Phoenix13: Redemption (Phoenix13 Book 2)

Part #7: The Judgement of Zephyr: Chapter Three

Chapter Three

"Oh, no. Fuck no. Fuckedy fuck fucking fuck no."

"What's your problem, Morgan?" Jason cocked an eyebrow as the canine shifter spit curses, watching with growing confusion as she planted her feet and set her jaw stubbornly. "Did I miss something?"

Morgan whipped around to face him, her eyes lighting up with a chaotic mix of anger, fear, and frustration. "Jason," she hissed. She ducked her chin and clenched her fists into tight balls. "She can't be serious."

"Who can't?" Jason glanced over his shoulder down the hallway, giving the Lady Callista a confused look. "You mean Rosetta? Serious about what?"

"Of fucking course I mean Callista," Morgan snapped back, and Jason mentally noted that a short fuse was never a good sign. If Morgan was this worked up it didn't bode well for anyone. And apparently whatever it was couldn't wait even for the end of the world. "She'll get us all killed, McKinley," Morgan continued, baring her teeth and digging her heels into the carpet. "There's no way in any time or dimension that I'm taking another step toward that... that place," she spat the last word like a mouthful of spoiled milk, eyes fixed on the metallic double door at the end of the hall with a strangely intense loathing burning in their depths. "That place is evil. I'm not going in."

"They look like normal doors to me," Jason said, unable to keep a note of impatience out of his voice. Sighing and dragging one hand through his messy hair, he turned to Rosetta with weariness written across his face. "'k, I'm totally lost here. What's goin' on, Rosetta?"

"It appears," Rosetta began, striding past them and placing one un-gloved hand on the door's scanner, "that the wolf is afraid to fly."

Jason felt his stomach jolt at these words, and as the doors slid sideways into the walls to reveal the room beyond, he suddenly understood. "Airplanes," he said, his voice full of strained disbelief. "We're taking a fucking plane from the Defense League?"

"Ding, ding!" Rosetta smirked, pulling on a long, white glove as she stepped over the threshold. "We have a winner."

Jason glanced at Morgan, biting his lip contemplatively. Sighing deeply, he held out his hand, palm up in a gesture of comfort. "C'mon, Wolf Girl. I'm a great pilot. I won't let the scary sky-monsters get you."

"You were a great pilot," she snapped, slapping away his hand with a look of contempt. "Once upon a long fucking time ago. And the only 'scary sky-monster' you'd find up there would be me."

"Fine." Jason let out his breath in a huff of exasperation. "Stay here, then. Have fun finding your way out of the city without me."

She glared at him. "Y'know what, McKinley? Fuck you and your stupid hollow crusade. Have fun breaking into Carceris Caeci without me."

He watched with a mixture of frustration and disappointment as she did an about-turn and stalked dramatically off down the hall, hips swaying and fists balled at her sides. In a few heartbeats she was gone; the door at the far end of the passage swung shut behind her with a loud slam.

"We don't have all day, Prince," Rosetta's voice floated through the open doors of Nathandra's Air Tactics and Equipment room. Her words echoed eerily in the small hallway. "And you know I can't fly."

"You think I can? It's been years. Last time I sat in a cockpit my father was alive and Skyler was my best friend. Which puts a pretty ancient time stamp on the occasion."

"You don't forget such things so easily," Rosetta called back, amusement gilding her words. "I'm sure that once you have your hands on the controls it'll all come back to you easily enough."