The dying sunlight showed nothing outside, but the sensation in my bones gradually faded. It would be okay. The creature was farther from us now.
"It's moving away," Sike said. His screen blipped out. He gave it a small smack, but the scanner stayed black. I stepped toward the plane's window and strained to sense anything. Indeed, the aura was moving farther away from me. The buzzing sensation deep inside my body gradually faded, like a river running dry. If I concentrated, I could sense a few of the rodent creatures very faintly in the tree line. The creature was retreating back into the Leftovers. Whatever it wanted, the monster had struck out.
I sighed and turned back to Sike. "Did you manage to record any readings of that thing?"
"I think so, enough to give us something to go off of… when the scanner comes back online," he said and gave a shrug. The comms in our ears suddenly sparked to life with a soft crackle. Everyone tensed at the abrupt sound, our nerves still raw from our unwanted visit.
"It's me," Arlonne said clearly. Her voice sounded strong at the moment, like she was right here with us.
Bryce hurriedly turned the volume down. "We need you to be quiet for a moment. We had a monster visitor." He held his breath as a brief spot of fog floated by, but it looked more like a passing cloud. The aura grew weaker still.
Arlonne grunted softly. "Interesting." She spoke in a whisper, sounding hoarse and alert. "We've got weird creatures in our area as well… I'm sure that we're close to your area on the Immortal Plane side. Be careful."
My pulse staggered as the itch came back in a flood. It started at the base of my spine this time, and the sound of soft vibrations made me stand to attention. I gestured toward the side. Lyra pushed the others back against the wall as Bryce whispered fervently into the comm, "Okay.” It was simple and low enough that, hopefully, the creature wouldn’t hear.
Too bad we can’t actually see it.
A cry like nothing I'd ever heard ripped through the air. It was like a child sobbing intertwined with a wailing animal. The sound wrapped around the small plane like a howling wind. My entire frame was buzzing from head to toe. Sike sucked in a sharp breath as he sensed it, too, and the screen sparked back to life. Whatever it was, it was coming back.
"It's returning," I warned them. Lyra darted beside me, but it was futile to look out these windows. There was no way to tell where the creature was, besides the faint foggy breath in the cold air. I pressed my hand against the plane, hoping to use the metal frame to sense its approaching steps more accurately than the vague sense of its aura… but sounds and even sensations were so different even on the outskirts of the Leftovers.
An enormous force slammed against the plane. I caught Lyra before she could lose her balance. Cam shouted as he fell into Sike, who used his arm to shield Cam's head from hitting the side of the plane.
"We have to get out there," Lyra yelled over the chaos. The beast knew we were here, now. No point in whispering anymore. “If it breaks the plane, we’re done.”
"Not out there," Bryce snarled. "We’ll use the plane first!" I stepped aside as Bryce ran for the controls. He flipped a switch on the control panel as another hit rocked the plane, and the engines churned to life with a roar. Lyra slammed a button, releasing a flurry of darts from the side. I recognized them as the anti-redbill devices that the Bureau used to use. They were still installed on their planes. Another, fainter wail sounded, but now the sound came to the left of me. A claw, or something sharp that resembled one, scratched at the metal side of our plane. We careened into the wall. Cam and Lyra fought to wrench the emergency exit open on the side as the plane steadied, rocking back and forth into place on the grass. Lyra jumped out first, and I followed immediately. Raising her gun, she fired a shot toward where the last hit came from. It sailed through the air but struck nothing.
"It's headed to the front," I told her, sensing it moving toward me. A nearby aura felt like an uneasy sensation accompanied with a rush of heat, if the signature was big enough. My body surged forward as adrenaline flooded me. The aura darted over to our side. "It's waving back and forth, like a snake."
Lyra swore. "It's going to hit the plane again." She yelled for the others, but Bryce demanded we get back inside.
"We've got to take off," he cried. "It's going to destroy the plane. We can’t fight this thing if it’s invisible, and we can’t let it take out our plane.”
Lyra fired a parting shot in the direction I pointed, trying my best to figure out where the creature was. We were rewarded with another wail as we scurried back inside. Bryce smashed another button to release more anti-redbill weapons.
"Buckle up," Lyra said. My stomach lurched
