Chapter 20
SUSANNA
A strong wind pushed me against the railing of the landing deck on the top level of the crozan. Hot blasts of air showered me with sand. I hid my mouth and nose in the shawl wrapped around my shoulders, shielding myself from the approaching storm the best I could.
Everyone on the crozan had taken cover below. Only the crew of the cargo aircraft were finishing the final preparations for their takeoff. One of them loaded the numerous suitcases of my sister into the now empty cargo bay.
Mara marched by me toward the ramp for boarding.
“Came to gloat?” she sneered at me. “Or to make sure I left?”
I wouldn’t put it past her to stow away on the crozan somewhere if it served her purpose. But that wasn’t why I came to see her off.
Whether I liked it or not, Mara was my closest family—the only one I had left. With her leaving, it felt like the last connection to my home world and my past life was breaking.
“I just wanted to say goodbye.”
“Well, goodbye then.” She pinched her lips. “Have a nice life because I’m not staying on this stupid planet much longer. And I’m sure as hell never coming back.”
“Where are you planning to go?”
“Back to Earth, of course, where things actually make sense. Unlike here.”
Despite everything, worry for her tugged inside me. “It’s not safe for you back home.”
“It will be. They’ll arrest those thugs any day now.” She headed up the ramp. “Well, good luck with your alien. Make sure to turn the lights off when you bang him. It’s not like your ‘beast’ would ever turn into a Prince Charming.”
My blood boiled anew. She just couldn’t refrain from shooting insults, even as we might be saying goodbyes for a very long time.
Why did I even bother?
I pressed my back to the railing, watching the airship take off. The wind blasted its sides with sand, polishing the hull to a shine. In a few minutes, the aircraft’s bulky shape shrank into the distance before going out of sight completely.
The sand clouds grew thicker, obstructing the sun from view at times.
“Susanna!” Xavran yelled through the wind.
He climbed the stairs to the landing deck. Fighting his way through the grasping winds, he made his way to me and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “Time to go. It’s not safe here during the storm.”
“Yeah, it’s way too windy.” Letting go of the railing, I gripped his arm.
“Not just that. High winds unearth nasty creatures from the desert sand,” he said, leading me back to the stairs.
“What creatures?”
My question drowned in the howls of the wind and a weird clacking noise. Dark shapes emerged from the clouds, their massive wings spinning sand into swirls.
Xavran’s body stiffened against mine. He let go of me.
“Run!” He shoved me toward the stairs.
The alarm in his voice spurred me into action without questioning it. I sprinted across the landing deck. Half-blinded by the storm, I found my way by touch, making it to the top step. I grabbed on to the railing, then I heard a strangled sound behind me.
“Xavran?” Hiding from the wind behind my shawl, I turned around.
A whole flock of flying creatures descended upon the deck. They looked like a cross between a bird, a bat, and an insect. Each was as large as an ostrich, covered in rusty-brown feathers. Their nearly transparent leathery wings were as wide as the sales on a boat.
One of them grabbed Xavran by the horns, yanking him back so hard it knocked him off his feet. The jolt seemed hard enough to break a person’s neck.
Horror speared through me.
“Xavran!” I screamed into the wind.
The flying creature flapped its giant wings, taking Xavran over the side railing and off the crozan.
“No!” I lunged after it.
The taut leather of a wing brushed over my head, and I grabbed on to it. I wasn’t sure what I was thinking at that moment, only that I couldn’t let that thing carry Xavran away.
With another flap of its wings, the flying animal swept me off the deck and into the swirling storm beyond.
Dust and sand blinded me. Hurled through the air, I clung to the creature’s wing. It moved it once, twice...losing momentum with every flap.
As strong as this flying monster was, carrying Xavran in its claws and staying airborne with me dangling from its wing proved too much for it. Its one wing drooped weakly, while it still flapped with the other. The motion sent us all into a tailspin.
Flung in a circle, I no longer knew where was up or down. I hit something hard with my shoulder. Sand sprayed out in the shape of a fan.
An angry clicking sounded right above me. The creature hopped on the ground, dragging me behind, as I held its wing in a death grip.
Where was Xavran?
Since the creature had landed on both its feet, it must’ve dropped him somewhere. I really hoped it hadn’t eaten him while still in the air.
The thing turned around, snapping its sharp mandibles menacingly. It was obviously trying to determine what trapped its wing, causing the crash.
I forced my fingers to uncurl, releasing the creature.
It flapped its wings and lunged for me.