Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder
Chapter 27 - Gravity
Alex's POV
I was quietly steering the carpet to avoid passing birds and clouds, squinting from the warm sunlightand enjoying the cool breeze from being so high up, when I felt Mason stirring in his sleep. I smirked at him. His eyelids fluttered a bit as he tried to focus. He lifted his head and glanced up.
"Ahhrgharah!" he mumbled in a groggy sense of alarm. He jerked his body when he realized what was going on, sending him flying off the edge and plummiting downwards.
"Oh my gosh, Mason!" I wailed. I yanked on the left corner as hard as possible. The carpet and I curved in a fast downward spin, going straight through the clouds below. If you've ever dreamed of touching a cloud, it's nothing like a cotton ball that you can make distinct shapes through, or even land on, like tv exaggerates. It's just icey, misty wet air, that melts into cold water if you even get close to it. Clouds are not helpful in any way, and they're also kind of blinding when you fly right into them. It made it that much harder to keep track of Mason.
I quickly flipped the carpet down until I was directly below him. He landed next to me, face down with his hair brushed backwards from the strong wind.
"You okay?" I asked as he scrambled back to a sitting position. I scanned him over as he fixed his hair. He didn't look injured, thankfully.
"Not exactly what I'd call a nice awakening," he replied, "But yes, I'm fine."
"Believe me, it woke me up too," I smirked.
"You know, even though I thought I was plummiting to my doom, that whole action movie flip was pretty cool to see," he complimented with a playful nudge.
I laughed. "Dad warned me a million times to never try something like that, but I guess desperate times cause desperate measures."
He yawned. "What time is it?"
I glanced at my wrist. "We're getting close to the Wizard World, the magic's making my watch go nuts."
"How long have I been out?"
"Just a few hours." A small yawn escaped.
"Have you been up the whole time?" He asked, surprise and concern in his voice. I looked away without a reply. "Alex-"
"Well what was I supposed to do, Mason? Stop at a hotel?" I didn't mean to snap, but I guess the lack of sleep was making me irritable.
But he wasn't affected by the remark. "Alex, you need sleep." He wrapped his arm around me. "Do you want me to drive?"
I raised an eyebrow. "You know how to fly a magic carpet?"
"...okay, maybe you can sleep later."
"That's what I thought." I smiled.
We sat in silence for about fifteen minutes, until an abnormally large purple cloud came into view. The cloud seemed to glow, with white sparks gravitated through it. Completely invisible to the eyes of mere mortals, besides former wizards like myself, this was the intrance to the Wizard World.
"Hold on tight!" I warned him. He didn't have a chance to protest. He clung to the carpet and my side and screamed while I laughed as I picked up speed. We busted through the cloud exhileratingly fast. Suddenly, I felt at home. Dragons, firebirds, and wizards on carpets and broomsticks zoomed around us. I smiled down at the city below, where the buildings twisted and turned, magic roamed free, and nothing was dull. I had forgotten how amazing everything here was.
"Darling, wouldn't it have been a lot faster if we would've just went through the portal?" Mason questioned. I almost glared, but I froze. I groaned, blushing from my own stupidity. Mega facepalm moment.
"I don't think things all the way through when i panic..?" I explained pathetically.
"I tried to tell you.." he muttered under his breath. I yanked the carpet right, making us spin in a flip. He screamed again as I laughed.
"Okay, now keep an eye out for the Observation Center." I told him.
"What exactly am I supposed to look out for?" He questioned.
I glanced over the edge as we flew. "Hmm, well, it's an apartment-like brick building with some trees-" I raised an eyebrow. "And a giant holligram of the sign..? Whoa!"
I looked down at the buildings below us. Each one had a neon holligram as high as we were with the name glowing. Wow, a lot can change in five or six years without access to the Wizard World. The signs actually made finding it no harder than searching on Google Earth.
"WOC." Mason read, pointing to a neon holligram. "Is that it?"
"Looks like it," I told him. "Hang on." I reached for thw pulley string from under the front and yanked up. We kept moving like nothing had happened.
"Uh, Alex? We passed it." He informed me. I yanked again. Nothing.
"It's back there.." he continued. I jerked as hard as I could. Nothing.
"Alex- I think we're acctually going faster now-"
I jerked and yanked with all my might. This can't be happening. Not now.
"Alex-"
"I KNOW. Mason! I KNOW we passed it! Stating the obvious is NOT HELPING." I finally snapped. Oh, and you'll never guess what else snapped.
I held the broken string in my shaking hand. No, I wasn't sad. I was downright ready to punch somebody. Angry hot tears blurred my vision. If you think "road rage" is dangerous. wait'll you try this.
Luckily, the wind stopped wipping my hair around my face, which helped. That is, until I realized why it stopped. I froze in horror.
"Well, we're slowing now. That's good, right?" Mason stated, on the bright side as usual.
"Mason, that's not good on our part," my voice cracked. I could hear the invisible engine rumble unevenly and slow. I grabbed Mason's wrist. "Honey, hold my hand."
"What are you doing?" he replied cautiously.
"Something crazy." I said softly. Our fingers intertwined as the carpet grew slower. I gripped the side with my opposite hand and ordered him to do the same.
'Three." I said.
"Two." he said.
"One." we said together. The carpet started lowering. It slowed moving forward, but the downward speed grew. Rapidly fast.
"Lean!" I ordered, nudging him to the left. It weighed his side down, making us flip as we plummited.
"How does this help us?" he demanded.
"Just trust me!" I told him. He barely moved. "Mason, you have to put all of your weight to the left! Do you trust me?"
"I do, but-"
I looked him straight in the eye. "Mason, I love you. You have to lean. I promise we'll make it. Do you trust me?"
He glanced into my eyes. "Okay," he told me. He shifted all his weight to the left. The carpet flipped, making us fall upside down. I jutted my whole body forward, shoving the carpet towards our destination. Our weight on the bottom instead of the top angled our landing. So instead of plummiting to our deaths, we landed carpet first into the flat roof of the WOC.
"You did it!" Mason exclaimed happily, planting a kiss on my cheek. I smiled exhaustedly before I collapsed into his lap, falling asleep instantly.
XxXxXxXxX
When I woke up, we were no longer on the roof. I sat up in shock, glancing around the unfamiliar room. I pushed aside the thick white blanket and panicked; I had no idea where I was.
The brown wood door cracked, revealing a tiny fragile face with dark chocolate eyes. A smile spread across her face.
"Daddy, she's awake!" she called past the door. She dashed to my side, scrambling into my lap. I wrapped my arms around her securely.
"Hi, baby!" I cried as I hugged her. I kissed the top of her head and wiped a tear from my eye.
"I was afraid you weren't gonna wake up," Leah told me, wiping her little glass tears into my shirt.
I smiled and pushed her bangs away from her face. "You really think I'm just gonna ditch you like that? C'mon, kiddo, you know me better than that."
The door opened again. This time it was Mason.
"Well if it isn't Sleeping Beauty, finally lifted from her spell," he smiled as he entered. "Emphasis on the beauty."
I smiled and took his hand. "How long have I been out?"
"Nine hours and twenty-three minutes," Leah answered for him. I raised an eyebrow as she continued. "Ms. Janine said that the crash must've startled you, which is why you fell asleep. And Daddy said that you stayed awake all night flying, so you needed some rest.
"That's pretty much how I would've summed it up," Mason explained with a smirk. I glanced around at my little family. For the first time in a while, everything felt the way it did before the disaster. I felt safe.
I checked my phone which was on the headboard. Two new messages from Max.
Message One: Dad didn't get to tell you that the brakes on the corndog are broken. Reply when you land so we know you made it!
Corndog? What was that supposed to mean? I clicked the next message.
Message Two: Haha, autocorrect. Carpet, not corndog. Ha ha ha ha ha.
I smirked a little and checked the times. Both were from over ten hours ago. I read them alloud to Mason and Leah.
"Does Uncle Max even have autocorrect on his phone?" Leah asked.
Mason paused. "I don't think so..."
I chuckled and popped out the keyboard. Hey, we landed early this morning. (I was asleep for the past few hours.) Tell Dad we're fine, but the carpet probably won't make it back.
Twenty minutes later I was woken up enough to leave the room. I pulled my hair into a ponytail and started out the door. Leah sped infront of me and raised her arms. I smiled and slund her on my hip. She rested her cheek on my shoulder as we made our way to the living room. I froze.
"Hello, Ms. Russo," on old voice said.
"Greyback." I corrected. I held Leah tighter.
"What is today's date, Ms. Russo?"
"June twenty-eighth." I said slowly.
"Precisely." Professor Crumbs replied. He started slowly towards us. I could feel Mason tense up from behind me. I wrapped my arms protectively around my daughter when I felt her shaking from nervousness.
"It has been exactly one month since Leah was sent to the Wizard Observation Center. The official, and final, trial will begin at four PM today." And with that, he was gone.
Sorry for the cliff-hanger. I really hate doing that to y'all, cause I know I kind of temporarily ditched this. But don't worry, I'm back! Chapter 28 is in the works. I promise (:
Twitter - ShayDenney311
Soo..I've been kind of thinking about a Sequel, but I'm not 100% sure if I'll go through with it. The hits/reviews/favorites have been going kind of downward during these past few chapters, so are y'all losing interest? Am I boring you or something? Let me know, and I'll finish this and move on to another one eventually. But if you think I should do the sequel, review or tweet me to let me know!
Twitter - ShayDenney311