Spread Your Wings

Chapter II

Chapter II
Flight until the death [do not try this at home]

Plummeting through the air from 11.2 kilometers in the air at 80 miles an hour was definitely not one of my new year's resolutions.
I scream as I feel the cold wind whipping my face after being shoved out. I then tried to relax, I definitely wasn't the most relaxed person ever, but I still managed to focus more.
My mind drifts from thin air to thinking about gymnastics class that I hated, where we learned a move that taught us how to change directions in the air.
Why wouldn't it work this high up? I thought, curl up into a ball and shift my weight to turn in midair until I'm facing the plane.
Somehow with my bare eyes, with surprising accuracy, I watch my mother walk back to her seat with teary eyes, I look around me at the clouds, the clouds started to feel like cotton candy, but that isn't possible. It feels like I'm accelerating like I am getting sucked into something.
faster, faster
But what's doing it?
I look down and see a funnel of clouds. It wasn't quite visible, but it wasn't invisible. It seemed like it was made out of extremely fast-swirling shadows that wanted to suck me in.
faster, faster
So this is it, this is the day I die, how pathetic, falling, and then dropping into a weird tornado where I will probably... I didn't want to finish that thought.
I close my eyes tight as I weave my fingers together and press my arms against my chest in silent prayer as I feel the gravity tugging at my skull.
faster, faster
Suddenly, gravity ceases to pull at me. My body fills with an airy, light feeling. If this was death, maybe it wasn't so bad. At least I wouldn't have to finish that essay, But I wasn't going down that easy. I screamed some more.
I slowly open my eyes (still screaming for help) only to see a vibrant eye-achingly blue sky, reaching out above me. I was scared to look down, so I didn't.
I closed my eyes, slowly descending, stuck in the moment. I scream and scream, then realize my feet were on solid ground. I had enough courage to open my eyes, and my voice drained from me.
My face turned strawberry red. I shut my eyes, assuming I'm hallucinating from lack of air.
I collapse from exhaustion and try to observe my surroundings. I am sitting in what looked like a reception room filled with about 20 people (all staring at me, confused), except everything is blindingly white. I'm not kidding, and even the counter is so white, you could barely see it if not for shadows.
My eyes drift to a lady with unusually pale skin, a platinum blonde pixie cut, stormy gray eyes, and of course she had to be wearing a white uniform. Trying to wake up from this strange dream when I felt a tap-tap on my shoulder. To my surprise, I saw a boy about my age, with tree-bark brown hair that seemed to be well kept over his head.
"You caused quite a scene just now, and maybe you should sit down,"
Still, as pink as a peach, I accepted his hand and plopped down on one of the cloud-like cousins of one of the white chairs. What had just happened? One moment I had been in the sky and the next in this completely white reception lobby. Deciding I had to do something to learn where I was, with a small headache talked to one the presumed recpictionest
"Where am I?"
The lady at the front desk says after she giggles to herself, "Even though I'd presume you know where you were to get here, the occasional portal slip up is completely fine. You currently are in the Air castle silly! I'm going to need to see your unit card!"
my unit card?
"You should (giggle giggle) check your pockets, silly!" With a smile, that's way too big for my liking.
I feel around in my jean pockets and I feel something. I pull it out and see it was the card that was in my suitcase! The one with the weird silver strip. I give it to her and she slides it on something next to my computer that I can't see. She gives the card back to me.
"NEXT!" She hollers in her high pitched voice
I sit back down in one of the white waiting chairs, pinching my arm to try and wake up.
After around ten minutes, my skin was red raw. I look back at the desk and see the same boy that helped me earlier swipe his card. For some reason, looking at him made my face feel even hotter than it already was.
"I'm sorry! Your card is expired. You'll have to pay off your debt in the Crystal Mines!" she says with an unusually big smile.
"WAIT!" he panics, as the lady is about to press a large gray button (the only thing not white in the room) "please! Slide my card one more time!"
She slides it through, and it makes a ringing noise.
Then suddenly she shouts, "NEXT!".
But it was expired three months ago.
I looked around. Did I just imagine a voice in my head? Probably just a minor hallucination to go with this hallucination.
The boy then goes into some silver and white curtains, like they were a hologram or something, so I decided to follow him in. It's not like I had anything else to do.
Once I am in, I see a room, even more, blinding than the last. This room is entirely silver. It's like a lounge. Where everything to the pillows is weaved out of silver thread.
Nearby a cozy sofa stood that seemed to invite you in until you yourself became air.That's when I noticed a narrow silver rug that seemed to be leading somewhere, like a path. The part of my mind that was still awake told me sitting there wasn't going to do anything, and the rug could lead me somewhere useful.
When I finally reach the end of the rug, I am at the end of the lounge. I looked back at the silver rug only to find it wasn't in fact laying there. Soon an announcement blared over something, as when looking around nothing seemed to be a speaker producing the sound.

"Lady Winthorp, please report to the Wind Spa for a check in. "

Last I checked my family wasn't descended from royalty, even though many times I wish it had.
I walk out the door and see the silver path continues again. You could say, I didn't know where I was going, but I was going. I follow it until it ended an arch that leads into a huge room that says in big letters;

"The Wind Spa"
I guess the path is magical? If so, it is very practical. After all that has happened today, the abnormality seems like it's not worth processing.
I go in and ladies with purple turbans rush up to me and greet me in a calming voice, like a soft breeze "Welcome to the wind spa."
"What the-"
I was then pulled into the area by one of the ladies with a not so graceful grip.
They rushed like the wind, and it seemed like only half a second before I'm sitting in an extremely comfortable teal salon chair.
Jeez, these spa ladies are fast. Before you could say, 'I'm sitting in a salon chair at a spa in another dimension probably hallucinating and I'm completely clueless', the spa ladies have taken out my waist-length twin braids and put something in my hair that made it feel super soft.
Another spa lady grabs my arm and moves like a graceful purple tornado, to the next part of the spa. Before I could even get settled and relax in the next chair, my hair had been combed and sprayed with all kinds of what-not. Next, I was rushed to a white spinny stool, where there stood a couple of spa ladies.
You know that thing in the cartoons, where they take these pads and weird makeup stuff and put it all on your face in a big cloud of powder, basically, that happened, but to me. (it's not as fun as it looks in the cartoons)
I am dragged while still coughing into those other things you see in those cartoons with the circular curtains. The curtains go up, you walk in, the curtains come down, then up again, and voila! You're magically dressed! It's not as fun as it sounds. *hint-hint* I am pushed into one of those.
Suddenly my clothes started coming off on their own (I'm not going into detail about that, obviously) A very formal silver gown with a white bow and teal bell sleeves with a knee-length skirt attached itself to my body. Somehow, three outfits in Garment Bags were in my hand.
The curtains come up and suddenly I'm then whisked out of the room. "Thank you for joining us! Come back soon!" That wasn't going to happen.
*****
I walk out into the hallway. I suddenly collided head-first with the boy I saw earlier.
"Oh sorry," Making a bad impression was the last thing I wanted to do, especially with the first person my age that I've seen. "Do you know where I'm supposed to be?"
"No. But I'm heading to the dorms?" before I could answer he said and put out his hand. "Wanna come with? By the way, my name's Nathan."
An uneasy feeling developed in my stomach, I needed at least someone to help me around. "Oh sure. My name is Lexia,"
"The Lexia?" His eyes went wide.
"Uhh, yeah?" I replied nervously.
"It's and honor to meet you your majesty," he bowed before taking my hand and kissing it, sending my face back to the Sahara desert, he continued "Okay, I may not know my way around the full castle, but I know this for sure." Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.