Winged (Aetharian Narratives) (22 page)

“I’m guessing that you didn’t know.”

“No, I didn’t know,” I said. “How would I know that?”

There was a knock on the door and Professor Elias walked over to answer it.

“I thought Viper would have mentioned it at some point,” she said.

I rubbed my forehead with my hand. “Yeah, you’d think he’d mention something like that.”

Professor Elias opened the door and Dresden stepped into the room.

“Are lessons done for the day?”

“Yes, please,” I said before anyone else had a chance.

He seemed a little alarmed by the way I stomped toward him and stalked out of the castle.

* * *

“What’s going on here?” I said in a rougher tone than I probably should have.

The question made Dresden jump. I couldn’t blame him; I hadn’t said a word our entire walk. However, I couldn’t help but ask when we came to the clearing behind the campsite. There were groups of people congregated outside the fence.

“Training,” Dresden said.

He didn’t hesitate to navigate our way around the groups. I gasped when a couple of heads turned toward me. Every face that looked at me looked almost exactly the same. I could feel every eye follow our footsteps.

“Training for what?” I said, looking at the rest of the people in the groups.

All of their features had very little dissimilarity.

Looking exceedingly different from one another was a task not easily accomplished in Aetheria, but was still accomplished to varying degrees. People had different shades of blond hair, shades of blue eyes, facial features, heights, and so on. But all of the people in front of me had the same shade of medium-light blond hair, the same shade of aqua blue, squinty eyes, the same wide-set nose, the same fair skin, and were almost exactly the same height. It was like looking out over an army of clones.

“For battle, of course,” said Dresden. “Everyone here is a part of a specific branch of the military. They work with one another to mold together and take different forms.”

“What kind of different forms?”

“Whatever form is needed,” he said abruptly.

He was obviously annoyed with my sudden compulsive questioning.

“Why do they all look so similar?” I said, watching them converse with each other. “It’s like they’re all the same person.”

“We figure it’s part of what they do,” he said. “It’s always been that way. People with their ability have no other purpose than to be one with their group. The stronger their sense of community the stronger their molded forms will be. They’re trained to think and be one. I guess looking the same helps with the sense of being one.”

I had never been happier about how different I looked from the other people in Aetheria than I was at that moment. One of the soldiers caught my eye as he and everyone else around him looked at us passing by. When my eyes landed on that soldier I saw that he didn’t look as similar to the others. His hair and eyes seemed a shade darker and he was slightly shorter than his companions. It wasn’t an extremely noticeable difference at first, but the more I looked at him the more he seemed to stand out.

He seemed to be aware and ashamed of his uniqueness. When I looked straight at him he let his eyes fall to the ground, unlike the others who looked me straight in the face. I felt that it wasn’t just subtle differences he had, but also the way he held himself, almost like he didn’t have the confidence all the others did. It made me sad to think that maybe the lack of confidence was because of his distinction from the others.

I sighed. “It must be a sad life to live when you can’t be yourself.”

He moved his gaze from the ground and looked at me. I gave him what I hoped was a comforting smile and walked on with Dresden. He ranted about how this particular group of people didn’t feel the need to be themselves and that they were happy when they felt that they had an impenetrable bond with the others in their group. I rolled my eyes. He went on about it until we reached the gate to the campsite.

“If anything,” he said, “they need to feel that their bonds cannot be broken by outside forces.”

He pulled the gate open for me.

“Well, then,” I said before he could continue, “that just means none of them would have a chance on their own.”

I walked through the gate into the campsite.

“Hey, Emma,” Viper said, bounding toward us. “How were today’s lessons?”

“Great,” I said with fake enthusiasm.

“Must be tiring, huh?” Viper said. I’m sure he thought exhaustion must have been the reason for my lack of excitement. “I was thinking that I’d show you around a little. I know Dresden only escorts you to and from the castle so I was thinking you’d like to see some other areas.”

Dresden picked up his pace. I felt betrayed when Viper and I started trailing behind.

“Um, thanks, Viper, but I’m going to pass. I have a lot on my mind right now.”

“So much that you can’t relax for a little while?” he said, sounding let down. “I think a little time away from this place will do you some good.”

“Really, Viper,” I said, making sure to keep my temper in check, “it really isn’t a good idea. I have things to do.”

“Why isn’t it a good idea?” he pushed. “We haven’t spent some time together in a while. It’ll be fun.”

“I’m sure it would be,” I said, rounding on him. I felt my patience leave me in a flash. “But I don’t think your
fiancée
would like it very much.”

He halted.

“Oh,” he said, understanding immediately.

“How could you not tell me?” I snarled. I figured there was no use in stopping now.

“I didn’t think it would matter,” he said.

I stared at him. “Viper, how can a piece of information like that not matter?”

“It happened a long time ago. It’s not like things can’t change.”

I laughed. “And you thought I’d be okay with being the one to change it?”

“I didn’t want my engagement to get in the way of you feeling like you could. Emma, I really like you.”

I had been hoping to hear those words for so long. And yet when they finally tumbled out of his mouth, they didn’t make me feel the way I needed them to.

“And I thought I liked you, too,” I said, turning away from him.

“Emma—” Viper put a hand on my shoulder.

“Please,” I said, pushing his hand off and walking away. “Just leave me alone for a while.”

To my slight disappointment, he did.

* * *

I walked to my tent and looked back to where he was walking away with his eyes fixed on the ground. I was sure that if he really liked me as he’d claimed, he wouldn’t have let me walk away while I was so angry.

I turned my head from him and went inside. I hung up my jacket, pulled the chair up to the fire, and sat down. I wasn’t sure what to think about things. The thought of Viper being engaged to someone didn’t hurt as much as the fact that he had kept such a big secret from me. I watched the sky darken through the top of my tent. I sat there for minutes. Or hours. I wasn’t sure.

The shock and anger dripped off and all I was left with was sadness. After a while I realized how hungry I was. I put on my jacket and walked out. I knew I wasn’t up to going to the main tent and sitting with the others so I had a seat in the one place I felt like I had a place.

“Why so gloomy?” Oak said when I sat down.

“It’s been a rough day,” I said. I inhaled the aroma coming from the pot he was stirring. It made me feel even hungrier.

“Well, you’re in luck. Tonight’s a good night to finish a rough day,” he said, ladling the contents of the pot into a bowl and placing it in front of me. “It’s stew night.”

“Just like every other night,” said a dark skinned man at the other end of the bar.

I looked at him and realized he was the same man that had been sitting there when I waved to Oak the other morning.

“I don’t think anyone was talking to you,” Oak said to him.

The man laughed and kept eating. I spooned some stew into my mouth and instantly felt better.

“I told you,” Oak said without me having to say a word. “Training not going well?”

“It’s going fine,” I said. “I’m not sure how I feel about other things.”

Oak looked at me. “And by
other things
you mean?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “Things are so wrong around here. People not being able to do more important things with their lives, abilities only being granted to a certain demographic, having to be told how to think and act.”

“It’s messed up, isn’t it?”

“Very,” I said, swallowing more stew.

He grinned. “That’s the way things have been done here for a very long time. People aren’t going to like that you don’t agree with it, especially considering who you are.”

“I can’t help it,” I said. “I guess I’m not used to it.”

“That may be it,” he said. “Or maybe you know that things shouldn’t be that way.”

“I can’t say I
know
it,” I said, “but I certainly think it.”

“And how does it make you feel? Sad? Angry?”

I stared into my half empty bowl. “It makes me feel…”

I thought about it. I thought about all the people in the market being made to live a mediocre life. I thought about Professor Elias having to teach what he didn’t believe. About the soldier that threatened to slit my throat because I was different. How he had been forced to hate anything that didn’t look like it belonged. I thought about the soldier that was ashamed of not looking like the others in his group.

It made me feel like I was home again where no one talked to me because they knew Emily would ruin their lives, just as she had mine. People knew I was a pleasant enough person that didn’t cause trouble when it could be avoided. But they also knew that I was taboo and that Emily did whatever she felt necessary to keep me that way.

I felt a strange wave of emotion come over me. Like I had finally realized something I had been waiting for my entire life. It felt like I had finally found my life’s purpose and direction. Though I couldn’t see the path clearly, I knew it was in front of me.

“It makes me feel like it shouldn’t be,” I said, looking at Oak. “It makes me feel like something should be done about it.”

He nodded and looked at the man sitting at the end of the bar. I looked at him, too. I hadn’t realized that he had been sitting there watching and listening to me the whole time.

“That’s the kind of thing we like to hear,” the man said with a smile.

There was a loud yell and I heard a lot of commotion coming from the middle of the campsite. Everyone else around us heard the tumult, too, and started running toward the center. I looked at Oak. He shrugged his shoulders. I jumped off my stool and ran with the others. Everyone seemed to be running toward the main tent where the yelling was going on. I rushed forward and pushed myself into the entrance to see what was happening.

There was a big group of people gathered around the center table. I pushed through the people and stopped at the table. A little way down the table I could see Ms. Riley staring at the half-eaten dinner on her plate. Viper was cradling Arie in his arms while she wailed. Ms. Riley looked strange. She looked pale, almost translucent, and seemed gradually to be growing more so as the seconds ticked by.

“Arie, please,” she said. “We knew this time would be coming very soon.”

“I don’t want you to go,” Arie all but screamed.

“Arabella, I’m old,” Ms. Riley said, dimming even more. “I’ve lived out my very long life and now I’m ready to rest.”

Arie broke away from Viper and wrapped her arms around her aunt. “Please stay with me.”

Ms. Riley kissed her on the forehead. “I’m afraid I can’t do that, darling. So please stop crying,” she said.

Arie put her head on Ms. Riley’ soon-to-be nonexistent shoulder and cried even harder.

Ms. Riley turned her head and put her cheek on the top of her niece’s head. Her eyes locked with mine and she gave the slightest of nods.

“Everything will be all right,” she said to me. Or to the entire room. Perhaps to the whole world.

There was a burst of yellow light and she disappeared completely. Arie fell through the air Ms. Riley once had occupied. Viper caught her shoulders. I backed away from the table while she wept.

“Well, it’s official,” my father said from across the table.

Everyone turned to look at him. He looked like he might cry.

“Emma is now Enlightened and ready to take her command post.”

The air caught in my throat. I continued to back out through the crowd of people in the tent. I edged out of and slid around the side where no one could see me. I let my back slide down the rough fabric and sat on the ground, burying my face in my hands.

“Emma,” someone whispered.

I looked up, squinting my eyes in the darkness. Oak was motioning for me to come to the nearby tent he was in. Without thinking I got up and went to him. He stepped aside and I entered the tent. Through the darkness of the tent I saw various pots, pans, and other cooking utensils.

“This is my supply tent,” he answered my unasked question. “Celeste Riley is gone, isn’t she?”

I gave his tender voice a nod. I could feel tears gathering in my eyes. My legs collapsed under me. I held my hands up to stop him when he rushed to me. He gave me a moment to breathe.

“You don’t want to lead the troops into battle as their new Enlightened leader, do you?”

I shook my head. The tears overflowed and ran down my cheeks.

“Then can I ask you to take a little trip with me?”

I looked at his blurry figure. “Where?”

“I’d like to show you something,” he said.

He peeked out of the tent and waved to someone, then looked back at me.

“I think you would like to see that there are other options open to you.”

I wiped my cheeks and listened to the commotion outside. If I took my military post everything Ms. Riley and Professor Elias had taught me would be useless. I gave my cheeks one more wipe and straightened my back. I knew there wasn’t a question about it; I had to find another way.

“Okay,” I said. “Show me.”

X

A digression

I feel my limbs moving of their own accord. My arms and legs are being lifted and placed back down. Straps are being tightened over every part of me.