*Seraphine*
The lightning flashes and the thunder bellows. The stinging rain pelts me. I’m too high, in the core of the storm. The wicker gondola rocks wildly. I cling to the ropes, but even as I do, I know they won’t save me.
The fire has gone out. No hot air fills the balloon. The cold air surrounding me causes it to deflate rapidly, and I’m falling… falling…
Jerking free of the nightmare, I’m flailing about, my hands constantly hitting something hard, but warm. Nothing at all like the frigid air in which I’d been. I’m vaguely aware of being wrapped up in something. Did the ropes that attached the gondola to the balloon wind themselves about me? Did I get tangled up in them?
“Shh, shh. You’re safe,” a deep voice rumbles near my ear. “You’re safe now.”
I’m taking in great gasps of a
