She screamed as the ground drew nearer. It was a small strip of rock. Not more than seven feet wide. A natural bridge that spanned between two peeks. It looked to be about a hundred feet long. It was breathtaking. He continued to descend towards the middle section of the strip. Surely he didn’t mean to set her down there.

“I don’t think this is a good idea.” Her voice had a quivery edge.

At the last moment, Coal stopped descending. The ground was no more than a foot or two away. Julie exhaled. He wasn’t going to put her down after all. Thank god because that small slab of rock was not safe. It was long and narrow. There were no railings or handholds. There was nothing but a narrow walkway in the middle of nowhere. It seemed man-made but she knew otherwise. There was no way a human could’ve made it up here.

His wings flapped slowly. Too slow to carry his enormous bulk yet they continued to hover. Why weren’t they leaving? He drifted down an inch, two. What?

Her foot touched the ground. Again he waited until she was standing securely before releasing her. Julie wanted to hold onto his massive talon but she was afraid of toppling over the edge. There was sheer cliff on either side of her.

“Oh god,” she murmured. Too afraid to talk too loudly. Too afraid to breathe. She moved to her haunches. There was at least two feet on either side of her. Happy days! It felt like the earth was pulling her in both directions and all at once. That if she looked left or right or even up for that matter, that she would be pulled off by the sheer force of gravity. Surely there wasn’t enough space for Coal to land and to shift.

“Are you okay?” Coal’s deep voice washed over her. It made her hold on to some sort of sanity. Do not panic. Do not lose it.

Julie shook her head. Her eyes were focused on the ground at her feet. She breathed in deeply and breathed out again. Don’t lose it.

Coal touched her arm and she yelped.

“Why didn’t you tell me that you were afraid of heights?” he asked. He was directly in front of her. She could see his feet in front of her much smaller ones. His huge feet. If she wasn’t so petrified, she would laugh. Big feet… big… you know what. She couldn’t believe she was picturing him naked at a time like this. It didn’t calm her down at all, not even a tiny bit.