The Final Showdown - The Moon Trilogy - Book 3

Chapter thirteen:

There was a fraction of a second where Clarity's brain stalled, not allowing her to think of any solutions, much less act then out successfully.

Then, with a tickling sense of dreaded resolve, she dropped her two hand-holds. The anchors holding her down were suddenly cut off, and she fell. Time moved sluggishly around her as she plummeted through the moisture-filled air, that odd feeling in the pit of her stomach that came with free-falling...

Time sped up again without warning and she found herself in a wild, flailing spiral. The ride was the only thing other than sky that she could see, and it flashed rapidly past her vision as she spun downwards like a human maple seed.

She took a short moment to collect her panicking thoughts before she pulled her limbs close to herself in an attempt to regain control of her descent. The spiral slowly flattened to a steady turn and she tried with a hastily-assembled determination to turn herself into an arrow.

She could still see Sam, so far below her, and though she could tell that she was more streamlined, he still seemed to be falling so much faster—hopelessly distant.

She took a deep breath as best she could in the rushing, thin air; With it came a sudden idea.

She teleported down. With no landmarks or much of anything at all to go off of, it took her a few tries to get at all close. She could see him closer now, no more than ten feet off to her left. He spun through the air wildly, and he was doing nothing to stop his crazy spiraling as she just had.

She attempted to lunge towards him, but with nothing pressing against her but empty air, she got absolutely nowhere. For a brief second, she started to flail once more, but she straightened out again and carefully teleported her way close via small jumps through the empty space between them.

In just a few seconds that felt more like eons, she collided with Sam and clutched tightly onto him, which caused her to spin along with him. The ground and sky alternated in her field of view for a few nauseating moments before she managed to concentrate enough to teleport them both back up onto the ride.

As soon as he was in contact with something solid, Sam clutched on tight. His chest heaved so rapidly that she thought for a moment that he might pass out.

It took a lot of coercing, coaxing, and general pleading, plus the ride lurching one more time, for him to finally come to his senses. He must have realized that the quicker he cooperated, the quicker they could be on solid ground again.

He nodded to himself, and went back to his gap, moving slowly and carefully, his arms and legs stiff as planks. When he was finally there, he flashed a hurried, frantic thumbs-up before instantly grasping the ride again with the wayward hand. The people on either side of him held onto his arms, rather than him grabbing their hands.

Not only did she want to cease inadvertently torturing Sam, but she also wasn't very fond of being so high up, herself. Therefore, it was but a second before they were on the ground again. The riders, now lacking the seats they'd been strapped in, fell in a loose pile on the paved ground. Sam was shaky as he rose to his feet with Clarity and Johnny while the ride operator rushed forward to assure that everyone was alright.

Alex was among the people in the pressing crowd, and he quickly apologized several times, explaining briefly that he'd gotten lost, and by the time he'd found them, they were already up on the ride. Clarity wondered why he hadn't just flown up, but in the hectic buzz of people yelling and the crowd trying to press closer with every second, she couldn't find the time to ask.

Suddenly, a new voice entered their earpieces. It was abundantly and immediately clear that none of their little team of four had spoken...

"Stunning job there, Clarity. You really saved those people's lives." Ellie said, a certain infuriating smugness to her voice as she spoke so nonchalantly about life versus death. "But I bet you'll never guess why they were in danger in the first place."