Do you see them?” Brooke said. “They’re right there.”
Aria nodded. Perry and Cinder’s Dragonwing was just a small point in front of the barrier of Aether, but she saw it.
An explosion of light blinded her.
Shouts erupted as the Hover dipped sharply. Aria flew into the person behind her. Blinking, fighting for her vision, she righted herself and lunged back to the window.
The barrier now had a rift. A wide seam, like parted curtains. Through the barrier, the glittering ocean stretched out, as promising as anything she’d ever seen. Aria wanted to stare at it forever, but she tore her eyes away and searched for the Dragonwing.
“Where did they go?” she asked. Perry’s Hover had disappeared.
“I’m looking,” Brooke said.
Roar was there too, searching. Grabbing her arm and steadying her when their Hover surged forward. Cursing softly when Sable’s voice came through the speakers again, announcing that they were going ahead with the crossing.
“Where are they?” Aria asked, her panic rising.
Brooke’s face paled, her quiet concentration changing suddenly to wide-eyed shock. “Water,” she said.
Aria’s gaze dropped to the ocean below—where Perry’s Hover tossed in ferocious white-capped waves.