Featherweight

Drifters

Lucinda picked her way through the thick undergrowth, her wings tugging at her back as they were caught on thorns and low branches, and her head full of worry. Nobody had really noticed her, she had always been the middle child, in-between a sister who had made newspapers for her behaviour and a brother by far the favourite, now she was all alone, everything was on her. She was wasting that on strangers, who were camping in her garden. She should leave, and comfort her mother, who had just lost a second child to rebellion, where Rebecca would tech him to hate her and everything she believed in. That's what she should do.

The thing was, Delores wouldn't be sobbing in the kitchen. She would already have told the authorities that her son was kidnapped in the night, alongside his eldest sister. Already she would have covered up the fact that it was her own fault they were gone, both to the public eye and herself.

Anything to protect the family name.

For that reason, she forged on.

When Lucinda finally reached the clearing on all logical thought left her mind with a sharp "WOT."

The entire space was filled up with brightly coloured powder, like, entirely covered. The trees were strung with ribbons and there was a tangy taste in the air, like oranges. It was the single weirdest thing she had ever seen in her life, no doubt. Just when she started to accept the rainbow that had obviously died here, a large inflatable ball hit her on the head and she fell face first into the unicorn barf, the tiny granules of purple flying into the air and mixing with the neighbouring colour, green. Laughter from many people filled her ears, voices she recognised, and she felt arms lift her to her feet, where she came face to face with her friends, all of their eyes alight with laughter. Rose was at the front, holding one of the large foam projectiles in one hand, and a water balloon heavy with powder in the other. There was a streak of blue in her hair, and her bare feet almost blended in with the ground they were so bright.

"You like?" She said, grinning from ear to ear. "Powder paint, took us all all morning. We're leaving tomorrow, so I decided to leave you a leaving gift..."

Lucinda laughed; her face encrusted with tiny purple pieces, and grabbed a handful of bright orange.

"Game on!"

------------

The day was eventful, to say the least.

After a dramatic entrance from Rose and her family, a terrible battle ensured, with man turning on man and nobody escaping the terrible wrath of pastel paint. Three hours of pure carnage before a few organised games, teams switching around and swapping players as the rounds progressed. Finally team yellow won and the group began clearing up. Rose promised Lucinda the bright powder would be washed away the next time it rained and would even encourage flowers to grow where it left. The day was crazy, fun and all in all perfect. Lucinda wanted to stop time and just sleep by the fire that night forever and always play and talk and laugh. It had been a long time since she had been a child, she had missed it.

As the group sat by the fire that night and traded stories and marshmallows, Rose pulled Lucinda aside.

"I want you to understand we won't be coming back after tomorrow." she said

"we just travel, make friends as we go, dance, party, camp and leave, sometime we forget you people can miss us, or think we will return someday, but when we're gone, we're gone."

The kindly meant words nearly killed her, their meaning crashing down on her as she looked at Rose. Her only friends were going to leave her, and forget all about their stay. She wasn't so much a friend, as an entertainer, designed to provide fun and food and land whilst they were here. Despite their negative emotions, she forced out a tight smile and nodded casually, returning to the fire where an intense conversation was unfolding. She buried herself in the action and did her best to forget the pain she was feeling.

A few hours later and the group were still going strong.

"Your wings," Rose said at one point "They're... beautiful"

It was then that Lucinda noticed that not only did her unusual friends have strange facial features, but none of them had wings. she felt a blush rising in her face as everyone talked about them as if they were special. She felt almost cruel asking "where are yours, did you really, um, lose them, um, in an... accident?"

Darcy gave her a hard stare before saying in a perfectly neutral tone "do you think we did?"

"Umm... well, not really..." Lucinda said in a tiny voice.

Rose exchanged a look with her mother before saying in a low voice "well, your right. We never had wings, and are our faces , well, it's complicated."

"how?" Lucinda breathed, dread filling every inch of her soul like cold syrup. They couldn't really be demons, right?

Darcy stared at her for a few seconds, unblinking and perfectly still. Finally she began a tale that would change Lucinda's life, turn her world upside down. It all started with:

"Every thing you know and will know is a lie."