Wings of Boden (10 page)

“Careful, Tyr,” Dad said. “She’s not built
like your wife.”

The mountains of muscle let out a tremor of
laughter.

Jari slapped Dad on the back. “Ha, I’ll drink
to that.” He lifted his mug and tapped it to Dad’s, a light splash
of beer sent to the table, then took a hefty drink. The rest of
them followed the evidently great idea.

They all re-introduced themselves to me,
gentle and polite in the presence of a female. Dad lifted a bar rag
off the stack he’d prepared for this party, wiped up the spill with
a smile.

While the team noticed me, I stood as
straight and strong as I could manage, clenching my jaw and holding
what I considered a stern face. A face of a soldier, I hoped, when
Dad asked, “You feelin okay, Ellie? You’re turnin a little green
there.”

Not
the look I was going for. Wait,
I’m not really green am I? After a quick glance at my arm to check
my color, I said, “I’m fine”—a careful look at Dad—“I just need a
beer?”

The entire team directed their eyes on Dad,
and waited.

Dad finally grinned, said, “Well, you know
where the tap is honey. Help yourself.”

The team nodded a collective animal grunt of
approval. Bran lifted his mug. My gaze went across the room to Mom.
She gave me a pinched-face disagreement while I mouthed the words
“I’m sorry” to her.

Then I marched over to the tap and poured
myself a mug. Probably didn’t do it right, it was half foam, but,
whatever. On my way back, the weight of the mug forced me to use
both hands, so I balanced the foam-filled glass with one hand on
the bottom.

Dagda Culhwch, they called him Dag, pushed
out a chair for me with his foot. I set my imbalanced mug to the
table, climbed up onto the stool—and felt like a third grad-er. My
pumps dangled down, beer mug hid half my face while I perused the
team.

Did I ever meet Dag? I couldn’t remember, but
picked up pieces of a conversation that seemed to explain that he
had moved home to the Netherlands, and had recently returned to
Boden with his family. This got me thinking about how awesome it
must be to take an ocean trip. Images of the green landscapes of
Ireland came to mind, and the great ships slipping through the sea.
You’d think angels wouldn’t need stuff like that, but we can only
fly for about three hundred miles before needing a rest. And we
can’t haul anything bigger than, well, a couple shopping bags for
instance. History class had taught me that all our vehicles are
replicates of old-world designs, with a few electrical
modifications. We had rebuilt the factories to honor the lost. My
pink motor scooter, for instance, is a Vespa—that just happens to
be the cutest thing in the world—and our family car is a Jeep.

“So, young lady,” Dag said, pulling my
attention back. “The last time I saw you, you weren’t much bigger
than that there mug. Whatcha you been up to all these years?”

“Oh, nothing,” I tried to lower my voice,
tucked some hair behind my ear, reached out and slid the mug across
the surface of the table to my mouth. I took a sip off the foam
edge, and then tried to let out some sort of belch, but it came out
more like a bubble-burp. My eyes went to Dag. “School, you know.
Same old crap.” I slid a glance to Dad. He gave me a grinning look
as if to say, Doin’ good, Elle. Pride began to fill me, because Dad
was proud of me, it was in his fatherly green gaze.

The stadium erupted into cheers and roars
outside the windows. Dad sent a glance to his left, behind me, and
I followed his sight line. Vyn was strolling in, looking much
better.

“Here we go,” Lugus grumbled, drawing my
attention back to the table. “Team’s here.” He lifted his mug. “May
Source be with the Belt Boars. They’re gonna need all the help they
can get.” He emptied some beer down his throat while the others did
the same. Then slammed his empty mug to the table with
accomplishment, and scrubbed his mouth with the back of his paw.
“Should we go watch the massacre?”

Peeking up from my mug, I sipped from the
edge again.

“Hold on a second, boys,” Dad said, “there’s
someone I’d like you to meet.”

Vyn stood behind me, his warm hands on my
shoulders. I reached up, placed a hand over his, trying to
communicate encouragement.

Jaydenn smirked, commented, “How ya doin
there, Vyn? Nice shirt.”

“Pleasure to meet you, son,” said Jarl. “I
take it you’re with our, Elle? You treat her good, now, and we
won’t have to hunt you down and mess up that pretty face.” Jarl
pitched eyes to Dad. “You gonna put some muscle on that boy, or
what?”

Why do males always have to be so flappin
mean? I’ll never understand.

“Don’t you boys be pickin’ on Vyn there,” Dad
said. “He’s important. Matter of fact, he may be more important
than all of us, than everyone in this stadium put together.”

I beamed a thank-you look to Dad but he
didn’t notice.

“That a fact?” Jarl said. “And how’s
that?”

“I’m glad you asked,” Dad said. “Vyn, looks
like we have some explaining to do. Pull up a chair. I’ll grab you
a beer.”

Dad ambled off while Vyn pulled a tall wooden
stool from a row against the wall. He slid it up next to mine as I
scooted over. When he sat down, I placed a caressing hand on his
back, under his wing. My Vyn, I was so happy he was here to take a
little weight off me, since I could already feel nasty sweat
building under my arms, warmth on my face, dizzy in my head.

Dad returned, set a beer in front of Vyn,
circled around and sat back on his stool. Looking over the table to
make sure everyone was paying attention, he began, “This boy, Vyn,
well, he invented something that’s going to change the world. It’s
called light serum.”

The team looked a tad scoffing, bushy raised
eyebrows, a chortle here and there.

Aeron said, “You don’t say, and how’s
that?”

“Vyn, why don’t you handle this?” said
Dad.

“My pleasure, Phil.” Vyn pulled up his mug
and took a long drink, set it back and wiped his mouth. His
newfound composure tickled a little pride in me. He went on, “I’ve
been working on this light serum for years, with one purpose in
mind.”

“And what wou—” Jarl started to say but Dad
stopped him:

“Come now, Jarl, let him talk. You’ll
understand soon enough.”

Jarl nodded to his quarterback, took a drink,
set it back to the table. “Sorry, son, go on.”

“Well, the sole purpose of this light serum
is to allow angels the ability to fly at night.”

“And why would we want to do that?” Tyr
asked.

Aeron said, “Defensive linemen, they never
could keep their mouths shut.”

Tyr responded, “Yeah, well, at least I didn’t
spend my entire career running away, prancing across a field like a
faerie to catch a ball. Then dancing around like a ballerina idiot.
Tell me, how many pair of pantyhose did you tear because of
that?”

Chuckles and snorts went around the
table.

Aeron said, “If it wasn’t for that prancing
you wouldn’t have that trophy in your case”

“Are you say—”

“Would you guys just shut up!” I snapped …
Whoops. All eyes on me, I swallowed, scooted closer to Vyn.

Dad broke the pause, “I see they’re not gonna
let you talk, Vyn. Let me handle it.”

Vyn lifted his mug, grinned, and gave the
floor to Dad.

Dad began, “We were a team once. Matter of
fact we were the best damn team on earth. How’d you like to be a
team again? A team with a much bigger goal”—that peaked their
interest, brows lifting—“Well, you all know the statistics of the
angel disappearances. Especially you, right, Lug”—Lug tightened his
face—“If we could fly at night, we could be that team again, only
this time the hunters would be the opponents. We could wipe them
out, and take the dreks along with them. We could save our angels.
We could save our children and create a new world of peace, without
those filthy animals.”

A feeling of adrenaline washed through the
room. Energy began to vibrate through the table and into my body,
intoxicating sheer power. The wings of all the team began to
shutter to life behind them. The room air began to hum and I could
barely hear the crowd outside over the climbing vibrations. Beer
mugs and dishes began to chatter on the counter. I looked over at
Mom and Angie. They gazed back in wide-eyed confusion, as if they
weren’t sure whether they should take shelter under a table.

I mouthed the words to them, “I know,
right.”

Excitement coursed through me.

Angie mouthed back, “What the flap is
that?”

She waved for me to go to her but I held up a
finger and mouthed, “Hold on, hold on.”

The team pushed from their chairs and the
mountain range rose from the earth.

They began to chant, to bellow, “Yeah, Yeah,”
louder and louder the sound climbed through the vibrating walls,
“Hoo! Hoo! StarWings!”

As they began to glow, the room brightened to
where I almost had to squint. They lifted their mugs, slammed them
together over the table with beer splashing all around—in my hair,
on my dress, on the table and floor, everywhere. But I didn’t care
in the least. My skin heated on the edge of delight. Dad was
smiling at me so large, nodding a look of “I told you” while
beer-foaming at the mouth.

The entire muscled group had become
rock-solid, glowing, gargantuan flappin animals.

And I was on their team.

In all the excitement, I didn’t even notice
the chant was dying down just as I heaved the weight of my glass
up, and yelled in a screechy girl voice, “
StarWiiings!
” I
was out of control, couldn’t help it, couldn’t hold it back.

They all stopped … looked at me. Vyn and
Jaydenn started to chuckle at my bizarre outburst. I set my mug
down, twitched a grin, tucked some hair behind my ear and lowered
my chin. The warmth of embarrassment tightened my skin while I
tried to ignore the chuckles.

Tyr finally said, “You’re absolutely right,
Elle”—I raised timid eyes to him—“Don’t you be embarrassed girl,
say it, StarWings.”

“Um, StarWings,” I squeaked, scrunched my
face up, gave my earlobe a nervous tug.

“You can do better than that, girl.” Tyr
turned to the others. “Let’s help her out boys.”

They all resumed the chant. It grew from low
to high, and higher and higher, until the room began to vibrate
again. Through the noise, Tyr offered me a kind nod, as if I was
family, or his daughter that he’d just saved from excruciating
embarrassment. To this wonderful angel, I returned an appreciative
smile.

Ah, what the flap, life is supposed to be
fun. I let my shoes fall off my feet, climbed up onto the table,
hoisted my mug with both hands, and joined the chant in my screamy
girl voice, “
StarWings! Star! Wiiiings!
” I’d never felt so
alive in all my life.

While I showered in the beer spray, my vision
bounced down to Vyn, then across the room as Mom shook a
pursed-lip, disapproving mother face at me.

Angie had her hand over her mouth, trembling
with laughter, tears forming around her eyes. But it didn’t look
like she was laughing
at
me, she was laughing
for
me.
Feeling she might want to join me, I waved her over. She didn’t
hesitate, jumping out of her chair and skipping across the floor to
Jaydenn. I read her lips as she requested his mug, “Give me a
drink.”

The table vibrated under my bare feet as I
sent her a smile. She female-sipped the beer, and looked up. There
she was, gleaming, my big sister. I yelled to her, “I love
you!”

“I love you too!”

As I looked down at Vyn, he gave me a grin,
shook his head and appeared to chuckle.

Angie took another drink, and then climbed up
onto the table with me. In our white dresses, we did our skip dance
we used to do as children, only this time the lawn sprinkler threw
out a shower of beer.

The huddle bounced for almost ten minutes,
before all of us settled back to our stools. My heart still
fluttered as I sat next to Vyn. Angie was behind me with her hands
on my shoulders. My hair was damp with beer, but we had access to
the showers and all the amenities of the stadium so I wasn’t
concerned. One of my angel-wing earrings had fallen off and sat at
the center of the table.

“Dad,” I asked, “can you hand me my earring,
please?”

Dad reached out, snatched it off the table
and held it up for all to see. Tiny gold wings dangled from his
fingertips as he tilted his head, seemed to be thinking at them.
“Well, these here look a lot like a medallion. A StarWing
medallion. Elle”—his eyes met mine—“welcome to the team,
honey.”

Tyr choked some beer out his nose, wiped his
face and looked at Dad. “You mean cheerleader, right?”

Angie tightened a grip on my shoulders.

“No sir,” Dad replied. “She’ll be hunting
with us.”

“You’re joking? Dancing on a table is all
fine and good, but it’s an entirely different thing to hunt. We
can’t have some princess cheerleader in the field with us.” He
looked at me. “No offense, Elle. It’s for your own good.”

Princess!
Angie held me down as I
said, “Now listen here, Tyr. I don’t care how flappin big you are.
You are
not
going to stop me. I can do what I want,
understand
.”

The entire table paused to look at me.
Whatever.

Tyr scowled while I cut a glare at him in
silence, more silence, and a little more … Dad would protect me,
right?

The rest of the team studied me. One would
tighten his lips, another would nod, and the reactions began to
spread around the table.

Aeron turned to Dad. “You got yourself quite
a girl there, Phil.”

Dad tossed a grin to us girls. “Yes, yes I
do. A couple, actually.” His eyes went around the table. “Pay
careful attention to her boys. We might just learn something about
grit.”