Chapter 115 – Another Form.

The pilot still hadn't answered him. He was still sitting on the grass, breathing hard and watching Matt as if he expected the dagger to appear again.

Then a voice came through.

"Ramos. Ramos, respond."

The man looked down at his gear. The voice was coming from a small radio.

"We lost your plane's signal. What happened?"

Matt looked at the device. Then at the pilot.

'Ramos.'

At least now he had something to call him besides idiot.

The radio crackled again.

"Ramos, we need a report."

The man raised a hand toward the device, but stopped before touching it.

Matt noticed the movement, and also how he looked back at him.

He was nervous. Much more than he had been when Matt asked him to take him to the base.

"Answer," Matt said.

Ramos didn't move.

"Tell them you had an accident."

The pilot shook his head.

Matt waited a few seconds.

"I can't."

"What?"

"I can't say that."

Matt looked at the radio. It was still working, and the man had a hand right next to it. It didn't seem too difficult.

"Talk into that thing and tell them you crashed."

"No."

Matt let the air out through his nose.

He had already wasted plenty of time chasing that plane. Then he'd had to cut it, wait for the guy to get out, and put up with him cursing at him for almost the entire descent.

He wasn't asking for much.

A dagger formed between Matt's fingers again.

Ramos saw it and his back straightened at once.

"Wait."

Matt brought the edge to his throat. The man lifted his chin, trying to pull away, but went still as soon as he felt the blade against his skin.

"Don't you value your life?"

"If I say that, it's the same as being dead!"

Matt stopped moving his hand.

Ramos was staring at him with wide eyes.

"I can't report that!"

Matt frowned.

The refusal was starting to strike him as strange.

The plane was destroyed. Its signal had disappeared and his comrades already knew.

He could tell them he'd had to eject.

He could make up a malfunction.

And yet the man seemed far more worried about making that report than about having a dagger at his throat.

'What are they going to do to him?'

Matt studied him a few seconds longer.

"Does this have to do with your family?"

The pilot went still. Then he let out a short, fairly ugly laugh.

"Family?"

Matt didn't answer.

Ramos looked him up and down.

"What does a demon know about family?"

Matt held his gaze.

For a moment he thought about answering.

He had plenty to say about that.

He also had a sister who was probably complaining in front of a computer, a mother he still owed far too many explanations, and a queen who had decided to include him in her royal family without asking him.

But he wasn't going to tell this man any of it.

Matt sighed as he pressed the blade a little harder against his neck. Ramos stopped laughing.

"Ramos."

The radio crackled again.

They both looked down at it.

"Report your status. Now."

The pilot pressed his lips together.

Matt didn't pull the dagger away.

"If you crashed and managed to eject, transmit your location. We need to know where you are."

For a few seconds neither of them spoke.

Ramos looked back at Matt.

Matt looked back at him.

The man's hand was still next to the radio.

He didn't use it.

'Ah.'

Matt lowered the dagger.

The pilot took an instant to notice.

The blade disappeared before he could say anything.

Matt turned around. Ramos followed him with his eyes.

"What are you doing?"

Matt took a few steps across the grass.

The pilot propped himself up on one hand and sat up a little.

"Where are you going?"

Matt turned his head.

"You bored me."

The man blinked.

"What?"

"You're way too boring."

Ramos didn't answer.

Matt spread his wings.

The pilot scooted back a little on the grass, raising an arm on instinct.

Matt didn't even come closer. He simply launched himself upward. The movement stirred the leaves of the nearby trees, and Ramos had to tilt his head back to follow him.

Ramos watched him rise above the branches, then higher. For a few seconds he could still make out the white hair and the wings.

Then he lost sight of him.

Ramos kept staring at the sky.

He waited.

A branch moved nearby and he whipped his head around.

He only found leaves.

He looked up again.

Nothing.

"Ramos. Respond."

The voice on the radio made him look down. The man ran a hand over his neck. The spot where the blade had been was still bothering him.

He looked up at the sky one more time before picking up the device.

"I'm here."

There was a pause.

"What happened?"

Ramos closed his eyes for a moment.

When he opened them again, he looked toward the spot where Matt had disappeared.

"I had… a minor accident."

"Did you eject?"

"Yes. I'm on the ground."

The man wet his lips. His voice had dropped quite a bit.

"Give me a moment. I'll send my location."

Matt was listening from one of the nearby branches, since he was now a fairly small bat, small enough to stay hidden among the leaves while he watched the man.

'He's not mentioning our encounter…'

Matt glanced briefly in the direction the fighter had gone down, then looked back at Ramos.

The pilot was still busy with the radio.

He wasn't shouting anymore, and he didn't seem interested in talking about demons either.

Matt stayed still.

Now he only had to wait.

Ramos could refuse to take him to his base, but that didn't mean he was going to stay and live under that tree.

The pilot spoke into the radio again, more quietly. Matt caught part of his answers, but didn't manage to get much more.

Several minutes passed.

Ramos finished with the radio and fixed it back onto his gear. Then he took off his helmet. He stayed sitting a little longer, head down, one hand resting on a knee.

Matt waited on the branch.

The man looked up again. Then at the trees.

Matt didn't move.

Ramos got up with some difficulty. He brushed off his uniform and checked some of the straps still hanging from his body.

Ramos adjusted his gear and started walking.

Matt left the branch. He flew among the leaves, keeping enough distance that the movement wouldn't catch his attention.

The pilot moved slowly. Every so often he stopped to look around or check the device he carried with him.

Matt followed him in silence. If he was heading to his base, or to some place where they could pick him up, he would end up leading him to someone who knew more.

For now, he was useful.

◇◆◇

"Why isn't anyone going after him?!"

Noxx had stepped away from the window. Elyra was still beside it. The scythe rested to one side, and the queen was looking at the sky with a calm that was starting to annoy her a great deal.

Matt was no longer in sight. He had flown off after one of those things that had been flying over the kingdom, and after several minutes Noxx still hadn't seen a single guard go out after him.

No one.

"Matt's gone!"

"I saw," Elyra replied.

Noxx tightened her fingers around Sun.

The earlier conversation felt very far away now.

She was no longer thinking about the hug.

"Then send someone."

Elyra turned her head slightly toward her.

"There's no need."

Noxx looked at her. She waited a few seconds, in case she meant to add something.

The queen went back to looking out the window.

That was all.

"What do you mean there's no need?"

"Matt can defend himself."

"They're attacking the kingdom!"

"I know."

"And he went after them!"

"I know that too."

Noxx took a step toward her.

The queen didn't move away. She was still speaking with the same calm she had used before summoning Gula.

That didn't help much either.

"Aren't you worried?"

Elyra studied her. Noxx held her gaze. She didn't understand how she could be so calm after watching him go.

She had heard the explosions. She had seen Matt rise and disappear behind those machines.

The queen had guards, vampires who could fly. People she could order to go find him.

And there she was, looking out a window.

"There's no need for anyone to go after him," Elyra repeated.

Noxx frowned.

"Why?"

The queen stopped looking at the sky.

This time she turned to face her completely. Her eyes dropped to Sun for a moment before returning to Noxx's face.

Then she smiled.

"Because you're here."

Noxx loosened her grip on the handle.

Elyra continued with the same calm.

"Matt will come back."