Holly finished typing the message, then turned her phone off. The last group had finished boarding the plane and they were about to start moving. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Holly knew she should be excited. It was her first time on an airplane, after all. But with everything that had happened, and everything Wolfric had told her, she simply sat in her seat, gazing out the window, thinking about what was to come.
Even when the plane started to move, Holly hardly reacted. She could feel Wolfric's eyes on her, and she turned to face him. He looked concerned. Holly forced a small grin, then took a menu out from the back of the seat in front of her.
"I doubt they'll have fairymead, but we can take a look at their other drinks," she said.
Wolfric gave a small chuckle. Holly's grin broadened.
She asked him about the different No-Maj drinks, their flavors and textures, and Wolfric tried to answer as best he could. A steward came up and Wolfric glanced at his eyes. Green. Wolfric gave an inward sigh of relief, which was almost immediately overshadowed by worry. He had checked everyone he'd passed on the plane; the captain, the pilot, the other passengers. None of them had violet eyes.
There was one woman he noticed that seemed to be doing something similar, looking at people as if she was hoping to recognize someone. But Wolfric had passed her on the way to his seat, and by that time she was sitting quietly, reading a book. Other than that, there had been no signs of anything suspicious. Which meant the violet-eyed assassin was probably still in the US.
Don't think about that now, Wolfric told himself. Focus on the task at hand.
Wolfric felt a hand on his shoulder.
"We'll find it, alright?" Holly said, a comforting smile on her face. Wolfric smiled wanly back. Holly kissed him on the cheek and told him to try and get some sleep. Wolfric nodded and closed his eyes, leaning back in his seat. Despite everything that was happening, and the prospect of what they had to do, Wolfric somehow managed to fall asleep almost immediately.
Holly noticed the change in his breathing. She smiled to herself and leaned against his shoulder. She closed her eyes as well, and fell asleep almost as quickly as Wolfric. A few hours later, Holly woke up. She felt a vague prickling on her neck accompanied by a rising sense of foreboding. She looked around and noticed there were no devices out. Several people were snoring loudly. In fact, it seemed everyone on the plane was asleep, all except for one woman a few seats ahead reading a book.
Something was wrong. Holly unbuckled her seat belt as quietly as she could, then leaned past her husband's sleeping form. There was a cart in the aisle with drinks and snacks on it, but nobody near it. In fact, it seemed to be rolling towards the front of the plane on its own. Holly looked out the window and saw the plane was heading down, but there had been no announcement saying they were close to landing. The cart continued to roll, gaining speed. Finally, it slammed into the door to the cockpit with a loud crash.
The passengers continued to sleep. Holly recognized the prickling sensation on the back of her neck now. Magic. Just as this revelation struck her, the woman a few rows ahead snapped her book shut and unbuckled her seat belt. She stood up and walked to the front of the plane. Holly squeezed past Wolfric and followed her as stealthily as possible. She wasn't surprised when she saw the woman take a wand out of her pocket as she walked. Holly drew her own wand.
The woman reached the door to the cockpit, dented slightly from the cart's impact. She waved her wand and vanished the cart itself, along with the scattered snacks and drinks on the floor around it. Then the woman pointed her wand at the door and said "Alohomora." The door unlocked and opened a few inches. The woman entered nonchalantly, then shoved the sleeping body of the pilot out of his chair. Holly saw her reaching towards the controls and made her decision.
"Petrificus Totalus!" Holly shouted, pointing her wand at the woman. Her body froze, her hand inches away from the plane controls. Holly rushed in and grabbed the woman's wand from her other hand. Then she looked over the controls, trying to find something, anything that could help her. She found the switch that said autopilot and flipped it, but then the woman broke free of the spell and leaped on Holly.
She tried to wrench the wands out of Holly's hand, but Holly held fast. The woman headbutted her, then managed to grab her own wand. Before she could cast a spell, Holly punched her in the nose. The woman clutched her face in pain, but still managed to point her wand at Holly. Holly tried to raise her own wand to block the incoming spell, but she was too slow. The force of it hit her in the chest, and she slammed into the wall behind the unconscious co-pilot.
Holly cried out in pain; every inch of her body seemed to be aflame with agony. Through it all she somehow recognized it as the Cruciatus Curse, one of the darkest spells in the world. Just as she thought she'd break under the torture, it suddenly lifted. Holly opened her eyes and saw the woman staring with incredulity at the entrance to the cockpit. Holly saw Wolfric standing there, both his own wand and the woman's in his hand. He waved both and pointed them at the woman, shouting "Stupefy!" The double-spell slammed into her chest, blasting her against the plane's controls. Unfortunately, this must have turned off the autopilot, as the plane started dipping towards the ground once more.
"Wolfric, the pilots!" Holly shouted. He nodded and pointed his wand at one as Holly did the same to the other. "Rennervate!" The pilots eyelids started to flutter as the effects of the sleeping curse were lifted.
"Holly, we have to go! Now!" Wolfric said urgently. He pointed his wand at the woman's unconscious form which started to float behind him as he walked out of the cockpit. Holly followed, expecting him to go back to their seats, but instead he stopped at the hatch. The one that led outside the plane.
Wolfric looked back at Holly. Holly didn't fully understand, but she trusted her husband. She nodded. With that, Wolfric pointed his wand at the hatch, which flew open, causing a loud roar to fill the plane. Wolfric jumped out. Holly braced herself, then followed. The speed at which she fell was incredible. She simply didn't expect it to be so… sudden. Holly fell through the clouds, the cold biting at her skin. She endured it, angling herself downward into a dive. She broke out of the cloud and saw Wolfric below her, the still-unconscious body of the would-be hijacker a few feet behind him. Looking past them, Holly saw a patchwork of land, slowly getting larger as she fell.
She continued to dive until she was almost even with Wolfric. Then she spread her arms and legs out, letting the air push against her, slowing her descent. The ground continued to grow closer and closer. She was almost level with the tops of some trees when Holly forced her arm down, pointing her wand at the ground and shouting "Arresto Momentum!" Her descent immediately slowed, and a few seconds later she landed gently on the ground, feet first. Wolfric had done the same, but he stumbled a bit on the landing. The woman's fall slowed until she came to a stop a few feet off the ground. Then Wolfric let the spell go, letting her fall face first in the dirt.
The couple hugged each other tight. "We almost made it, didn't we?" Holly said.
Wolfric pulled back and grinned. "'Almost' seems a bit of an understatement," he said, pointing behind her. She turned and saw the very thing they left the country for, just a mile or two away.
Stonehenge.