Four Wings

5. Wings

Dakan

After Syrena hung up, I immediately went to wake Mom up, telling her about what Syrena said. 

She threw on some clothes while I started the car, and I drove us to Menara's house - which wasn't that far from ours, actually. We live along the same stretch of woods.

When we got there, even though it was still partially dark, Menara met us in the yard in front and brought us around to the back of the house, explaining, "Syrena's in the woods behind the house. She didn't want to risk anyone passing by and seeing her, even though I explained that anyone who is pure human can't process the existence of magic very well, so they rarely see anything."

Mom stayed out front for a couple minutes, talking to Miss Bynai, but I ran around to the back and entered the woods, looking for Sy.

Where is she? Is she okay? 

"Sy? Are you here?"

A faint reply came from farther into the trees, "I'm over here, in this clearing!"

I ran toward her voice and stumbled into a small clearing. 

Syrena was standing in the middle with her back toward me, slowly moving her wings - testing them, getting used to them.

They were incredible.

I knew she was special from the first time I found her, but she even had magical wings - the rarest form - and that just confirmed it.

They were translucent, silvery, with a slight iridescence, and shaped somewhat like a butterfly's, but smoother and less separated from top to bottom. They shine even in the partial dark before the sunrise.

She turned as I came closer, with a huge smile on her face.

"Aren't they beautiful?" she whispered, reaching over her shoulder and lightly grazing one shining ridge with her finger. "They feel like a part of me, like they always should have been here and I just never knew. I can feel with them, too. They're like an extension of me."

"They're gorgeous." I agreed.

She turned, brushing her hair aside, inviting me to feel them. I brushed the edge of one of them with my finger, and it felt...alive. It was warm, and smooth - flexible, but like no material I knew. I'd never seen a magical wing before, so this was new to me.

Voices reached us through the trees as my mom and Menara stepped into the clearing.

Mom's mouth dropped open slightly at the sight of Sy's wings. "They-they're beautiful, Syrena. How much have you been able to do so far?"

Sy demonstrated, folding them down, then raising them again and opening and closing them.

"I haven't been able to magically hide them yet, but I've been trying."

We - Menara included - explained how to concentrate and will them away, and helped her practice. By the time the sun was fully up, she could hide them relatively easily, although it required a bit of concentration. Releasing them was easy for her, and she could make them reappear in less than five seconds after she hid them. 

Around 8:15, Menara invited us into the house for breakfast, so we headed inside. I stayed next to her on the walk back - we were pretty far into the woods - and helped her hide, release, then hide her wings, so she would feel comfortable walking in the open.

~

Syrena

I still wasn't used to the feeling of having another part of me extending from my back. It somehow felt...right, though. Dakan, Ailani, and Menara were a huge help in teaching me to hide and release them, and they were feeling more and more natural by the minute.

After we ate something, Ailani said that, now that I could hide and release easily, I could learn how to fly.

Oh. My. Word. YES! Honestly, I'd almost forgotten that I could fly with them. You'd think that would be the first thing I would want to learn, but it had kind of slipped my mind with the shock of my wings appearing, and then getting used to them.

We went back out to the clearing, which was now bathed in sunlight, so I could practice ascending straight up, hovering, and landing again. It took a while, but Dakan demonstrated how to catch the air with his wings, and how to angle them to keep you in the same place, and soon it felt natural.

As the sun went higher, so did I. 

Soon, I could fly as high as the trees surrounding the clearing. Kan joined me, and together we sat on one of the highest branches of an old oak and waved down to Menara and Ailani - who'd chosen to stay on the ground. 

Laughing, I purposely toppled off the branch, using my wings to parachute me to the ground, lightly touching down a few seconds before Dakan. 

I would never get tired of this feeling - of soaring through the air, controlling where I went and not just going down, but also up.

~

The next Monday, I frequently felt myself smiling for no reason, thinking of my secret and looking forward to the next time Dakan and I could fly together. 

Not even Trigonometry could ruin my mood, even though finals were approaching and we were reviewing nonstop.

This summer, I want to learn as much about Ostara as I can, and maybe I can go back there someday with Dakan.

~<>~

Hi! 💖

I started a new book - Randomness - which'll have a bunch of stuff I feel like posting whenever, and you can ask me questions.

Also, my college classes are finally winding down, so soon I'll have two less homework sources lol 😜

I hope you're liking the story! I love reading your comments, so feel free to leave a bunch of them heehee. If you're a silent reader, that's also fine 😁

Bye for now,

Leya 💜