He returned Katie’s look, shrugged and said, “What? I told you it would be a slightly bumpy ride when we pass through the Triangle.”
“Slightly bumpy?” Katie asked. “You call that slightly bumpy? The plane dropped a hundred feet! If not more!”
Cyrus laughed and took his seat belt off. “It’s time,” he said, ignoring everything that Katie had complained about. He seemed amused.
Neither Katie nor Tyson moved. Cyrus opened the latch on the door, pressed a button and the door rose. Wind crashed into the plane, sending Katie’s hair flying, but the aircraft felt otherwise safe. You couldn’t see anything outside except for the red lights on the jet.
“Well, come on then!” he urged Tyson and Katie. They quickly unbuckled and stood up, fighting their way over to the open door.
“Remember, legs and arms pressed against your body,” he said and then abruptly jumped out. Katie watched as his body disappeared into the darkness below. It was so sudden; he left no time for questions or contemplation.
Katie figured that was the best way to do something you weren’t sure about. Or if you were about to commit suicide, which was what she felt like she was about to do. Who would jump out of an airplane with no parachute unless they were committing suicide?
She tried not to think about it as the thoughts not only saddened her but made her question her recent choices.
Tyson and Katie knew they didn’t have much time but the prospect of jumping out of a speeding aircraft without a parachute or any proper gear wasn’t inviting. Tyson nodded his head once, squeezed her hand, his face set, and he too jumped out.
Katie watched him disappear into the night. She looked around the empty plane, took a deep breath and threw herself out.
Her arms and legs flailed wildly as she spun around out of control. She went through a cloud, felt the cool water drench her and then she could see the moon reflect on the wide ocean that opened up beneath her. She was falling fast. Her hair flew up into her face, making it hard to see. Too much air was forcefully filling her lungs so she couldn’t scream. She almost felt like she was suffocating.
Still, faster and faster she fell. A little more than a hundred feet from the ocean’s waters, she pulled herself together, pinned her legs and arms against her body, which wasn’t easy to do, and cut through the air, feet first, closer and closer to the water.
When she first saw the ocean, it had seemed small and unreal. It looked so far away from her, but she was so close to it now, and it looked so big and so real, Katie feared for her life. There was nothing she could do.
Right before she hit the water, Katie closed her eyes and breathed air out through her nose. She hit the water with such force. Water shot up her nose and into her mouth. For a second she felt disoriented. But then she was swimming underwater.
The tide pushed her away and Katie rolled onto sand. She was coughing. When she opened her eyes, she saw a golden beach made of pure, beautiful sand. Her vision came back to her quickly. The beach went on as far as she could see. Right ahead of her were groupings of tropical trees that led into a dense jungle.
6
The Jungle of Eden
The first thought Katie had was that she had landed on an island like Madagascar, or another similar jungle island. It looked and felt like it was in the middle of the afternoon. She knew she wasn’t on Madagascar, but she didn’t know of any other tropical islands, and if she had to relate what she saw to somewhere she knew, she would describe Madagascar.
She looked around for some sign that welcomed her, telling her exactly where she was and where the nearest tourist attraction was, but there was none in sight. She saw Tyson and Cyrus though, both of whom were drenched and spluttering.
“I’ve always hated that entrance,” said Cyrus, coughing up water. When he saw the displeased looks on Katie and Tyson’s faces he added, “It was the closest entrance, and gets us where we want to be, sort of.”
“How are we still alive, unhurt, even?” Katie asked. “A fall from that high into water should make for a pretty solid impact.”
Cyrus wiped the water out of his eyes and spat on the ground before answering. “The gravitational pull in the Bermuda Triangle differs greatly from most places on Earth. It is that way because of the planet we currently stand on. While we are too far away in time and space from Earth to be discovered, there are still several gates from this world into yours. The gravity from the Triangle feels as if it is pulling you down with incredible speed and strength, but in reality, you fall slower and slower until you enter the gravity on Narque, which in turn draws you into it.”
“Interesting,” was all that Katie had to say on the matter. She moved over to Tyson and brushed the sand off his shirt. “I never learned that in school.”
“What do you ever learn in school on Earth?” Cyrus asked rhetorically. Katie wasn’t sure how she felt about that.
Tyson coughed and nodded. “Thanks,” he said to Katie after she got most of his back free of sand.
Cyrus started walking towards the trees. “Up here is a supply of food, water, and clothes. I had someone leave it hidden while I went to get you.”
Katie and Tyson followed him. They ventured into the thick of the jungle, where the atmosphere almost immediately became much warmer and the moisture was so dense that the three of them looked as if they
