Aidan searched for Gwenne’s image in the thunderclouds. But the aircraft banked hard to the right and threw him back into the seat. No, not into the storm! Aidan thought urgently. He grabbed the armrest and tried to pull himself back up to the window.
“Aidan!” his dad yelled. “Aidan, sit back!”
The airplane was steering directly for a massive black cloud fortress. Lightning rippled across the cloud, turning it the color of an ugly bruise. And there in the center of the massive thunderhead was a hollow of darkness.
The plane began to shudder and bounce like a speeding boat on rough surf. Lightning lit up the cabin. Passengers shrieked and gasped. The engines screamed, and the plane banked back to the left. Everything shook. It felt as if the cabin would break apart under the strain.
Then, just as suddenly, the plane leveled out. The lights came back on. Hundreds of passengers sighed.
“You okay?” Aidan’s dad asked.
Aidan wasn’t sure. He wasn’t hurt, but he didn’t feel okay exactly either. “I saw Gwenne,” he whispered.
“What?”
“When the lightning flashed, I saw her in the window. She looked scared, Dad. I think she’s in trouble.”
“You’ve been thinking a lot about Antoinette being in The Realm, and Gwenne is her Glimpse. They look alike . . . maybe—”
“Dad, I saw her,” Aidan replied. “Something has gone terribly wrong. The clouds outside . . . the storm—it wasn’t normal.”
“This is your captain speaking,” came a tinny voice from the speakers. “Sorry about the bumps back there. The thunderstorm to our south intensified. We’ve, uh, adjusted our course to keep our distance.”
“Well, duh!” someone said in the seat behind Aidan. “That sounds like a plan!” The passengers nearby laughed nervously.
“We will be beginning our initial descent into the Baltimore/Washington area in about a half-hour,” the captain continued. “We don’t anticipate any more problems.”
“That’s a relief,” said Aidan’s dad. The other passengers buzzed with conversation. A little blond girl in the next row tugged at her mother’s sleeve. Aidan nodded and turned to look back out of the window. Intermittent bright flashes of lightning illuminated the dark clouds bubbling in the distance.
Why did I see you, Gwenne? Aidan wondered, closing his eyes and picturing her beautiful pale face. Was it a foretelling as so many of his visions had been? Had something happened to Antoinette in The Realm?
A strange noise from the rear of the plane interrupted Aidan’s thoughts. It reminded him of the buzzer for the dryer that lets you know when the cycle was done. He turned, unclasped the seat belt, and looked back over the headrest. A muffled boom followed. Then a sharp cracking sound. The plane shook. Some of the passengers cried out. A businessman’s laptop skittered into the aisle.
“Aidan, sit down and put your seat belt back on,” said Aidan’s father in a quiet but commanding voice.
Aidan sat down hard and clasped his seat belt. He looked up at the flight attendant, who was still buckled into her own seat behind the cabin. An older gentleman had gotten up and peppered her with questions. Finally she ushered him back into his seat. She belted herself in again and grabbed an intercom mic. The last thing Aidan saw, before the curtain hid her from view, was her colorless and terror-stricken face.
“Dad?” Aidan asked. But suddenly, there was another cracking sound from behind. And then the hissing sound of air from all around. Passengers became frantic, looking from face to face for answers. The lights flickered, and the plane lurched forward with such force that Aidan hit his head on the back of the seat in front of him. He fell backward, disoriented and frightened. There were screams and people shouting at one another. Aidan turned and saw his father slumped in his seat, his head flopped down at his chest.
“Dad!” Aidan yelled. He grabbed his father’s shoulder. “Dad, wake up!” The airplane began to shake. Aidan gently lifted his father’s chin and tilted his head back. A welt was already forming in the center of his dad’s forehead. “Dad, oh no! Please be okay! Dad!” But his father did not answer. The plane lurched again. The lights went out and did not come back on. Aidan heard the plane’s engines whining, and the plane dipped down.
This can’t be happening! Aidan thought. We’re going to crash. Lightning flickered and lit up the cabin. The other passengers were frantically grasping at their seat belts, their chairs—they too had come to the grim conclusion that the airplane was going down.
