Noel Flair: leadership
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I gasped as I opened my eyes.
Breathing heavy, I anxiously searched the cabin.
The plane engines continued to rumble peacefully as it calmly floated through the sky.
Teens had spaced out in separate seats, all asleep.
Someone had shut off the lights and closed the windows, placing the cabin in a gray darkness.
One of the junior highers was snoring loudly.
I tried calming my breath.
It was just a dream, I reassured myself, but was still shaken over the visual.
Pushing myself out of my seat, I quietly walked toward the front of the plane, careful not to disturb any of the slumbering teens.
Poking my head inside the cockpit, I was silently welcomed to find both David and James sitting in the seats communicating through their headsets.
I tapped David on his shoulder.
Taking the headset off one ear, he nodded at me.
“Any idea how much longer?” I asked him.
“Around two more hours.” He looked at a couple of gauges then continued. “From Bilboa, it’s about two hours to Paris.”
I nodded. “Sounds good. Thanks, guys.”
“Hey, Noel?” David stopped me when I turned to leave.
“Yes?”
David looked around my shoulders to confirm that there were no other teens behind me. “I’ve tried connecting to anything. An airport. Another plane.” He took a deep breath. “There’s no answer.”
I sighed. “This is unbelievable,” I mumbled to myself, shutting the door to the cockpit.
I began to walk back to my seat, but Jack stuck out a hand to stop me.
“Oh good. You are awake. Can I show you something?” He picked up the journal from the seat next to him, leaving a place for me to sit down.
“Yeah. Sure. What did you find?” I sat down next to him, hoping for good news.
“So, I have been trying to understand this language, but it is unlike any language I have ever studied.” He opened the diary to a random page to show me. “I don’t even think it is a real language.”
I nodded slowly, encouraging him to continue.
“The entire diary is written in this language, and there are no hints anywhere on how to translate it.” He sighed, frustrated with himself.
“Ok, well,” I took a deep breath. “Is there any good news?”
“No,” he bit his lip. “And I have more bad news.”
“That seems to be the theme here.”
Jack held out the paper we had found in Elizabeth’s and Glenn’s attic. “So up until this point, everyone’s Flair symbols matched with this paper. But, I was looking at Josiah’s optimism symbol, which was a couple of balloons.” He handed me the paper. “It’s not on here.”
I searched the paper, confirming what he was saying.
“Earlier, I went to see David’s symbol, which is a paper plane.” He sighed. “Also, not on the paper.”
I gritted my teeth, frustrated and mad at the people who were putting us through this madness. “Anything else?”
“Well,” he hesitated, unsure how I would take more bad news. “There are only fourteen symbols on this paper. We have sixteen teens and one toddler.”
I groaned loudly as I rubbed my forehead. “And just like that, we lost our only lead.”
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