Flight School: Predator

Absent Returns

Minutes after half of the training facility's main hall was destroyed by Io, questions swarmed and overwhelmed the poor boy who had, so oddly, turned back into his sparrow-form after his moment of chaos—in which Jing explained was his body reacting to the cure he had administered. She deduced that it had tempered and confused the spirit and caused his Avian form to shift between Luna's and Lyra's, even though it was hours before nighttime. Not a soul had a clue what she was talking about. Including Io himself.

For the remaining half of the session, each of his classmates took turns carrying the sparrow around in their palms. Naturally, Luka was not too happy about that decision, but since Io was unable to shift back into his human form, Reyes said that they had no choice but to wait for his stamina to run out.

This implied that at least one of Io's unlucky classmates would suffer some minor damage to their wrists, since the sparrow they had been holding would—all of a sudden—turn into a hundred-and-ten-pound human. That unfortunate person being Vaughn. Naturally, really. Vaughn was the kind who could mess up a fifty-fifty chance by picking the unfavourable half. Even if that very unfavourable chance was reduced to a mere one-tenth, he would somehow end up on that very end.

Io as well, enjoyed his time assessing and grading the palms of his classmates. He found that he preferred larger hands with softer palms. A combination of Luka's and Abigail's would have been perfect. Meanwhile, Vaughn and Lucienne shared similar attributes; long and bony fingers. Very uncomfortable. If only he mastered the art of reading palms, then he could entertain himself by reading the fortunes of his friends.

"Hi!" Was what he greeted the vulture with as soon as his spirit was beginning to fade and his return to his human form made, causing Vaughn to nearly break his wrist. He saved himself by dropping Io. "That hurt."

Vaughn rolled his eyes, cradling his wrist. "You deserve that after destroying half the training hall."

The session came to an abrupt halt as soon as Io returned, since Reyes had to check on his condition and ensure that the boy was alright. While the rest of his classmates looked on, Io apologized profusely—promising that he would, somehow, pay for the repairs of the two platforms, four perches, and three posts that he had destroyed from his lack of control over Luna's form in a hall that could barely house her.

Reyes laughed with a sigh. "No, Tori. The importance of your safety is always first. Fortunately, no one was injured by the falling platforms, and the other class were quick enough to leave the hall before the the third post fell."

"But," he added with a warning. "As punishment for not voicing your discomfort before the flight, you will be cleaning the hall of debris for the rest of the afternoon. There's dust everywhere." Io had no choice but to oblige. The instructor was right that she should have informed him of his nausea.

"I will, sir. Again, I'm so sorry..." Reyes shook his head and called for the rest to change out of their flightwear and wash up for lunch.

"You too," he said to Io, handing him a bottle of water. "Drink up and change. Today's lunch will be held at villa one, where your classmates have been staying. We've prepared something special for the last day." It sounded to Io fairly exciting. Well, as long as Kirill's class wasn't ogling at him, anything was fine.

*

Turns out, it was something surprisingly normal for high school students. At least to Dmitri, it was. To a select few of his class however, not so much.