Jack the Overlander

Seven

Man, it felt great! He took the first few minutes of the flight to simply enjoy the air rushing by and the steady warmth of Persephone. Her fur was smooth and soft, and he couldn't help himself from wrapping it around his hands now and again. She was flying faster than she had this morning, but it was smooth and steady, and Jack could feel the power exerted by her wings. He was also hit by occasional puffs of air from the other four fliers — two of whom, he thought, weren't actually called fliers, but hangers. Why?

He took a moment to focus in on one of the moths flying alongside Persephone. Its wings beat so rapidly that they were practically a blur, and he could see a faded image of Ripred behind them. Its body moved via a continuous string of rapid, jerky movements, even in its consistent forward progress — flitting to one spot, then the next with incredible speed. It almost looked like it was teleporting. Jack caught flashes of black and purple in the cloudy white blur.

After about twenty minutes, some of the novelty of flying was beginning to wear off. Jack began to observe his fellow travelers lazily. Ripred was now stretched out on his side on his moth. Jack guessed he'd probably ridden them plenty of times before. The digger, Hornfels, looked pretty uncomfortable perched atop the other moth. Neither of the moths were showing any signs of exhaustion, as far as Jack could tell, even though their burdens looked pretty heavy to him. Then again, he wasn't an expert on moth exhaustion or anything.

He could see, even from here, that Amber was talking animatedly to Nike. Of course. His eyes lingered on her for a minute before he told himself to get a grip. He refocused his gaze on Aurora. The Queen and Warrior were seated back-to-back, feet at either end of the golden bat. Their eyes were closed and they looked incredibly peaceful. Jack felt a slight pang of jealousy and reminded himself that Amber's personality was decidedly insufferable.

Not that he resented Persephone's company. But whatever. That was just how it went. He pushed the thought from his mind.

But it was a sticky thought, like a blob of syrup attached to his skull. Refusing to budge. Annoyed with himself, he determined to strike up a conversation with his bat. Some question about the Underland. He was almost to the point of allowing his curiosity to flow out on impulse. Almost.

"Hey, Persephone," he said.

"Greetings, Jack," said the bat. "I had forgotten you were there."

Jack felt a little guilty. Here he was, worried about some girl he didn't even know, ignoring the bat who was literally carrying him.

"Sorry," he said. "I'm pretty quiet, usually. I don't like to say anything I'll regret later."

"No problem," purred the bat. "How are you enjoying the flight so far?"

"It's great," said Jack, not wanting to admit he was already bored.

"Truly? You are not becoming tired of the scenery?"

Haha. Okay.

"Well, alright. Yeah. But flying is still awesome, and I mean that," he said.

"I am surprised you have taken to it so quickly. I am told that in the Overland, many fear the death a great fall would bring."

"Yeah, I don't know," said Jack, leaning to look over Persephone's ear. The ground was entirely swallowed up in blackness below. "I don't know, I've never been afraid of heights, so that mostly just leaves my reasoning. And my reason says you'll catch me if I fall."

"We normally teach the humans to fly when they are but toddlers, before they develop the terror of the fall. Then, by the time it is necessary, they do not fear it."

"That makes sense. Interesting. Have you bats — fliers — been friends with the humans for a long time, then?" asked Jack.

"A very long time. We allied with the humans upon their arrival from the Overland."