Chapter 10

“She can’t be gone,” Dounia moaned into her hands. “She was supposed to stay here where she would be safe!”

Ira finally managed to stumble forward, just in time to catch Dounia as she collapsed to her knees on the frozen ground.

“She’ll be okay,” Ira said, clutching Dounia’s shivering form. “She’ll be okay.”

Her words sounded so empty.

* * * *

Several days later, Ira and Dounia sprinted across the tarmac towards their plane, the lights of the airfield glaring and bright, obscuring the night beyond their reach. Other aviators were also running to their planes, dashing amongst the ground crew, hard at work getting them ready to fly.

Ira had taken time earlier to come by and put all the necessary spells on their little kukuruznik, repairing the shrapnel damage from their last run as best she could. Sometimes, she thought that magic was all that kept the hardy planes together.