Feather Dark

Chapter 17

Keira

The harsh fluorescent light of the compound's clinic flashed off Sevic's glasses as she bent over my wing. "Good, Keira. Your feathers have healed well. You should be ready for your first mission with Cobbe and Blue next week."

Struggling not to flinch from her nearness, I kept my voice level. "Good."

"I'm glad you changed your mind." Sevic gave me a thin smile before crossing the room and making notes on her tablet. "It benefits everyone when our kind realises that resisting the inevitable only causes harm rather than supporting the greater good."

"Mmm." My non-committal noise sounded weak in my own ears. I may have gone along with Leigh's insane plan and agreed to join the mission, but I wasn't able to muster any patriotic enthusiasm for it, real or faked.

Sevic's grey eyebrows raised knowingly. "I know why you've agreed to join the others."

My stomach hurtled through the floor. I didn't answer, finding silence a better weapon against Sevic than witty banter.

She eyed me condescendingly as she walked back across the room and craned her face in towards mine. "You may have them fooled, but I see everything."

I slid down in the examination chair but still held my tongue.

"You like him." Sevic appeared delighted with herself, and her wrinkled face twisted in glee. "You have feelings for Cobbe, and you're worried that if you don't join the mission, he and Blue will become closer."

"You got me," I said, shakily. She was mostly right.

In the days since Leigh had kissed me beneath the waterfall, I'd been a mess. I couldn't obviously avoid him anymore or Sevic would realise something was up, but hanging out with him, pretending we were having some sort of fling while trying to keep Blue in the dark – it was a charade that I couldn't begin to decipher.

Each morning, Leigh would grab me as I entered the rainforest room, pressing me against the nearest wall or tree, and we'd make out like teenagers, hands everywhere, teeth clashing, bodies tightly intertwined. Then we'd smooth down our feathers and hair and clothes and have breakfast with Blue like everything was fine. We'd all train together, Blue and Leigh flirting outrageously while I watched with an aching heart, then I'd go for a swim. And as I swam my laps in the lagoon, Blue and Leigh would fly overhead, their laughter rebounding off the glass dome above me as I tried studiously to ignore them, wishing that I'd been born a mermaid rather than a winged weirdo so I could stay under the surface and drown them out. We ate as a group for dinner, but Leigh always walked Blue back to her room afterwards, and I'd see them canoodling through the foliage, heads close.

Then I'd go to bed and lie awake, brimming with a list of questions that grew by the minute. Did Leigh still have feelings for me? Were our make-out sessions real or were they just for the cameras? Was he really into Blue? Was she into him? Had Blue actually decided to fly the mission for real or was she aware of Leigh's plan? Was anyone coming for us or were we on our own? And because I couldn't ask anyone anything, my psyche twisted itself up tighter every day.

But for now at least, Sevic seemed to have bought it. Whatever 'it' was. She strode for the door, indicating for me to follow. "I don't care if you have a true passion for our work yet, or if your compliance is merely driven by your hormonal response to Cobbe - as long as we have an understanding."

"And what's that?" I asked as we turned into her office.

We sat on the plush leather couches as if we were gossiping girlfriends, an illusion that was quickly dissipated by Sevic saying, "That you belong to me, to this agency. That if you step out of line, I will swiftly punish all three of you in unimaginable ways."