The Winged [HIATUS]

Chapter Twenty-Three

“this is why we call people exes, i guess - because the paths that cross in the middle end up separating at the end. it's too easy to see an X as a cross-out. it's not, because there's no way to cross out something like that. the X is a diagram of two paths.” -David Levithan, Will Grayson, Will Grayson

[ C H A P T E R   T W E N T Y – T H R E E ]

_________________

The sun is setting when I awaken several hours later. Propping myself up on my side, I see that Logan and Tempest are stirring as well. Owen and Talon are lounging in the white plastic chairs with their eyes closed, but I highly doubt that they are actually sleeping.

Offhandedly, I notice that I am still wearing a black beanie. I take it off and scowl at the greasiness of my hair. What I really want is a shower, but I doubt there is any running water in this building.

Logan groans loudly and sits up, no doubt wondering how the hell she landed herself in a grimy basement. And I thought my hair was bad – hers is a flaming ball of puff. “I am so hungover,” she moans, massaging her temples. “Is there any water in this joint? I’m parched.”

I reach for a canteen and toss it across the room. Logan deftly snatches it out of the air despite her weariness and chugs the whole container.

Tempest crawls over to her backpack and finds her own canister. “Bottoms up,” she jokes. Water dribbles down her chin and onto her shirt as she drinks.

“Jeez, you two are awfully thirsty,” I mutter, snuggling back under my covers.

“Well, yeah,” Logan says between gulps. “Whatever they drugged us with… I dunno. I could drain Lake Erie.”

“I could drain Lake Superior,” Tempest counters.

“I could drain Lake Baikal,” Logan snaps. “World’s largest freshwater lake. Also the deepest lake on Earth. Beat that.”

“Yeah?” replies Tempest, set on besting her rival. “I could drain the Caspian Sea! World’s largest lake. Period.”

“And I could drain the Pacific Ocean. World’s largest body of water. Period.”

“The Caspian Sea and Pacific Ocean are salty, so you couldn’t actually drink them,” Owen mumbles, butting into the discussion.

“No one asked you, Pierce,” Logan snarls, swiping Tempest’s canister and finishing off what little water remains.

“HEY!” Tempest lunges for the canister, but Logan holds it just out of her reach before bopping her over the head with it.

Talon leans forward in his chair, propping his elbows up on his knees and resting his head on clasped hands. “I’m glad to see you kids are back to normal, but—”

Logan pauses in her assault to point an accusatory finger at the spiky-haired boy. “I’m older than you, buster.”

“As I was saying,” he continues, rolling his eyes, “I’m happy that you’re safe, but I would like to know exactly what happened.”

“We got caught, they drugged us, you saved us,” Logan says, attempting to appear nonchalant. “End of story.” Her efforts are spoiled by the telltale blush spotting her cheeks, betraying her shame.

“No, not end of story,” Owen insists, glancing suspiciously in my direction. “When we found you, all the Blackwings were either dead or unconscious. We would’ve checked, but there was a bit of a time crunch. Anyhow, it looked like there had been an explosion. Does anyone want to guess where the epicenter was?”