𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 》 JASON GRACE ¹

ᶜʰᵃᵖᵗᵉʳ ᵗʷᵉⁿᵗʸ ᶠⁱᵛᵉ

''IS THAT-?''

Noelani had awoken to what she had first thought as rocks pelting against the windshield. Then she realised it was sleet. Frost built up around the edges of the glass, and slushy waves of ice blotted out his view.

''An ice storm?'' Piper finished, shouting over the engine and the wind. ''Is it supposed to be this cold in Sonoma?''

No one was sure, but something about this storm seemed conscious, malevolent - like it was internally slamming them.

Jason, who had the same startling awakening as Noelani, crawled forwards, grabbing their seats for balance. ''We've got to be getting close.''

Leo was too busy wrestling with the stick to reply. Suddenly, it wasn't so easy to drive a helicopter. Its movements were sluggish and jerky.The whole machine shuddered in the icy wind. The helicopter probably hadn't been prepped for cold-weather flying. The controls refused to respond, and they started to lose altitude.

Noelani swallowed her profanities - now was probably not the time to remind them of the prophecy, so she hung onto the seat so tight, her knuckles went white, teeth drawing blood on the inside of her mouth and eyes squeezed shut as she recalled the fact that she had her seatbelt on every five seconds.

Piper yelled at Leo, wrestling her way between two seats to see if there was anything she could do to help. Jason put his hands on either side of Noelani's head, so that when he called out her name, she wouldn't be able to look out the windows, even accidentally.

''What?''

She didn't open her eyes anyway though, her lips quivering and her words sharp and annoyed, as if she didn't want to be disturbed as she accepted death.

''I'll catch you, you know that?'' She didn't seem to move, but her jaw slackened every so slightly, letting the metallic taste of her blood run over her tongue. ''I'll always catch you.''

She mumbled, voice a lot softer and Jason struggled to fully hear it, ''Okay.''

Below them, the ground was a dark quilt of trees and fog. The ridge of a hill loomed in front of them and Leo yanked the stick, just clearing the treetops. Noelani let out a quick, shrill scream at the sudden movement, head turning to instinctively press her forehead against Jason's arm.

The blond turned and stuck his head out the window, squinting in the wind as he tried to get a sense of direction. ''There!''

A small valley opened up before them, with the murky shape of a building in the middle. Leo aimed the helicopter straight for i. All around them were flashes of light that reminded Leo of the tracer fire at Midas's compound. Trees cracked and exploded at the edges of the clearing. Shapes moved through the mist. Combat seemed to be everywhere.

He set down the helicopter in an icy field about fifty yards from the house and killed the engine. He was about to relax when he heard a whistling shape hurtling towards them.

''Out!'' Leo screamed.

Noelani, who had barely had the time to unclick her seatbelt with her shaky hands, was yanked out of her seat by Jason, all four of them going tumbling towards the ground.

They had barely cleared the rotors before a massive BOOM shook the ground, knocking them further back and splattering ice all over them.

The worlds biggest snowball - a chunk of ice, snow and dirt the size of a garage - had completely flattened the Bell 412.

Jason to his side, at Noelani who laid beside him, only she was face-first into the snow. ''You alright?'' He asked, wincing slightly. He had tried his best.