I stared as the planes landed on the brightly lit London-Luton airport runway through the glass a very strong coffee clutched in my hands. Having just come from visiting Topaz and her brood here in England the coffee was just about keeping my head from nodding off my shoulders; I was more than tired and very glad that I was about to get on a fourteen hour flight to Soekarno-Hatta International in Tangerang, Indonesia. My brilliant baby sister Crystal was meeting me there accompanied by her irritatingly egotistic, annoying-but-can't-help-but-love soulfinder, Xavier Benedict.
Like Xav and Crystal, I am a Savant; people with special...powers. Xav is a healer which is probably where his ego comes from. Each Savant is born with a soul-mate, their other half. Crystal is something rarer; she does things a little differently. She's a soul-seeker, a very special savant who can find Soulfinders. Crystal gave the remaining Benedict boys - Will, Uriel and Victor - a place to start but decided to come with me. I was to meet her there. She was already in the air flying from Denver.
My phone beeped, alerting me to a text. It was my sister Diamond. hey, bring back a special girl because I like weddings!
I snorted as my flight was announced, my bags having already been checked in, I picked up my single strap laptop bag and sat it on my shoulder. Multi-tasking wasn't my strong point, I got myself into a right mess trying to text as well as find my ticket and passport in my bag and walk to the appropriate place to board was very hard indeed.
I found my passport and ticket, put them in the same hand as my phone so I wouldn't loose them. I briefly looked up as I crashed into a young man not too much younger than me. He was standing at the back of the line. My line.
"Sorry," I apologized.
He shook his head. "No worries. Trying to get a final text in, for your girlfriend?" He asked, nodding to my phone, half way through a message.
I laughed. "No, my sisters." I glanced down at my phone, remembering to text Crystal I was boarding as I had promised to do after her demanding text. "One is telling me to get married, the other is telling me to hurry up." He laughed.
"We need the Concords back." He said. I agreed. The Concords were very fast passenger jets from the seventies or eighties, that could get you from London to New York in under three hours. "Simon McAvoy." He offered his hand.
"Peter Brook." I shook his hand. Simon was a tanned indivudial with spiked up blonde hair and brown eyes. He screamed college student who was obviously taking a gap year to explore the world.
A very polite Chinese woman greeted us as we approached her. "Enjoy your flight." She said in a clear Chinese accent after checking my passport and ticket.
I thanked her. As did Simon once he was cleared as his passport picture didn't exactly match his current appearance so it took a little longer. I remember being a little kid and enjoyed running down the Jet Bridge. And take off, my favorite. Simon and I found two seats near the back of the plane; a young female had already occupied the isle seat. "Hi, do you mind if we..."
"No, not at all." She had an Irish accent. "I'm Emma." Emma was pale with ginger hair bunched back into a ponytail and green eyes, a copy of Shakespeare's 'MacBeth' clutched in her hands.
"Peter." I nodded to Simon. "Simon."
A flight attendant clapped his hands. "People! People! We are picking seats not furniture so sit down." I laughed, pushing my bag in the overhead lockers, before shimming across to the window seat as Simon had occupied the seat next to Emma.
"Ladies and Gentleman, welcome aboard British Airways Flight Q33K with non-service from England to Indonesia, I am Ash and I'm going to be that little voice in your head for the next fourteen hours." He was definitely gay. A blonde stewardess stood in front of him. "We are currently third in line for take-off and are expected to be in the air in approximately seven minutes time. There are countless ways to loose your kids but only six ways to loose yourself off this flight," The female pointed to the exits. "If our customer service doesn't meet your highest standards please feel free to use one of these exits at any time. In the event of the oxygen masks falling before you, stop screaming, grab the mask, and pull the strap it over your head. If you have a small child or an adult behaving like a child traveling with you, secure your mask before assisting with theirs. If you are traveling with more than one small child or adult behaving like one, pick your favorite."
"Seatbelt, fastened. Electronic Devices, off. Tables-tray, up. Seat back, up. Heart rate, up." Emma and I laughed at Simon as he checked everything ahead of the flight attendant who was making everyone laugh. "Prepare for blast off."
I plunged my earphones into my ears and finally let the heavy weight of sleep take over me and slept like Emma and Simon through most of the flight, waking up briefly for an evacuation of my bladder and a drink. A flight attendant woke all three of us up as the fasten your seat-belt sigh came on. "Please return to your seats and fasten your belts as we make our final descent into Tangerang. I'd like to thank all you lovely people on behalf of the captain and flight crew for flying with us today and the next time you have the insane urge to go rocketing through the skies at high speed in a metal tube please think of British Airways, thank you."
The Captain came on as the aircraft descended, his voice echoed through my head and I didn't pay attention, just copied Emma. The sun was rising, already glittering on the clear blue ocean. The city alive. The plane touched down and taxied to the gate. Despite the announcement from the flight attendant asking to exit calmly it was a mad but slow dash for the exits. I pulled my bag out the locker, yanking Emma's out by mistake, catching it before it hit the floor.
"Thanks." She smiled gratefully as I handed it to her.
"PETER!" Crystal's voice rang out as I walked into the main airport. It wasn't hard to spot the two of them, Crystal especially.
"Crystal."
