Wings of Boden (22 page)

“Hey, Vyn,” I said.

“Hey, Ellie, how’s it going out there?” He
slid a glass tube thingy in a metal rack.

“It’s crazy out there.” I paused. “This is
Ginelle, the cheerleader I told you about.”

“Yeah, um,” Vyn mumbled, cheeks tinting. “Um,
yeah, hi.”

Such a male, a young male at that, flustered
at the sight of Ginelle like a schoolboy.

When Ginelle stepped forward to shake his
hand, I suspected she might have to wake another passed-out angel
off the floor.

Vyn stole a glance at me, became more
serious. With a professional, but somewhat cramped expression, he
turned eyes on Ginelle, shook her outstretched hand while saying,
“It is nice to meet you, Ginelle. I have heard so much about you.”
I didn’t know he could talk like a robot. He pulled his hand back,
wiped it on his lab coat.

My Source, Ginelle had no idea how ridiculous
he sounded. I couldn’t help but snicker.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Vyn. You have a
special girl there. You treat her right and I won’t have to kick
your ass. I know where you work.”—I snorted a laugh in
surprise.

Ginelle held a serious gaze on Vyn. Vyn
swallowed the lump in his neck. He finally drew a breath, caught up
to the joke, then let out some sort of nervous chuckle while the
blood in his face drained back into his body. He lowered to the
chair, eyes up to Ginelle. “I see how it is. You two are gangin’ up
on me, huh?”

Ginelle cut a glare and snapped out, “I’m
serious, Vyn. Be nice to her or I’ll be back.”

Vyn went into deep freeze again. Ginelle
stared him down. I couldn’t pull my hand from my mouth as I
snickered into my palm.

Ginelle smiled at me. “They are
so
easy to mess with.” She turned back to Vyn and said, “I’m just
teasing. You’re a good guy. Kinda cute, too, with those blushing
dimples,” then angled a grin at me and added, “I approve,
Ellie.”

Okay, I really love Ginelle
.

She stepped over to me with a mischievous
grin of accomplishment. Vyn swiped his brow with the back of his
hand, snatched up his glass and took a long swallow.

“I think we’ve tortured him enough for one
day,” I said through my grin.

“Yeah, I guess we should let him off the
leash.” Ginelle turned to Vyn. “It really was nice to meet you,
Vyn. Sorry about that. We’ll leave you alone now.”

He just nodded, puffed out a breath, and
said, “It was, um, interesting to meet you, too.”

Ginelle snickered, tilted her head with a
playful twist. “It was, wasn’t it?”

As we were walking out the door, Ginelle
called over her shoulder, “Remember what I said, Vyn, or I’ll be
back.” The door tapped shut behind us. Stepping up the stairs,
Ginelle said to me, “Well, that should keep him hanging for a
little while.”

“That’s so mean. I have
so
much to
learn from you.”

****

Family and friends filled the evening living
room as the fireplace crackled and winked. We had pulled the drapes
over the wall of windows, shutting out the night to avoid
distractions as we enjoyed some social time. Shaded lamps glowed on
the end tables, each table holding someone’s drink on a coaster.
The room was warm, and not just from the fireplace; it was the
tingly feeling of peace that I’d been craving for nearly a
month.

Dad and Mom were on the couch, Angie and
Jaydenn on the loveseat. I was in Dad’s chair and Vyn was still in
the lab. Dad had brought two more chairs from the dining room for
Ginelle and her muscled husband Luca. Steffunnie was on the chaise
lounge by the fireplace in her little dress, eating a bowl of fruit
and tilting her head back and forth while she hummed some sort of
tune. Bub lay on the floor by the chaise, on his belly with his
head up, as if listening to Steff—best of friends. We had invited
Ginelle and family to stay for dinner, and to stay the night in the
guest bedroom. I was so happy I didn’t have to say goodbye to them
just yet.

Discussions went around. Luca was hilarious,
though some of his jokes did make Mom blush. Ginelle would just
roll her eyes, as if she’d heard them before. Dad and Jaydenn would
bellow with laughter. Most of the jokes I really didn’t get, but I
snickered along with them anyway. Angie understood, though. She’d
laugh right along like one of the boys.

With his sandy-blond hair, chiseled features
and a lot of neck and shoulders, a perma-grin and a husky voice
that seemed to let the words out at a leisurely pace, Luca reminded
me of jolly warrior. I pictured their relationship, their happy
family, and I could see why Ginelle had fallen in love with Luca;
they made such a perfect couple.

Vyn called out while he strolled from the
foyer area in his lab coat, “Well, it looks like we’re ready—” He
stopped when he noticed the full living room, and stood under the
entrance archway, wiping his hands on a rag he was holding.

“Ready for what, Vyn?” Dad questioned,
looking over the couch-back.

“Yeah, we’re ready for testing the cells. I
injected a sample into a mouse and it—”

“You did what!” I yelped.

“Let him talk, Ellie,” said Dad.

“I didn’t hurt him,” Vyn responded to me.

“You better not have,” Ginelle chimed in.

After a moment of silence, Dad asked, “Vyn,
have you met Ginelle and Luca?”

“You mean the crazy cheerleader.”

“Vyn!” said Mom.

“No, no,” Luca spoke up, “he’s right, he
must’ve met her.” Eyes on Ginelle. “You did your introduction
thing, didn’t you?”

Ginelle flashed Vyn a little grin, and
winked. “Gotcha, didn’t I?”

Vyn’s lip curled up into some sort of
smirk.

“Sorry about that, Vyn,” Luca said. “So, what
were you saying, your experiments?”

“Yeah, the mouse. As I said, I injected a
sample, and the strangest thing happened. I waited a while,
observing, and it seemed to grow what appeared to be wings, but not
solid wings. More transparent, almost like a hummingbird, or
faerie. They began to glow with light, and, well, the mouse lifted
off the table and hovered a few inches above. It didn’t last but a
few minutes before the injection wore off and the wings
disappeared. I examined the mouse afterward, no harm done. Yet, it
wouldn’t eat its food anymore, until I injected a berry. It
couldn’t get enough of those.”

“So, flying mice,” Dad said. “No offense,
Vyn, but, what’s this got to do with us?”

“Well, I wasn’t expecting something to grow
wings. That’s not what I had in mind. The bioluminescence worked,
though. But, until I figure out how to bind it into a regenerative
state, it will be a temporary flight. In other words, we’ll have to
carry backup syringes on us. With a full dose, based on the body
weight of the individual angel, I’m guessing about an hour flight
time before a second injection will be needed.”

Dad scooched to the edge of the couch, Luca
to the edge of his chair, and Jaydenn began to bob a pursed-lip nod
in the loveseat, his arm still around Angie.

“But it works, though,” Dad said, energy
building. “That’s what you’re saying.”

Vyn began to wipe his hand on the towel
again, more out of habit, watchful eyes observing him. “Yes, it
does. It works.” A smile tugged at the corners of Vyn’s mouth, cute
little Vyn dimples that just tickled me. Smile lines around his
eyes. He was proud, and so was I.

But I could
not
stop thinking of the
flying mouse.

Vyn added, “I know the mouse doesn’t mean
much to you, but, here’s the thing. He won’t eat anything but those
berries anymore. The mouse developed an addiction. Do you realize
what that means?”

Everyone searched inside for a clue …

Dad rose from the couch, marched over to Vyn,
and dropped a hand on Vyn’s shoulder. “You, son, are an absolute
genius.” He spun around to view the room. “This is what he’s
getting at, if I’m not mistaken. Don’t you see, the mouse is now
addicted to those berries. Dreks and hunters are carnivores,
they—”

Luca pushed sharply from his chair and his
football voice boomed, “It’s a flappin biological weapon!”

They’re not going to start chanting again are
they?

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here,” Vyn
said. “There are too many variables and it could be temporary. I’m
still monitoring, but, yes, that’s what it looks like as of right
now. I don’t know what it would do to a hunter, and I don’t think
we should take the chance of shooting them with it just yet. We
don’t want them flying around in the daytime. And the dreks, well,
they’re not biological forms so I assume injecting them would be
impossible, can’t inject a spirit. Like I said, I don’t have any
idea how that would work. All I do know is … We can fly at
night.”

Jaydenn shook his head and chuckled. “You
mean to tell me, it’s possible that a vegetarian flying mouse might
save the world. Un-flappin believable.”

Steffunnie called out in her little voice, “I
wanna see the flying mouse!” She hopped up and skipped across the
room to Ginelle. “Can I see the flying mouse, Mommy?”

Ginelle swiveled eyes to Vyn … Vyn gave her a
smile. “I’ll be doing another experiment tomorrow morning.”

“Tomorrow morning, okay?” Ginelle said to
Steff.

“Yay!” Steff began to hop, clapping her hands
together. “A flying mouse, a flying mouse.” She stopped, held
excited eyes on Ginelle. “Is it gonna be morning soon?”

“Be patient, Steff.”

“Okay, I will.”

“Go read your book, okay, sweetie.”

“Okay.” Steff skipped back to the chaise,
hopped up and spun around with a book on her lap. She began to
read, “Once there was a flying mouse, and his name was, um”—a
little head tilt—“Tinkle.” Sitting on his haunches before the
chaise, Bub let out a little
wuff
of agreement.

It seemed whenever Steff talked, she became
the center of attention. Everyone fell silent, entranced, just
watched her. I had never seen anything so cute in my entire life,
so magnetic and polite. And Ginelle was such a good mother.
Someday, maybe I would be so lucky.

Mom smiled at me from the couch. She knew
what I was thinking; or she was thinking about grandchildren, one
in the same, I guessed, as I obliged her with a mutual-thought
smile.

Dad sat back with Mom. The discussions went
around for a while. I waited for a lull before I asked, “Dad, me
and Angie are going out there Monday, right?”

“You think you’re ready?”

“Yeah. I wanna get started.”

“Angie?” Dad questioned.

“Yeah, she’s right. I think it’s time.”

“Okay girls, but here’s the deal. I want you
to practice different angles. Shoot from the balcony. Shoot from
the porch deck and top of the barn. Shoot while you’re flying, from
every angle, even crouched on your knees. You should probably wear
those new jeans you have for more protection. And remember, the
first shot you take will be hard. We call it the fever. Your mind
will want to shoot but your hand won’t let go. You might start
shaking. Don’t worry about aiming when you get your first shot,
just let go and get your second arrow ready.”

The reality of the situation started to
become clear. We were really going to do this. It would be a busy
weekend.

“And one more thing girls,” Dad added. “I
don’t want you hunting back behind the house. We’ve seen dreks back
there in the forest, but we’ll take care of them.”

“But, aren’t we—” Angie started to say, Dad
cut her off.

“No hunting behind the house, that’s final.”
His tone drove the point into us.

With a couple of nods, Angie and I both
agreed to the terms. Mom was smiling for some unknown reason.
Didn’t she realize we were about to go out there, in the wild?
Parents are so confusing. Mom seemed happy. I had no idea what the
flap she was thinking.
Whatever
.

“Look, Elle!” Steff’s voice came from below.
Angie and I were taking a break from shooting off the balcony.
“This is Tinkle, isn’t he cute?”

A tiny mouse with humming bird wings buzzed
up and hovered over the balcony.

“What the—?” I said.

Angie and I exchanged looks, then at, Tinkle,
I assumed.

“It is kinda cute, isn’t it, Ang?”

“Yeah, it sure is.”

“Tinkle,” Steff called out, “come down here
now.”

Tinkle looked around, twitching its whiskers,
and floated back down to Steff.

“It listens to her?” I asked Angie.

“I guess. Look at Steff, though. Wouldn’t
you?”

“Yeah, good point.”

“Steff,” I called down to her, “don’t go too
far now, okay.”

“I know. Mommy’s right here.”

As I leaned over the balcony, Ginelle was
looking up at me from the ground as she said, “Vyn made it so the
mouse could fly permanently.” She crinkled her face up. “Looks like
we have a new pet.”

“How’d he do that?” I asked.

“He injected the food, blueberries.”

“Yeah.” Steff lifted a little plastic bag.
“See, Elle, Tinkle likes blueberries.”

“Well that’s nice, Steff.”

Steff eyed the bag. “I like blueberries too,
but I can’t eat any of these.”

“No, don’t do that,” I said.

“Okay, Steff,” said Ginelle. “Let the girls
practice now.”

“K, see you later, Elle. Bye, Angie.”

“Bye-bye, Steff,” I replied.

“Bye, Steff,” Angie included.

The house door tapped closed.

“I have to get me one of those.”

Angie cocked an eyebrow. “A flying mouse,
really?”

“No, a Steff.”

She chuckled. “Yeah, me too.”

“You can have one before I can.”

“Well, Jaydenn and I have been talking. Maybe
when this is over.”

“That’s great, Ang. You’d make an awesome
mother, and I’d be Aunt Ellie. I’d spoil the flap outta her. You
know that, right?”