Four Wings

4. Explanations

"Wow," I breathe, "They're...amazing. How does that work with your t-shirt, though. Doesn't it rip every time?"

He folds his wing back and turns around to show me where they connect - right between his shoulder blades. It's almost like they join his back through his shirt, but there aren't any holes.

"No, it's part of the magic, I guess. My wings are flesh and blood, but my shirt doesn't tear when I release them. They just phase through. It's definitely convenient, though, or I'd have to explain all the time why all my t-shirts have two holes between my shoulder blades." He laughs, probably imagining that.

I absentmindedly itch my shoulder again, imagining having wings. What kind would they be? What color?

Why does my back itch so badly all of a sudden, gah.

Retracting his wings so they disappear, he sits back down at his desk, and I grab my laptop and lay on the rug.

~

We spend the rest of the afternoon in Kan's room, going over homework and just talking. Catching up on the years we hadn't seen each other.

I tell him about living with Menara after he left, about my best friend, my violin teacher's daughter, who I met after he left. I tell him about making tiny houses out of tree branches in the woods, learning violin, practicing gymnastics in the clearings, and wading in the stream. He in turn tells me about Wisconsin when he just got here, the taekwondo class he took one summer and how it got him interested in martial arts, how he met Jason and Eric, and his first years of high school.

We find out that our music, book, and movie tastes are very similar, too. We both love action - especially superhero - movies, and have some of the same favorite book series also. As for music, he doesn't listen to it constantly like I do, but we find we both like to listen to movie soundtracks, so we spend the rest of the afternoon listening to random soundtracks from movies we've both seen, singing along if we know the words, and generally acting weird, 'cause why not?

Not much homework was completed, obviously.

The time passes too fast, and pretty soon it's almost 6 o'clock, and I need to get home. I texted Menara that I was at Dakan's house and I would probably be late, but she'll start worrying if I'm too late, so I say goodbye to Ailani and Dakan and drive home.

Seriously, I need to put lotion or something on my back. It's killing me. Hopefully it's better tomorrow morning.

~

Dakan

Early next morning, Saturday, I'm lying in my room on my phone. Mom's still sleeping, but I'm already up, and I just needed to check my email.

I'm in the middle of some random end-of-year yearbook survey for the seniors that someone sent me, when my screen shows that Syrena's calling me.

Quickly clicking on the answer button, I lift the phone to my ear. "Hey, Sy. You're up early."

No answer.

"Sy? You there?"

"Hi, Kan." I finally hear her, but she sounds...odd. Her voice is tight, and higher than usual, like she's freaking out, but excited at the same time.

"Hi...what's up? Did something happen?"

"Um, you could say that, yes. Can you come over? Like, now? I'm in the trees behind our house. Bring your mom if you can."

What happened??

I open my mouth to ask, but she beats me to it.

"Dakan. I-I woke up this morning really early because my back was itching really bad and woke me up, but as I was walking to the bathroom to get some lotion, all of a sudden, in the middle of the hallway, wings just appeared on my back. My back stopped itching, finally, but wings! I showed Menara, and she said to call your mom, because she doesn't have a lot of experience with wings, but she didn't answer, so I need you to tell her and teach me what to do with them!"

Wings? Syrena has wings?

As she's talking, I get dressed and grab my sweatshirt.

"Mom's still sleeping, but I'll get her up. We'll be over in about 5 minutes."

Oh, boy.

At least this didn't happen at school. Even if humans can't normally see anything magical-related, there might be an unknown trace of faerie in someone - enough to see something - and that wouldn't be good.

Good thing it was Saturday, so we have the whole day to practice for Monday.

~<>~

A/N

Hiya guys!

Just a note: It's, like, a month until the end of their school year. So summer and its events are coming heehee - I have a lot planned for them. 😏

Random question: What are your favorite artists/favorite songs? 💖🎶

I got into Kpop relatively recently, and I'm obsessed. It's amazing.

~ Leya 💜