in the right places. He didn’t want Sam to find any mistakes: this was too important. Then he folded them up, slipped them in an envelope and pushed it deep into his bag.
As he turned to leave for work, his mum gently held his arm and looked up at him.
‘I’ll see you later,’ said Ethan, turning to go, but he wasn’t quick enough to escape a kiss. ‘Mum!’ he moaned jokingly.
She smiled, and for a brief moment Ethan saw a flicker of the person she used to be. He grinned back, waved, and was gone.
It was still early and FreeFall was quiet. Sam hadn’t even arrived to open up yet, so Ethan took a walk. It was a crisp morning, and as he strolled out onto the DZ, his feet left faint scuff marks in the dew on the grass, like finger smudges on a wet window. It was strange being out here alone, wandering around a place he was used to seeing filled with people, all chatting noisily, rushing around with whoops of amazement.
He stretched and breathed in the morning. Yep, there really was something about this place – something that felt right. It was like he was discovering something about himself.
The roar of an engine broke into the moment. Ethan turned.
Sam had arrived. His Land Rover Defender 110 King Cab rolled to a halt beside the office. It was the very definition of the word ‘beast’, Ethan thought. He couldn’t work out how something so huge could actually be road legal. The tyres looked ready to chew up and spit out a mountain, and the suspension had been jacked up to an impossible height. Aluminium checker-plate covered the bonnet, the wings, the bottom of the doors and various other bits Ethan didn’t know the names for. A winch sat out front. Inside was a world of dials and gauges. And it was black.
It looked, thought Ethan, pure evil.
Sam clambered out, waved a salute to him.
Ethan jogged over, pulling the envelope containing the forms out of his bag on his way. ‘All signed,’ he said, and handed it to Sam.
He felt he should have said more, because it felt like an important moment, but no words came, and for a second he just stood there, feeling a little awkward.
Sam took the envelope, checked the forms and nodded. ‘Good,’ he said, and looked back at Ethan, a rare smile on his face. ‘How do you feel?’
‘Like I want to get up there and do it now,’ said Ethan. ‘I can’t bloody wait.’
‘Right answer,’ said Sam, walking round to the back of the Defender and pulling down the tailgate.
Ethan followed and asked when he would be jumping. Sam pulled a huge rucksack from the back of the Defender, then slammed the tailgate shut. ‘Soon as possible,’ he said. ‘Over the next couple of days, if the weather holds out.’
‘Really? That soon?’
Sam nodded. ‘No point hanging around. Once you’ve set your mind on doing something, best to get it done. Right?’ And slapping his hand on Ethan’s shoulder, he headed off to his office.
As Ethan set off after him to get his work assignment for the day, he looked up at the sky. He was going to do a tandem skydive. There was no turning back now, not with someone like Sam. And he couldn’t stop grinning, no matter how much his cheeks ached.
Lunch time came round so quickly Ethan almost forgot to grab a bite to eat. It was a good day for jumping, and FreeFall was heaving with people excited and nervous about taking their very own leap into the unknown.
Like a flock of geese, another group of tandems were coming in to land. The air was filled with the sound of cheering families and friends, cameras clicking, whoops, applause.
Ethan heard his name and turned. He saw Johnny standing some way from the DZ on an open area of grass. He was with Kat, Jake, and two others Ethan hadn’t seen before. Natalya and Luke, he assumed, remembering the names of the other two members of the team. Sam was standing slightly apart from them, supervising.
Luke seemed to be a couple of years older than Johnny – probably twenty or so. Natalya was about the same age as Ethan. Her skin was pale, and she had rich red hair.
Johnny waved at Ethan, then pointed up at the sky. He shouted again and Ethan caught three words: jumping; five; formation.
Ethan gave a thumbs-up and watched as the team got themselves into