I trudge behind the unknown Haldrin as he leads me through the woods. The thick trees reach to the sky on both sides of us, some are even so old they’re covered in moss. I can tell it’s late fall by the leaves crunching under our feet on the high path. I look to my right and find there’s a large cliff that leads down to a moat of jagged rocks, I wonder if it was natural or if someone put it there. I know I have to be careful either way.
“I know you have a lot of questions for me.” He sounds more serious now then when we were with the others. “Well, ask away.” He turns around to face me showing off a dazzling smile.
“Well I do, but I don’t want to bother anyone.” I say speeding up so I passed him.
“Aw, come on. Are you sure that’s the reason, or are you just afraid to talk to me?” He comes up behind me and him so close that I can feel his breath on my neck. It freaks me out so much that lose my balance and I trip over an overgrown tree root. Before I can even stop myself, I’m leaning backwards over the edge of the cliff. The Haldrin tries to reach out and grab my hand, but his reflexes are too slow. I tumble over the edge and land on my wings, causing a loud crack to fill the air. I scream out both in terror and in pain.
I close my eyes and prepare for extreme pain, but I don’t plan on letting my life end. I want to find out who I am and why those people had me kept there. I mean I know I’m not normal with the wings and all, but still, is there more of a reason? I want to learn about my past more than anything.
I suddenly feel myself in someone’s arms instead of hitting hard jagged boulders. I open my eyes to look down on the ground. I know I didn’t do anything myself, someone had to have saved me. What I find when I look up, is that someone. At first when I look up, I expect to see the mysterious cloaked Haldrin, but instead I find a blond guy. He doesn’t have wings either. From what I observe, he just jumped, and he’s now floating through the air. He balances on the top of a pointed rock, then pushes off and floats back up to upper ground, all with me in his arms. Once we reach land he sets me down.
He crouches down to my level, “You OK?” I look up to see his face; he has amazing green eyes with blond hair that reaches down to his shoulders. He also has a built figure, just like the other two guys. Are all Haldrin men like this? When I look up even further though, I find something that intrigues me.
I reach up and grab his soft blond wolf ears, one in each hand. I rub them for a good minute then release them. “Got your fill?” He asks with a chuckle. He falls back and sits on the ground.
“I’m sorry. I just had to feel them.” I mutter under my breath. I blush because I honestly didn’t mean to.
“Too bad they’re only out when I want them to.” Right after he says they disappear into thin air. “By the way, was that an accent I heard?” He says leaning in closer interested. He had the distant sent of pine. I have to say, he was quite alluring. I nod my head too mesmerized to speak. “Well that’s awesome. My name is Axel.” A hand appears in front of me, I reach out to shake it, but someone jumps in front of me before I can reach it, and by the blackness, I know who it is.
“She’s not going to shake your dirty mutt hand.” He smacks his hand away with his own. This made me so angry, that I shot out my wings prepared to fight.
“What do you-” I let out a yelp of pain, because I have forgotten the fact that my wings got injured. Axel runs past the Haldrin and tends to me. He’s asking if I’m OK, if he could do anything. I can’t respond, like I’m in a trance.
Soon my wings dissolve into my body; they just disappear into a dust that finds its way inside me. I guess they went in for a repair. I sit there calmly as the two guys start freaking out, until a voice stops them.
“Axel! Dude, where’d you go?” Soon a guy comes into view. He has long blonde locks and is tall, but what makes him different is that he has purple streaks in his hair, and he’s a bit scrawny. Axel pays no attention to him though.
“Are you OK? Do you know why your wings disappeared?” All I do is sit here and try to take in all that’s happening.
I’m sure this guy in front of me came out of nowhere just to save me, which made the cloaked Haldrin jealous, and then another guy comes looking for this man who saved me. A few seconds later a blond girl walks into view.
“Guys come on we have to-” She takes a look around. “Who are these people?” I take another look around to try and process everything once more, but this time it’s too much for my weak mind to handle. Before I even know it, everything is black.
When I open my eyes, I’m in a craggy cave. I moan as I sit up holding my head trying not to faint again. When everything stops spinning, I look to the mouth of the cave. I can only tell there are four figures; the sun makes them look just like shadows from behind so I honestly can’t tell if they’re real or not.
“Skylar you’re awake!” Someone comes running towards me, I don’t realize who it is until she has her arms around me.
“Hey, Meela.” I croak. She pulls away but keeps her hands on my shoulders.
“I know we didn’t know each other for long before we split up, but when I heard your scream I had to come over and see if you were OK. I wasn’t ready for you to die.” She starts weeping which catches me off guard. Jayias comes over and takes her off me, letting her cry into his shirt.
“Glad to see you’re OK Sky, but where are your wings exactly?” I look over my shoulder forgetting they have left me behind, letting me look like a normal human.
“I’m not quite sure. I think they disappeared to fix themselves since I broke them.” My voice is all raspy, probably because I lost it, due to the screaming I did.
I feel a pair of hands on my shoulders, “Well just take it easy until you get both your wings and your voice back.” Axel says practically reading my mind. I nod, standing up and following everyone out to the opening of the dark cave. When the warm sun hits my face I lift up an arm to block it.
“So this is the fallen angel, huh?” I look over to see the fourth figure leaning against the cave wall. It’s the girl that I had seen earlier before I passed out. “I thought of you to be more than just this puny little figure, and you don’t even look that menacing. If you didn’t have your small boobs you could pass as a scrawny guy.” She says as she flips her hair behind her shoulder. She reminds me of the bitchy cheerleader type, but I don’t say anything. I then pay attention her long, wavy blond hair had light blue streaks that matches her eyes, which then makes me think of mermaids.
“Come on Kiera, don’t be mean. She just fell down a cliff and all you can do is insult her?” Axel sounds offended although it isn’t him whom she’s speaking to.
“Well, if you haven’t noticed . . .” She stands up straight and leans in close to Axel. “Insulting is what I do best.”
Axel pushes her away, “Yeah I know that. Just stay away from me you stupid fish, your boyfriend will be coming back soon with the other Haldrin.” The other Haldrin that means they don’t know his name either, I wonder why he’s keeping a secret.
We all gather around the lit pieces of wood that the two guys have brought back. I have learned a lot too, just by listening to the others talk.
Apparently Axel was also kept in the “prison” that we had all escaped from. On his way out he had saved Leo and Kiera. Leo is the scrawny, tall guy with purple and blonde locks, which is also the blond girl’s boyfriend. He was kept there because he has telekinesis, which he demonstrates for us by lifting a log with his mind. Kiera is the bitchy fishy as I like to call her. She’s unfortunately half mermaid, meaning every time she touches water she grows a tail and gills. She can also control water at will. I chuckle at the idea of it, causing her to shoot me a look of hate, which made me laugh even more. Axel himself is just half wolf, explaining the blond tail and ears.
I sit between Meela and Axel turning my squirrel over the fire. Yes squirrel. For now this is all we have to eat, but I can’t complain, at least we have food. I look across the pit to see the cloaked Haldrin sitting there staring at me through his black and white locks. He nods his head to the left, as if trying to tell me he wants to meet me over in the woods to talk. He gets up and makes his way over. At first I’m scared to be alone with him, considering what happened last time I was. He just gives off a creepy aurora that makes me not want to be around him.
I get up from my seat making my way over to him. It surprises me no one even says anything, but I’m sure they notice. When I find him his hood is pulled down revealing his beautiful face. Surprisingly there are no scales on it. I guess they only appear when he wants them to, like Axel with his ears and tail.
“Seth P. Chrior, that’s my name.” He sighs. “The reason I didn’t tell anyone or show anyone my face is because . . . of some reason. I don’t trust anyone enough to tell them, but you. I trust that you’ll keep my name a secret. If anyone else found out, then they would hate me forever.” He pauses. “I was the general of the Haldrin war for a year. They sent some of us over to Australia to try and take over. We lost the battle and that’s why they brought me back here. I need you to keep this a secret, I only trust you.”
I stand here trying to make sense of what he’s saying. If anyone else knew this, then they would hate him. I know it, and I already hate him. I guess I have to keep it a secret though. I have to pretend I care, so he trusts me even more and he’ll help us in this fight against the Government.
“I understand if you don’t want that burden, but I thought maybe-” I hug him. I want him to stop talking, so I hug him. I’m not sure what he’s going to do, but he ends up hugging me back. I only do this because I want him to think I care. He needs to think that I understand and that I trust him too, though I really don’t. I hate his guts, and I have since I met him. I just have to try and pull off this act for as long as I can.
I have a feeling this is all a lie anyway. That he’s more important in this whole Haldrin thing then he’s saying. I don’t know why I know this, but I can just sense it.