Aquila almost had to wrestle Moose to the ground to keep him from joining them as he took Eliza home.
"I can't carry both of you!" Aquila had exclaimed.
"You did last time!"
"Because I had to! And besides, it was dark out!"
"So?"
Eliza stepped in and patted Moose's arm, grinning at the way the quick-moving boy froze under her touch.
"Don't worry, I'll be back. You're not getting rid of me that easy."
But now, with Aquila setting her down in the shadows outside Meru's central green, she felt a moment of doubt.
"So," Eliza said, tilting her head up to face him as he stepped away, folding his massive wings tight against his body. They looked lustrous in the morning light, shimmering in every shade of blue. "Will I be back? Or did I just lie to your brothers?"
Aquila's eyes were pools, deep and swirling with conflicting emotions. She could see the fear, the curiosity, the hope. But running beneath it all like a relentless undertow was something Eliza knew all too well.
A bone-deep need to protect his family.
"Eliza, I—"
"I meant what I said before. I won't tell anyone about this. Ever."
Aquila's strong shoulders lifted once and dropped quickly.
"I know you say that now. But what about next week? Or next year? Or what if you meet someone and they ask you about —"
"Aquila," Eliza said, savoring his name, letting it linger in the air. "I never betray my friends."
At that, his face seemed to crack open. She could see past the strong, older-brother facade and into a person just as lost and fumbling and terrified as her.
On impulse, she reached out and curled her fingers around the broad plane of his hand.
"Trust me," she said, squeezing gently. "I'm on your side."
His lips twitched up in a strained attempt at a smile.
"Ian's the only... normal person whose ever been on our side."
"Well he's in good company now." Eliza released his hand, stepped back so she could peer up at him. "Although I don't think Otto likes me much."
Aquila's laugh was as warm and thick as honey.
"Don't worry, he doesn't really like anyone."
"And Daisy? Do you think he'll ever talk to me?"
Aquila's smile faded.
"Maybe. But it's hard for him, you know? He can't hear, so he keeps to himself a lot."
There was more to it than that. Eliza watched a shadow pass over Aquila's face. But she didn't want to spoil the night by asking.
In fact, she didn't want the night to end at all.
"So he's deaf and Tero's blind?" Eliza asked instead. "That's unlucky."
"Ian thinks it's the cost of our, um, modifications." Aquila shrugged again, his feathers rustling in harmony with the autumn leaves. "We each lost a sense."
Eliza cocked her head. "Really?"
"Otto can't feel."
"That sucks."
"Not really," Aquila said with a chuckle. "It makes him really hard to beat in a fight."
"Oh."
"And Moose can't smell..."
Eliza waited, knowing what was coming. Aquila tilted his head back to watch the sun spear through the clouds on the horizon, streaking the darkness with light.
"I... can't taste."
Eliza's mouth fell open. "No. Way. That's awful! You can't taste ice cream? Or Oreos? Or pizza?"
Aquila sighed, looking back down at her.
"It's a small price to pay, considering the alternative."
"Says you." Eliza shook her head. "Food is awesome."
"I guess I wouldn't know."
"Poor thing."
"Hey," Aquila said, "at least I can fly."
"Touché."
Eliza glared at the roof of her dorm building, now orange in the dawn. She had to go in there. Soon enough, Meru would start waking up. Students would mill around campus and the morning joggers would puff by and the cars would rumble to life and the world would continue as if nothing had changed. But everything had changed. Eliza felt like the universe had opened up and let her in on a grand secret and she was already dying to go back to that huge, cavernous basement and laugh with Moose and read books with Tero and watch Otto work out and try to get Daisy to talk to her.
But she had to go back to the real world.
For now.
"Promise me," Eliza said, perhaps a little more forcefully than she'd meant to. "Promise me this isn't goodbye."
Aquila grinned.
"You're not getting rid of us that easy."
"That's my line," Eliza said, shoving his arm and finding him entirely immobile. "I guess you should go, before someone sees you and runs screaming."
"I'm pretty terrifying, you know."
"Straight out of a horror movie."
Watching Aquila unfurl his wings and lift into the air, throwing one last smile over his shoulder, Eliza knew then and there that she would do anything to keep his secret.
Her body felt supercharged as she trotted toward her dorm. Light and electric and maybe even... peaceful? For once, she didn't want to start a fight or draw attention or ignite chaos. Her writhing demons were satiated, curled up and quiet for the first time in ages. All she wanted to do was get through the day without trouble so that she might see Aquila and his brothers again. Return to that separate, shining world beneath the Eckelson mansion. How was it possible for so much to change in just twenty-four hours?
She wasn't sure, but she never wanted to let it go.
She was strutting, hips swinging, practically dancing...
And then she saw the headmaster standing in front of her dorm, staring at her with an expression that told her that it didn't matter if she had no desire to find trouble right now.
Trouble had found her.
"Elizabeth Mason," the headmaster growled. "You have some explaining to do."