Tainted Wings

Chap. 26: Skylar

“Ready to go in?” I nod, as I straighten up and start walking behind him. It’s a really good thing my wings can disappear inside me, otherwise we would be having a big problem right now.

As we walk into the campus, all I can think of is how enormous and beautiful it is. There’s a giant garden in one corner, a statue in another, and right in the middle is an even fancier fountain then the last one we saw.

There’s students everywhere, playing all different kinds of instruments. I guess it’s a good thing I have my violin with me so I blend in. A few of the guys watch me as I pass by, but none of them stop me and question me. We stroll on to the front door. This place looks just like a castle, inside and out.

“They are said to be just visiting here for a today and tomorrow. So we have to find them as soon as we can.” I look around at every face that passes by, but none of them belong to either of them. Akaito walks off, and tells me to stay put as he goes and tries to figure out where they are.

I stand here with my back against the wall, waiting for him to come back. I have no clue why though, I mean right now is a perfect time to escape, but if I did, it’d ruin everything. I look down at the ground, thinking about what would happen if I did. He’d have to capture me again, and take control over me again and everything. I do not want to go through that a second time.

Just as I look up, I watch as both Axel and Kadaj pass by me, following behind two more guys I’ve never seen. I look through the crowd to see if I can find Akaito, but he’s nowhere to be seen. I decide to follow them. I mean they’re right there, and we might not find them again after this, and plus if Akaito gets to them first, we might have a problem. I move from my post, and start to follow them. The good thing is I’m quiet enough so they don’t know that I’m following them.

We turn down a hallway, and there are billions of doors leading into what look like practice rooms. Some of them have people in them playing, and others are empty. They stop, and I’m stuck behind them. I start to panic, what if they turned around found me standing here. What would I do? What would I say? What would they say? 

I look around, and find that one of the doors is open. I duck inside, making sure I’m not visible as I do so. I sit on the floor as I try to catch my breath. It’s not that it was physically hard to do, but I was worked up because I didn’t want to be seen. I sit there, staring at the door waiting for them to leave. Instead, the door starts to open. I look around for an escape root, and find another door. I quickly crawl over to it and dive in. 

I was expecting a door that led into the hall, or another practice room. Instead I find myself in a closet full of instruments. I sit on the floor of the closet, leaning against a large case. I’m assuming it’s holding a cello. I try to steady my breath so it’s not loud enough for them to hear.

I sit patiently waiting in the closet, I hear footsteps in the room, but it only sounds like one person. The door slams behind them then I hear them unlatching a case. I wait to hear the music, to find out who it is. A violin starts playing.

It’s Kadaj. He keeps stopping and starting, I feel sorry for him, I can tell he’s healed by the sound of his footsteps, but he seems distracted. I crawl forward to look through the keyhole when I hear him start talking, I can’t hear what he says though. When I try to move, I find my wig it stuck on the case. I reach back and try to detach my wig from it, instead I pull it forward and it falls forward on top of me causing me and the case to crash onto the floor. 

I reach to my head and my wig has gotten messed up so you can see my caramel hair, and I can hear foot prints coming towards the door. They stop right in front of the door, the knob starts to turn.

“Don’t open it please!” I shout from inside, I try to make my voice sound like a guy’s as much as I can. 

“Why shouldn’t I?” He stops for a moment, and thank goodness Axel comes running in to distract him. 

“Get down, we got a problem!” I hear a thump and it sounds like a knife being caught in wood. “It’s Akaito!”

My eyes grow wide. He found them too. I try to fix my wig as I crawl over to look trough the keyhole. Both Axel and Kadaj are standing there watching Akaito come in from the hall. He has four daggers between his fingers on each hand. Every time he flicks his wrist, one of them goes hurling towards the guys. They have good reflexes and are avoiding them easily. 

Both Axel and Kadaj head for the window, but Kadaj’s shirt gets caught on the side of the piano that has cracked and now sticks out. How convenient. He tries to pull it off but he can’t. Akaito walks closer, and flicks his wrist, smiling with satisfaction that one of them will finally be gone. By this time, Axel has jumped out of the open window, leaving Kadaj behind.

Akaito shoots a dagger in his direction, he stops struggling and stands there in awe watching it makes its way towards him. I twist the knob and jump in front of him, the dagger planting itself in my shoulder instead of him. Akaito’s reaction is priceless actually. I land on the ground with a thud and stinging in pain.

“What are you doing!?” He screams at me. I look up at him wincing.

“Saving my friend.”