Brodie and Dan stared at me in astonishment.
'That's awesome,' Dan said, his jaw-dropping. 'Do it to me! Make me fly too!'
'Hold on,' I replied. That was way too Peter Pan for me. I was only a few feet off the ground, but I was already terrified. I'd forgotten in the excitement of the moment that I didn't like heights. I'd discovered that when Brodie wanted me to jump from one building to the next.
Flying was disconcerting enough; there was no way I was taking passengers.
Not yet, anyway.
Looking down, I saw the same transparent bubble under me, lifting me up off the ground. Now I focused on making it lift me even higher. Within seconds I was six feet off the ground and rising.
'Pick up a rock,' I told Brodie. 'Throw it to me.'
She picked one up the size of a coin and hurled it. I formed a shield; it bounced off and hit Dan on the head.
'Ouch!'
'Sorry.'
This was all beginning to make sense. That's how Brodie and Dan were kept safe when the guns opened fire. I formed a wall of air between them and the bullets. The physics of it was beyond me, but I knew air could be compressed so tightly that it was impenetrable.
I'm Air Man!
Hmm. Maybe not.
Might need to work on the name.
The sensible thing would be to land again, but I was so elated by the experience that I had to keep going. My fear of heights was disappearing as quickly as my common sense. Brodie called to me from below. She looked scared.
'I'm okay,' I yelled.
She replied, but I couldn't hear her. Instead, I began working on how to control my movement. Imagining a bed next to me, I tried lying on it, which didn't achieve anything. I ended up leaning against a wall of air. Then I imagined the bed beneath me. I knelt and then laid down flat, my heart pounding crazily. Staring straight down, I saw Dan and Brodie gazing back up at me in astonishment. I felt the platform beneath me. I could even see it shimmering slightly.
I stuck my arm out ahead of me.
Maybe it worked for Superman, but it didn't for me.
I willed myself forward. For a few seconds, I thought nothing was happening. Then I realized I was slowly moving away from the clearing. I aimed for the nearest cloud. The wind tore at me as I went higher, and mist whirled around me. I should have been worried, but I was beyond fear.
I'm flying.
And then I made the mistake of looking down. I was so far off the ground I couldn't see Brodie and Dan. The park was a maze of shapes. Green ovals. A pond. A river. The suburbs around the city had turned into a patchwork quilt. In the distance, the city skyline cut across the horizon like a cathedral of steel and glass.
I fell.
It happened so quickly that I didn't notice at first. Then I realized the bubble that had been supporting me had disintegrated into shards. I forced my eyes shut. It was the last thing I felt like doing, but it helped me to focus. Opening my eyes again, I saw the platform had regained its strength.
I went higher. It was crazy because I didn't understand my powers. I could run out of oomph a thousand feet up, but I didn't care. It was strangely addictive. My fear of heights was gone. Zooming straight up, the air got colder and thinner with every passing moment, but I didn't care.
I was flying. After everything I'd been through over the last few days, I felt like the master of the world. Up till now, I'd been on the run with people wanting to kill or harm me. Now I had the world below me, and I felt like I could go anywhere and do anything.
I headed towards the city, knowing it would be insanity to be seen. Pure craziness. It was the last thing I needed, and I could imagine the headlines:
Boy Spotted Flying Over City!
Air force Shoots Down Flying Boy!
Post-Mortem Reveals Drug Use!
Still, I couldn't stop myself. Rising to a height hundreds of feet over the tallest buildings, I watched a small helicopter cruising across the blocks. New York was a complicated network of streets and unfamiliar landmarks, and nothing I recognized. Then I caught sight of the Hudson and the East River.
Okay, I thought. That puts some things into perspective.
Which was when I hit the blimp.
One second, I was focused on working out which street was which. The next, I heard the sound of an engine, and a big silver wall cut across in front of me.
In the middle of the helium-filled wall were the words Toto's Donuts. I crashed into it at an angle, sending the whole thing wobbling uncontrollably. Even its engine gave an erratic whine.
Fortunately, it was automated. No one was in the gondola that hung beneath, but bumping into the thing was enough to make me realize how stupid I was acting. These things were designed for people to see from ground level, and I'd positioned myself right next to it.
Real clever.
I zoomed up higher again while following a main arterial road out of the city. More from luck than design, I located the park where I'd left Dan and Brodie and descended. Once again, orientating myself was incredibly hard, but I finally spotted our little clearing.
I'd like to say that I landed like a bird, but I was more like an inexperienced hang glider. I came in too fast, at too steep an angle, and landed sideways, my legs skimming the ground for several feet before coming to an eventual halt.
'You should have seen Dan after you took off,' Brodie laughed as they raced over. 'He kept on leaping up and down, hoping he could fly.'
'Did you get anywhere?' I asked him.
'No,' he shook his head. 'Gravity won.'
I glanced at Brodie.
She shrugged. 'I'm a landlubber too,' she said. 'But something did happen while you were away.'
'What?'
'I had those voices in my head again,' Dan said, swallowing. 'Those people were screaming again.'
'They're in pain,' Brodie said. 'Somehow, we've got to—'
I held up my hand. 'I've got a plan,' I said. 'We're going back to Ravana's building, but this time we'll be prepared.'