《The Last Science [SE]》B2: Chapter 51 — Best Laid Plans [pt. 5]

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High in the sky, having long-since broken the sound barrier, Hailey's own phone lit up with the alert.

It was surprisingly quiet now as she flew, since she was shaping all the air in front of her to fly around rather than come near. It was the only way to maintain her speed, since friction and air resistance would have dragged her back too hard. It wasn't nearly as fun as normal flight—she didn't get the sensation of wind blowing through her hair, or the rush of air in her ears and her face—but she was travelling much, much faster than normal.

Her phone GPS didn't give her anything, though. It capped out at nine hundred ninety-nine miles per hour.

Hailey's lucky tourmaline stone was almost half-black now, after having stuck with her for so many months. She'd switched, finally, to using others in her bag, burning through cheaper ones to keep hers intact, but the black spot was all right. It was doing something useful—something good. It was just a stone. She was trying to save everyone.

The presidential alert only confirmed that. Hailey read it, nodded to herself, and secured her phone back on her belt again. She'd actually changed in mid-air, somewhere over Illinois, taking her clothes out of her bag and using telekinesis to make sure nothing fell to the earth miles below. She took a breath—which necessitated using magic to gather up fresh air and get it into her lungs—and sent another huge burst of magic into the wind propelling her forward.

Faster, ever faster. Hailey needed to get there on time, before…

She shook her head. Meg was going to be fine. She was already in the hospital, from the brief phone call she'd managed with Alden, despite it dropping every time she moved out of range of one of the more powerful towers. Hailey just needed to get there, force Beverly to finish the job, or do it herself.

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If that's even gonna wor—

Hailey shook her head again, more fiercely this time. She brushed a few loose strands of hair out of her eyes. She'd been flying for over an hour now, going over the same thoughts in her head, the same fears, the same memories. In the distance, so far away, Hailey began to see landscapes she recognized. She was already almost there.

If I crossed the country in only an hour and a half, and the country's about twenty-eight hundred miles across… Hailey did the quick math in her head. Oh god… I'm going really fast… Jess, if you were here right now…

She was nearly out of gemstones, too—just two rubies left, besides the half-used lucky tourmaline around her neck. Hailey had long-since burned through every other stone, with only the off-color rubies remaining. They were already running out fast, since they weren't great for air magic to begin with, but… anything helped when she was burning so much magic in such a short amount of time.

I wonder if we'll find out burning magic like this causes horrible things to happen too, just like climate change.

Hailey couldn't think about that. She could see Seattle way in the distance, and Olympia, and Tacoma… home.

Her phone buzzed.

Hailey pulled it out and checked the messages. There were a few—one from Alden, only a few minutes ago, reporting no change, except that Beverly had vanished (not that he knew her name, of course…). Several from her mother, from Weston, and from Rupert—all worried after hearing about her escape from prison. An alert from the phone company that her service was going to be shut off—figures.

One from Josh.

Welcome back. Cinza's taken a hunting party out to Rallsburg. Brian's in the library and Natalie's out there too. Get there as fast as you can and make sure they don't fucking kill each other. P.S. You're freaking out the air radar people. Nice.

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Hailey was torn between laughing and crying. Everything was already falling apart, and she wasn't even home yet. She was so close… Where was she supposed to go? If she didn't go to Alden at the hospital… Meg might die. But… Natalie was all alone, against everyone. Hailey felt like someone in Rallsburg was going to die, somehow.

She could either maintain her speed and overshoot Olympia and Shelton, heading straight for Rallsburg… or she could slow down, go to the Bensen siblings, hope to find Beverly and confront her, and maybe save Meg… assuming the plan with her own page even worked.

Hailey's eyes drifted away from the small town of Shelton, out of the edges of the forest. She sped up, driving ever faster toward the thick blanket of clouds covering the forest. Rain began to splat against her shield as Hailey blew into the region, braking hard as she crossed into the heavy shower. With her eyes, Hailey was able to spot the distinct turrets of the library, half-destroyed amongst the still-devastated, decaying town.

She folded her wings and went into a dive.

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