| 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?"

"No." Vera, still holding my hand, pulled me back towards the door. "But I do have my own commander."

I followed her, but I stumbled. What she said hit me, ringing over and over in my ears.

Did she call me her commander?

Vera smiled at me as she pushed open the door to the attic. "Let's go."

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The city streets were filled with more people by the time we ran back down to the sidewalks I wasn't sure why we'd rushed back out to the chaos we started, but I had no choice but to follow Vera. David had no choice but to follow me.

We practically crashed into her as cars screeched to a halt, looking in our direction.

"Hey, hey!" One man practically stuck his body out of his car window. "Ain't she a Pylon? Hey!"

Rather than talk to those around him, who were lured in by his shouts, he looked at Vera instead. "Hey, you! What's going on? What the fuck is happening?"

Vera's eyes were stuck to the sky, mouth hanging open. I followed her gaze up, just as the wind picked up.

The Pylon ship had broken into our atmosphere, hitting structures with its massive weight. But it wasn't the only thing heading towards Earth. There were more ships—some smaller, some wider. They hovered over the clouds if they supported the falling ship.

There's more?

"What's—" David started, but the wind blew so hard, he had to duck. Debris fell in his direction.

"Vera." I grabbed her arm. "Why are there more ships? Did they get our distress call, too?"

"No." Vera bit her lip. "I think the ship is letting out its own alert system. Someone's begging for help. An S.O.S."

S.O.S.

"Because it's crash landing?" I asked her as she started to walk backward, eyes still tilted up towards the sky. I followed her. "Maybe your dad is calling for help? Maybe—"

"No." Vera shook her head as she looked at me. "This is different. We asked for ships to be prepared for our return. But these?" Reaching for my arm, she grabbed me, yanking me down the street filled with people. "These are war ships!"

Oh, fuck shit. War?

"We're fighting?" I panted as I ran after her. When I looked back, David was running after us.

He locked eyes with me, shouting, "The fuck is going on?"

"I don't know!" I yelled back.

Vera pulled me again, grabbing my attention. "We won't know until we get up there!" she talked over the wind. "The emergency building was too low. I need something higher. More than forty floors!"

Forty floors. Coming to a halt, I scanned the street. More cars had driven downtown. Traffic built up at the corner. Honking filled the air. But I ignored them, looking up towards the skies. I needed to find the tallest building.

David, seeing my struggle, rolled his eyes and reached for both of us. "This way!" He yanked me and Vera until we crossed the street. "I know a place!"

Willis Tower was within our reach. And with all the mayhem, its doors were wide open, employees working late flooding the streets.

Standing out front of the building, I stared up at its rooftop. "This will work," I muttered as David rushed inside with Vera. "We can do this."

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Cool wind hit our faces as we climbed out of the rooftop. Vera hurried over towards the edge; hands pressed against it. She glanced down at the streets before looking at me. "Are you afraid of heights?" she asked me.

I gulped. "Are we jumping? I hurried over to her side just as David stepped out on the rooftop, too. "Vera, I thought you said we were teleporting."

"We are." The smile she gave me was awkward and forced. "Just in case we're not close enough and we don't make it, I just want to make sure you're cool with a little tumble."

"A little tumble." First, I repeated it, glancing down at the cars in the street. They had stopped, drivers rushing out of their seats. Everyone looked up at the sky.

My panic kicked in as I looked back at Vera. "This isn't a little tumble, Vera! This is a big tumble! Like a dead tumble!"

"It isn't." Vera tried to brush it off as though it were nothing.

Unable to help myself, I looked back at David for support. I was sure he'd heard everything she had said, and if he was up here with us, that only meant he was prepared to take a little tumble, too.

But he wasn't looking at me. His eyes were on his phone.

"Do you hear this?" I asked him. "This isn't a normal teleport, man!"

"No, it isn't." David pushed his phone back into his pocket. "But you guys gotta get up there without me."

"Wait, what?" I stood in front of him. His eyes bounced from Vera to me, then Vera again. But I grabbed his shoulder and forced him to meet my gaze. "David, this will be hard with two people."

"You're just stopping one guy," David said with a shrug. "And besides, the group's texting me. We need to move the Sapphire out of the platform before cops get there."

"Cops?" Vera came to our side. "Who let the cops know?"

"I don't know," he said. "The business we're in isn't the best, okay? You know that. We could've had a spy."

"Like who?" I couldn't have been more confused. "You guys looked so close knit back there."

"Shit happens, man." David stepped away from us before looking at the ship. "We had to tell the head honcho what was going on. Don't know who told him—" He pointed at the ship. "—but the cops know now."

"Him." I bit my lip as I looked back at the Pylon's ship. "You mean Holmes? Someone told Holmes?"

"Nah, our boss." David had pulled the door open and leaned against it. "You think a bunch of humans were able to do this without the help of someone on the inside."

Vera breathed out the words, "I knew it."

"Exactly. So, I gotta go handle that before I could even help y'all up there." He clicked his teeth and pointed at us. "I have faith in y'all."

"Wait!" I extended my hand towards him, but he'd already rushed back down the steps. And Vera didn't let me go back to him. She grabbed me, pulling me back towards the roof's edge.

"Wait, wait, wait." I looked into her eyes. "Okay, I'll be honest, I'm not ready to do a jump like this."

"We're not jumping." Vera stood on the ledge, balancing herself as the wind blew. Once stable, she reached out to grab my hand. "We just need to get closer."

She wanted me to stand with her. She was the one with the magical bracelet, I couldn't get up there without her.

"Do I gotta stand up there, too?" I grabbed her hand but didn't climb up. "I mean, isn't this cool enough?"

Vera shook her head. "If you're not close enough, it probably won't pull you in."

An image of my insides becoming my outsides came to mind. I almost puked and squeezed my eyes to rid myself of the thought. "Okay, fine, fine."

I took in a deep breath before I pulled on her hand. She helped me up, lifting me as though I were nothing. And rather than hold onto her for dear life, her arm went around my waist. "Hold on tight," she said, raising her arm up towards the ship's direction.

"Don't." I wrapped my arm around her shoulder, her face pressed against my chest. I never held her so close. "Don't drop me."

The bracelet around her wrist glowed bright blue, light Sapphire's medicinal hue. I was mesmerized by the color. It spun. It warped. It seemed to eat her arm with magic.

Looking down into her eyes, I noticed they had changed. They were brighter than before. Like the sun, fire swarmed the irises. Even as wind wrapped around us, pushing us closer to each other, I couldn't help but mouth the word, "Wow."

Vera shook her head as a pull yanked us towards the ship. And I swore I heard her say, "You're cute."