Free Breeze Corinth (Book 1): Sky Shatter by Michael John Olson Page B

go out, night after night, looking for those impact craters you usually make when you come back from your night flights and try to land. I sometimes wonder if I’m going to find you in one of them seriously hurt, or dead.”
    “Don’t know what you mean. What craters?” Breeze tried to bluff.
    Jacob waved him off as he picked up his cup and took a sip. In the faint kitchen light, the lines of stress and strain were etched across his face. “But this time, several days go by and I begin to get worried. Your not returning meant you figured out how to travel longer distances. Or you were lost, maybe hurt. Or worse.” Jacob shut his eyes tightly for a moment before opening them again. He rubbed his temple. “I drove around town looking for you, figuring you were scared about how I would react to you being gone for so long. Maybe you were hiding out with some friends. But you don’t really have any. I checked your school, but they don’t have much of a record of your attendance. Seems you like to skip a lot. They didn’t seem all too concerned. From what they tell me, you’re not doing very well there anyway.” He smiled. “No matter. You’re not much different than your old man. I was never much of a student.”
    “Yeah, I guess that’s why we live in the middle of nowhere and run a scrap yard.” Breeze heard his words but quickly regretted them when he saw the pained expression on his father’s face.
    “That’s all right, son. You do have a point. I guess I didn’t give you the best life a father could’ve given his son.” He leaned back in his chair. “And this scrap yard is not much of a legacy to leave to you when my time comes to be free of this world.” He nodded. “It’s not much of anything, is it?”
    Breeze nodded, then shook his head and waved his hands. “Dad, I didn’t mean to make it sound that way—”
    Jacob pointed a finger at him. “No, don’t do that. Don’t second guess yourself. What you said originally was the truth. That come from in here.” He tapped his chest. “Never be a stranger to the truth, son. It can be hard to hear and tougher to swallow. But I promise you this; once you come to grips with it, you will never be more free.”
    Breeze shivered in his wet clothes. “I flew pretty far to the east. Then I crash landed next to a forest. A really, huge forest.”
    Jacob gripped his coffee cup.
    Breeze continued. “I walked through it for several days trying to find a town or some way to get home. That place scared me. I never saw so many trees.”
    Jacob grunted and nodded as he looked out the window. The rain had stopped and the only trace left of the storm was the distant rumbling of thunder. As the sun rose, its rays exposed the aftermath with puddles of water spread out across the property and debris strewn haphazardly everywhere.
    Breeze spoke a little louder. “I got scared of something, but I don’t know what it was. That’s when I decided to take a chance and try to fly my way out.” He told his father how he ended up by the shore of a lake and his encounter with the wild man. “I took off again and flew for I don’t know how long and I ended up at a farm of a really nice old couple. Gil and Maribelle. They say they know you.”
    Jacob’s eyes lit up. “There are many people I know, son. I travel far and wide for the business and make a lot of contacts.”
    “Gil said his son was a flier just like me. Only he disappeared.”
    Jacob’s coffee cup cracked in his grip and the hot black liquid splashed onto the floor.
    “Damn that old fool! Can’t even keep his mouth shut and perform a simple task.” He grabbed a towel and wiped the table, then tossed it to the floor to soak up the puddle of coffee.
    “What are you talking about dad, what task?”
    “Breeze, it’s no coincidence you ended up at Gil and Maribel’s. I put the word out to everyone I know to keep a look out for you. And if they did find you, they would also help you get home. You may