundation in the world because she was livestreaming. I’d watched the livestream. Hell, I’d been watching as she was recording, saw when she entered the wrong door, knew what she’d walk into. I didn’t stop her. I just watched eagerly. I could have stopped all of this before it ever happened.

Instead, I let the chaos unfold.

I’m glad I did. The spark in her eyes at the end of the livestream was worth it. She’d lost it over the last few years, the industry snatching her shine like it does to almost everyone. Valerie Decatur is better than that. She needed something to wake her up.

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