Jessica Swift These Wings Were Made to Fly Page 4

  “Normal?” I snorted, “I’m not sure any of us could be called normal at this point.”

  He lifted a grocery bag, “I’ll tell you what, if I can out-weird you before dessert you have to cook my marshmallows for me. The last time I tried I ended up with flaming goop on my face.”

  “Deal,” I said.

  Chapter 8

  We cooked hotdogs over the fire while I told Terra’s cast about my mom being murdered by the Hooded Man with glowing eyes, stealing from Brandy, and sleeping in a dumpster full of cardboard. The origin story didn’t have the effect I was going for, as the cardboard was actually met with enthusiasm and plans to do the same at a later date.

  Daniel sputtered. “That’s nothing,” he said. “At least it happened to you in private. My Grace awakened at school. I spent twelve years thinking I was normal until I puked all over my desk. My wings came out when I was in the nurse’s office. I passed out, like you, but I woke up in an ambulance with paramedics freaking out. I escaped out the back and got hit by a car, then ran into an alley. My real dad, some angel jerk named Tenebriel, has been trying to kill me ever since.”

  I shouldn’t have been surprised, so far every angel had been trying to kill me, but I still couldn’t believe the fact that his own father had tried to kill him. Was the Hooded Man my father? Or maybe one of the generic-faced Suits at the mall?

  “He’s a good man.” Rumor nearly whispered.

  I looked at her, and her expression was sad as she looked back at me.

  “Did I?” I sputtered. “Uh…”

  “Calm your feathers,” Terra said. “At first we thought Rumor could read minds, but it’s not quite that specific. It’s more like she can feel emotions.”

  “Yeah,” Seth said. “Because telepathy would make her overpowered since she can already fly, see the future, shoot laser beams out of her eyes, and cook without a recipe.”

  “Okay Seth, since you’ve decided to speak up, I think it’s your turn” I said, opening the bag of marshmallows and eating one, “out-weird me.”

  “I was born with my wings.”

  Well, how could you compete with that?

  “Yeah, okay, you win,” I said as I popped two marshmallows on my stick and held them over the fire.

  “I always do,” he said with a laugh.

  “So? Care to elaborate?”

  “Like Terra, I was created in a lab. Some guys found the remains of an angel in the catacombs of an old church in Germany about eighty years back. It bounced around Europe, got lost during World War II, wound up being rediscovered in the attic of an old French woman’s house decades later before getting lost again. Between then and now America got a hold of it and, using some DNA coding stuff, scientists managed to make Terra and I.”

  With the marshmallow perfect I smooshed it together with some chocolate and graham crackers before handing it to him unblinkingly. “So you were grown in a tube too?”

  “Not exactly,” he said between bites, the marshmallow goo stretching from his mouth to the s’more. “They went different directions with our creation. While they haven’t told me the details I know I’m the closest to a full-blooded angel anyone has ever seen before. You’ve probably noticed some of my extra feathers. Normal nephil don’t get those. I had little downy fuzz on these extra appendages on my back until I was about eight, then I grew real feathers over the span of a year and learned to fly in another year.”

  “They let you fly around? How was this not national news?”

  He brought his hand out for another s’more and, grudgingly, I gave it to him. At his bribe rate the bag was going to be empty before the story finished.

  “Naturally, I was some huge government secret. They had a facility in Nevada where I was raised, the only time I ever got to see the sun was through metal paneling in this big enclosure where I flew. I spent two years working on an escape and, when I was twelve, I managed to succeed. I spent a few years living in the homeless makeshift cities of San Francisco until Terra and Daniel stopped by to take shelter for a night. I joined their cast and haven’t looked back since.”

  “Don’t the scientists want you back?”

  “Oh they want me back,” Seth said, his eyes going dark, “but I’d rather die.”

  “Want you back,” Rumor murmured to her cold, half-eaten hot dog.

  “What about you, Rumor?” I said, finally getting the chance to cook my own s’more.

  Her eyes flicked up to mine and stayed there until goose bumps broke out on my arms.

  “We don’t know a lot about Rumor,” Daniel said. “We found her handcuffed in the back of a SOAR minivan.”

  “Want you back,” Rumor said again, dropping her food.

  “What is SOAR?” I asked, looking at her. Was she okay?

  “No,” she said with conviction as she curled tightly into herself. “No no no.”

  Terra sprang up, saying, “She’s having another one.”

  Daniel stood slower, holding his hand out, “It’s okay, I’ve got it this time.”

  He sat down next to Rumor and pulled her into his lap, his height dwarfing her as he held her close. His dark wings spread out and folded around them both like a blanket.

  Rumor’s words became a constant stream, “Nononononono.”

  “Rumor,” Daniel said calmly, “Rumor can you hear me?”

  “Nonononononono,” then, slowly, “Daniel?”

  “Five things, Rumor.”

  Her eyes darted around and she began naming things off, “Leaves, bark, fire, backpack, Terra.”

  “Four things,”

  Her hand reached out and touched his wing, “Feathers,” she said before moving to his head to tousle his curls, “Hair.” She brought her hand down to his shirt, “Fabric.” Her hand pressed flat against his chest, “Heartbeat.”

  “Three things,” Daniel said.

  “Breathing, fire,” she paused for a moment before saying, “Owl.”

  “Two things.”

  “Smoke and rain.”

  “One thing”

  “Hotdog.”

  She wrapped her arms around him and shivered. Daniel looked at Terra and gave her a single nod. With that Terra settled down as well.

  “What just happened?” I whispered, afraid that if I was too loud I might upset her again.

  “She gets these anxiety attacks sometimes,” Terra said, picking up the leftovers of Rumor’s hotdog. At I thought she would throw it into the fire, instead she ate it.

  “Did I say something wrong?”

  “No, we’re not sure what triggers them, I’ve tried keeping track but they’re completely random as far as I can tell.”

  Seth shrugged, “It’s something we deal with one step at a time.”

  The mood around the fire seemed to have shifted, and I found myself hesitant to ask questions now. Terra, sensing it herself, brushed herself off and began cleaning up.

  “Let’s get some sleep,” she said, banking the fire. “We’ll talk more in the morning.”

  Chapter 9

  I woke to the sound of rain.

  We were up in the branches of trees. I thought it was going to be an uncomfortable sleeping experience until I found a crook that my body fit in well. My wings were spread halfway out, covering my body with their warmth, the feathers shedding droplets that sieved through the leaves.

  The last few days had been the craziest time in my entire life. At this point I didn’t include the wings.

  I wondered if Brandy was okay. The police officer at her house had likely been a Suit in disguise. If it hadn’t been for her dog I would probably be dead.

  A shiver that had nothing to do with the temperature slid down my back when I thought about the fact that the Suits had known about me a day before my wings grew in.

  They’d known what I was before I had.

  How long had they known and why hadn’t they tried to kill me before now? Was I going to spend the rest of my life on the run like Terra and the others?

 
; Terra took me under her wing (figuratively, though I suppose she could have literally), but why? Daniel was right, as a fledgling I had to be a huge burden on them. They were on the run, too, and I would only burn through their resources faster. Plus it looked like they had enough on their hands with Rumor anyway.

  I won’t stay with them long, I decided. Once I figure things out for myself I’ll be on my way.

  I felt a headache beginning between my eyes and I rubbed the bridge of my nose. Learning to survive could be a long way off. Until then I had to make sure to carry my own weight in the cast. I had no idea how I would even manage to start, though. Sweep the pine needles off the ground? Make a “Forest sweet forest” cross stitch and hang it on a tree?

  My mind swirled with thoughts that turned into a big, mushy mess as I drifted off back into sleep. I must have stayed asleep because the next thing I knew I opened my eyes to see a glow on the eastern horizon. The rain during the night had tapered off to a drizzle that hung in the air, seemingly suspended.

  Seth slipped out of his own tree and hit the ground, yawning and stretching his wings to their full, impressive length. With a quick snap back and then forward he slung the water out of them before sliding a backpack on. He was picking long pine needles out of his hair when I hopped down.

  “Good morning,” he said. “How’d you sleep?”

  I rubbed at a spot on my side where a smaller branch had dug into it. “Like I was in a five-star hotel,” I grumped.

  He cracked a smile, “You get used to it. Beds will start to feel too soft. Do you want to come with me into Nepasko and get some breakfast for everyone?”

  “I’d like that,” I said.

  After we were in the air Seth said, “How much has Terra taught you about flying?”

  I gave him a blank expression.

  Seth’s scoff was lost in the wind, but I saw his eyes roll. “She’s so focused on things like survival and combat that she forgets the whole flying aspect sometimes. I’ve noticed you’re too flappy. You bob up and down a lot because you’re trying too hard to stay level,” he flapped his hand up and down erratically for emphasis. “You’re going to wear yourself out fast, especially on long flights. You have to be smooth and trust in your wings. When you walk you don’t think about every step you take because your legs know what they’re doing. You’re only consciously focused on getting from point A to point B.”

  He continued explaining the mechanics of aerodynamics, his hands emphasizing each of his points. I learned about lift, drag, and how to fold my wings in a little during the up-strokes to gain some slight thrust. Once I had that generally figured out he continued with gliding.

  “When you’re experienced at gliding, you can go for a long time without using much energy at all. You also want to keep an eye out for thermals since they can give you some serious lift, saving you a ton of work.”

  I thought Terra had covered take-offs back in the park but I guess, under that kind of duress, it shouldn’t have counted. Apparently the take-offs took the most use of energy because of the initial fight with gravity. Our running start was similar to that of large birds, and being able to jump so high also gave us a unique advantage in taking flight, similar to dropping off a cliff.

  “I’ve noticed you tend to try landing by tucking your wings in at the last minute and start running,” he said. “That won’t work if you’ve got a limited landing area and besides, it’s dangerous. You could break your face, an arm or, worst of all, a wing. Aim further out than where you want to go and, when you’ve reached the right height, pull up.”

  He demonstrated in the air, but I was too busy trying to keep my heart from jumping up into my throat to learn when he stalled and dropped vertically. Folding his wings in he bent his body down, as though bowing, and snapped them open again, catching the air and flapping back up toward me.

  “It’ll be different once we’re actually there,” he said coming level to me. “Circle above and watch me land first before trying it yourself.”

  “Don’t do that!” I shouted, flailing my arms at him. If I could have reached over and punched his arm, I would have.

  He laughed, “Relax, Jess. I’ve had my wings longer than the rest of the cast combined.”

  Despite his reassurance, it still took me a solid minute for my heartbeat to slow down. I kept a close eye on him to make sure he wasn’t going to pull a stunt like that again as he continued teaching me things like how to bank turn, and barely touching on the idea of in-flight combat.

  “You’re going to spend more time running away from angels than fighting them,” he said. “Fighting angels is really only good to buy you time to fly away. If the fight is in midair, then it’s going to be against an archangel, and by that point you’re already doomed. Anyway, I’ll leave you be for now. We’re at the fringes of town, so I need to pay attention.”

  I nodded, my head felt stuffed to the point of exploding these last few days.

  I was expecting something like coffee and donuts, so when we landed at the back of a grocery store I got confused. My confusion turned to horror as Seth thumped on a dumpster.

  Seth saw my expression and said, “This won’t be nearly as bad as you think, I promise. Just take what I toss you.”

  Handing me his backpack he hopped in while I tried not to think about how gross it must be inside. There were sounds of rustling and plastic bags for a moment before a big garbage bag rolled out, followed by Seth. He crouched down and untied the bag, reaching in and pulling something out, saying, “Actually I lied, I can’t literally toss you this. Set this next to the backpack. Anything smaller can go inside.”

  He handed me an entire bag of oranges. One had been crushed, with white and blue mold growing in the cracks. I suppose that would technically make it unsellable. I picked the icky one out and tossed it back to him. Next came two bunches of very yellow bananas with big black spots, three bruised apples, and all kinds of bread from bagels to a French loaf. Only the muffins in a plastic container suggested they were expired, a label saying they’d gone bad by a single day.

  “Terra grew up doing this,” Seth said, retying the bag and hurling it back into the dumpster. “She was taught by her dad and Terra taught the rest of us. You’d be surprised how much food stores throw away.”

  He went through another bag, coming up with a few avocadoes, apple pies in a box, Easter-themed cookies with their frosting smeared all over the top of their container, a box of cereal flakes and, oddly enough, some cut flowers. After throwing the second bag back in the dumpster Seth put a daisy in my hair and smiled.

  The flight back was much easier despite the load of food in my backpack.

  Chapter 10

  When we returned to the cast they came down on our goodies like a pack of wolves. Rumor’s face brightened in a huge smile and she gasped upon seeing the cookies. Daniel grabbed the cereal and began cramming fistfuls of it into his mouth. Terra pulled a small pocket knife out and began scoring the oranges, peeling the skin off in efficient, uniform slices.

  “Nice haul,” she said.

  I spewed bagel crumbs in agreement. It was a little dry, but I wasn’t going to argue, my last real meal had felt like forever ago, and flying had burned though my last few reserves. When I was finished I laid back against a tree, groaning, feeling like a stuffed turkey. There was nothing left of the food we’d managed to find. With no real home and no income I could understand why they’d decided to eat grocery castoffs.

  “Now what do we do?” Seth asked.

  I saw all eyes shift to Terra.

  “I didn’t manage to make it to Donarow before helping Jess in Nepasko Lake,” Terra said. “Under normal circumstances I would go on my own but with angels in the area I don’t think that’s a good idea. We’ll find somewhere closer to stay this time and, hopefully, Rumor won’t clue us in to any more fledglings,” she gave me a playful punch on the arm.

  The cast gathered up what little supplies we had and, after kicking dirt over the fire
, each one of us took off. It felt good to take to the air again, watching the woods become an indistinct, green mass. We headed west, back towards Nepasko Lake. It was a long flight compared to my previous experience but, as Seth had said, I didn’t use up as much energy with his techniques. I reminded myself to thank him later.

  Donarow was fifteen times the size of Nepasko Lake and located barely into Washington. The two cities had a very symbiotic relationship, people often living in one but working in the other.

  We set down on the top of an apartment building that was in the process of being constructed. Today it looked like the place was empty.

  “The care center is a few blocks south from here.” Terra said. “Daniel, Seth, and Rumor will wait here. Jess, you’re with me.”

  The cast settled in, looking like they belonged there. I wondered why Terra would choose me to go with her as we took off again.

  The care center was a three-story U-shaped building. A thriving flower garden grew in the center, and large windows faced it on all sides. We landed in the back, tucking our wings in tight against our bodies and shrugging our jackets loose to hide them better before walking around to the front.

  A receptionist, looking like she had only recently graduated high-school, greeted us as we walked in.

  “I’m here to visit Henry Rodriguez,” Terra said.

  “Oh, hang on,” the receptionist said, “I remember something about that name from a few days ago.”

  I felt Terra stiffen next to me and heard her inhale sharply as the receptionist typed on a keyboard, her long acrylic nails exaggerating the click clacking of the keys. She read the screen for a while before looking back up at us, her expression pained.

  “He’s not in the facility, sorry. I can’t tell you anything, either, it’s a privacy violation unless you’re family.”

  “But she is family,” I started but Terra waved me off.

  “No, that’s cool. Thanks for your help though.”

  We walked out.

  I thought at first we were going to leave entirely but Terra instead moved to the side of the building and sat down against it, pulling the smallest laptop I’d ever seen before out of her backpack.