Shadows (Book Two of the Royals Trilogy)

Chapter Eighteen

SKYLAR

“So, then we’re going to Europe?” asked Blair without taking her eyes off the road. She had been very insistent on driving. I nodded and her lips turned into a straight line, I could understand just how much she wanted to see her father, especially now that she had regained her memories and had questions for him, but I was sure we needed to get to the Royale Brothers first. Blair trusted me and that was why she didn’t question my choices.

Blair drove us off to a small Hunter land used for mission that needed air transport. We took our bags and our knives and guns before walking into the building. It had the appearance of a barn but inside it looked like sophisticated, clean and a very technologically developed place. I guessed the reason why the outside looked so worn out was because they didn’t want to draw attention of supernaturals and any other curious human, to the small airport.

“Hello, my name is Hunter Adam, how may I help you?” asked the man sitting at the front desk. He looked serious and too young to be out of the field.

“We are Huntresses, Blair Swift and Skylar Chase,” Blair responded before continuing, “and we need a transport to take over to-.”

When she trailed off, her eyes turned to me and I stepped in, “to Ireland.” The man at the front desk nodded and started typing away in his device. When he turned back to us he raised an eyebrow.

“May I scan your identifications?” he said, his tone had grown hostile. Blair and I extended our hands and a code appeared on the gadget we were wearing. Since we were Trainees, we were given these devices that were exclusively for us and they contained things only we could see as well as our identification codes.

The machine beeped and Hunter Adam continued typing until he printed out two sticky papers with our names on it. “You will need to use these at all times as you walk through the doors to your right and there you will be provided with a vehicle based on your needs.” We thanked Adam and disappeared through the door he had mentioned.

Through those doors we found ourselves in a enormous room filled with air transports varying all from different sizes and shapes. “Huntresses, welcome to the Hunter Air Transport Center. What mission are you on?” asked an older woman who was starting to show signs of old age. She looked small and fragile, but I assumed that was just a façade.

“We need to go to Ireland, to find the Royale Brothers, once they are captured, we will need enough space for six people,” I said as I looked at all of the planes in the room.

The woman nodded and scribbled something in the binder she was carrying. “Follow me,” she said, and she led us to the back of the room towards a bug plane. “This is one of the most equipped and biggest planes we have at our disposal and it will be given to you Huntresses for your mission. To start the engine, you will need these special cards, they’re encrypted and cannot be copied. The plane also counts with a camouflage system and two bid cells inside that can be modified according to the supernaturals you will be keeping inside.” Blair and I looked surprised at the plane, it was big, and I wasn’t sure we’d be able to fly it. The simulations we had practiced with back at camp were with small war jets meant for only one or two people. “I can see that you are doubting whether or not you’ll be able to fly this machine,” the older woman said with a kind smile, “you have nothing to worry about, this plane practically flies itself. It has an automatic pilot system that will guide you through all the process.”

I heard Blair sigh in relief, and I chuckled. “We’ll take it,” I said, and I reached for the two cards the woman was holding towards us.

“May you have a safe journey and I wish you the best of luck to triumph where others have only fallen,” the old Huntress said kindly before disappearing to the entrance once again.

“You ready, Blair?” I asked my partner who still looked like if she were in an internal dilemma. She nodded and the both of us got into the plane, into the cabin. We left our bags on chairs that were on the way towards the cabin. Inside the cabin, there were a lot of buttons, some blinked and all of them had instructions on top of them, indicating what they were for. I sighed, trying to remain calm as I took the pilot seat and inserted the card before pressing the ignition button.

Instantly, there was a hologram in front of us. Welcome to the SX-Wing 200, I am Kira, your personal autopilot. Shall we begin? I didn’t know what to do then, there were no buttons indicating ‘yes’.

“Let’s begin,” Blair said confidently and to my surprise, the hologram nodded, and the plane started to move forward, towards the exit of the warehouse. The door of the building opened up and the plane slowly moved outside into the runway. Please indicate the destination. A map appeared on the screen in front of us, I zoomed in on Ireland with my fingers until I could see two possible sites to land on near the building I saw in my mind. I was sure it was close to those areas. I sighed and clicked on the one closest to the shore. The destination has been saved, please fasten your seatbelts as we get ready to ascend.

Blair and I tightened the seatbelts around us, and the plane began to pick up speed. I yelped in surprise and the plane started to lift off the ground. A couple of buttons started beeping and blinking rapidly and Blair and I divided the space to take care of the buttons.

Moments later, the plane was stable in the air and the route towards Ireland was set. “Kira, please keep the plane on the right direction and let us know if there are any signs of danger or when we are about to land,” I spoke out loud, hoping the autopilot system worked like I thought it did.

Certainly Huntress, I will take control. Approximate flying time; 6 hours. A timer appeared on the screen and I nodded and turned to my friend who looked just as overwhelmed as I felt. “That was new,” I said once we were out of the cabin and wondering around the plane to see how many things it had. There was a small table at one side of the room with sofas around it in a half-moon. There was also a fully-stocked fridge, thankfully, a bathroom, a screen at the center of the room with views on both sides, I supposed it was in case Hunters needed to discuss strategies. At the end, there were two bunks for four passengers. Next to them, was a door, the curiosity got the best of me and I opened it, revealing stairs that headed down. I walked down the steps and turned on the lights, inside there were two, big cells, each of them had its own screen to program the bars and cell according to the supernatural prisoner.

“It’s a more modern version than what we have at camp,” Blair said as she looked and clicked at the screen that belonged to one of the cells.

“I’m going to head back up, do you want anything?” I asked and she shook her head, she was too caught up in what she was doing. I smiled and let her wander through the cells’ system, and I headed over to the fridge to get something to eat, I was starving.