Claudia's eyes fluttered open as she came to consciousness. The first thing she noticed was that she was sitting on an uncomfortable wooden bench in an airport. The second thing she noticed was that her brother was lying next to her, clearly unconscious, and the third thing she noticed was that both her parents were acting like nothing unusual or odd was even happening at all. Clara’s dad was chewing on a strawberry wafer, whilst her mom casually lied on the bench they were wall sitting in and opened up a newspaper.
Claudia’s mother took her eyes off the newspaper and locked eyes with her daughter for a split second before hurling the newspaper against a Security Guard’s head, causing it to be redirected into a nearby metal trash can. The security guard glared at Claudia’s mother and began lumbering towards the family for a few seconds before stopping in his tracks and falling to his
“Dear God I’m gonna hurl!” The security guard said before sprinting off to the bathroom on the other side of the Airport.
“I’ve always wanted to do that.” Claudia’s mother said with a giggle. “Anyway I believe now is the time I tell you why we are moving. We are moving in order to protect you from-Ack!” Claudia’s mother stopped mid-sentence as a falcon swooped into the airport and began clawing at her body with its razor-sharp talons and flapping its wings at her. Claudia wanted to help her mom but she was far too shocked to do anything. Her dad, on the other hand, was extremely quick to react. He quickly tore the falcon off of his wife’s body and threw it inside the trash can behind the bench. Shrill squawks and the beating of wings emanated from the trash can as the falcon tried to get out but to no avail. Security guards rushed to the scene and swiftly carried out the trash out of the airport.
Lydia’s face was relatively fine but her shirt had many little scrapes and bruises. Lydia seemed to not really care about her being attacked by a falcon and looked more like she was thinking intensely about why it happened in the first place. Suddenly, Lydia glanced over at the Terminal board and her eyes lit up.
“Our flights ready” Lydia blurted. “Are you sure your willing to go right now and not at least go to the hospital to see if you got anything from that bird?” Claudia’s dad asked. “No time,” Lydia said firmly, shaking her head at the end of her sentence. Claudia’s father let out a deep sigh before responding: come on, why not? Why can’t we just leave now to go back tomorrow?”
“Because a mage is already on our tails” hearing that made an expression of pure confusion flash across her face. “What do you mean a mage is on our tails?” She asked. “Pealeai Falcons aren’t in Arizona,” Lydia muttered before picking up her son and getting in line. Claudia sighed as she followed her mother. 10 minutes later, the family got through security and finally boarded the plane. Claudia found it weird that she was in first class, it was like Valhalla to the young girl. The blue cushion seats were evenly spaced apart to provide full legroom. They were so soft and warm and comforting, Claudia just wanted to sink into them and stay there forever, in pure comfort and joy.
The chairs legitimately gave Claudia dopamine rushes. Aside from the sweet seats of the first class, there are also other cool things in the first-class section. The flight attendants were carrying trays of food that appeared to be from all parts of the world. From chocolate-covered ants from Greece to Poutine from Canada. The seat in front of Claudia’s held an albino woman with scarlet red eyes hunched over. Claudia has seen her first coming into the first class. She had no idea why but seeing that woman made Claudia very fearful. As if every bone in her body was telling her to not engage with the woman. But Claudia powered through the fear and looked over her shoulder, her heart racing.
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Claudia peeked over the woman’s shoulder and looked at what she was writing. The words the woman was writing appeared to look like English but not quite. The letters seemed very sharp and jagged, like daggers. It was clear to Claudia that whatever language the woman was writing in, was not only old but most likely European in origin. The woman’s eyes glanced up and she saw Claudia looking at her, and with a yelp, Claudia quickly apologized and sunk back into her seat. The woman gave out a booming chuckle that seemed to resound across the entire airplane before clamping onto Claudia’s necklace and ripping it off with a horrible snap, that forced Claudia to yelp
“How interesting …” the albino woman trailed off briefly before finishing her sentence. Claudia noticed the woman’s accent was very similar to Bella Legosi “...You don’t appear to be with Lazarus or the M.I.U. Despite you having magic like your mother and brother.” Claudia’s heartbeat stopped dead and she suddenly wanted to leave, but her interest once again overpowered her fear and she decided to ask the woman what she meant.
“H-how do you know my mother has magic and what’s Lazarus or MIU?” Claudia quivered, paranoia crawling up her back like a tarantula.
”You have your mother’s eyes,” the woman said, shutting her journal and placing it on her lap, ” The eyes of a killer ” The woman let her head back and giggled, her voice cracking as it bounced off the walls of the plane. The other passengers of the plane didn’t really seem to notice. Claudia felt like she needed to leave, but the woman clamped down on her leg with unnatural strength, despite her petite frame. The woman leaned over to Claudia's ear.
"Tell Lydia she has to finish what she started" The woman cooed, digging into Claudia's leg and creating long streaks of blood from her kneecap to her Achilles. Claudia gritted her teeth so hard she could almost hear them crack. She really should've listened to her instincts. Then the woman let go and Claudia rushed out her seat and accidentally bumped into a waitress. "Helpmepleasethisstrangewomanattackedme!" she stammered, pointing over to the seat where the woman was.
"Please calm down girl" The waitress began, "There's no one in that seat" Claudia gave a puzzled expression and turned to where the woman was sitting, only no one was in the seat. She couldn't have possibly gotten out in the time it took for Claudia to get the Flight Attendant. Claudia just stood there, staring at the seat, playing the events of the last minute in her head over and over. It just didn't make sense. Then again the past three weeks for Claudia weren't making that much sense. Hours passed and eventually the plane soared over the Amazon rainforest and looking outside Claudia could see the beautiful sights. The smooth trees, birds gracefully gliding through the air, the glistening water swaying so perfectly and precisely it was hard to believe it wasn't alive.
Suddenly, something powerful struck the underbelly of the bus, making it turn on its side int he blink of an eye! Claudia was rocketed out fo her seat, and held on for dear life. On the platform that held luggage. The floor beneath her gave way, revealing a thick tree branch, that held a flew through the air and landed on two passenger in the back, crushing them both, but not before knocking over the waitress and bloodying the back of her head. Another branch hit the plane, tis time knocking out a few windows. People quickly began flying out of the plane due to the sudden decompression, and the plane began to fall? Claudia let go of her hold and flew frontward, slamming her face into the door of the cockpit. Claudia screamed and opened the door and went inside, moments before the branch from earlier halted into it, and shattered. Claudia looked over at the pilots, and began begging for them to help, only to stop when she noticed they were dead.
Fear and paranoia overwhelmed the girl, and before she knew it both pilots snapped back to life and moved the plane into the lake off a safer landing. The plane skipped across the lake like a pebble in a pond. Screams and creaks of metal filled the air as the plane smashed into the jagged rocks that neared the end of the lake, and then there was silence. Claudia calmed and the pilots groaned in unison before dying once again. Claudia took in deep breaths. The hell that was the last 10 seconds was finally over. Now, she had peace..until she noticed that since the glass was busted and the plane was pretty much now a big pile of shiny Swiss cheese, water would begin flowing in. It happened so quickly. Things went from bad to worse.