“I call on my power to fend off this attack,” I say, summoning my power. “Force out the enemy and beat their magic back.”
I open my eyes as my magic pours out of me. The pale orange hue of it makes it look like clouds at sunset, and as it meets the deep-blue magic, that image only strengthens, the two opposing powers looking like the day giving way to night.
My magic pries the offending one from my torso and slowly but surely pushes it out of the cabin. As I watch, the last strands of it slither out the vents and the seams around the windows.
Once it’s all gone, I draw in a shuddering breath, sagging a little when the plane evens out. Around me, other passengers visibly relax. Then I grit my teeth as I feel the slightest tug in my head. It’s the only indication that I must’ve lost a memory.
“…I said, get back in your seat!” The flight attendant’s voice is shrill, and she’s pointing at me and giving me a look I think is supposed to scare me.
Too late for that. I’m already terrified.
Overhead, the intercom comes on.
“Sorry, folks.” The pilot chuckles. “Just some local turbulence. It looks to be—”
My queen…I felt you…
My magic lingers in the air, shimmering just the slightest. But as I watch, that insidious blue magic seeps back into the cabin.
“No,” I whisper.
When it brushes against my own, the contact is gentle.
I swear I hear disembodied laughter.
Yes. My queen, there you are.
Within seconds, it weaves itself through my magic, blending them together until it’s the color of a bruise.
How I have searched for you.
The fuck is this voice?
Now heed my call, Empress, and COME TO ME.
The plane bucks, then begins to fall in earnest. This doesn’t feel like a little turbulence; this feels like the pilots have lost control of the plane.
People are screaming all over again, and the flight attendant has taken her eyes off me long enough to instruct passengers on proper safety protocol.
While she’s distracted, I dash up the aisle, falling against the seats to my sides as the plane bounces and sways. I haven’t figured out exactly what I’m doing until I’m storming through the first-class seating area.
Whoever I’m up against, their magic is stronger than my own. I can’t hope to stop the attack. The best I can do is mitigate it. If someone is really trying to drag the plane out of the sky, then all I can do is try to help land it.
Give in to this…to us…
The alien magic coils around me, and it feels as though it’s trying to slip inside me. Like it wants me to breathe it in so it can get as close as possible. The experience is fucking unnerving, and yet some aspect of this magic beguiles my senses.
More flight attendants shout at me, demanding I turn around and return to my seat. So far, they haven’t physically tried to restrain me since their attention is divided between me, the other passengers, and the hazardous walking conditions in the cabin. However, the closer I get to the front of the plane, the more frantic their voices grow. As I near the cockpit, one of them finally moves to cut me off. I think he means to tackle me.
“Stop this man in his tracks.” I lift a hand toward the attendant. “Be my arms and push him back.”
I flick my magic out at him. The flight attendant stumbles away, falling into the lap of a nearby passenger. I can feel terrified gazes at my back, and I sense a few people rising from their seats, clearly assuming I have bad intentions.
More of my magic lashes out, shoving these misguided heroes back in their chairs.
There are stronger and more terrifying forces at play right now than a young witch.
Come, little witch. We were never meant to part.
The voice is like velvet, coaxing me. It halts the very breath in my lungs.
I force myself onward, toward the locked door of the cockpit.
I reach a hand out and don’t even bother with a snappy incantation. “Open.” My magic leaps out of me, causing the lock to tumble and the door to swing open.
Come to me, Empress.
I nearly fall into the various switches and buttons on the dashboard as the indigo magic yanks on the airplane again.
One of the two pilots glances over at me. Then she does a double take.
“What in the—?”
The other pilot barks out, “Get back to your seat. Now.” Behind me, I can still hear several people shouting at me to get back to my seat.
I push away from the dashboard and lift a hand to the door. “Close.”
It swings shut, and the lock tumbles into place, sealing us off from the rest of the cabin.
The male pilot glances between me and the door several feet away that seemingly shut itself. His eyes widen with incredulity and perhaps a touch of fear.
“Someone is trying to take us out of the sky,” I say, as though that explains my own magic.
To punctuate my words, the plane jerks violently, throwing me forward. I barely manage to catch myself on the pilots’ seats, trying to regain my bearings.
“I’m here to help land the plane.”
The woman laughs, the sound containing all sorts of skepticism. And honestly, I’d probably laugh too if some little shit who collapsed onto my dashboard claimed she could help.
Come to me…Empress…
The ghostly voice whispers in my ear and against my skin. The hair on my arms stands on end. There’s something perversely alluring about that voice.
“Listen, I don’t care how experienced you both are—you’re working with forces beyond your senses, and you’re not going to be able to land this plane without my help.”
I’d like to say they were roused by my words, but the truth is, both pilots have returned their attention to flying the plane, and the woman is telling her companion about some course of action that might work.
Right.
I close my eyes and take a steadying breath, focusing inward.
“Use my power. Ignore my pain. With this spell, I’ll land the plane.” I incant the rhyme over and over as my power flares, then spreads out from me.
When I open my eyes, I see it clear away the deep-blue magic that obscured the view out the front window. Once I can see our surroundings, I try not to scream. There are rolling mountains and a sea of trees beneath us, and they’re growing closer by the second.
Oh Goddess, we’re going to die.
I take a deep breath and force the insidious thought away.
I just need to help land the plane. It’s not impossible. I concentrate on my power again, letting it unspool from within me, and continue to repeat the incantation.
My power rushes out of me and flows to the underside of the plane. I cannot see what it’s doing, but I vaguely sense it pressing against the aircraft’s smooth metal underbelly. And then I feel it ripple as though it’s becoming its own air current. Hell, maybe it is.
It strains, working to shift the angle of the plane.
Not enough! Not enough!
I grit my teeth, my head throbbing from my exertion.
“I call on magic most arcane. Protect these people. Land this plane.” My voice grows louder, even as the turbines roar and muffled screams filter in from the cabin.
With each utterance, more magic pours out of me. That opposing magic is still present, but rather than battle for dominance, its magic melds with mine.