Featherlight (17 page)

It was a good thing I never listened to evil temptations.

I held out my hand, and he took it. His grip was warm, strong, and
forcibly relaxed. John’s touch didn't give my stomach butterflies or send
electricity racing through my body. Instead, it ignited a flame of fear inside
my heart.

Here was a man who was strong enough, fast enough, and smart enough to
possibly beat me in a chase. He was able to rip my freedom out from under me,
and he was even planning on it in the near future. At that moment, I realized
that having curves and beauty meant absolutely nothing if I didn't have
freedom.

This scenario might have been romantic if observed from the safety of
a book or a movie. Being here, actually being here, it was terrifying. A
confession of that magnitude might have made a crazier woman excited and
thrilled. Another woman’s heart might have gone all ‘aflutter’ with the thought
of John being her ‘mate’. Another woman would have blushed and batted her
eyelashes and said some noteworthy double entendre.

It was a good thing I wasn't simply another woman.

I shook his hand, met his gaze, and said, “May the best one win.”

His blue eyes darkened in acknowledgment, and my instincts rose up
like a tide. Before they started telling me to run, Rene jumped up and said,
“I’m hungry!”

The
words achieved their purpose. The tension between John and I disappeared, and
his mouth formed a half-smile. Even though what I had done was dangerous, it
had definitely cleared the air. We both know where the other one stood, and
that was much better than the uncertainty.

Part XVII

Dinner
was awkward. Thanks to John’s presence, my stomach twisted and turned with
apprehension. Omar stayed silent while Rene and Jane filled the silence with
empty chatter.

They
tried to include me in their conversation, but I was too tired to talk for long
periods. The food was delicious, of course. I practically inhaled it.

Everyone
at the table honored my request to keep their wings spread. The chairs were
made with large splits in the back, enabling any winged being to remain
comfortable while seated. The only downside to this new arrangement was the
staring. They all kept sneaking glances at my wings, and I kept looking at
theirs. All of the sneaky staring helped contribute to the awkwardness. I
smothered a snicker after applying the phrase,
if you show me yours I’ll
show you mine.

 When
Jane offered to clean up, we all thanked her and stood.

“Good
night, Jacque,” Rene said.

She
spread her wings and leapt into the air. A small gust of wind blew my hair as
she spiraled upward, stopping at a door on the top floor. Rene disappeared
inside, leaving me in stunned silence.

John
soon followed her. Where Rene was grace, he was power. His 15 foot wingspan
powered him into the air with one strong stroke. His room was on the second
floor… not that I cared, or anything.

John
landed on the ledge in front of his door and looked down at me with a smug
smile, like he knew that I’d be staring at him. “Sweet dreams.”

The
words were soft, but my sensitive ears heard every detail. I returned to my
room and quietly shut the door. Sitting silently on the bed was my copy of
Evolution of the Folium and Beyond.
I gave a small smile at the intimidating volume,
and then set it on a nearby desk. If I weren’t so tired I could barely keep my
eyes open, I would have read a portion before going to sleep. As it was, I
climbed into the fluffy bed and immediately drifted.

I
slept like the dead until morning, and then I wished I were dead. Every muscle
was aching, yet I had not moved an inch from my comfortable bed position.
Sleeping on my stomach had become customary after growing wings because it felt
uncomfortable to sleep any other way. I attempted to push myself up, but my arms
refused to hold my weight.

Eventually,
I dragged my poor body to the kitchen table while mumbling a good morning hello
to Jane and Omar. My wings were dragging on the floor since the pain of keeping
them up was too great.

“How
did you sleep?” Omar’s eyes were silently laughing at me.

“Great,”
I said, plopping down in a chair.

“Mmm?
I see you’re ready for another day of training,” he said.

I
groaned while Jane laughed.

Omar
smiled. “Ah, we will just do some light conditioning today.”

“That
sounds like a pretty good deal,” I said truthfully.

We
ate a quick breakfast, and I wondered where Rene and John were. Once we had
finished eating, I learned that “light conditioning” meant “running for a long
time at a slower pace”. So, instead of running/sprinting 12 laps, I simply had
to jog 24.

By
the last lap, my legs were quivering and numb. My stomach kept threatening to
spill its contents, and I had completely given up any hope of getting into
shape. In fact, I was convinced that I would die after a few more days of this
torture. My lungs heaved as sweat slowly crawled down my cheek like a pesky bug.

“You’re
done for today,” Omar said as I walked up to him.

“Thank
God,” I replied.

I
bent over with my hands on my knees, sucking in sweet oxygen.

||||

The
next morning, John announced that he had business in a city nearby and would be
back in a week. With his absence, I was able to focus completely on learning.
Jane became my academic teacher and slowly, she taught me their ways. She
taught me about their government and technology. She taught me about their
history and science. She taught me about our biology and ancestors. During the
mornings, I trained. In the evenings, I learned. By the end of the day, I was
both mentally and physically exhausted. By the end of the week, my questions
had answers and I was ready to fly.

"Concentrate!" Omar
shouted.

My body was eager, and it knew
what to do. My problem was relinquishing control. I thought about my need to
get off the ground. Nothing. Danger on ground! I thought, trying to scare
myself. Although I knew there was no danger, my heartbeat eagerly increased. My
wings beat, and I was airborne. Staying in the air wasn't a problem, since I
had the rhythmic beat in my head.

"Good!" Omar yelled,
joining me in the sky. I was able to fly with my body in a standing position
due to the slanted tilt of my wings.

"Thanks!" I grinned,
looking down at the ground 20 feet below.

My muscles had strengthened
quickly, but I could still feel a slightly uncomfortable strain when flying. I
began heading towards the house, awkwardly trying to stay in the air.  The wing
beats were instinctive, but steering was not. I dipped, wavered, and then
eventually made it to the balcony.

"Tuh-Da!" I said,
doing a small bow before plopping down on my butt.

Flying was almost the same as
learning how to ice skate. You knew what your feet needed to do, but it was the
balance that made things complicated.

"Faster this time,"
Omar told me.

Having faith that instincts
would kick in, I stood up and immediately jumped off the edge of the balcony. Just
before jumping, I had made it a goal to reach the top of the wooden training
tower. After falling a few feet, I shot forward like a rocket, flying at a
slight incline. The tower was tall and far, and my goal wasn't exactly
realistic, but I would try regardless. Within seconds, I had reached the tower.

Omar's laughter carried to my
ears. "Bravo!" He told me, clapping.

I stood on the top, heaving in
deep breaths of air. Slowly, a smile found its way to my face. I had gone so
fast! I had done it! After the triumph of succeeding had faded, the full
soreness of so much flying hit me. My muscles were quivering with exhaustion. I
looked around for a ladder but found none. Oh, great! Nice one, Jacque. Didn't
think that one through, did you?

"I'm stuck!" I
shouted.

Omar's laughter floated through
the air, this time directed at me. "One with wings should never be
stuck."

"But I'm tired!"

"Then I guess you'll be
spending the night up there," Omar said with a straight face.

"Fine. I hope I don't
die."

I tried testing my wings out,
but they refused my command by not budging an inch. I quietly told my exhausted
body that it had better gather some energy before stepping off the top of the
50 foot tall tower.

Without waiting a second longer
just in case I lost my courage, I fell. Fatigue had me responding sluggishly,
and I panicked for a moment. The only thing I could do to slow my descent was
open my wings. Even though gravity was weak on this planet, the fall would
definitely hurt me (if not kill) without help. I slowly flapped twice before
crashing into the dirt. Miraculously, I was unharmed, aside from a few scrapes
and bruises.

"We have more training to do,"
Omar said before helping me stand.

"Thanks."

"Anytime. Are you
hungry?" he asked.

"I'm starved."
Amazingly, my near-death experience hadn't lessened my appetite.

"Good. I can smell some
amazing cha being cooked."

I sniffed the air, but could
only smell the faint odor of meat.

"What's cha?" I asked
skeptically.

Omar replied, "I'll tell
you after you eat it."

"Fair enough."

||||

That afternoon, Jane told me
about their technology. Machines have fascinated me since I was a small child,
and shr was soon answering my endless questions.

“Do you use phones? How do you
get energy? Is there pollution?”

She laughed at my enthusiasm.
“Yes to the first question, of a sort. As for energy, we use a type of element
that is clean, so no pollution.”

“A clean source of energy! Is
it efficient? Why doesn’t Earth use it? Well, I guess, why haven’t you taught
Earth how to use it?”

She smiled, delighted at my
interest. “It is very efficient. Earth doesn’t possess this element, but our
planet does. It is called chalcik, and is fully of energy…”

Jane went on to explain the
process of harvesting and using the element. Before, she educated me on their
history and beliefs. I learned about their culture, fashion, and economy.
Although some families were wealthier than others, there was little to no
poverty due to the planet’s rich resources.

I soon became so engulfed in
their world that I started becoming accustomed to my routine. Anger at being
kidnapped slowly faded along with my defiance. Luckily, fear also left me. It was
hard to fight my nature. My body could feel the correctness of my habitat. I
belonged
here. I needed to learn about my rivals. One day, I summoned up the courage
to ask Jane about Peter and John.

She took my questions in stride,
filling me in with the boys’ backgrounds. John had followed in his father’s
footsteps, training to be Marshal one day. He wasn’t interested in women,
although a lot of women would love to be taken by him. The word ‘taken’ always
made me blush, because it sounded too raunchy. Jane also told me that Peter had
been raised like John, except for the fact that Peter
was
interested in
women, and both men were notorious for never losing a chase.

“What?” I asked Jane after she
had finished her descriptions. “How could he have never lost a chase? Don’t you
only win one and then it’s like you are husband and wife?”

“That’s only the true chase. Remember?
You know that a man is about to start a real chase when his eyes and wings
darken. John and Peter have only done pre-chases, not counting Peter’s chase
with you, because they haven’t found a girl they’ve been truly interested in,
until now. A man can practice however much he needs to for the real thing,” she
said, giving me a wink to make me uncomfortable. I blushed and gave a small
grin.

Jane answered my questions
about my original kidnapper, Henry. She explained how he was one of the lullary
who lived on Earth and steered its population to success. She said that he
smelled me when he was passing by my house and stopped to investigate, thinking
that I was a fellow lullary
.
She said that he tried to start the chase,
but I never responded since I had not gone through the change. He did not think
that I had no clue as to what I was, since being clueless like that had never
happened.

“Hey Jane? Can I write to my
mother and aunt? They need to know that I am okay.”

“Of course you can! I don’t
know why I didn’t think of it before. We have been filling them in on your
progress, but I’m sure they’d love to hear from you. I’ll get you a tablet and
you can send an email.”

Wow! It was hard to believe
that my family was only one email away. I decided to ask Jane about connecting
to Earth’s internet later. Heck, the internet was probably based on this planet
for all I knew.

“That would be great, thanks.”

||||

I was special here, on this
world. Being special was an odd feeling. It was almost like a weightless and
superior happiness. A joy that was not felt, but known. A counter to this joy
was fear. I had made a promise to myself long ago that I would never fear
another man. Unfortunately, that promise had since flown out the window. How
could I not fear a man when he held my future in his hands? With Omar’s help,
this fear slowly turned into an anxiety. Eventually, the anxiety turned into
scary excitement as I grew more comfortable my wings. This was a good thing,
too, because after seven days of training, John returned.