Windswept (The Airborne Saga) (16 page)

“Whooo! Wait up!” Avery flinched but she couldn’t get her open palms up quick enough. “With all due respect, I don’t need to go blonde.”

“I wish you would take the advice of a master.”
Evelyn sounded exasperated. “I’m trying hard not to disappoint. We need this first impression to be perfect.”

             
“So can I ask what the big deal is? Are people going to hate me…because I’m human?”

             
Evelyn scrunched up her face.

             
“No, no… who did you ever hear saying that?”

             
Avery thought of Perry but said nothing. Avery was getting that vibe from every harpie now.

             
“Let me tell you something you may not know. On top of being the Capitol’s best salon worker, I’m the spider in the center of the web. I know all the gossip. I’ve heard all the news. Just ask me, and you shall know.”

             
Avery briefly wondered if they taught secret weaving in salon school. The chatting helped her relax though so she welcomed the conversation.

             
“I’ve just heard that people may not like me as much because I’m human.”

             
“Because you’re Mason’s mate,” Evelyn added. Avery choked prompting the woman to go on. “I’m sorry. I know that particular bit of news hasn’t hit the streets yet. It’s our secret. I also recognized you from the murder trial a year back. Not at first. But up close and personal with that tattoo I do. I heard you were wrongly accused. You were a human, helping save Mason from the Band!”

             
Avery couldn’t help but snort at that one. Evelyn rattled on with more information than any one person should know.

             
“I heard you were a hero. You’re strong. And scary. And yet you’re just a little human girl. I heard you’ve decided to leave your human life and live with the harpies. And with Mason. I can tell how important you are by the fact that he has one of the Guard members ordered to babysit you.”

             
“Geez. Too much! What else do you have?”

             
“I know you’ve come from the other side of the world. You don’t spend much time tanning. I can tell you’re verging on the edge of tomboy because you’re girly but don’t care about your hair. The kind of person to fight in a battle but run away from a cockroach.

             
“But then there are things I don’t know. I don’t know how you fought off the Band. How you’re involved with Mikhail.”

             
Avery frowned, having the conversation officially stir memories of Adalyn and her warning. Evelyn mistook her silence for disapproval and the woman panicked.

             
“I’m sorry, ma’am. I know we’ve just met and this is hardly the topics for strangers.” She dropped into a silence herself.  A moment slipped by before Evelyn changed the subject.

“I hope you know that it’s not that people dislike you just because you’re human. There’s been a long clash in our culture going back to the days of Prince Mikhail and Prince Jericho. It’s a war between new and old thought. Old thought was that we didn’t even associate with humans, lived an isolationist culture driven by fear and respect of the ancient way. Obviously we wouldn’t be running off marrying humans either. But Jericho led the way in the new age thought. He broke down barriers. I mean, it’s not like we’ll simply revert
backwards now. And now we have a Prince finally stepping away from having a full-blooded harpie bride. I don’t think it’ll be a nightmare. I think it’ll be a bold statement.”

             
Evelyn didn’t sound overly confident, and it didn’t take Avery much to gather that there had been anarchy in the harpie world before. But she wasn’t planning to run off and marry anytime soon. She’d just graduated high school last week. In the mean time, she’d be happy winning people over enough to gain their approval and be able to live in peace.

By the time
Evelyn had finished, Avery’s curls had been brushed out in waves that hung from a slanted barrette and tickled her shoulders. She didn’t have much more makeup than that to smooth out her complexion and accent her face. Evelyn offered her an outfit—closer to traditional harpie wear in white and black. She also gave Avery a set of wedges that bumped up her height and made her shortness less apparent. Avery didn’t fight. Though she’d hate to admit it, the whole thing pulled together well. The harpie woman must have thought so too.

             
“Very nice.” She smiled. “Leon! She’s ready!”

             
The Guard member poked his head back in the door. Considering the color on his cheeks, he didn’t like or wasn’t good at babysitting duty. Avery was ready to get away from the session too and blew past him to the exit.

             
“So I just wander around and look non-threatening?” Avery questioned as they left the building and she reached the sidewalk. Leon’s head spun on his shoulders and he didn’t stand very close to her. Although apparently blessed with the hearing of a bat, he answered her anyways.

             
“It’s not a mission. Or a contest. It’s simply a shopping trip.”

             
“Making a harpie like you is always a mission. It’s harder than fighting. I think I’d take a Band member about now,” she hissed. Her own head threatened to spin. Though she’d walked through the market before, it seemed like tons of new things sprung up overnight. Food stands were the most prominent. Herbs and grassy substances were interwoven among them but Avery couldn’t tell if that was something to eat or something used in magic.

             
“I’d avoid mentioning the Band. They still strike fear into the hearts of people here. Just be yourself. I think you’ll find it easier to get along with a harpie that way.”

             
She smirked and suddenly stopped at a booth. Set out delicately over a black tablecloth were pendants of glass. It took her a moment of staring at the shiny things to ask what popped into her head.

             
“Are these amulets?”

The old harpie woman across the table twitched.

              “I have my permits.” She waved desperately to papers displayed in the corners.

             
“Ah no I’m not checking for anything…” She twisted her body to glance at Leon. “Shoo, you’re unnerving people.”

             
Leon twitched and only somewhat obeyed. He spun around the other side of the shop—not far but less apparent. The old woman’s face relaxed.

             
“I’m sorry. I was just looking. I’ve seen amulets before but I’m not very familiar with them.”

             
The old woman smiled and pointed them out.

             
“These are superficial ones. Nothing too strong here. Are you looking for anything specific, dear?”

             
“I wouldn’t know if I was.” All Avery could tell was that the colors reminded her of pressed glass she’d seen at art fairs. None of the amulets matched in exact shade and the shapes and ridges differed in each.

             
Someone screamed. Avery’s chin snapped upwards. She spotted the source when the screaming turned into yelping and quieter giggling. On the other side of the woman’s hut, she could see harpie women float together. The group of twitchy women held her attention so long she didn’t see the center of their attention for a full moment. Adorned in white and gold, Mason drifted along the side of the beach. The wind had picked up his hair and made the official Prince-look more relaxed. His green eyes stared off the side of the beach away from Avery.

             
“Lily, go fetch this nice woman stock from the back would you? The special ones,” the woman hissed to the young girl with her.

             
For the first time, the tiny girl by her feet became visible. She scurried off to the back and came out with her tiny fists stuffed full of more colorful glass amulets. Avery picked up the turquoise one with a smile to the young child.

             
She plucked the top one from the cubby fists.

             
“That’s the best one.” The old woman leaned across the table, eye flickering back to where Mason had headed. Her eyes reconnected with Avery’s and she whispered. “It increases pheromones. A man will be interested without even knowing why.”

             
“Oh, ah no! I mean no thank you. I’m okay.” Avery could feel her face heat and flush.

             
“I have others! This one will make your eyes look bigger. This one will enhance your cleavage.”

             
“Oh! So okay without!” Avery resisted the urge to clamp her hands over her ears. She whirled from the booth and tried to find her breath, certain her face to be purple by now. But turning only laid her eyes on the man who stood only ten feet away.

             
She’d seen Mason a hundred times before but the sight of his halfcocked smile still managed to take her breath away.

             
“Interesting taste in charms.” He strode closer and smoothly took her hand, landing a kiss on the palm. Now Avery couldn’t tell where the raging embarrassment came from.

             
“Shut up,” she answered in the same hushed voice.

             
His smile widened.

             
“Come have lunch with me. There’s a beautiful place I’ve been meaning to show you.” He didn’t ask but led her by the hand. She waved goodbye to the shop keeper. The woman and the child mirrored a thumbs up. It didn’t help Avery’s heart slow down. She’d been with Mason a hundred times before. But this was technically their first date.

Thirteen

              Avery had been on a dozen first dates before, but every time she went on another, it felt absolutely foreign to her. She clung to the cup in her hand and scanned the table again. The harpie diet wasn’t exactly offensive to the human palette, but nothing about the fruits and breads made her hungry while her stomach twisted into knots. The place Mason had taken them was supposed to be ‘accidental’ after a walk on the beach. Based on the segregated location of their table under its own cabana and pushed up against the ledge to see the water underneath, nothing about the place was accidental. It was beautiful. And it had been prepared. The staff greeted them instantly upon arrival, ushered them out here, and littered their plates with gourmet appetizers. Then they whisked off somewhere eels to offer some privacy.