I’ve never been a firm believer in anything beyond what’s up there. Whenever I looked at the sky, all I saw were birds gliding through the air with a certain elegance, shapeless clouds dang without a care for the opinions of us mortals oh, and the hundreds of wishes I tossed into space, begging for mercy over the mountain of work I had piling up. But at that moment, something deep within my soul shook. It was begging to tear me apart.

  “Linny, what the hell is that in the sky?” I slowly stopped hugging my sister aured with my eyes for her to look up at the sky, right where strariangles hovered over what looked like hundreds of colorful ants.

  “What thing? Oh, well… I don’t kly. Maybe one of those massive drone ad campaigns! Haven’t you seen them before?”

  “I don’t think they’re drones… Meh, whatever. Let the police ha.”

  I brushed off my worries, knowing nothing unusual ever happened in this city—except for the usual urban violend corporations fighting over who had more influen the tech sector. Still, seeing those things appear so suddenly made me uneasy. I couldn’t help but gnce up every now and then to make sure they hadn’t moved from their spot… This was very unusual.

  “There’s probably something about it on Mekmek…” Linny pulled out her phone and spent several minutes diving into the depths of social media. After a moment, she stood up in the cable car and sat dowo me. “Look at this! There are several live streams fog on the drones.”

  The cable car kept asding slowly as I watched the videos people were posting. Quick headlines said things like, “Gigantic drones part of a movie marketing strategy?” I didn’t know if it was just an ad or something deeper, but I had a bad vibe in my body that wouldn’t let me breathe easy. I pushed Linny’s phone away and, with a heavy sigh, crossed my arms.

  “What’s wrong with you? Are you scared of drones or something?” Linny teased, making faces with her mouth. That got a small ugh out of me.

  “You mock my unease, but you fet we’re easily hundreds of meters above the ground, huh, Miss. Braveheart?”

  “Hey, that’s mean! I’m still a little scared… But not as much because I’m with you! You’re really brave, you know that?”

  “Of course I know that, dummy. I’m Wendy, the bravest ranstor. What would I be afraid of?”

  We both ughed like a pair of obese seals, carefree and loud. The cityscape grew more distant as we kept climbing. It wouldn’t be long before we reached the mountaihe opposite tower stood. The stant hum of the eleagic meisms reverberated through the structure of the cable car. It reminded me of the buzzing of LED tubes in supermarkets. I felt old remembering that… or maybe the world had just advaoo fast in such a short time.

  I closed my eyes for a few moments tain some strength. My sister stayed glued to her phohout saying a word. Once again, silence filled this floating tank of emptiness high above the ground. I crossed one finger over the other, f an X, applying a bit of pressure to help me think about what I’d do after this little family reunion. I still o hand in the final version of the manuscript to my boss. Just the thought of going home from the other side of the city made me yawn out of boredom. I pushed my sungsses up onto my head, and oless leg started moving nonstop for a while.

  “Wendy… Wendy, you have to see this…”

  My leg bounced up and down in aice that helped me think about multiple things at ohe fingers I’d been pressing together earlier were probably pale from the ck of blood flow. My breath escaped my lungs at a rapid pace, and before I realized it, my sister’s haed on my nervous knee, calming me down. I looked into her eyes as I tried to catch my breath.

  “It’s about the triangles. Looks like the police sent anti-terror squad tanks to iigate.”

  “Oh, yeah… Let me see that…”

  I took the phone from her hands without muthusiasm. My vision blurred into two distinct versions, and dizziness set in. A blogger was rec from a distance as the police tanks advaoward the objects. Her heavy breathing could be heard in the background. The clouds swirled around Wildcore, and when I tried to catch a glimpse of those things in the sky from the cable car, everythi dark.

  Whistles.

  Whistles.

  Whistles.

  Whistles.

  A sudden, sharp jolt shook the inside of the cable car violently, sending my sister and me crashing into every damn wall until we nded on the floor. The feeling of the gss hitting my face is something I’ll never fet. I barely mao stand up, notig my sungsses were shattered.

  “What the hell was that?!” Linny, sitting on the floor of the cable car, screamed. Her face twisted into a wrinkled vas full of cracks that reflected her fear.

  “The stopped, but we’re still floating… Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, Wendy… Oh my God, your forehead…” I touched the side of my head after Linny poi out. A river of blood ran down the side of my head and dripped off my . I clicked my tongue.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll get it treated ter. I need you to look everywhere for the er serviumber.”

  “Okay…”

  “Are you looking?”

  “Yes, I am…”

  “Linny, hurry up. I don’t like this at all…”

  “I’m trying, Wendy! Calm down…”

  While she handled calling the cable car service, I kept looking at the city. The once sunny sky was now painted in shades of gray, and the air smelled heavily of moisture. It was as if a strong storm was about to crash into Wildcore. I focused on making sure the triangur pieces in the air didn’t move an inch. The gss of the creaked with every whistle of the wind, and with each passing sed, I furrowed my brows more.

  “Did you find it yet?”

  “I don’t see anything. Why did the power have to go out now? Damn it!”

  “Maybe it’s just a matter of waiting. Someone’s bound to e check if arapped up here.”

  “Are you sure? Wendy, look me in the eyes. Are you sure?”

  “Sis, I’m pletely sure.” I took her pale, trembling hands in mine. Her gssy eyes were desperate to spill tears of horror, but she rexed knowing I was with her. “Let’s look at your phone for a bit if it makes you feel better, okay?”

  “Okay… Yeah, why not? Everything will be fine, okay…”

  Linny rummaged through her clothes for her cell phone, and once she found it, she sat o me so I could see too. But when it came time to turn it oh realized the damn thing was dead. No matter how many times she pressed the power button, the stupid thing refused to turn on.

  Whistles.

  Whistles.

  Whistles.

  Whistles.

  “What the hell is making that sound?” Linny jumped up to ched found that a tiny hole in the ’s gss was causing the wind to whistle through it. “Oh… it’s just a small hole in the window… Wendy… What the hell is that giant ship over the city?”

  I let out a bitter sigh from the floor, not wanting to know if this was another one of my sister’s nervous jokes. I was fed up with this situation—not because we were trapped at a great height, but because I’d had this gnawing feeling inside me for a while now. Linny hit my shoulder repeatedly to get me to look at whatever was above the city. Defeated, I had no choice but to get up ahat one of the triangles had turned into a freaking colossal ship h over Wildcore. My eyes filled with terrible fear at the indescribable sight. All I could do ce a hand over my chest and sigh…

  “My God…”

  her of us dared to say a word. Not a single sound. Nothing at all. We were like two flies staring at a bea of light, not questioning what it was. We just khis was real.

  I nervously grabbed Linny’s hand, and she immediately held mine back. Without either of us expeg it, the unknown ship sent down a blinding beam of light over the city. The hing I heard was a deafening bst, and the shook violently again. Within seds, a whistle told me we’d detached from the cable meism.

  My sister’s screams of desperation made me bite my tongue so hard it bled. But that didn’t save us from the fact that we were falling into the abyss of the mountain.