Alana was still sitting in the plastic chair by Abigail's side with Freddie's hands enveloping her own when the first drops of rain began to patter against the window.
She looked up, startled. Had she really gotten so distracted? Even with her heart still pounding in her chest, she could have sworn the sky was clear just a few moments ago.
Freddie slowly released her hand, as though asking permission, and moved toward the window with her brow furrowed over her eyes.
"Now that's strange," she said, turning back to face Alana for a moment, one hand still on the windowsill, "Because I checked the weather, and it wasn't supposed to rain."
Alana lifted her shoulders in a shrug, trying to focus on the strange occurrence. Weathermen had been wrong before.
She opened her mouth to point this out-
-Just as a blinding flash of light lit up the window and turned the darkness beyond it into a blur of white, and a sound almost too loud to comprehend shattered the air.
Alana dove to the floor without thinking, her hands going to cover her head and her body twisting so that her legs shielded her chest, fear overriding every other possible reaction.
Because she could still feel warm breath gusting across the back of her neck, could still feel the stare of a predator's eyes burning against her skin, and now, now she could feel the agony of the air being forced from her lungs, and the terror of knowing that the plane was going down, and there was nothing she could do to save herself.
Her eyes were squeezed so tightly shut that if it hadn't been for Chayvetz, frozen on the bed, she wouldn't have even had the presence of mind to realize that the room had gone dark.
It took a moment for the agony in her back to reach her awareness, but once it took hold, there was no escaping it.
A gasped whimper escaped her lips, and it a sob twisted around her lungs and clogged her throat, even as she felt Kvoris' gentle weight against Chayvetz' wing, and Freddie's hand on her shoulder, and her voice, raised in a desperate cry. "I need help in here!"
Another flash of light that she could see even past her closed eyes, lighting up her world in blinding red. Another deafening roll of thunder that seemed like it would shake the world into pieces.
And then warm fur brushed past her arm, and something at the edge of her awareness howled, and Senteron screamed.
Louder than the thunder, louder than the howl, Alana saw through her daemon's eyes as Abigail lurched upright, her mouth agape, her eyes wide and blank and glowing in the darkness, and Senteron was on his feet, his head thrown toward the ceiling, a scream more horrible than anything Alana had ever heard tearing from his throat.
Then there came a roar that drowned out even the marmoset's screeching cry, and the sound seemed like such a physical manifestation of rage that Alana felt her own teeth clenching in her jaw, and her fingers curling into claws in reaction.
Hatred coiled in her mind, and ran like ice through her veins. Her breathing sped, her heart raced.
But not in fear, not anymore.
Her eyes were closed. She closed them tighter, and willed her heart to slow. Willed her lungs to calm.
Alana breathed in, and when she breathed out again, her entire body went limp, and her daemon drooped lifelessly against the ground he'd fallen to.
The unspeakable roar continued, and on the bed, Senteron continued to scream.