Chapter 26 (1/2)

Dan tugged uncertainly at his tie. ”You, uh, failed to mention this part.”

He stood outside of a small private hangar, dressed in a 3-Piece Navy blue suit with a dark red tie. His shoes were shined, his hair was styled, and his brow was sweaty. A private jet sat on the runway before him, its hatch down awaiting his presence.

The thing looked like it had flown right off a science-fiction set. The few business jets Dan had seen in his life had always resembled, at their core, miniature commercial aircraft with a bit of stylish sleekness thrown in. They were planes. A man like Dan could see one and say ”Oh, that's a cool looking plane.”

Dan was looking at a jet. Not a jet fighter like he'd seen in Top Gun. This wasn't a Tomcat or a MiG. The nose was wide and flat, raising up only slightly to accomodate a cockpit. The wings swept backwards in a sharp V shape, with a pair of small fins mounted on the rear of the aircraft for reasons that Dan couldn't begin to fathom. Rather than turbines, beneath each wing was a simple hollowed out circle. They looked like Dyson fans, one for each wing, and showed no visible blades. The body was diamond shaped when viewed from the side; narrow at the front, widening slightly at the middle, then angling back to a point at the rear. The whole craft was painted matte black.

It looked like a damned stealth fighter. Abby's chosen method of arrival to her family reunion was by way of a modified military jet.

”What's wrong?” Abby asked curiously, bouncing over to his side.

She was a vision of beauty, wearing a flowing yellow sundress and short white heels. A thin golden bangle was clasped around her right wrist, and she wore a pair of blue oval earrings. Her smile was positively radiant, and hadn't left her face since Dan had laid eyes on her this morning.

They had taken a limo from her apartment in Brunswick. That was fine, Dan had expected that. Rich people took limos, and while Abby drove herself most days, there were certain expectations that had to be met when she visited family. He could understand that. The jet was different. Dan wasn't sure why, but it was.

Was it that he'd been in a limo before? A limo was something familiar, something normal even. He'd hired a limo for Senior Prom for god's sake. A limo, not a private jet. People like him didn't have friends with private jets. People like him didn't take private jets.

”You didn't say we'd be flying there,” Dan said, his voice a little unsteady.

It hadn't actually occurred to him to ask where the reunion was taking place. His power had rather stifled his common sense in that regard. An idiotic omission, in retrospect. Of course they would have to travel a bit.

”We aren't going far,” Abby replied cheerfully, bumping his shoulder with her own. ”Just down to Key West, in Florida.”

She met his eyes and tilted her head to the right, beaming up at him. ”Is that okay?”

Abby used Charm!

It's super effective!

Dan matched her smile as best he could. ”No, it's fine. I was just surprised by the way it looked, that's all.”

”Oh, right!” Abby spun to face the plane, shaking her head in exasperation. ”It's been so long that I'd just gotten used to it.”

She waved her hand airily. ”Grandma's had the whole family in these things since, like, before I was born. She's real big on privacy, and didn't like that people could track our flights.”

”Is that... legal?” Dan asked cautiously, glancing around the empty air strip. Other than the two pilots, already in their cockpit, there wasn't a soul in sight. The limo driver had already left.

Abby shrugged. ”I guess so? Nobody's ever mentioned anything. I'm sure grandma has it handled.”

An uncertain shiver ran down Dan's spine.

”Alright, let's go!” Abby clapped her hands together happily, then looped her arm through Dan's. ”We don't want to be late!”

Dan allowed himself to be dragged forward, muttering, ”No, I definitely don't want that.”

They boarded the plane with minimal fanfare. No smartly dressed British Butler met them onboard, no skimpily dressed waitresses brought them flutes of champagne, and no professionally dressed pilots bowed and scraped before Heiress Abigail.

It was all comfortably rote. One of the pilots checked in on the intercom, asking if the passengers were strapped in and ready for liftoff. Abby replied in the affirmative, and then they were flying.

The last part wasn't quite so comfortable. Not for Dan, at least, whose last experience with flight had him leaving Earth's atmosphere. It was one of those creeping fears, the kind that catches you by surprise. One moment he was fine, the plane was grounded and level, the scenery was stil. The next, they were rocketing through the air at speeds that screamed unsafe, as roads then trees then clouds zipped by the window.

There was no feeling of acceleration, no build up of inertia or slow increase of speed. The plane moved through the sky much like a drag car, and Dan felt none of it. But his eyes saw the surroundings blur, saw the ground disappear into the distance, saw white clouds and a ceiling of blue, so his brain decided to have a bit of a minor panic attack.

He sat stock-still for several minutes, with Abby by his side holding his hand and whispering comforting words in his ear. She noticed his distress almost instantly, her upgrade giving her an insight into his body with a brush of her hand. He was stiff and unmoving, taking gasping breaths just shy of hyperventilation. His mind ran on full tilt, replaying his initial soujorn into space over and over again.

He didn't want to lose everything. Not again, not after building himself a new life. He wasn't ready for a third round.

Abby ran her hand through his hair, whispering ”You're alright, you're okay, I'm right here,” over and over again, and slowly he calmed down. His brain fell back to Earth and realized that, no, he wasn't in space again.

He slouched in his seat, trying to calm his raging heart, and sheepishly said, ”Sorry about that.”

”I didn't know you were afraid of flying,” Abby replied softly, hugging his head to her side.

”I'm not,” Dan replied, feeling distinctly lightheaded. ”I've never been.”

Abby narrowed her eyes at him, her pretty face twisting into a frown. ”I know what a panic attack looks like, Danny.”

”It's not flying,” Dan said earnestly, shaking his head back and forth. The motion made him woozy, and he had to pause to steady himself.

He turned to face Abby, his friend patiently waiting for him to speak.

”It was the suddenness of it, that's all,” Dan tried to explain. ”We went up so fast, and I couldn't feel anything. My brain just... couldn't compute.”

Abby's eyes lit up with understanding. ”You've never been in a plane with inertial dampeners?”