Feathers That Won't Fly

Chapter VII Princess Azlyn

Thinking about the truth was quite obviously not going to help the current situation. The current situation being D.C., to be exact. The nation's capitol, Washington, D.C. How civilized.

Lilly, Calvin, Lisa, Azlyn, and Tom were walking down the National Mall, which wasn't quite a mall, but a street of shops. It was quite underwhelming, but the only one who was underwhelmed was Lisa. Lilly was young, Tom and Calvin didn't care, and Azlyn had been there multiple times as a child.

"Where are all the arch-humans?" Azlyn asked.

"Azlyn." Tom ignored the question. "I need to tell you something."

Azlyn flashed back to her hallucination. Was it coming true?

"I can help you control your perceptions. I watched your parents train Kael when I first met them. I don't know everything, but I believe I know enough," said Tom.

He told the others to go on and look through the shops to find food and supplies, then he turned to Azlyn.

"Well, since it's your first time, you should probably calm down and sit. It'll be easier," Tom said.

Tom's eyes were calm, and his body was relaxed. It didn't seem as if he was about to do any harm, so Azlyn followed through.

Azlyn tilted her foot to sit, but the weight on her swollen, red ankle caused a crunching sound. Pain rocketed from her ankle to her side, as if her leg bone was splitting clean in half. Grabbing her throbbing ankle only made things worse, but Azlyn continued to sit down in fear that Tom would make fun of her.

Tom decided to ridicule her anyway. "You dumb child. Whatever, just try to calm down and focus, or whatever."

In spite of the tearing pain in her broken ankle, Azlyn attempted to calm herself. Breathing slowly and steadily, she reached for her ankle, and started rubbing it to soothe the pain. It did more than that. She had cringed at the thought of the cracking noise the ankle had made earlier, but she stopped, for relief had pushed away the pain. The broken bones in her ankle mended themselves, so that it felt as if it had never been broken. The flesh shrunk to a normal size, and the redness dissolved, turning the ankle's flesh into a color identical to that of the rest of the foot.

Azlyn was immensely confused by this lack of pain, so she pulled off her shoe and sock hastily.

"Hey! I said relax!" Tom yelled.

Azlyn replied with,"What the f---?"

"What?" Tom asked.

"Look at my ankle."

"What the f---?"

"I know."

"How did you do that?" Tom had clearly never seen that before.

"I just, you know, touched it."

Tom didn't allow this to hinder his "training session", "Whatever, just calm down, and focus on who you want to perceive through. Let the energy flow through you, and focus on being that person."

Azlyn closed her eyes lightly, breathed slowly, and imagined little green arrows of energy flowing from her heart out to her limbs. She could've perceived through anyone she chose, even Tom, but who did she choose? Haddix. It was quite involuntary and unwanted, but her mind quickly flew through Haddix. That idiot of a child.

The soul of Azlyn stuck itself with ease into Haddix's body. It was cold, horrible, and thick with black vegetation. The tendrils, to be exact. Azlyn hated it. But what was this? Warmth? Where was it coming from? The heart. Definitely the heart. It was small though.