Kayla smiled, picturing it. “I bet that went down well.”
“Yeah, can you believe he snarled at me?”
Kayla giggled, starting to feel more like herself. “Lucky he didn’t use those teeth on you.”
Jaden grinned. “He could’ve tried.”
This time Kayla laughed outright. “Then what happened?”
“This was the amazing part: Tazanna blazed in out of nowhere and nicked you right out the air like it was nothing.”
Kayla rolled her eyes. “Only you would find it ‘amazing,’ falling into air a few hundred feet off the ground with only a giant bat—er, glider—for a safety net!” Directing her attention to Tazanna, she asked, “You caught me?”
“You didn’t think I would?” Tazanna sounded offended.
“I didn’t think Ohanzee was serious when he said you would play ‘catch’ with us.” After a moment, she added, “Thank you.”
Tazanna inclined her head, looking marginally less annoyed.
Kayla had to ask. “Why did I pass out?”
Tazanna’s face turned grave. “I think it was the speed. I suspect it affected your breathing and resulted in your lapse into unconsciousness.”
Kayla nodded. That made sense. “Considering I’ve almost blacked out twice in recent weeks, each time related to my breathing and with the same symptoms, I’d say you were right. But we had to have been speeding for that to happen. How fast were we going?”
“Too fast, obviously.” Tazanna sighed. “Which is unacceptable.”
“Why?” Jaden asked.
“We rely on our speed to escape the Gaptor. Without that advantage, it’ll be almost impossible to elude him should we encounter him,” Ohanzee said.
Jaden growled. “Fantastic! Any more sunny news today?”
No one bothered answering. They remained where they were, each preoccupied with their own woeful thoughts.
Finally, Jaden stirred. “We’d better hustle. My grandmother’s expecting us, and we’re already overdue. If we take much longer, there’ll be trouble. What should I do with our terraporter?”
“Zareh promised to get it to your grandmother’s house on time,” Ohanzee answered.
“I never heard him say that,” Jaden said, then stopped. “On time? What do you mean?”
Tazanna waved an impatient wing. “Explanations can wait until we’re in the air. Shall we?”
Jaden folded his arms. “No, we shall not. Zareh might avoid answering our questions, but you can’t. What exactly did that phrase mean?”
Tazanna exhaled audibly. “There are many gaps in your knowledge. Among the most important is that when you are with us, time stops.”
Kayla was sure she had misheard. “You mean time doesn’t move forward? The clock stops ticking?” She giggled.
“Exactly.” Tazanna glared at Kayla like she was an imbecile.
“Okay, okay, no need to get touchy,” Kayla muttered. She was desperate to ask more questions, but didn’t dare. Tazanna did have very sharp teeth.
Jaden had no such qualms. “Well, excuse us for believing that time never stops. Is it possible for you to be more specific about how that works? I mean, surely time doesn’t stop forever?”
Tazanna gave an irritated snort. It was Ohanzee who responded, exercising more patience. “No, it stops only while you are with us—or rather, while we are within a certain radius of each other. Once we separate beyond that radius, you will feel the effects of time in your world again.”
Jaden pounced on another idea. “While we’re with you then, we have eternal day?”
Ohanzee smiled. “Not quite. While you are within the boundaries set by our proximity radius, time freezes in the world beyond. Think of the boundaries as a bubble, if you will. Outside that bubble, time stops, but within it, time progresses as usual. Day to evening, evening to morning, and then back to day again, making it appear as though there is no effect on time at all. However, when that proximity radius ends, that bubble bursts, and time in the world around you resumes at exactly the same time as it was when we first joined you.”
Jaden digested this. “That makes sense, sort of. I suppose the truth of it will become clear if and when we get to my grandmother’s house and find no search parties looking for us.”
“Anything else of significance we should know?” Kayla asked.
“A lot,” Tazanna interjected, tired of the delay, “but nothing we need to explain at present.” Then, reconsidering, she added, “Although you would benefit now from knowing that when you’re on our backs, you’re also invisible to almost everyone. Only those humans who can see the Gaptor can see us. For the rest of humanity, there’s only empty sky.”
“Wait—you’re saying that while the world is visible to us, we’re not visible to them? And that even though time is frozen in their world while we’re with you, it doesn’t look that way to us? That their time actually apparently continues while ours doesn’t? How does that work?” Jaden tried to wrap his mind around her words.
Kayla was just as baffled. Tazanna had made things more confusing.
Ohanzee shrugged. “Even we don’t quite understand how it works.”
Tazanna snarled, startling them all. “Enough of this. Accept it as we do. It’s time to fly. You need practice, and time is short enough as it is. We’ll use our flight time to add to your knowledge base. Let’s get back in the air.”
Kayla moaned. “I don’t think I’m up to it.”
“This is no time to be fainthearted,” Tazanna said. “Let’s go!”
But Kayla remained seated, stubbornly shaking her head.
“Now!” Tazanna barked, a steely tone creeping into her voice.
Jaden sent Kayla a sympathetic smile. “I hate to admit it, but she’s right. We don’t have time to waste, and you know what they say about falling off a horse.” He offered her a hand.
Kayla stared at it. Then, with a resigned sigh, she accepted and pulled herself up. As she expected, his touch comforted her. His reassuring smile bolstered her mood. Taking a last swig of water, she said, “Alrighty, taskmaster—let’s get on with it.”
“That’s the spirit!” Ohanzee said.
Kayla and Jaden clambered back aboard their bats. The boys took off first, and Kayla tried not to let the green-eyed monster loose when Jaden made it look so easy. But she whooped with delight when she aced the take-off too.
An hour passed in a blur of instruction and repetition until the bats descended again. Kayla half-fell, half-slithered off when Tazanna landed, her legs stiff and uncooperative after tensing her knees against the bat’s chest for so long.
Sliding bleary eyes toward Jaden, who was landing with Ohanzee, she felt less like a total loser when she saw he wasn’t in much better shape. Moaning, the two of them slumped onto the hot, dusty canyon floor and lay flat on their backs, resting.
Their gliders allowed them the reprieve. But twenty minutes later, Tazanna was issuing orders again. “Recess is over. It’s time you learned aerial connections.”
Chapter Thirty
Kayla scowled, convinced she didn’t want to learn anything new. “What are aerial connections?”
“A way for us to get airborne without you. Instead of you boarding us while we’re on the ground, Ohanzee and I fly past you, close to the ground, and you jump onto our backs as we pass.”
Kayla laughed, disbelieving. “You really think we’re capable of that?”
“Only one way to find out,” Tazanna said.
“You know, you’re no fun!”
“So I’ve been told,” Tazanna said. Nodding at Ohanzee, the bats took off.
Kayla looked to Jaden for support. “Do we really have to do this?”
“I guess. Come on, you’ll be fine,” he insisted, even as his features showed his own misgivings. He pulled her up, and they waited.
Ohanzee returned in the lead. Drawing near, he slowed, dipping down to the bare earth. “Get ready to jump,” he called to Jaden.
Jaden ten
sed his legs, preparing for the leap.
“Now!” Ohanzee tipped slightly toward Jaden and tucked the wing closest to Jaden under his belly.
Jaden jumped—landed perfectly. “Yahtzee!”
Kayla blinked. Did my eyes deceive me? Jaden jumped ten feet into the air! I don’t think Olympic high jumpers can even do that. Can I? She tensed, spotting Tazanna’s advancing form.
“Don’t be scared,” Tazanna crooned, her unexpected kindness astonishing Kayla almost as much as her abrupt change in demeanor. “I believe you can do it, or I wouldn’t have suggested we try.”
Suggested it, my hat! Kayla scowled. But she geared up for the leap. Like Ohanzee, Tazanna slowed and tilted toward her on the approach.
“Wait for it, wait . . . jump!” Tazanna directed at the exact moment she tucked her wing under her body.
Kayla pushed off. For a fraction of a second, she hovered in the air. Then, to her immense relief, Tazanna slid under her and lifted her. Gliding her legs down to their customary spot, Kayla burrowed her hands in the sturdy fur beneath the bat’s neck.
“Wow! That was fantastic,” she breathed, exhilarated.
“Didn’t I say I believed you could do it? And wasn’t that more comfortable and easier than taking off from the ground?”
“Yes, much better, thank you.” For all Tazanna’s snippiness, she was an excellent teacher. But her unanswered question niggled. “Is there a reason I can suddenly jump ten feet into the air?”
“I can’t explain the exact science of it, but it has something to do with our proximity to each other.”
Kayla shrugged. “I guess that’ll have to do. Thanks for at least giving me that. And for believing in me.”
Tazanna purred. “My pleasure.”
Kayla wasn’t sure, but she could’ve sworn the bat was being genuine for a change.
Quickly settling into what was becoming their normal flight rhythm, Kayla lifted her arms and waved them through the air, loving the freedom. Lifting her chin, she cherished the breeze on her face. It caught her unawares when Tazanna suddenly curved up and looped backward, flipping onto her back.
Shrieking, Kayla plummeted off the inverted bat. Her body cartwheeled riotously through the air. Without success, she tried controlling her fall, fighting the air tearing past. Something flashed under her, and her cries cut short. Kayla bounced onto Tazanna’s back, her teeth smashing down on the tip of her tongue. Tasting blood, she yelled, “What was that?”
“That,” Tazanna grinned, “was a loop. And you didn’t get any warning on that one or you would have said no before I could’ve explained.”
Kayla opened her mouth to argue, then thought better of it. The bat was right.
“Watch, it's Jaden’s turn.” Tazanna lifted her chin toward Jaden and Ohanzee, flying ahead of them.
How would Jaden do? Then again, if his annoyingly natural talent for flying didn’t kick in, there was no hope for her. Kayla watched and waited, eager to witness his reaction.
Jaden, appreciating the passing scenery, was blissfully unaware of what was about to happen. Then, a split second before Ohanzee flipped, Kayla saw him tense. Too late. Gravity wrenched him off his bat. His arms flailed. His legs kicked uselessly. He tumbled end over end, the ground lurching closer. Then Ohanzee was there, and Jaden crashed onto the bat.
Kayla chuckled when he frantically grabbed fistfuls of fur, hauling himself back to his usual position where he shoved his legs into place and locked his knees under the bat’s wing joints with vigor.
For two seconds, he remained utterly still as he processed what had just happened. Then he whooped. “Again, let’s do that again!”
Kayla, close enough to hear, rolled her eyes for a second time. She should’ve expected that response. It made him who he was—and was part of his appeal. Why am I such a wimp when he’s so daring? That’s actually an excellent question, considering my typically adventurous approach to life.
Honing in on the problem, Kayla realized fear had become her pervasive companion since first laying eyes on the Gaptor while running with Miera. The monster’s abrupt appearance had devastated her usually calm, orderly world, his insidious presence creeping into her very soul, awakening that age-old fear of the unknown. She had been afraid ever since.
The realization brought anger. Am I going to allow this crippling terror to rule my life? To dictate my emotions? Or am I going to grow a spine and fight? Take a stand and do all I can to ensure I obliterate this behemoth from the face of the earth? Kayla lifted her chin defiantly. He won’t have the victory. Not without a fight. It’s time for war. If Jaden can bear to do the loop again, so could I.
“Let’s beat them to it,” she begged Tazanna. When Tazanna didn’t respond, she demanded, “Did you hear me?”
Tazanna let out what sounded like a giggle. “Ah, I’m beginning to understand what Zareh meant.” And she flipped again.
Kayla plunged downward, her stomach lurching. She knew Tazanna would catch her. But it did little to soothe her frayed nerves. That fear had dictated her actions over the past few weeks still rattled her. Unbidden, her thoughts drifted back to the monster—and just how deadly he was.
It was her undoing. Trepidation squeezed his icy grip down her veins, cooling her blood. Her muscles tensed, her heart rate increased, and her mind clouded. Tazanna loomed under her. Jerking, Kayla forgot where she was for an instant. Panicked, her befuddled mind suggested the Gaptor was attacking. Realizing her error too late, Kayla landed at an angle and glanced off Tazanna’s back, finding herself airborne again.
Terror swirled her thoughts into a bright, crashing kaleidoscope of snatched impressions. The ground was too close. She was falling too fast. Tazanna wouldn’t have enough space to get under her.
Tazanna cursed and whipped her wings around her body, swirling into a tight spiral and dropping like a meteor. Then she scraped a few feet under Kayla, flaring her wings. Kayla didn’t miss her grimace at the excruciating pull on her wings, triggered by the hard braking.
Tazanna adjusted her position under Kayla. “Concentrate!” she barked.
Kayla, darting anxious glances between the ground and the bat, knew the bat was right. There would be no second chance. She focused on Tazanna, rising to collect her. They connected. Painfully. Yelping as her tailbone took the brunt of the landing, Kayla seized whatever fur came to hand, determined to stay on. Under her, Tazanna smothered a second, unintelligible oath.
Kayla ignored her, too preoccupied with her own floundering weight, off-center again. Gritting her teeth, Kayla threw her shoulders in the opposite direction, countering the movement. Mercifully regaining her balance, she shimmied up the bat’s back, thankful when her legs traced the familiar path back to where they belonged. Squeezing her knees together, she reared into an upright position, breathing hard.
“Sorry to mess that one up. And for any fur I ripped out—I didn’t mean to hurt you. I’m truly sorry,” Kayla said.
“All part of the process, I suppose,” Tazanna replied. “Better you learned that now than when the Gaptor was around. What happened? You were doing so well.”
Mortified, Kayla admitted to her lapse in concentration. But Tazanna only nodded thoughtfully.
“Perhaps that’s what we’ve done wrong in the past,” Tazanna murmured.
“What do you mean?”
“We’ve never trained our voyagers while something distracted them. Maybe that’s why we haven’t had success.”
“You’ve trained others?” Kayla asked, pouncing on this snippet of information.
“Not us personally, but there have been other gliders and other voyagers in times past.”
“There are more of your kind?” Kayla ventured, intrigued.
“Yes, but they remain in our realm. Zareh only permitted Ohanzee and I entry into your world because you needed our help. That said, there’s a legend in our world that more gliders are hidden somewhere here—” Tazanna began, before shaking her head.
“Pleas
e, tell me more!”
Chapter Thirty-One
Tazanna shrugged, her immense shoulders rolling under Kayla. “It’s silly, really, that I have any faith in that ancient tale. If there was any truth to it, I’m sure the others would’ve already revealed themselves. Forget I mentioned it.”
“Oh no, you don’t get to start something that interesting and not finish. Spill!”
Tazanna loosed an exasperated sigh. “You won’t let this go, will you?”
“Nope.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you, and don’t get your hopes up.”
“I won’t.”
Tazanna turned her head and eyed Kayla suspiciously before continuing. “In short, the legend states there’s an entire legion of our kind still here in your world.” Kayla whistled. “Yes, I know. That sounds unbelievable, right?”
“Yup, it sure does. How did they get here?”
“According to the legend, they were left here after the first Gaptor entered your world—which, believe me, is a really long time ago. Strictly instructed to preserve the secrecy of their existence, the gliders were to remain hidden from the world around them, only allowed to re-emerge and reveal themselves ‘at the appointed time.’”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. It’s that last part I have a problem with. How would they know when that appointed time was? Even more baffling is that the legend doesn’t reveal their purpose when the time does come. And considering there’s been no sign of this mysterious legion through all the centuries gliders have been traveling back to assist voyagers, it’s more believable that there’s no truth to the legend.”
Kayla heard the disillusionment in Tazanna’s voice. Wanting to encourage her, she said, “Is it possible the legend was true, but it’s been so long that those left here have all died?”
“It’s possible, but unlikely. In fact, I’m more inclined to believe the legend’s fake—just a tale our elders fed us to give us hope, to make us feel secure. Nothing more.” Tazanna lapsed into a brooding silence.
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