Jason held onto Jules, believing that if he was going to die, they were going to die together. Jules was screaming, while Jason tried to will himself to sprout wings.
Then, suddenly, the fall stopped, and they were both swooped up in the air. Jason saw a young man had grabbed a hold of Jules by his shirt, and hauled him up close to him. Hugging the two young men, the flier lit down on the street. At two feet off the ground, the flier let go, and Jason and Jules rolled onto the concrete.
The young man was smiling and spoke Chinese to them, as Jules was trying to regain his breath. Jason got up and helped Jules to his feet. “I said,” said the young flier, “You shouldn’t try jumping off the roof without a parachute.”
“I was pushed!” yelled Jules, looking up at the glass windows of the Hall of Dragons.
The young man looked between the two. “Who pushed you?”
“Xian Long,” said Jason.
The young man’s eyes widened. “The Xian Long?”
“Chinese man with a mustache and sunglasses, in a white suit?”
The young man’s eyes widened even more. “I must report this!” the young man said, and bolted up into the air. He landed near the monorail platform and ran into the building.
Jason looked around. They were off to the side of the main entrance. “Great. Now what.”
Jules, with shaking hands, had pulled out the phone. “Something about that reaction, Jay.” His thumbs were moving across the phone, texting. Then he said, “Got him. He’s not a headmaster. He’s a supervillain.”
“A supervillain? In their own building?”
Jules looked up. “Look at the size of this place. It’s ten times bigger than the Champions building. A person could get lost in there.”
Jason noted the monorail. Did they allow people from the public into the building? “He must have someone else on the inside, if he was able to open the window the way he did.”
“Let’s go back inside.”
“Do you think that’s a good idea?” asked Jason, but Jules was already walking to the front entrance. “Jules, wait.”
Jules turned around. “They’re going to be mad that we broke out of the room. I think we should think about going home.”
“But our stuff.”
Jason shook his head. “Leave it.” He looked up again at the building. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
Jules put a hand on Jason’s arm. “We’ll be fine. We’re Americans.”
Jason didn’t look happy, following Jules to the front entrance. They walked to the doors, and Jules used his thumb print on the glass doors. They parted for him, and Jason followed Jules in.
When they got inside, there was a loud alarm going off. No one was at the front desk. “I wonder where–”
Suddenly, a group of half a dozen men with guns appeared from the side of the security guard’s desk, aiming their guns at them. Both of them slowly raised their hands in surrender.
