A woman in an Air Force uniform with strawberry blonde hair pulled tight into a bun and a warm expression on her face emerged and told them, “I’m Captain Willows and I’ll be the copilot for your trip. Director Masters already explained the situation to me and Colonel Smith and told us not to ask any questions. We’re to deliver you to Charleston and back. Drinks and snacks are in the galley. Have a nice flight.” She turned around and disappeared back behind the cockpit door.With a quiet whir, the stairs began to ascend. The moment the door has sealed shut with an audible thunk, one of the engines began to turn and a low rumble reverberated through the cabin. James looked out of the window and saw that the plane was beginning to move forward. It crossed out of the hangar, turned slowly onto the runway and made its way down to the end. He watched other types of planes take off in the distance, his eyes alight with wonder. It was a testament to the design of the aircraft as he barely fel

That takes care of outside the house, he thought to himself. But what about in here? “Alright… just be thinking about making sure it’s light enough in here or… wherever we’re going to try and corner her.” They nodded acknowledgment. Now, on to other important things. “Who’s hungry besides me?” James asked with a crooked grin. Eliza giggled as the seriousness of the moment passed and Blakeney crossed the kitchen to pull out the necessary items to make sandwiches. Maybe an hour had passed since Blakeney had shaken him awake and told him that it was his turn for watch. His sword and shield were both strapped onto his back and his muscles were poised and ready to fight at the drop of a hat. It had been decided that the most obvious place to keep watch was in a bedroom upstairs; he sat in a chair facing the window which overlooked the backyard. With the window cracked open about an inch and his hearing forced to the max, he could make out every nuance of the still night. If he closed hi

Eliza ripped the tip of the spear back through and kicked Kali to the ground. “Bitch,” she spat lividly through clenched teeth. Kali’s body convulsed for a few moments, but as a pool of blood spread steadily, she finally lay still and deathly silent. The so-called goddess of Death was no more. He tucked his shield back around into place, and panting like he had just completed a triathlon, limped over to Eliza. “Are you hurt?” he asked breathlessly. That was when he noticed the blood dripping from her arm. “Oh my god,” he gasped. He sunk to his knees and took the end of his shirt. He tore off a strip of cloth and tied it around her arm. Now that the fight mechanism had fallen away, Eliza’s chin began to tremble. The tears broke through and she buried her head in his chest. “I-I’m… s-sorry. I was so stupid,” she muttered through the sobs. Taking a deep breath, she said, “I-I-I th-thought I was d-d-dead.” “Shh,” he comforted. “It’s okay now. It’s all over.” He held her closer as hard

As a warm, fatherly smile had spread across his face, he had said, “I never knew this side of you existed. I’m really proud of you, Eliza. You did a great thing… you saved a lot of lives today.” At this, Eliza had turned as red as a tomato and bit her lip shyly. From that point onward, the small feelings of guilt that had crept up on her due to killing an actual person—if that’s what you could consciously call someone like Kali—began to recede. They were slowly replaced with a sense of pride and accomplishment. And he didn’t even remind her of how she had run off after Kali on her own, doing the exact same thing she had chided him for so many times. He had just smiled supportively and held her close as the two of them withdrew to her room and crashed for almost the rest of the day.Even though James had wanted to declare Sunday a lounge day, Eliza wouldn’t have it. She had dragged him away from the TV that morning and into the library and proceeded to drill him in preparation for the

The rest of the exams passed without much fanfare. After having done so well on his math midterm, at least he thought so anyway--- results would be handed back on Friday afternoon---, his others seemed incredibly easy. Even English Lit. required much less effort than he had thought at first. Their last examination ended on Thursday morning and even though they were basically out for the holidays, all of the students had to stay until they received their test scores back. So as the teachers wiled away at their papers, they took the time to spend the remaining hours with their friends before heading home for a couple weeks. Mostly, they all just hung around the different lounges playing video games, watching movies, and flirting in the way typical high schoolers do. Outside not much of an option because a cold front had moved in and the temperature plunged into freezing territory. James smiled like a child in a candy store as the weather channel projected a massive snowstorm coming int