Page 41 of Midnight Hunt

“Randy!”

Before I could reach the front, the plane listed sharply to the right, violently throwing me sideways.

“Griff!” Vi cried as my head cracked against a window. My supernatural healing immediately started to dull the pain and repair the damage, and I was up on my feet again seconds later.

Vi was suddenly there, latching on to my arm to help me upright, except that we were no longer upright. As the plane rapidly started to lose altitude, I grabbed Vi and tried to buckle her into a seat. Every time I tried, she batted my hands away and tried to forcemeinto a seat.

“Violet!” I thundered, fear for her safety driving me to overpower her. I captured both her wrists in one hand, using the other to secure the buckle.

“No!” she shouted, fighting against my grip. The wind outside the cabin roared as we descended faster and faster, the plane spiraling out of control.

I prepared to make another run for the cockpit, but the second I released Vi, she grabbed my hand and sank her nails—no,claws—into my flesh.

“Don’t leave me!” she cried, her voice filled with terror. For a brief moment, our eyes met. So many things passed between us in that split second. So many emotions and unspoken thoughts.

I opened my mouth to reassure her, but the world suddenly exploded around us. Vi screamed as a force violently tore my hand from hers, catapulting me into the air. I struck object after object, unable to control my speed. Pain splintered my vision, filling every corner of my body.

Metal shrieked. Wind snatched at my clothes and hair, ripping me farther and farther away from Vi.

Before I could find my way back to her, I hit the ground at breakneck speed, and the world went dark.

13

VIOLET

Water pooled in my eyes.

Or maybe blood. I couldn’t tell.

I reached up to wipe it away and immediately winced as pain shot up my arm. Lowering it, I lifted my other arm and rubbed at both eyes. When my vision was clear enough to see again, I focused on the red smear across the back of my hand.

Blood, then.

Reaching higher, I touched my forehead and pulled my fingers back to find more blood. The second I saw it, panic tightened my chest.

We’d crashed.

The plane hadcrashed.

As everything came rushing back to me, I glanced up and found a gaping hole in the cabin ceiling. Rain was slanting in, soaking me and everything inside the dark interior. While I waited for the ringing in my ears to fade, I continued to glance around, noting that I was still buckled in my seat. Only, my seat was angled backward now, leaving me in a reclined position.

Without thinking, I fumbled to undo the buckle with my injured arm. Agony flared up the length of it once more, stealing my breath away. Changing hands, I managed to unbuckle myself and sit up to better assess the situation. The front half of the plane still looked intact, but the back half was gone.

Likegone, gone.

I glanced around the broken cabin again, and my panic increased tenfold.

Alone. I wasalone.

The only thing I could hear was my frantically beating heart. No others. Not Randy’s. Not Griff’s.

Remembering how Griff had been torn from me, my heart beat even faster. I struggled to stand and immediately doubled over in pain.

Some of your organs were damaged, Sable said.Also, your arm is dislocated. You need to fix it before the bones heal wrong. Want me to take over?

I shook my head, gasping out, “I need . . . to find Griff.”

She started to protest, but I ignored her, forcing my battered body into motion. My injured arm hung uselessly at my side as I grabbed on to anything I could find and hoisted myself up the aisle. My instincts screamed at me to go the other way, to put all of my energy into finding Griff, but I had to check on our pilot first.

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