Secrets of Night

Chapter 27

I glance down to find I'm not on the ground, empty air lies beneath my body. Something black catches my eye and I turn my head to see a giant black wing wrapping around to the side of my vision. Confused, I follow it with my eyes to discover this raven wing is attached to my back and feel my face twist is disbelief, my jaw gapping in slight mortification. Wh-what? What the hell?

Examining the rest of my body, I hold out my hand, shocked by its starch whiteness, I've seen printer paper darker when something else catches my eyes: my hair. My hair reaches past my shoulder blades, halfway down my back, a rich new raven black replacing my previous brown locks to match the massive wings plastered on my back. My thoughts stutter as I struggle to comprehend what the hell is happening to my body. Swallowing the shock, I turn my attention back to the guards whose eyes reflect the same surprise I feel as they cower behind their vehicles, some of their weaponry dropped to the dirt of the trenches from shock. My thoughts and eyes suddenly snap back to Tyler whose expression reflects those of the guards. Cautiously and with a great deal of uncertainty, I beat my wings ever-so slightly and gain an inch of height, somehow now gaining the ability to fly? Making the most of the guards' fear, I flick my wrists at Tyler, still somehow hovering in the air by Lord only knows what and force myself to ignore the craziness.

"Well, let's go!"

Before anyone else can process what it happening, I scoop my brother up and launch into the air with a hard beat of my wings before the guards can recover from what they just saw.

~~~~~~

"Straighten out! Slow down! Don't you dare drop me! Ah! Land! Land, you idiot!"

"Shut up!"

Struggling to land my airborne body, I clumsily collide my feet to the ground and topple over as Tyler leans forward in my arms, causing me to trip and lose my balance. He crashes down into the grass first while I stumble for a moment before faceplanting on the overgrown forest grass, letting out a muffled groan of pain into the dirt.

"God dammit, Night! That hurt!"

Picking myself up from the dirt and rubbing my sore nose, I groan once more and slowly get to my feet. Narrowing my eyes, still rubbing my sore nose, I glare at my brother as he rolls dramatically onto his back.

"Well, I'm sorry that I've never done that before ya jerk!"

He stands and brushes off his jeans, nodding curtly, his nose tilted in the air. Neither of us have addressed what just happens mostly because I think neither of us have any clue as to what happened. Where the hell did those wings come from? Where were they hiding and how did I not know I had them for my entire life?

"Apology accepted."

He looks at me, his eyebrow arching as he seems to be looking around me instead of at me. Frowning, I stare at his eyes, trying to determine what he is looking at, but they keep shifting as if they can't make up their mind about something.

"So, what are you going to do about those?"

Confused at what he means, I crank my head to see that my giant black wings are still out, curling awkwardly in the air. Face palming, I groan, rubbing my forehead; I had forgotten they were still expanded? Is that the right word? No clue. Anyway, how I managed to forget they were out, I'm not necessarily sure since one would think that suddenly having giant black wings sprouting from one's back would be difficult to forget about, but apparently not for me!

"Crap, I have no idea, give me a sec, I'll figure it out...hopefully."

Clueless on what I'm supposed to do, I squint in concentration, straining every possible muscle in an attempt to fold my wings, but they remain stubbornly protruding from my back. Ok, this is not fair, these things should come with an instruction manual or something. Tyler bursts out laughing and doubles over in his laughing fit, wiping a tear from his cheek before finally getting himself under control with intermediate giggles.