The Sky Has Fallen

| Chapter 19

Chaos never happened right away. It depended on who noticed the terror outside. In this case, who would pay attention to their phones.

After David hit enter on the keyboard, submitting the distress call to the entire city, I wondered if it went through. Then, my phone went off, buzzing uncontrollably, so I knew it worked.

The only problem was you could swipe it away.

"It's all right." I rushed over towards one of the large windows that overlooked the city. No one hurried outside to see if the message had been accurate. But at least I knew it was delivered and, in the end, it was all we could do. That's what mattered.

"Is anyone reacting to it?" Vera joined me at my side.

I shook my head and looked down at the streets. There were people down there, chatting away, but not many. The residential buildings I could see still had their lights on, windows opened, yet nothing.

How can they not hear that engine? It's so close.

"Oh, look!" David hurried over, too and was the first to see movement.

My gaze followed his fingers pressed against the glass. Down below, about half a block over, were a group of friends. They each looked at one of their phones before glancing over at another. At the same time, the group of five looked up towards the sky. One girl with them covered her mouth to stifle a cry.

"Ay, boy!" David excitedly hit the glass. "That's right! Be scared!"

I didn't want to instill fear, but it got their attention. The group hurried over towards another group, making them look up at the broken clouds. When the next set of people saw their possible demise, they cried out, too. One of them hurried and dialed someone on their phone.

"Perfect, we got movement," I said before looking at the ship.

It was closer now. The sides of it slowly brushed against the front end of one of Chicago's skyscrapers. Shards of glass fell from its top and fell to the ground.

I gulped and prayed no one would be hurt. But I also knew if we didn't stop this, everyone could be.

Or worse.

"All right, Vera." Reaching out, I grabbed Vera's hand. I didn't mean to do it, it was an automatic reflex, but she didn't move away. Her fingers wrapped around mine as she nodded, waiting for me to say something.

I sucked in a long, hard, nervous breath. "Okay, um, how do we get on this ship?"

"Well," Vera looked at her other arm, "I have this." She noted the bracelet wrapped around her wrist. "If we get to the roof, I can get into it."

"What, does that teleport you or something?" David asked.

Smiling, Vera nodded.

My mouth opened. That was the coolest shit I'd heard all day.

"Wait, wait, wait." David moved around us, hands up. "You mean to tell me you could've teleported onto the ship this whole time?"

"Yes and no." The way Vera looked at him made me snort. "I have to be within a certain distance from the ship before I can even make this connection. Limit is half a mile, tops. Even sometimes that's sketchy."

"Sketchy." Pursing my lips, I had to agree. Any kind of musical science had to be sketchy.

David rolled his eyes.

Vera rolled hers, mocking him. "What did you think this was, Star Trek? You think I got a guy up there that can just beam me up?"

"I mean—" David walked back around the computer systems. The alert continued, letters flashing red. He slapped the monitor, laughing, before he looked back at Vera. "I mean, y'all are aliens. You ain't got a Scottie up there?"