Spirits of the Earth: The Complete Series: (A Post-Apocalyptic Series Box Set: Books 1-3) by Milo Fowler (paper ebook reader .TXT) 📕

I get up and try again, but the results are the same. And the pain is worse this time. Now Julia's out of sight. But I can catch up, I know I can.

I break into another run at superspeed and veer to the right, up a rocky knoll and off the peak of it, launching myself into the air. This time when my boots leave the earth, they don't come crashing back down.

Now I'm flying.

And it is awesome.

The ground below drops away, but I can still see the jagged crack that Jackson—or whatever he is—makes across the surface from underneath. I follow, glancing above me, hoping to spot Julia. But she's gone.

For good? I sure hope not. I can't lose her again.

I reach forward into the air that whips past me, flattening my suit against my body, cold despite the sun's scorching rays. In a burst of speed, I fly faster in the direction of my outstretched arm. I try my other arm and achieve the same result.

So this is how I change direction... And this is how I increase my speed. Wow. She was right. It's exhilarating.

But this can't really be happening. I've dreamed of flying all my life—and now I am? It's got to be a dream. My unconscious subconscious or something is exerting itself in strange new ways, manifesting repressed desires.

Julia and Jackson have been in my head all this time. None of it was real.

He's waking up, Jackson said. What if I'm asleep somewhere—or still in that coma?

Below, the split in the earth reaches what looks like the sprawling remains of a large city, and there it stops. At the same time, a shape passes through the air in the distance, descending rapidly. Julia.

I reach after her, and within moments I'm right behind her, blasting through the sky. She doesn't glance back, doesn't acknowledge me. Maybe she's concentrating. Maybe I should, too. I didn't land so well the last time, and I'm going ten times faster now.

What's that up ahead? Twisted steel in the middle of the air? She catches onto it and lands with ease like a bird touching down, both boots making contact. Then she looks back at me and holds out her hand.

"Slow down!"

How? I take her forearm, and she clasps onto mine as I whip past. Her grip is strong, but not strong enough to keep me from swinging sideways and pulling her with me. She falls off the mangled steel, but quickly rights herself in mid-air, holding onto me with both hands like a life guard rescuing someone from the deep end of a pool. I feel myself slow as we whirl around and around, and she guides me onto another length of dust-caked steel a few meters lower than where she originally landed. She keeps a tight hold on me as I find my bearings.

"You caught up." She giggles.

"Yeah..." I nod, sucking down air. "I really need to work on the landing."

"This wasn't the easiest spot to touch down."

She's right. We're sitting on what's left of a skyscraper. Jackson stands with his hands on his hips, head thrown back to face us from the ground below. We're at least thirty meters above him.

"All done showing off?" he calls. "You kill yourself, you're no good to either of us!"

She pats me on the thigh and calls down, "I think he did well."

Sure I did. Without her, I probably would have slammed into one of the steel supports and plummeted to my death like a bird shot down from the sky.

"So now what?" I wish I could see her eyes. I have a feeling I won't be seeing them again anytime soon.

She nods slowly, like she knows what I'm thinking. She hugs my arm and points down to where Jackson stands. Beside him, what looks like an open manhole gapes in the middle of the dusty street. The heavy cover has already been slid aside.

"He'll show you how to get—"

"Where am I going?"

"To Eden, Milton."

They mentioned that before, but I didn't understand. The word sounds familiar, from an old bedtime story maybe, long before D-Day.

"He'll tell you where to go, as far as he knows. We've never been there ourselves."

"Why not?"

"We can't." She pauses. "We move through air, Milton, through earth. Eden... It's encased in concrete and steel, human-made materials, and the air has been altered. It's unnatural." She squeezes my arm. "That's why you never met us while you were in the bunker."

"And that's why you need me to go to this place. Because you can't." I would be the astute one, that's for sure.

She giggles again, and I don't ever want to forget the sound. "You're catching on." Then her tone changes. "But you have to hurry. We don't know exactly what's going on down there, but it's not good. The daemon minds are difficult to read, yet we've been able to learn enough. Your friends are in grave danger, and you're the only one who can save them. You must go. Now."

She steps off the beam and glides down toward Jackson. Without taking the time to think better of it, I follow. That's when my stomach seizes up and my heart lurches. But instead of falling to my death, I manage to float after her like a bird, soaring to the ground where I land with only a slight stumble this time.

"Quick learner," Jackson mutters. He points into the manhole. "Down you go."

I face Julia. "Will I see you again—ever?"

Her face shield mirrors my own. "That will depend on the choice you make."

Haven't I already made my choice—to go to this Eden place? What other choice is there? What's she talking about?

"You'll know it when you see it," Jackson says, seeming to read my mind. "A nuclear reactor has a way of standing out like a sore thumb." He chuckles mildly. "Rigging it to blow should be easy enough. Just think of it as the ultimate reset button."

Part VI

Revelations

13 WillardSix Months after All-Clear

How I Learned