Thin Ice

1: Pangea

The cold was starting to seep into the spaces between the steel plates on the outside of the plane. Hail wrapped his blanket around him even tighter. Flying across the coldest continent on the planet was generally not a good idea, but it was better than being accused of trespassing in foreign airspace. Dyslikians generally weren't very fond of strangers.

Hail looked out the window at the frozen wasteland below them. Devoid of much of anything, really, except snow.

He did a double take. Did that patch of ice just . . . move?

His thoughts were interrupted by someone flopping down in the seat next to him.

Hail looked over at the newcomer. She was a solid white western feral with greyish markings under her startling blue eyes. She seemed very cheerful even though it was freezing on the plane.

"Hi!" She grinned. "Where you headed?"

Hail smiled a bit. "Meeting up with some family members in Jubilife city. You?"

"I was moving to Agrees. All my stuff got shipped on a freight plane, so it's waiting for me at my house."

"Where you from?"

"Masoa, originally, but I moved to Cypruss when I was maybe eight."

Hail whistled. "Big move. Cypruss is practically on the other side of the world."

Her smile faltered. "Yeah," she murmured, "there's just some things I . . . Needed to get away from."

Hail paused. She was probably talking about something personal, so he decided not to pry.

Instead he asked, "What's your name?"

"Storm," she smiled again. "What's yours?"

"Hail." He shivered. "Aren't you cold?"

"Nah. Purebred arctic dragon. This is probably my natural habitat."

Hail chuckled. "I'm having a horrible time of it. See, I'm half-and-half. Desert and oceanic. I probably wouldn't last two minutes out there," he jerked his head in the direction of the window.

Storm laughed. "Nah, you probably wouldn't. Just like I wouldn't last two minutes on Dyslik." She shuddered. "I cannot handle heat at all. Try to get me to pull something out of an oven? I'd nope out within five seconds."

Hail laughed.

"So where you from, originally?" Storm asked.

"Actually, I live on Agrees. It's a pretty nice place, once you get to know your way around."

"Who knows?" Storm shrugged. "Maybe we'll meet there."

"I'd like that."

They talked for about thirty more minutes before Storm fell asleep leaning on Hail's shoulder. Hail followed suit soon after, bundling his jacket and blanket around him before slipping off.

It was the turbulence that woke her.

It was light at first, but then began to grow steadily.

Storm's eyes snapped open. She lifted her head and looked around them. The other passengers were either reading, watching something on their phone, or sitting there looking uncomfortable.

Storm stood up, unintentionally waking up Hail as she did so. His green eyes opened a bit and he said, "Where you going?"

"The turbulence is gettting worse," she answered. "I'm going to go see if everyhing's all right."

She walked up to the front of the plane and opened the door to the cockpit.

"Is everything okay?" Storm poked her head in the door.

The pilot nodded. "Just a little snowstorm. We'll be out of it in a few minutes."

Storm nodded and left, returning to her seat.

"What'd he say?" Hail looked kind of worried.

"Little snowstorm. We'll pass through in a bit."

Hail grinned. "Good. 'Cause I don't think I'd be able to fly off for help in this weather if we crashed."

"Very funny," Storm rolled her eyes.

"I was only half-joking."

Time passed and the turbulence didn't let up. If anything, it got worse. They didn't seem to be getting ahead of the storm. And the storm wasn't as little as the pilot had said. Pretty soon the seatbelt light came on, and they all buckled themselves in, the rest of the passengers starting to get nervous. They were shifting in their seats, looking around at each other. One little girl was crying in the seat in front of Hail and Storm. Her mother was trying to calm her down.

"Syril, it's just a little snowstorm. We just need to buckle in because it's getting a bit rough and we don't want to fall out of our seats."

Syril was still crying her eyes out. Hail leaned over the seat and whispered something in her ear. Syril stopped and looked back at him, eyes wide and face red. "Really?" She sniffed.

"Promise," Hail grinned.

Syril wiped her eyes. "Okay."

Storm leaned in to whisper in Hail's ear, "What'd you say to her?"

"I said that if we fall I'd catch her."

Storm raised her eyebrows and looked at him.

"I was serious," Hail winked, but then his smile faded. "Because I've got a gut feeling we're not coming out of this storm in one piece."

Hail looked around the cabin and finally made up his mind. He got up and walked to the back of the plane. There was a back compartment where the first-aid and emergency survival supplies were kept. He opened it and grabbed the duffels, about five in all, and hauled them back to his seat.

Storm stared at him. "What are those for?"

"We might be needing them."

"Why do you say that?"

As if in answer to her question, the warning light came on as they hit an extremely rough wind and the plane started shaking. The cabin tilted forward and dangerously to the left.

The pilot's voice came over the intercom. "Attention passengers,we are attempting to make an emergency landing. Please make sure your seat belt is fastened and you are wearing your mask. If you must assist someone with their mask, please make sure your own mask is fastened on beforehand," he said in a voice fighting to stay calm as oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling. People scrambled to attach them to their faces and then helped people who were having trouble with theirs. Hail and Storm were dragons, so both were used to high altitudes. They made sure the other passengers were fine before buckling in.

The plane flew in a steady circle spiraling towards the ground. Everything was holding steady. Hail could see a patch of clear ground below them, all snow and no trees for about an eighth-of-a-mile radius.

Then a loud crack sounded and Hail's snout smacked into the seat in front of him, making him see stars.

He shook his head and looked out the window and promptly blanched. Half the wing was gone and the jagged edge of what was left was on fire. The plane had been struck by lightning.