Chapter 9

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The fear of heights would be conquered at a tower called the 'Eureka Skydeck' in the heart of the Melbourne city. This was the ultimate height – ninety-two storeys tall, approximately 297 metres high in the sky. They were all going to ride an elevator up to the eighty-eighth floor to stare out of windows that were almost 300 metres above ground level. Tia could barely breathe, let alone comprehend the situation.

"You know it's going to be fine. We're all going to be up there with you. We are in absolutely no danger at all," Aladdin said, matter-of-factly, as Figg spoke to the lady at the front desk.

"I know that, but I can't help being scared. The fact that nothing is going to happen to me is having trouble finding its way to my brain," she replied, still breathing in and out rather sharply.

"Okay students," Figg said once she'd returned. "We're going up now. You won't all fit in the one elevator up so Linda here will be going up with the first group and I'll go with the next group," she explained. "Now, I'm going to split the group down the middle. This side will go up first and we'll follow shortly after." She split the group. Tia, Aladdin, Elijah and Vanessa were all in the first group.

"Oh thank God! We're with the woman who knows this place," Tia sighed, a weight lifting off her chest.

Their group quickly piled into the elevator, fitting quite snugly. Tia, and a few others, stood flat against the wall, holding onto the nearest thing and breathing deeply. It took quite a while to get to the top – up to the eighty-eighth level.

Once they reached the top, they all piled out and stood waiting for something to happen. There were quite a few people there, all near the windows, looking out at the city. Tia swallowed nervously.

"Okay," Linda said. "Here we are, the eighty-eighth floor. You can all have a look around. Go as close to the edge as you dare. You won't regret it. It's not scary. It's quite a beautiful view," she assured, smiling.

"Let's go," Elijah said. Aladdin and Vanessa followed him. Tia stayed rooted to the spot.

"Come on, it'll be fine. Here, give me your hand," Aladdin said. Tia took it. He walked with her to the edge, not realising she had her eyes closed until she bumped into a woman. He laughed. "Tia, it's okay. We're indoors!"

She breathed out. "Okay fine," she said, opening her eyes slowly. It was a very large circular room. There were telescopes at several points near the windows that pointed to different sights of the city. Elijah and Vanessa had already approached the window and were looking out at the city.

"You want to go to the window?" Aladdin asked. Tia shook her head vigorously. "You don't have to look down," he assured. It took a couple more seconds, but she finally gave in.

They approached the window tentatively, Aladdin making sure she was fine before they got to the window. She looked out at the sky. It looked quite beautiful, peaceful. She began to relax.

"Hey, this isn't so bad. It looks kind of pretty out there," she smiled, edging a little closer.

"I told you it'd be fine!" Aladdin grinned, and they spent the next half an hour roaming around the eighty-eighth floor, looking at all of Melbourne city, with Tia making sure to look at things eye-level or higher.

"We should be able to open these windows," Elijah commented, as the four of them stood beside one another at one of the windows. Tia gasped.

"Are you kidding? That's crazy! The wind is probably so strong up here, we'd all be blown away," she snapped at him. He rolled his eyes.

"Stop being so dramatic. You always overthink everything," he said. He returned to the window and looked down. Tia scowled at him.

"I don't overthink things. You under-think things. You care about nothing!" she snarled, looking out at the sky again.

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