Featherlight (13 page)

John’s
fists clenched and his muscles grew taut.

“Could
you not. Do that?” he ground out.

I
couldn’t resist taunting him after having my earlier breakdown. Someone had to
pay for my unhappiness at being constantly chased. Since John was usually the
one doing the chasing, I was more than happy to goad him.

“Do
what?” I asked with wide eyes, turning my shoulders side to side like a child.
My wings gently swayed, the epitome of innocence.

“Stop,”
he said in a low voice of warning.

“Stop
what?” By this time, I was grinning. I stretched my wings another foot until
they almost touched both walls of the hallway. Someone needed to stop me,
because I was enjoying myself too much. I hope John was feeling extremely
uncomfortable.

For
that matter, I also hoped that he was in a tolerant mood, because if he lost
control… Could I outrun him? Odds were not in my favor, since he had been
living here since birth.

Not
fully thinking about the consequences of pushing him too far, I stopped my taunting.
My inner child had always enjoyed playing with fire, and she was running my
mind unchecked today, it seemed.

At
the first available moment after calming down, John said, “I do not like this
plan, but it seems we have no other choice. Take care of her.” His gaze
silently added,
Because I won’t be there to help.
He threw a weighted
glance at his mother, yanked the door open, and stepped outside with the hooded
Rene.

Samantha,
who had remained silent throughout my wing show, said, “The lullary
will
believe Rene is you, for now. We will go out the back way.”

Shrinking
my wings back against me, I followed her down the hall. It peeved me that
everyone seemed to know about the plan before I did, even though Samantha and
John were with me the whole time.

I
soon took advantage of the silence to throw out a question. “Why is John
constantly around when it’s so hard for him to be near me?”

She
answered without turning. “Protection. John is there to make sure no one else
claims you. Although he doesn’t think it would be right to do a chase while you
are so new at this, he isn’t going to let someone else have the opportunity.
Other men here aren’t as honorable as he is. Trust me, if another chase can be
started, it will be. He is just there to dissuade any brave souls.”

So
John was a safety net, then. They were going to let me think that I had a bit
of control over my fate. In actuality, John would shadow me until a chase with
another man started (and probably sooner rather than later), and, after I ran, John
would reach me first and claim me as his own. That effectively made him the
brave hero who saved the day from the evil chaser while also getting him the
special girl (yours truly).

This
was all bound to happen, so I needed to learn how to out-fly John. Judging by
the Marshal’s complement in the gym, that shouldn’t take too much work.

“Could
two men chase me at the same time? Like, could one man start a chase and
another end up taking the woman?”

“No,
a bond may only happen with the man who started the chase.”

I
planned my next question carefully. “So what will happen once I get the hang of
things?”

“Well,
then, I guess you will be… What’s the phrase?” She paused, “Oh yes, you will be
‘fair game’ to John.” She honestly told me, “And most agree that he would be a
wonderful man to have. Any woman would be eager to be my son’s mate.”

I
was taken off-guard with her blunt reply. The way she said it sounded odd to my
ears. She was bragging, but I might have also caught a slight note of warning
in her tone.

When
my mouth opened in protest, Samantha said, “And you would do well to remember
that he is one of the best men here. If he accidentally starts a chase somehow,
you should simply think of John as the lesser evil.”

I
couldn’t find a way to argue with her without insult, so I kept my thoughts
inside my head. Luckily, we soon reached the library. Samantha led me up a small
ladder to the dome window. Shadows blocked the suns, and we glanced up.

Lullary
flew by the library, swooping and spinning. They kept a good 20 feet from
each other, and their presence was magnificent. Huge men with expansive golden
wings soared among the clouds. Slight brown-winged women twisted and turned
closer to earth, all heading in the same direction.

I
pressed my nose to the dome glass, gazing at the Tower. It stood formidably
tall, buzzing like a bee’s nest. Forms flew in and out of the open windowed
glass section.

Samantha
glanced at me, and I knew what she was thinking. She was regretting not making
John do the Chase. Now her family would be constantly fighting to keep me out
of everyone’s clutches. If only I were Taken, they wouldn’t have to worry.

I
wasn’t too surprised to notice that I did not care a bit if I caused trouble.
In my mind, remaining free from a man, even a nice one, was worth almost any
cost.

“We
will go down and board. The city should be too preoccupied to notice us, but
there might be a few that will, so we’ll have to hurry,” she whispered.

Samantha
slid the glass window open enough for me to jump out. Glancing down, I saw a
small gray vehicle silently waiting. Holding the book tightly against my chest
and without hesitating too much, I jumped. It was about a 15 foot drop, but I
trusted her judgment. The fall reminded me of the lessened gravity of which my
body had grown accustomed.

It
ended quickly, and I landed quietly on my feet. My wings had slightly expanded
from my back, and I swiftly contracted them until they were once again hugging
my back, almost out of sight.

The
side door to the small aircraft discreetly slid open. Samantha, suddenly
landing beside me, began walking towards it. I slid inside behind her. We set
on the plush seats as I glanced around at the chrome interior. The small
aircraft was snug and sleek. I could see many buttons where the pilot/driver
was sitting.

“Welcome,
welcome,” he said with interest, glancing back. I saw a peek of golden wings
over the seat that matched his blue eyes and dark features. After seeing the
two of us, he continued warily, “Where is the Marshal? And where is John?”

I
tried to keep my eyes from his, but it was too late. We briefly exchanged eye
contact and I panicked by stupidly attempting to open the door. I wouldn’t be
able to run in here! Not noticing the lack of instinctual need to run due to
being locked in, I continued to hit the door.

“Jacque!
Jacqueline! It is fine. He has a woman,” Samantha told me as the pilot spoke.

“Who
is that? What is she?” Now the driver sounded shocked.

Finally
realizing that there was no need to run, I stopped my frantic escape attempt.
My eyes continued to resemble those of a deer in the headlights.

Samantha
said, “You have permission from the Marshal to escort us without the company of
himself or John. We need to get back to the Tower. South underground entrance.”

He
turned around and immediately began flying the vehicle a few feet off of the
ground. The Tower loomed ahead. “Is she what the commotion is about? It all makes
sense now. I had head rumors-”

“What
rumors?” Samantha immediately asked.

 “They
said that one of our own lullary
was found on Earth unchanged. Others
said that a kiren
woman was discovered who had been hiding on Earth.
Those rumors, if proven true, would have been enough to grant the girl serious
attention. No one had said that she was a folium
,
though. Incredible.”

He
glanced at me through the front mirrow. “I take it that some of the rumors were
not all true, since you are still new.”

I
started to shift with discomfort at his gaze, but I stopped and made myself
meet his eyes in the mirror. It was time for me to stop preventing myself from
accepting this whole scenario. I might as well face it all with my head held
high. Besides, I almost found some enjoyment with this ordeal. It wasn’t every
day that I could be someone special.

This
world had much more to offer than my old one did. With that thought, an image
of my aunt popped into my head. I immediately shoved it away, refusing to
consider the fact that I would probably never see her again.

Samantha
said, “If we had known there were rumors, we would have planned our day
differently. We were hoping to some time to show Jacque around without the
worry of a chase. Word was bound to get out eventually, so I guess we are lucky
that most believe she was simply a lullary
lost on Earth.”

I
glanced out the window at the busy Tower. More and more people were arriving.
If all of this activity were due to the thought of me being a newly changed and
discovered lullary
,
then I would not want to be around when they found
out that I was actually the only known folium
in existence.

“I’m
surprised you never- Oh! Right. You have been with her most of the time.” He
glanced at me again in the mirror. “So what really happened to you?” the pilot
asked, eager for details.

“I’m
not really sure,” I said truthfully. “A few days ago I was tackled outside my
house and drugged. When I woke up, I was in a hospital. This woman led me to a
ship and on it I grew wings.” I smiled at the craziness in my story and said, “After
I discovered my wings, Samantha informed me that I was going to a different
planet.”

I
frowned, trying to remember where I stopped thinking of myself as a victim of a
kidnapping. Deciding that it must have been a gradual process, I said, “Once we
landed, a man named Peter chased me through the forest, but I hid in a tree.”
An amused laugh came out of the pilot, which surprised a laugh out of me.
Samantha gave me a slightly apologetic smile.

The
pilot said, “How interesting. You know that he had never lost a Chase?”

I
shook my head.

“Ha!
Serves the prince right,” he mumbled. “You are a smart one. Most women would
have flown their fastest to get away, foolish things. None of them thought to
hide. They should know by know that he is one of the best chasers there is.”

“Prince?”
I asked. No one ever told me that he was a prince, or that there was a king,
for that matter.

Samantha
told me smugly, “The brown-winged have their own ruling system that is
different from ours. It is not nearly as effective, though.”

“Hmm,”
I replied as I considered this new information.

“She
left out a minor detail,” Sam told the pilot.

He
asked, “What’s that?”

“Peter’s
wings had blackened,” she said.

The
pilot’s eyebrows lifted. “I’m amazed that he would do that, although it’s not
surprising at all. She is the only one of her kind. It sure does make me
pleased that he didn’t catch her. The only reason all those other women run is
cause the chase isn’t true. He coulda had any woman without a struggle if he
had only started a real chase. You should be honored.”

I
set in confused silence, trying to figure everything out. I wouldn’t have
described my mood as ‘honored’ while I was sitting fearfully in the tree.

“Why
hasn’t John…?” the pilot inquired Sam softly.

“Why
hasn’t John
what
?” I snapped, unhappy that he would even suggest such a
thing while he knew I couldn’t run away fast enough.

Samantha
hurriedly replied, “We decided that was morally wrong.”

It
wasn’t his question that angered me as much as the reminder that I was unable
to help myself. If John ever decided to change his mind about respecting my
non-existent flying abilities by not triggering the Chase, I would be
completely screwed. Both literally and figuratively.

Well,
I was just guessing on the literally part, but I was pretty sure that after a
woman was caught, she was basically owned by the man who caught her. And, in my
mind, being owned would also include the physical aspects. I shuddered. How did
Auro women live like this?

To
distract my thoughts and the silence that had settled since my snap, I asked, “Are
y’all monogamous?”

“For
the most part, yes,” Samantha answered. “Traditionally, men were allowed to
make more than one mate, but that practice was banned by the Marshal almost 30
years ago.”

I
took a small amount of comfort from this. By this time, we were nearing the
Tower. I could see the beautiful glimmering wings up close now, and they were
amazing. Something deep inside me longed to join the swooping figures.

A
device beeped. Immediately, Samantha took something out of her pocket and
pressed the button.

“Yes?
We can tell. Good idea. South.” She pressed the button again and announced, “The
Sentinels are forming.”

The
pilot said, “Must be more people inside than we thought.”

“The
who?” I asked Samantha quietly.

“The
Sentinels are the elite guardians of our people. They formed after the folium
and kiren
fought.”