Broken Knights (Gifted Academy #4) - Michelle Hercules Page 0,8
Bryce’s, Phoenix’s, and Rufio’s attention. My gaze locks with his for a fleeting moment, but Bryce’s hand on my arm draws my eyes away from Rufio’s cold stare.
“What is it, Daisy?”
“What do you think is going to happen now? Is your father going to send the police after us?”
Bryce rubs his jaw. “I don’t know what he’ll do. I think we should lie low for a while and wait for him to make the first move.”
“No. We’re not hiding,” Principal Fallon chimes in.
I knew she wasn’t asleep.
“What do you propose we do? Return to Gifted Academy as if everything were normal?” Rufio asks angrily.
“Yes. That’s precisely what we should do right now. Going into hiding will set us back months. Staying visible will force your father to show his hand sooner.”
“You mean use Daisy as bait,” Phoenix retorts angrily.
“I’m not afraid of him,” I say.
Bryce squeezes my hand. “We know you aren’t, but he already managed to capture you once. We can’t be too careful.”
“He’s not going to catch me unguarded again.”
Rufio stands suddenly and pierces me with his intense blue eyes. “As long as you have weaklings attached to you, you’ll always be in danger.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I frown, not liking his insinuation.
“He’s talking about me,” Rosie pipes up. “If Toby and I hadn’t been captured, then you wouldn’t have been put in that situation.”
“That’s bullshit, Rosie!” I yell, frustrated.
Rosie stands from her seat as well and walks to mine. “It’s not bullshit, and you know it.”
“And now you have another weak link. Me,” Rufio deadpans.
Twist the dagger in my chest harder, why don’t you?
“Bryce could always try to turn Rosie into an Idol.” Phoenix shrugs.
Rosie’s green eyes widen. “Over my dead body.”
“I guess someone still hates us.” He chuckles.
She crosses her arms and pouts. “I don’t hate all Idols anymore, but that doesn’t mean I want to become one.”
The airplane hits a pocket of turbulence, which forces everyone to return to their seats. But the atmosphere around us is still permeated with the heaviness of spoken and unspoken words. I don’t know what to make of Rufio’s statement. Was he trying to break up with me? My eyes burn just thinking about it. I love him with all my heart. I can’t bear to think that he’d want to leave me, but at the same time, I wouldn’t blame him if he did. I took away his powers, after all.
The plane shakes again, more violently than before. My heart leaps up to my throat as my pulse quickens. I clutch the armrests in a vise hold and try not to let the panic set in. But when the plane drops suddenly, Rosie and I scream.
“It’s okay, Daisy. It’s just a patch of bad weather,” Phoenix tries to reassure me with a smile.
It would have worked if there weren’t another drop, followed by more shaking.
“What the hell is going on?” Principal Fallon pulls up the window shade just in time for us to see lightning strike the sky, revealing a cluster of angry clouds quickly approaching our small plane.
“Oh my God,” Rosie whimpers behind me.
The pilot says something over the speakers, but I barely make out his words over the loud pounding in my ears. We’re all looking out the windows now, and with each new strike of lightning, the plane seems to shake harder.
“The sky was supposed to be clear all the way to Saturn’s Bay. This isn’t a normal storm,” Principal Fallon mutters.
“It’s not. It’s the island god,” Bryce declares.
A loud boom outside draws another scream from me. I hear Rosie whimper, and then Toby tries to calm her down. I wish I could tell her everything will be okay, but I’m gripped by terror too. This is my second time flying, but I’ve seen plenty of plane-crash movies. If this small jet gets hit by a lightning bolt, it’s game over for us. There’s no amount of Idol power that can save us.
The nose of the plane dips suddenly at perilous angle. The pilot shouts something over the speakers. Maybe he’s telling us we’re going down. I don’t know because I’m screaming.
“Daisy! Daisy!” Bryce shakes me, turning me around. “I need you to calm down.”
“I can’t,” I sob through my tears.
“Leave her alone, Bryce. Can’t you see she’s in distress?” Rufio yells from his seat.
“I can’t have her lose her mind now. We all need to work together if we want to keep this plane from crashing.”
“Bryce is right,” Principal Fallon chimes in. “I’ll