Thunder and Lightning

Part 13

“Where did you get it?” I shouted over the whirring rotors. I’d never seen a helicopter on the ground and the noise was louder than I’d ever imagined. I didn’t know there were any left after so long.

“A friend,” she replied and she slid gracefully into the seat beside Barak. She bent her thumb in the direction of the seat behind her. “You sit with your sisters and Gunter.”

I put a headset on like the rest and we rose above the land. I could see to the ocean from here, though the slave settlement and the palace buildings were hidden behind a hill.

The flight took us high above the clouds, so we could see the stars. “Cloud catcher,” I said softly, remembering another legend.

“What?” Diana asked, turning in her seat so she could see my face.

“Cloud catcher,” I replied. “A young man who is taken by the moon woman to her palace in the sky.” She married him and killed any other woman he tried to get with, I thought but didn’t say.

Her laughter sounded tinny through the headphones. “I will take you through the sky, but my house is no more a palace than the place where Cantrella lives.” She pointed through the window, where I could see lights in the darkness. “There. Just a large white house with gardens.”

The lights approached and we descended. A jarring bump and the flight finished.

I slid out of the glass bubble and crunched down on short grass. I held out my hands to help my sisters from the helicopter. The twins would take off again soon, for they had to go back to be heroes. Cantrella would be gone by the time I got back.

“May you!” shrieked something loud in the darkness. “May you, may you, may you!”

“What the fuck is that?” I asked, looking around.

“Just a peacock,” Diana said with a smile. “I’ll show you in the morning.”