Secret Wings

Chapter 30

Hi!

Thank you to all those who wished me the best for the Wattys, shared my story on Twitter or Facebook, and/or voted on the previous chapters!

I've been pretty busy so unable to answer to many comments and messages, but I'll do my best to get to it. Meanwhile, know that your comments are greatly appreciated!

Also the beautiful fanart of Bree you can see above is by @Dhymitrius!
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Recap:
With the impending attack, the citizens of Sol are all heading to the safety of the forest, where Hailey did her best to lifts their spirits (as much as you can with an army coming your way, anyway).
At the end of last chapter, her conversation with Autumn gave her an idea...
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Chapter 30

I was so caught up trying to figure out the if's and what's of my idea that I forgot to look where I was going and only saw that someone was coming the opposite way at the last minute. I stopped dead in my tracks and took a step back, stumbling on a hidden root and barely managing to keep my balance.

"Sorry," I said, grabbing a thick branch to steady myself and blowing some hair out of my face.

"No, it's my fault, sorry." A familiar voice apologized.

I looked up to see Chase looking at me with worry.

"Are you okay?"

"Oh, yes, I'm fine. Thanks. Actually I was looking for you," I said, rearranging my bow between my wings.

"What's the matter?"

I looked at him blankly for half a second. Why did I want to talk to him again? Oh, yeah, right!

"You know that place where the king is whose name I can never remember? If the enemy knew the king was there, would they attack it?"

"Amaris? Well, Amaris is, contrary to Sol, an older city that has fortifications. Considering there's about half of the Aeolus army there, and that they now know that a second enemy body is here in Sol, it would be quite stupid for the enemy to attack just like that. After all, surprise was our enemy's best asset for tonight's attack. That would be gone by the time they reached Amaris. Since this enemy has already proved they definitely aren't stupid -I mean, we don't even know what to call them, their army suddenly grows twice as big, and I could go on- they probably wouldn't attack Amaris." Chase explained in details, figuring that the answer seemed of great importance to me.

"And, you did say earlier that the enemy's purpose for coming here was, according to you and Anselm, solely to find the king?"

"I did," Chase said, a glint of interest in his eyes.

"Earlier today -or I guess yesterday- my grandfather told me that you didn't use phones, partly because you didn't want information intercepted. What if we purposefully had the enemy catch a message that said the king wasn't actually here?"

Chase gaped at me for a second, and I felt my cheeks grow hot.

"Sorry," I rambled, trying to cover up my embarrassment, "There's probably a billion reasons why that wouldn't work, but I was just thinking, you know, that if we could draw them away or something-"

"No, you're right, that could actually work!" Chase interrupted. "This is probably the smartest thing I've heard all morning! Hailey, you're a genius!" He took off, his brown wings flapping quickly, calling out behind him, "I need to find Bree, we don't have much time."

I watched him go with mixed feelings jumping around inside me: relief, pride, hope, and- forgetfulness? Darn it! I had forgotten to ask him where Anselm was.