Never Really Gone

Chapter 13

My name is Grian. My mom's name is Rae. My auntie's name is Nora. I'll find a way to make things work.

Violently stabbing the sword in my hands into the dummy's chest, I grit my teeth as I try to ignore the pain in my back. It's been like this for nearly a week, ever since I woke up on my 14th birthday. I'll probably talk to Auntie Nora about it when classes are over.

"FOCUS Xelqua" Demetrius hisses in Galactic behind me. Of all the Watchers here, why did this bastard have to be our year head? Channeling my anger into a vicious swing, I decapitate not him unfortunately, but the dummy, it's straw head toppling to the ground.

"Good. Fine practise for rebellious players" Demetrius remarks, giving me a chilling smile. I honestly can't tell if that's a joke or not, but my fist clenches in annoyance, glowing the soft gold it does when I'm mad.

The Watcher notices this, giving me an amused look.

"Calm yourself Xelqua. Forget the players, you're quite the rebel yourself."

I merely glower at him, laying my blunt training sword on the table beside the other weapons and going to catch up with my friends.

"I hate him" I growl "He's such a creep"

"Agreed" Xisuma sighs "I hate how he breathes down your neck"

"It feels like his eyes are watchin' ya no matter where he is" Joe shudders

Ezra frowns.

"He smells weird"

I start snickering, he has a good point. Soon the four of us are in bits laughing as we sit in the black grass outside, falling onto our backs.

"We're so weird" Joe laughs "Just hanging around like a group of hermits"

"That should totally be our group name!" I giggle

"And we can all start a server called Hermitland some day" Ezra jokes.

"No no no, Hermitcraft!" Xisuma
suggests, and we all lose it again.

*Time Skip 1 Day*

I wake up to the unusual sight of feathers in my bed. Not feathers from my pillow, these are golden. I immediately notice the pain in my back is also worse.

"Auntie Nora?" I call uncertainty

"You ok love?"

I hold out my hand to show her the feathers and her eyes widen in surprise.

"Already?!"

"What do you mean alrea- HEY!"

I yelp as she pulls the back of my top up, placing a hand on my back. But I don't feel her touching my back, I feel her touch something completely different. Twisting my hips around to see, I gasp at the sight of the tufts of fluffy gold feathers between my shoulderblades.

"What the... are they wings?!"

"Yes! When your magic starts to get strong it begins to show on the outside, and the first sign is feathers on your back. Don't worry, it's totally normal for Watchers your age."

"Umm..."

I turn to see Ezra, staring at the black feathers in his hand

"Is that the same reason these were in my bed?" He asks, Nora giving him a nod and a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry about it, they'll get a little bigger over time, and it might be sore some days, but by a month's time you should have small wings!"

I can't help but feel a little exited about that. The idea of having wings is amazing, even if they're given to me by magic I hate. I can only dream of how cool it would be to be able to carelessly fly through the clouds like a bird...

"Wait, what about me?!" 

Nora turns with a little laugh to Xisuma, who doesn't seem too happy.

"I don't want two pairs of wings, how would that even work?!" He panics, throwing his hands up in the air. "All this Void magic and Watcher magic stuff is confusing enough, I don't-"

"Xisuma." Nora interrupted, smiling calmly. "You're not gonna have two pairs of wings, you'll just keep the dragon ones and nothing will change."

"Oh thank goodness." He sighed, falling back onto his bed. "I'm perfectly happy with these ones."

Joe stares at the little tufts of slate blue feathers on his back, twisting and turning to try and get a better look at them. His eyes are full of awe and curiosity, as they usually are.

"Wait... so our magic is strong enough to change even the basic anatomy of a human? How does  that even work? And are Grian and I even human anymore? What if-"

"Can you stop making my brain hurt?" Ezra asks. "For 5 minutes?"

"You have a brain?"

Ezra turns to Xisuma, who's trying not to laugh, initially shocked by his twin's comeback but quickly getting annoyed at him.

"Hey! It's my job to insult you!" He yells, tackling his brother to the ground and whacking him in the face with a pillow. "You're supposed to be good at... uh... everything else!"

Joe, Nora and I watch as the twins fight, my friend glancing over at me with a slight smile.

"Should we stop them?"

"I know I'm supposed to be the responsible adult here... but no." Nora decides.

"Stop them?" I repeat. "I say we join them!"

"I'm really starting to see how you two are related." Joe laughs, before I hit him around the back of the head with my own pillow.