Nephilim Quest Book 1: Shadowhunter

26. Wings 1/2

"You really are a show-off, aren't you!"

 Diana's voice floated into my consciousness. I must have been asleep. The bed felt quite hard, though. I opened my eyes and much to my astonishment I was looking up at towering bookshelves. I was lying on the floor... Why would I be lying on the floor?

Diana's face hovered over me.

"Good, you are awake. I've been telling our angel-boy here what's what. To scare someone like that without warning..."

I remembered. I jumped to my feet so fast that I bumped against Diana, who lost her balance and ended up sitting on the floor. Daniel was standing nearby, and to his credit it has to be said he did look embarrassed.  At the moment he looked like an ordinary, tall young man.

"Did you just have wings??" my voice was rasping with shock, but it did not stop it from rising hysterically towards the end of the question.

"Yes..." He looked at me under his brows – that breathtakingly blue gaze.

"You'd better let her see them again, Daniel. It doesn't exactly look as though her mind is taking in what she saw," Lilith commented dryly. Her tone revealed she was not very happy with Daniel either.

This time he did not pop them open like an umbrella, but instead turned his back on me and opened them very slowly so I could see them better.

How to describe the wings? They were definitely not like the traditional giant swan wings of angel statues and paintings. No bird feathers of any kind. No – they were somehow quite immaterial. 

The wings appeared from under his shirt as if the fabric was no obstacle at all – two little colorful points of light, blue in shade, which first grew upwards like someone had drawn a glowing line with a brush. And then they grew outwards. It was a bit like watching ferns unfurl in a high-speed movie... They rolled open by spreading up and out, high above his head, tips touching. When they were fully open, they melted together, and formed a perfect half circle behind Daniel's upper torso. The lower ends of these wings were separate and curled slightly forward past his legs, enveloping his lower body. Suddenly I remembered the bluish halo around my legs when we flew over the fields.

And they were shimmering with blue and gold – slowly pulsating in transparent color, which emanated light. A bit like blood pulsing in veins, only like the veins were transparent and the blood – or color – was visible. I could see how the link to them in the human mind would be the wings of a bird – or maybe a butterfly. Or perhaps just a very bright aura. They seemed to bend air around them a bit like the edges of a leaf floating on the surface of water.

"Wow," I breathed out in utter astonishment. Two of the closest people reading books glanced at the wings and returned to their books. Business as usual here, it seemed.

All I could do was stare at the wings in awe, with my mouth open. Daniel turned back to face us. I snapped my mouth shut, and hoped in vain I did not look like a total idiot.

"So you are one of the Nephilim?" I asked him the obvious.

"Yes. From one of the least diluted bloodlines. That's why the wings are so big."

Daniel looked almost relieved, and suddenly I understood. He would have to hide his true identity from everyone in the outside world. If he showed his wings, he'd probably end up in some laboratory and would have lost his freedom for good. Or, maybe not... with the Keys in use I am sure he would be able to escape from anywhere. If he did not have a Key, then Lilith did and...

My imagination was beginning to create scenarios again. I firmly told it to stop.

"And the bloodlines with more human blood result in smaller wings?" I analyzed.

"In time, yes, usually. Sometimes there are no wings at all, and sometimes the more human bloodlines surprise with huge wings. So it isn't a straight-forward downhill shift for the Nephilim race, if there is more human blood in it. It seems the angels and humans were originally somehow related – this is logical when you think about it, as they could produce offspring - and there is the potential of finding... angelic skills... in human blood as well. Some kind of genetic mutation may bring it out, I think," Daniel answered.

"So are the fairies of the stories then actually Nephilim with much diluted blood and thus smaller wings?" I pondered.

 Diana snorted and Daniel rolled his eyes at her.

"That was quite a legitimate question, Di," he said.

"Sorry, for a second there I saw you as a little fairy sitting on a flower... or perhaps on a mushroom with a caterpillar smoking a hookah. Three inches tall, a very good height indeed!"

Daniel glared at Diana, who was clearly having great difficulties in taking control of her slightly hysterical giggling.

"Are the Nephilim babies born with wings, then?" I was full of questions.

Daniel's eyebrows rose at the question, and Diana, who had just got herself under control, burst into another fit of laughter.

"No, the wings develop later," Daniel shot Diana another glare. "The Nephilim come of age when the wings begin to grow. The age may vary, but it's not usually before we are in our late teens, often after we have turned twenty. It's an occasion of great celebration among the Nephilim. But it may be a shock to the new Nephilim, especially if they are not aware of what they are."

"It's a good thing they don't grow sooner," said Diana, mock seriously. "Imagine the trouble of babysitting them! Tiny Nephilim scooting around in the air - like pilots with the common sense of a toddler..."

I had to admit the idea of flying babies was somewhat hilarious, but I was too new to all of this, and very curious, so I did not waste my time in laughing but turned back to Daniel.

"Can I touch your wings?" I asked.

xxxx

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