What if the engine quit completely? It took everything in him not to ask the question out loud. He could no longer watch the ground rush up at them and lowered his gaze to the control panel. The first thing to meet his appalled eyes was the altimeter. Fifty feet. Thirty. The tail of the Cessna came up. Twenty.

“Okay, Wy said serenely, “were looking good. Now Im going to pull the mixture all the way out. That means that the engine will be getting all air and no fuel, and that means that Wys hands went to a knob and pulled it all the way out.

The engine died.

There was no sound but the rush of air past the plane. The prop slowed and then came to a stop, the blades straight up and down in front of the windshield.

They touched down easily, smoothly, connecting solidly on all three wheels all at the same time, as if theyd done it a thousand times before and, praise be, would live to do it a thousand times again.

The plane rolled to a stop well before the end of the strip, plenty of room to spare.

The two in it sat for a moment, silent, staring forward.

Wy moved first, removing her headset and tossing it on top of the dash. She took a deep breath and turned to smile at Liam. “Thats what we call a deadstick landing. No power. All up to lift and gravity.

His mouth was so dry he couldnt speak, could only nod to let her know he had heard.

They got out of the plane, moving with exaggerated care, as if the return to terra firma was still a tentative thing.

A loud squawking caw came from the top of a nearby spruce tree, and Liam squinted up to see the raven sitting in its very top. It squawked again and launched suddenly, sailing over their heads on shiny black wings. It swooped and dived, climbed and banked, did snap rolls and Immelmanns in an aerial exhibition of consummate grace and power that mocked the rigid form of their own craft.

Liam watched with a kind of numb incomprehension, Wy with envy. “God, to fly like that, she said. “Its all we want when we take to the air, to master it, to make it our own. And we never even come close.

She looked at Liam, still mute. She looked at the Cessna, planted placidly on its gear. “We were never in that much danger, Liam, she said gently. “Yeah, the throttle cable broke, but theres a way to handle it. Theres a way to handle pretty much everything in the air, as long as you dont get excited. Bob DeCreft used to say, no matter what happens, dont panic, just fly the airplane. She took another deep, careful breath. “He was a good teacher, old Bob.

Finally Liam found his voice. “Yeah. He sure was. Wy?

“What?

“I love you.