“Instead of talking, um,” I said. I showed her what was in my hand, letting the straps dangle. “What would you say about going flying?”

I saw her eyes go wide.

“The hospital called your dad’s work. He said it was okay.”

⊙

My feet left the hospital rooftop. Flying was unwieldy, especially with my burden. I was untrained. Having the benefit of my forcefield to protect me in the event of a crash would mean having my forcefield up, and that had other connotations, with my power as distorted as it was, the fact that I couldn’t necessarily control the movements or know what they would do. Not doable, when I held someone.

There was uncertainty too. The source of that flight, it had never let me down, but if push came to shove, in a crisis, would my maneuvering be sloppier? Would I decelerate or accelerate in a different way? I’d carelessly trusted my power, once, and now I wasn’t sure I could. I knew what the source of that power was, now, and what its goals were.

It was emotionally heavy, even as I felt almost weightless physically, to be reminded of what had changed so dramatically.

I could feel my charge’s intake of breath, as I held one arm across her lower ribs. I didn’t trust the harness we’d grabbed from the physio center. Not enough to hold someone for me. She was strapped with her back to my front.

The ground was a good ways below us now. I hadn’t even ascended that fast. I’d been a little lost in thought.

I felt her laugh, nervous and small, while I turned us around, giving her a view of the area. Norfair and its community center was off in the distance, one way. The farms were off in another direction. From here, it was easy to see the tall buildings of the city, the places that looked like a slice of the old world. To look to the fringes of those areas, where the tents and shoddily erected structures stretched off, so endless it seemed they reached to the horizon.

“I got you,” I said, in answer to the nervous giggles. Had I laughed like that, on my first real flight?

“Yeah,” was the response, a small, quiet voice. Then more giggles.

The giggle became laughter on her part, borderline hysterical.

“You okay?”

She nodded, fast and fierce, then drew in a deep breath.

“Wooooooooo!” she whooped, top of her lungs, loud enough to be heard on the ground.

“Hood up,” I said, reaching up to tug the hood of her hoodie over her head.

“What? Why?” she asked, panting from the cheer.

“Just in case it’s cold,” I said.

“Cold? Why—”

Before she could fully catch her breath, I dropped from our position, diving, fast, hard, and surprising enough that even I felt my stomach’s contents lurch.