Aspen County

Our plane has barely touched the ground before I'm standing and in the aisle, more eager than anybody else on the craft to get off so that I can book a flight out to Michigan. A flight attendant approaches me and stops me in my tracks.

'Ryder, calm down!' Zeeva warns me. I don't pay her any mind.

"Excuse me, sir, but I'm going to have to ask you to be seated until the aircraft comes to a complete stop," the attendant says politely with a perfect smile of pearly white teeth. "Please be patient—there are plenty of people here who have important business to attend to as well. We'll be stopping shortly."

"Ma'am, I don't think that you understand—I really have to get out of here. ASAP. My Pa—my friends and I have somewhere to be. Like, now." I try sidestepping her to make my way to the door to be the first off of the plane, but her footing mirrors mine, and Zeeva pulls my shirt to try getting me to sit back down. I wave off my friend and glare at the pretty flight attendant.

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to sit down."

I feel the plane stop moving and turn a sarcastic glare on her. "Look at that: it stopped moving. So, if you don't mind—" I make a gesture with my hands for her to move out of my way.

She crosses her arms defiantly, beginning to look frustrated. "I'm sorry, sir, but we haven't stopped. All of the gates are full right now. We're unable to unload at this point in time. Please. Sit."

Zeeva tugs on me again, and I finally sit down, huffing. The frazzled flight attendant gives my friend a grateful glance and walks away. I turn to the surprisingly annoyed Zeeva. "Ryder, we get it: you're eager to get back to Louve, and you think that she needs your help, but can you please try not to cause a scene wherever we go on this little misadventure?"

I breathe out through my teeth and stare at the head of the chair in front of me. "Fine."

She rubs my arm comfortingly. "Look, Ryder, we all get that you're sad and can't stand being away from her. You guys have something really beautiful, and she needs you as much as you want to be there for her. But right now, we have to try to lay low, okay? Just keep calm. We'll find them, and we'll get you back to Louve."

I sigh and lean back. "Okay, I'll try to calm down."

"Thank you."

We lapse into silence, and are amongst the first off of the plane. Once we reunite with our friends, we hurry off to the information desk in the terminal. It's decided that Zeeva should be the one to ask where exactly Louve and Lovett's plane went since she's the most personable of us all, but I insist on going with her. They let me once I promise to just keep my mouth shut and look sad. I don't find it very difficult—well, at least the looking sad part isn't hard for me.

As we walk up to the bored-looking airport employee behind the desk, I mentally kick myself for blowing up at the woman back in France and not finding out where exactly Louve's plane was going. The man is lazily leafing through a magazine and looks up at us with tired eyes.

"Excuse me, sir," Zeeva says politely, her voice innocent and sweet as ever. "We were wondering if you would mind helping us out."

He looks at us suspiciously and then at the troop of frumpy teenagers behind us. "Don't all of you kids have school tomorro'?" he asks, his voice revealing a heavy Virginian drawl.

"No, we're actually all from Europe and have just graduated from high school. We decided to come on a trip to the U.S. on a college tour since we took the semester off. The only problem is that there was a major communication issue with some friends of ours and we all got separated. It was a crazy mess. But perhaps you can help us?"

He sighs, Zeeva's cute face too much for him to deny. "What do you need?"

"Well, we booked our flight at the airport ourselves, but we had decided beforehand. The only problem is that they were the last to know but the first to get there. It was supposed to be the 9 o'clock to Pennsylvania but they took the flight right before it to Michigan—same gate, different state." She giggles nervously, and he politely laughs at her rhyme. "The thing is that we don't know where exactly in Michigan it was going. Their parents will kill us if we have to tell them that we lost them. Please tell us that you can find out where our friends are. You would be my hero."

He sighs and nods, turning to the computer. "What airport was it that you guys flew in from and where?"

"It was the 786 from the Strasbourg International Airport in, I believe, Entzheim, if my memory's correct."

He types it into the computer, and we anxiously wait for a few moments until he finds what he was looking for. "Alright," he says excitedly staring at the screen. "If their flight took off right before yours from the same gate out in France, it looks like you'll find your friends somewhere around Boyne Mountain Airport in Boyne Falls."

Zeeva offers her widest and most prize-winning smile. "Thank you, so much, sir! Um, would it be possible for us to book a flight out there. The sooner we find them—" she looks up at me "—the better."

He nods. "I certainly can. It's just you and that group behind you?"

She nods and turns to wave Eyulf over. We decided that it would be safe to use Eyulf’s debit card again since our hunters are now dead or disbanded. He approaches, holding the card up, as the man begins booking the flight. It feels weird that it's now only six of us left, and my heart throbs.

We take care of the booking and bid the man goodbye. He wishes us luck before turning back to his magazine. I'm annoyed that we'll have to wait another seven hours for a flight going to that specific airport, but I comfort myself with the fact that I'll be that much closer to having Louve back in my arms.

'I know where you are, Louve,' I send to her. 'No matter what may come my way, I will find you. I promise. I love you. Happy birthday.’

As expected, she doesn't bother replying.