lunar witch · jason grace

ten.

HANA

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FREEFALLING ISN'T COOL when it's unplanned, Hana worked it out as she hollered in fear. Far below she saw city lights glimmering in the early dawn, and several hundred yards away the body of the bronze dragon spinning out of control, its wings limp, fire flickering in its mouth like a badly wired lightbulb. A body shot past her—Leo, screaming and frantically grabbing at the clouds. "Not coooooool!"

She tried to call to him, but he was already too far below, Piper was nowhere to be seen.

Then the explosion came and she was screaming even louder, she was screeching spells and the purple faze was enveloping her as she tumbled, her mind whirred to try and find a spell to stop her and her friends from falling to their death.

Somewhere above her, Jason yelled, "Hey Hana I'm gonna save you, just level out! Extend your arms and legs!"

"Jason! Oh my gods, please!" She screamed back before she struggled to control her fear, but she did what he said and regained some balance. She fell spread-eagle like a skydiver, the wind underneath her like a solid block of ice. Then Jason was there, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"It's okay Ana, I got you," He whispered, trying to assure her as he pulled her closer to his body, she gave a shallow breath while they fell, "You're fine, I swear."

"Thank you...thank you so much." She mumbled into his ear, Hana could see he was controlling the winds, but they still lurched up and down like the winds didn't want to cooperate.

"Gonna get rough," Jason warned. "Hold on!"

Hana locked her arms around him, and Jason shot toward the ground. Hana probably screamed, but the sound was ripped from her mouth. Her vision blurred, that hopeless feeling back again that she despised so much.

And then, thump! They slammed into another warm body—Leo, still wriggling and cursing.

"Stop fighting!" Jason said. "It's me!"

"My dragon!" Leo yelled. "You gotta save Festus!"

Jason was already struggling to keep the three of them aloft, and Hana knew there was no way he could help a fifty-ton metal dragon. But before she could try to reason with Leo, she heard an explosion below them. A fireball rolled into the sky from behind a warehouse complex, and Leo sobbed, "Festus!"

Jason's face reddened with strain as he tried to maintain an air cushion beneath them, but intermittent slow-downs were the best he could manage. Rather than free-falling, it felt like they were bouncing down a giant staircase, a hundred feet at a time, which wasn't doing Hana's stomach any favors.

As they wobbled and zigzagged, Hana could make out details of the factory complex below—warehouses, smokestacks, barbed-wire fences, and parking lots lined with snow-covered vehicles. They were still high enough so that hitting the ground would flatten them into roadkill—or skykill—when Jason groaned, "I can't—" 

And they dropped like stones.

They hit the roof of the largest warehouse and crashed through into darkness, the first thing that came in Hana's head was an elemental spell, she screamed it even though the wind carried it away; she commanded the haze to soften Jason and Leo's blow as much as possible.

She landed on her side, feeling the pain shooting up her shoulder, her vision was blurring and she choked back a sob. Then she heard Jason's voice somewhere below, echoing through the building. "Piper, Hana! Where are you guys?"