The Winged

12- Only Way

There was a chilling pressure running down the back of my head before I knew what was happening. I froze, feeling it tug at my messy hair. Not aggressive, but light... It stopped and started sequentially, smoothly gliding from the top to the bottom of my head. I shuddered, unable to turn to see what it was.
Sam's booming voice made me jump. "You're quite protective of that kid."
He looked down at his new prisoner. Micah inched further away, hands shaking. Sam then turned his attention back to me.
I don't think he realised, but his grip had tightened. It was then that I realised that the pressure on my head was the feel of him stroking my knotted hair.

I wrinkled my nose with every brush, despising the feel of his fingers on my head.
"Get off me." I spat. For some reason he seemed to find it funny when I tried to shove the touch away.
"Aww, don't be like that." He murmured, though he did stop.
Instead, he relaxed his hand, releasing my legs to hold me in his hand. I sat in the centre of his palm, refusing to let myself tremble. I made sure to keep my hands firmly tucked close to my chest and away from the fleshy floor below.
"You know, if you take us to this tribe of yours, you'll be with him again." Sam must have noticed my rigid body, must have watched my eyes widen at the mention of Aspen.
The laugh at the shaking I could no longer hold back sounded almost genuine, "I can't wait to meet him. The way you talk about him, he must be special."
The thought of him getting Aspen too... it made me feel sick. I turned away from him as an involuntary grimace struggled to break my composure. Fingers came towards me at an alarming speed not a second later. I managed to sip at the air, my shoulders tensing as the giant yanked my face to his.

"Do you miss him?"
I stared up, wide-eyed. He had me cupped in just one hand. There was no intent to pin me down or restrain me, he knew I wouldn't dare try anything but shudder. Not after all the threats, still looming.
Do I miss him?
Sam gave another smirk when he noticed the flushing behind my freckles. Slowly, he coiled his four fingers around my waist, not caring about the weak protest I gave.

"I can tell that you do. You really do." His eyes were effortlessly absorbing my every emotion. I turned my face away again, blushing horribly. The humiliation of helplessly having your emotions being picked apart was unbearable.
"Oh... I get it. It's like that."
The tone of his voice sent my skin crawling. The cry I gave meant nothing when he sharply squished my cheeks between his thumb and finger, then turned my face back to him. Stop doing that! Get off— just get off! The creature was grinning with a look that made me nauseous. 
"You've been crying for your little boyfriend."

I opened my mouth with a mortified denial, but my muscles locked up when his fingertip brushed over my lip. A shush followed. The giant person smiled, "Don't even deny it. It's all over your face."
My hands that pushed at his fingers only made them press closer.
"He's no stronger than you, I bet," he teased on, "No doubt just as tiny. Aww, you two will be adorable together, won't you?"
I went rigid and emitted a pathetic little what? He didn't answer, and it didn't really need to be explained to me anyway. All I had to do was imagine Aspen in Sam's hand to know what he meant.

The giant person released my face after that. He knew that I wouldn't say anything else; I was frozen. I could see it in his face that he was considering what he could do with the tiny girl in his hand once he had somebody she cared about. My heart pounded. What he could do to Az...
He gave a chuckle, "You think he'll come and save you. I wonder if he's worrying about you now, hm?"
Stop it. I choked back a whine as the fingers pressed inwards. Of course he is, he's Aspen. He's always worrying, even when there's no reason to. And in another life, one without humans and birds and a hundred giant predators, I would have found it annoying.
I muffled a whimper when Sam delicately traced along the fold of wings, probably loving the way I broke at the touch.
"No. I bet he's forgotten all about you. So little..."
I wanted to cry or maybe scream. Get of, get off get off— it sent electric tingles throbbing through my every nerve, floods of emotion, a heat in my cheeks. Deep down, what I really wanted was to punch the giant creature, to make him leave me alone and save Micah. But that was impossible. So I would be satisfied with just being able to get home again. Only... that was starting to seem impossible too. I couldn't do anything at all against these people. Nothing to stop him from sliding disgusting fingers against my wings. Get off me.