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“They’re downdrafts, updrafts, wind gusts, and all invisible. It doesn’t mean we have a bad pilot. If you were up there, you couldn’t avoid them either.”
I squeezed his hand harder after the next air pocket, or downdraft or whatever.
He was remarkably calm for this being only his second time on a plane.
Bang!
The plane lurched left and then right.
I grabbed Josh’s arm.
People screamed in the rows ahead of us.
A popping sound came from the left.
Long strings of fire streamed from the engine visible out our window, in sync with the noise.
I buried my head in Josh’s shoulder and gripped his arm with all my strength.
Chapter 5
Josh
Nicole clampedonto me with terror in her eyes.
“It’ll be okay,” I assured her. “I’ll keep you safe. I promise.”
The crying from the passengers ahead of us didn’t help.
Her eyes slammed shut.
The engine soon stopped spitting flames. The pilots had shut it down.
My ears popped, and the oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling, which led to another round of screams.
I pulled mine on and cinched it tight before grabbing the center one for Nicole. I had to pry her head away from my arm to get it on her.
With eyes the size of dinner plates, she fought me, trying to bury her head against my arm.
“Breathe normally,” I told her when I got the mask secured. I’d need bandages when we got on the ground from the holes her nails had dug into me.
“It’s not working,” she said, continuing to hyperventilate. “It’s not working.”
The plane pitched over and started downhill.
“It works if you breathe normally,” I told her again.
Granny was having trouble, and I leaned over Nicole to help the old woman. As I helped Granny get the yellow cup cinched to her mouth, Nicole’s breaths finally slowed.
“Ladies and gentleman,” the pilot said over the PA system. “We have a slight problem with one of the engines, and we’ll be making a precautionary landing shortly.”
He’d been careful to not call it an emergency landing.
I held a shaking Nicole close. “It’ll be fine. I promise to keep you safe.”
She looked up at me in disbelief. “I’m scared.”
“I told you I wouldn’t lie to you, remember?”
