I barely got any sleep that night. The couch was fairly comfortable, and I was tired enough, but I couldn't seem to settle down. My mind was racing from the kiss, in a good way, of course, but there was something else as well, something that sat just under the surface of my consciousness. It bothered me that I couldn't figure it out.

I finally fell asleep sometime after two in the morning, only to be woken three hours later by the sound of a slamming door and running water coming from Chase's room. Unable to get back to bed, I decided to unpack and reorganize my bag and fold the couch back, wasting time until Anne got up.

We got breakfast downstairs with the rest of the hotel, eating quickly so that we could be on our way. In the end we checked out a little after seven, rushing out to the station as fast as possible. The traffic held us up a bit, so we just barely made the seven thirty train before it left. Originally I intended to talk to Chase on the train, but I was so tired I fell asleep as soon as we started moving. The next thing I knew we were in London and it was time to move again.

We checked in our bags as carry on items when we reached the airport. I remember that Chase's pack was much bigger than it used to be. I guess that he put Matthew's stuff in with his. Whatever it was, I didn't question it.

Now we sit in the chairs next our gate, nervously waiting for them to let us in the plane. I feel exposed, sitting out here in the crowd of people. Any number of Gabriel's scouts could be here, looking for us. I count down the minutes until we board, my eyes searching furtively for anyone who looks suspicious. Unfortunately, this is an airport; everyone's looking for something. After a while I just ignore it, deciding instead to take out a book I bought from one of the shops on the way. It's a murder mystery, my favorite genre, and I throw myself into it in order to distract me. Anne keeps busy on her phone the whole time, and Chase listens to music through a pair of earbuds he brought with him.

Finally they call our flight in over the intercom, letting us know that they're boarding now. I breath a sigh of relief, picking up my bag and heading towards the desk. The others follow suit, and I think that they're just as relieved as I am. We all want to return to the relative safety of the Clan.

The man at the desk verifies our tickets before letting us pass into the hall that leads to the plane doors. I can hear the dull roar of the plane's engines from here, and the sound continues up until we enter the belly of the plane itself. A pretty blond flight attendant greets us on our way in with a smile so big it looks painful. I nod at her and step past, ignoring the first class and heading for the area normal people sit in. This plane has three rows of seats, a row on each side next to the windows and one isolated in the middle. Our tickets, thankfully, are for the window row on the left. We make our way over to the seats, carefully avoiding the other passengers as they stuff their carryons into the overhead compartments. We do to, closing them before taking a seat and waiting for the safety video that they play on every flight.

We start moving a while later, the seatbelt sign coming on as the plane taxis down the runway in preparation for takeoff. The airport shoots past us as we move, getting faster and faster until we start to go upwards, gravity pushing us back into our seats. I feel pressure build in my ears until it pops painfully and I can hear correctly again. We're leaving England behind, now. And yet, I don't think any of us really relax until we've stopped climbing and the captain has turned off the fasten seatbelt sign.

*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•

"Haven?" Chase asks, turning towards me. We're about six hours into the flight and Anne is asleep against the window.

I close my book, having already guessed the ending. "Yeah? What is it?"

"Yesterday, uh. . . It's just. . . You were right. About the people counting on us and the ignorance thing. I know that. I shouldn't have gotten mad at you. Matt and I signed up for this mission knowing what might happen. I guess I never really imagined that he would be the one who. . ." He trails off, lost in thought. "He was always the one protecting me from things, mostly my own stupidity. I didn't consider that Matt could need protecting."

I put my hand on his arm, calculating my words. "You don't need to apologize for anything."

He scoffs at that. "God I'm such a hypocrite! I tell you that Nate's death wasn't your fault and now I blame myself for my brother's. It's not rational, I know," he says, waving away my protests. "It's just how I think, I guess. I don't know."

"No," I tell him. "I think that's a normal thing. We want to blame tragedy on something, and a lot of the time that something is us."

"Hm," he agrees. We are quiet for a second, listening to the hum of the plane around us. There's a baby looking at us from its mother's lap across the isle. He stares at me like I have a second head or something else wrong with me. I give him a little wave and stick my tongue out at him. He gives me the biggest, most adorable smile that could light up the whole night sky. I smile right back at him, my heart melting. I'm glad for the distraction. I know that something needs to be said about what happened between Chase and I last night, but I'm too much of a coward to bring it up.

"How are you doing with everything, by the way?" He asks. My automatic response is to brush him off, but I stop to think about my answer instead. I want to be honest with him.

"Well," I start. "Better than I was. I'm coping, I suppose. Everything's still so new to me though. My life was so different just a little while ago. And with Mom too. Has it really been only a week and a half? Sometimes I just miss her. I never expected to. . . To lose her so soon."

"Yeah, I know how it is."

"Right," I whisper softly.

He wraps his arm around my shoulders, pulling me to his side. I relax against him, closing my eyes and breathing in his scent. He leans his head against mine, and I sigh in contentment. Then I remember Kara and Matthew on the last plane, the recollection bittersweet. What if Chase dies in the next Trial? What will I regret? This revelation puts me on edge. What would I do if that did happen?

I open my eyes, frowning. "Chase?"

"Hm?" He asks, pulling back as I look up.

"Um, I. . ." I bite my lip, avoiding his eyes. No, I won't let this go on unresolved. "About what happened last night, um-"

"Sir? Ma'am? Would you like anything to drink?" The flight attendant interrupts me, rolling the heavy trolley cart up beside us. I clench my hand into a fist, resentful of the interruption.

We order two Cokes and wait as she pours the cans into two separate glasses filled with ice. I take mine from her when she's done, thanking her and setting it down on the tray in front of me.

"Sorry Haven, what were you. . ." He stops, staring off into the maze of plane seats. I follow the line if his gaze, trying to see what he's looking at, but don't find anything out of the ordinary.

"What is it?" I ask, worried.

He turns towards me, a grave look on his face. "Wake up Anne, now, please. Don't act obvious," he whispers. "I think that there might be a mole on the plane. I saw this guy staring at us, twice. It could be nothing, but. . ."

My eyes widen in fear. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to try to get him to show himself as Gifted. Just hang on. Get Anne."

I nod, reaching over to shake her shoulder. She lets out a sound of annoyance, opening her eyes and turning her head towards me. "What, what?"

I don't answer her, keeping my eyes glued to Chase as he leans out into the isle, reaching down to touch his fingertips to the floor. He pauses, calculating, before snapping his fingers loudly. There is a bright spark and a thin line of fire shoots out down the walkway.

Before I can blink, two people leap to their feet from various locations around the cabin. Spheres of light cone at us from every direction, crackling with energy. Chase throws himself in front of Anne and me with a cry, his arms thrown out protectively. The attacks suddenly explode in midair like they hit some sort of barrier. I see the air shimmer behind Chase and realize that he must've used some sort of counter spell.

Chase turns to face the Mages, electricity encircling his arms like the first time I saw him. He sends the bolts spiraling towards our enemies, careful to avoid the other passengers. But flames already lick up the walls of the plane, many seats consumed by the blaze the explosion caused. People are screaming all around me, running and beating at the flames with jackets and bags. The noise is deafening.

I see Chase throw a hand out behind him and a whole row of flames go out, leaving a charred black mess behind. He's trying to stop it. But he can't do that with two other Mages to fight against.

"What do we do?!" I yell at Annalise, covering my head with my hands and looking desperately around at the chaos. The plane dips down suddenly, the floor tilting at a harsh angle. Dozens of people fall to the floor, catching desperately at the seats. An acrid, burning scent fills my nose. There is smoke everywhere, making it difficult to see anything.

I scramble out into the isle, pulling Anne after me. A hysterical woman smashes into me, clutching at my clothes and crying. I push her off, slightly afraid for my safety. My lungs fill with smoke and I cough violently, trying to get air.

I hit the floor as a ball of light comes flying towards me. There is an ear splitting bang as it hits the left wall of the plane. The resulting shock wave shoves me back into a row of seats with a painful thud. But I barely register the pain through my panic as a roaring sound surrounds me and wind rushes through the cabin in a whoosh. My ears pop violently, making me wince in pain. Something is wrong with my hearing; everything is muted on one side except a high pitched ringing, like an annoying insect that won't go away. I lift my head to see a gaping hole in the side of the plane. Daylight peeks through the jagged edges of the breach, and against the pale blue background I can make out the dark outline of three bodies as they are sucked into the atmosphere and free fall out of sight.

Someone grips my arm and jerks me to my feet. I feel them wrap an arm around my shoulders, keeping my head down and protecting me from the smoke. It's Chase, pulling me forward through the flames.

"Go, go, go!" He yells in my ear, shuffling through a row of seats and ducking the attacks of the other Mages. They can't see us anymore so instead they shoot randomly, hitting innocent bystanders and adding to the blaze. Most of it comes from the left, leading me to believe that they're standing somewhere near the hole.

"Chase!" Anne calls, crashing into us from the right. "Are you ready?"

I don't hear his answer over the sound of another loud crash.

"Right!" She calls. "Let's go!"

"Hold on to me, Haven!" Chase orders, and I clutch his jacket in a death grip. "Three! Two! One! Now!"

We start running straight for the side of the plane in a huddled bunch, heads low and knees bent as we sprint. I see the wall draw nearer and press my face against Chase's arm, afraid of the impact. But it never comes. I hear a loud boom and the tearing of metal before suddenly there is wind on my face and I'm shooting out into the open air. For one second the forward momentum makes me feel weightless, connected to nothing, before gravity catches us and we go tumbling down to Earth. Adrenaline rushes through my veins as we drop at an alarming rate, twisting and tumbling over and over so much that I feel nauseous.

But we don't fall for long. It only takes a little while for Anne to get her bearings and bring us to a halt, slowing us down gradually until we stop completely. I feel the movement cease and I open my eyes carefully, still hanging on to Chase like a lifeline.

For a second I just stare around myself in shock and horror. We're hovering about forty feet above the dark, churning water of the Atlantic. From our position in the air, I watch the plane rapidly lose altitude, plummeting towards the water at an alarming speed. Flames shoot out the windows and rupture in the hull, billowing out behind the tail like a flag. Just seconds later there is a huge explosion centered around middle of the plane. I hear a massive tearing sound as the entire right wing breaks off and tumbles towards us.

Annalise immediately sends us rocketing in the other direction, missing the giant piece of metal by a mere four feet. I look up just in time for the second massive explosion as it rips through the plane, which is already set in a deadly downward spiral. As I watch, the hull splits into two gigantic pieces, revealing the raging inferno inside. People fall through the expanding gap between the two halves, some dead, some alive. But it doesn't matter anyway. No person could survive a fall from this height, even the Gifted. They hit the water with a loud smacking sound, making me flinch away.

I watch, helpless but unable to look away as the pieces of the plane crash into the ocean at top speeds, hissing as the superheated metal comes in contact with the waves. It doesn't sink immediately though. Instead the hull just floats there for a minute, still burning, before it fills with water and starts to go under. The corpses of dead passengers float to the top, popping up one by one around the wreckage. I start to feel nauseous.

"Oh my God," I whisper. "Oh my God. Oh my God. It's. . . Gone. They're dead!"

"Anne?" Chase asks.

"I see them," she responds, looking off into the distance. I tear my eyes away from the sinking plane to see two small blobs speeding towards us. Flyers and their partners.

Anne adjusts her grip on my arm and we lurch forward, continuing in the direction the plane would have taken.

"Wait!" I exclaim. "The plane! The people! We can't leave, we have to look for survivors!"

They don't say anything. Instead I feel Anne speed up.

"Stop! We can't just leave them!" I yell at them. "There might be survivors! We can help them! Turn around, dammit!"

Still no answer. I feel myself start to break down into hysterics.

"Let me GO!!!" I scream, starting to fight against Annalise's grip. "STOP! They could still be alive! Are you going to let them DIE?! We can't just-"

"We can't turn around," Chase interrupts. "They're coming for us. We have a head start, but they have less people. I can't fight all of them. Our best bet is to lose them in the clouds and get to land as soon as possible."

"The survivors-"

"The flames completely swallowed the inside in the last explosions. If they survived the crash, they would drown before reaching the surface. There are no survivors," Anne tells me.

"But what if there ARE? Please! Can't we just try to find them?!"

Chase pulls me closer to him. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. We can't turn around."

I press my face into his shoulder, shaking and crying softly from pain and anguish. He puts his hand on the back of my neck, and I feel the tingling, hot feeling of his healing ability. The sting slowly recedes from the burns on my arms and face. There is a sharp stab and a pop in my ear just before my hearing returns and the ringing ceases. But I couldn't care less about my own pain. I just remember the adorable little baby sitting with his mother in the seat across the isle. I remember his bright little smile and his tiny baby hands curled into fists as he laughed.

He would never smile like that again.

Depressing? Check!

This is my third Chapter in four days! Call me butter, cause I'm on a roll! (Haha, cheesy) As always, thanks for reading and have a great day!

-iambibliophilic