Chapter 3

She didn’t look resentful. She looked down at the streets below, then reached down as if to see what was holding her up. It always seemed to take a while for people to get “the idea”-- that the constraints of reality no longer hold.

“It can be like an amusement park-- thrills without danger, or whatever amuses you.”

Katie was now smiling. It was time for Jason to try and promote that idea. It was no fun here with someone that didn’t understand, and it looked like Katie was beginning to. Jason continued.

“Take my hand,” he said. “I think you’ve got the idea.”

She did. Jason’s wings disappeared. A moment later they started falling, from the five thousand feet (funny, we weren’t that high up a moment ago) to the town below. Jason looked straight at Katie. She looked up at him. It had worked! She felt enough confidence in him to be able to take her eyes off the approaching Earth. He couldn’t keep his feeling to himself.

“I’m impressed, Katie. You’ve got more inside than I credited you for. Congratulations.” He pulled her to him, and held her tight. She wrapped her arms around him, and looked down.

Just before they reached the earth, a large pool of water appeared below them and they splashed harmlessly into it, coming to an almost instant stop. Katie, who had let go just as they reached the water, paddled back over to Jason and grabbed onto him again. He liked the feeling where she was pressing against him.

Finally, she spoke up again. “Can we try it again? Not the fall, I mean, but flying around? I’d like to try it out for myself.”

Jason nodded. A moment later, they were both in midair, and Katie had developed some nice orange feathers. Jason followed Katie as she flew back towards the company, swooped down over the trees, and shrieked with excitement.

“I want to try landing,” she said. “Will you go first?” Jason agreed, and lined up in front of her, feet down, heading for the flat roof of OBC’s main building.