The Rise of the Fallen (The Angelic Wars Book 2) by J.J. Thompson Read Free Book Online

then they leveled out and dived
again. She reached out to the back of the seat in front of her and
pulled out an airsickness bag. At Chris' look, she tried to smile,
and failed. “Just in case,” she muttered and held on to
the bag with a death-like grip.
    Chris
watched her for a moment and, as the plane resumed a level course,
she began breathing easier again. She caught him watching and gave
him a shaky grin. “I really hate flying, to be honest.”
    “ You
don't say?” he answered and tried to sound sarcastic. She
looked a bit amused and Chris patted her hand reassuringly. Then he
looked back out at the storm.
    The
sky was black and the lightning seemed to have subsided for the
moment. Chris squinted out of the window, peering through it so
intently that his nose was almost touching the glass. At that moment
another flash of lightning lit the sky and Chris let out a shriek and
pulled away from the window, frantically grabbing at the buckle of
his seatbelt.
    “ Chris?
What is it?” Natalie asked urgently, her airsickness forgotten.
Chris finally undid his belt and scrambled over her to stand
half-crouched in the aisle. “What did you see?”
    “ Holy
crap,” he said, his voice shaking. “When the lightning
flashed, the window was blocked.” Natalie stared at him in
confusion.
    “ Blocked?
By what?”
    “ By
something looking in!” He ran his fingers through his hair and
then looked down at his trembling hands. “It was an eye, Nat.
One huge, black eye. Flat black, like a shark's eye. It was watching
me.”
    The
other staff members were all frantically looking out of their
windows, looking for anything moving. After a few minutes and several
flashes of lightning, George spoke up.
    “ There's
nothing out there. At least, not right now. Are you sure you saw
something? Maybe it was just a weird cloud formation caught by the
lightning or something.”
    Chris
was staring at the windows reluctantly. He looked from one side to
the other, but saw nothing. His breathing began to return to normal
and he wiped his face off with his sleeve.
    “ I,
yeah, maybe. Maybe you're right. I mean, how could something that big
be near us and no one see it but me, right? Yeah, okay.” He
looked around at the others watching him and knew he was blushing.
“Sorry, folks. I didn't mean to freak out like that.”
    Beatrice
chuckled. “Don't worry. It's a freaky situation.” Then
she frowned. “And something did hit us earlier, don't forget. I
don't think you're seeing things. But maybe you're seeing them a bit,
um, bigger than they are?”
    “ Maybe
you're right,” he replied. He caught Margaret's eye by accident
and the wild-eyed woman gave him a broad wink. He shuddered and
turned away.
    Chris
slipped back into his seat, but didn't buckle himself in. Natalie
gave his shoulder a shake.
    “ You
okay?” she asked quietly.
    “ No,
I don't think so.” He leaned closer and whispered to her. “I
know what I saw. There's something out there watching us. Tell
Gloriel to be ready.” The plane shook slightly as they heard
another rumble of thunder. “This isn't over yet.”
    Chris looked outside
again, drawn to stare into the storm in case there really was
something to see. But in the next few minutes there was nothing but
boiling clouds and bright flashes. He began to think that maybe the
others were right. Maybe it had been some odd reflection or just the
clouds that seemed to be inches away from the window. He relaxed,
muscle by muscle, and turned when he felt Natalie watching him.
    She was frowning at him in
concern and he smiled crookedly. “What? Afraid a few bats are
loose in my attic?” he asked and tapped his forehead.
    “ No, of course not.
But the last few days since our confrontation with Lilith have been
crazy. Hardly any sleep, on the run trying to stay one step ahead of
Talon, the loss of the Nest and our friends. I'm surprised we aren't
all jumping at shadows.”
    “ Yeah. Yeah, I
guess.” The plane trembled