Wings of Boden (29 page)

Eyes snapped open. Inhale. Exhale.

Light blinded me to squint.

Vision adjusted.

A high ceiling.

Inhale. Exhale.
Is that—?

… My entire body felt cool and refreshed.
Sounds of a trickling stream surrounded me, as I realized … I was
on my back on a pebbled stream bank, the stones pressing into my
skin. Jeans and shoes were slightly damp, and I wore an unfamiliar,
rip-free T-shirt. My wings were clean and unfurled with the tips in
flowing water. Fluorescent light filled the white concrete room. I
rolled my head side to side on the bank to view the clear stream
coming from under a far wall to my right, flowing through the
center of the room and exiting under the opposite wall.

A long sigh drained from my lungs.

Wait.
Where’s Angie!
I sprang up,
turned to see her sleeping on her back on the stream bank, her
jeaned legs in the water up to her waist, wings unfurled wide.

Gravel crunched underfoot as I dashed to her,
and then knelt before her on the bank. “Angie, are you okay?”

Nothing.

Sounds of water trickled through the room,
joining an almost imperceptible vibration, like a faint
hummm
.

I lowered to the pebbled shore, stretched my
legs out, lifted Angie’s head onto my lap and cleared some wet hair
off her face. “Angie, please wake up. Please.”

At running sounds behind me I snapped my head
around.

A boy skidded to a shoe-squeaking stop on a
concrete floor, staring surprised brown eyes at me while he held a
pile of clean towels. No older than ten, I guessed. Dark hair fell
over his forehead and ears. He wore jeans with holes in the knees,
a T-shirt and sneakers. A typical boy.

“Who are you?” I asked over my shoulder.

“Um, Mister Bellows told me I’m supposed to
clean her wings.”

“Who’s Mister Bellows?”

I turned back to Angie, palmed her damp
hair.

The boy chuckled behind me. “Mister Bellows,
only the leader of our town, duh.”

I slanted a look. “Your town? Where am
I?”

He stepped down from the concrete ledge to
the gravel bank, made his way over and stood to my right. “Oh,
yeah. You never been here, have you?” A crooked grin as he twirled
a towel, stopped. “You two were really lucky, you know. We saved
you from the monsters, just in time. We had to wear our earmuffs
and everything. We thought it was one of those emergency drills,
but it wasn’t. We heard the screaming and ran. I nailed one of ‘em
too, right in the mouth with my slingshot. It was awesome. Then my
dad put a needle in your arm, he said it would keep you calm, and
we dragged you two in here. What were you doing out there? Are you
crazy or something?”

“You saved us? Where are we?”

He sighed. “This is our town of New Branch.
Stupid name, huh? I don’t know whose bright idea that was. New
Branch. Why not just name it
pinecone
, or something,
right?”

My gaze went back to Angie. “Is she—?”

“She’s sick, that’s all. She’s got the dark
sickness, but she’s a heck of a lot better than she was. We weren’t
sure whether she was gonna make it. It’s the water. It has light in
it, or something. I don’t know. But, I need to clean her wings
before the bubbles go away, okay?”

Angie’s wings were covered with small
bubbles; I hadn’t noticed it until then. I gave the boy a hesitant
go-ahead nod. He stepped to Angie’s wings, went to his knees, began
wiping them off, whistling while he rubbed, then said, “Well, this
is much better than cleaning out the shed, I’ll tell ya that. Let
my stupid sister do it for once.”

“How long have we been here?”

“You two have been here for hours, it’s
almost, oh, three. If it wasn’t for you I’d be in school right now,
so, thanks for that.” He smiled, swiped some bubbles from Angie’s
wing. “The whole town practically came to help, and to see the
angels. But it got too crowded so Mister Bellows told everyone to
go home so you could rest. He said you’d be scared when you woke
up. Then he told my dad to tell me to clean your wings for you.
They’re gonna pay me big for this. I might be able to get a new
bike.”

“What do you mean, to see the angels?”

As he began cleaning again, I noticed
something that I hadn’t paid attention to—his smooth back, his
shirt with no wing-flaps. I sprang up to stand with my hand over my
mouth.

“
Geez
. Be careful lady. Her head
almost bounced the rocks.”

After pulling my hand down, I said, “You.
You’re. Where are your wings?”

“Uh, I left ‘em at the house.” He snickered.
“I don’t have wings, duh, none of us do. Your wings are pretty
cool, though. I’d love to have a set of wings. Man, I’d fly so
high, nobody’d catch me.” He swiped Angie’s wing, visualizing, said
on a dreamy tone, “Yeah, that’d be awesome.”

“Billy, Billy! Dad said I could—” A little
girl called and stopped short as she came skipping through an
archway on the far side of the room. She had stopped on the
concrete floor, and stood in a knee-length flowered dress, flats on
her feet, light brown hair to her shoulders.

“Great,” the boy complained, blew a breath
and turned back to Angie. “There’s my sister. She always gets her
way. All she has to do his blink her eyes like a little pet. Then
she gets one. And me, oh no, ‘Take out the garbage, Billy. Clean
your room, Billy.’ Then I get a candy bar. She’s not helping me
with this, though. I’m keeping all the diamonds for this job.”

“Are you—” I started to say, swallowed, and
finished my thought, “Humans?” It sounded bizarre coming out of my
mouth.

“Affirmative,” Billy said, then stood up,
straightening Angie’s feathers. “Two arms, two legs, and no wings.
Just, human.” He looked almost sad.

At the young girl’s gasp, I turned to see her
strolling along the bank with a towel in her hands, little hazel
eyes gazing up at my wings as she said, “
Ohh
, those are
pretty. Can I touch them, please?”

Billy blew out a sigh. “Eight year olds, so
childish. Leave her alone, Jen. She’s resting.”

Jen curled a frown, disappointed little eyes
on Billy. “Dad said I could help you though.”

“I’m already done, so it’s my money. I’ll buy
you a candy bar, though, okay?”

She gave her brother such a sweet smile. Yes,
I understood now, that smile could get her anything.

Now, I wondered, what world did I just fall
into? I must be dead. Yeah, that would explain it, right. I was
dead, of course, and Source was a flappin circus?

The girl toddled over, looked up at me with
requesting eyes. Her dress and shoes were so similar to that of
what we wear. Their skin with a little deeper hue than ours—golden
flesh tones—but the similarities to angels amazed me. I had read
about them in books, but these weren’t pictures. I moved my wing,
sending Jen to gasp in delight, which made me giggle.

“Do it again,” she said on a breath. I
lowered my right wing so she could touch it. She skimmed her hands
over it. “
Ohh
, they’re so smooth, and shiny.” She continued
with her fascination. “Wow, you’re so lucky.”

I was bit fascinated myself.

“Okay, I’m finished,” Billy said, and turned
to me. “What’s your name, anyway?”

“Um, I’m Elle, and that’s my sister, Angie.
She’s going to be okay, right?”

“Elle, huh? And she’s, Angie?” He arched an
eyebrow, chuckled. “Yeah, right, and I’m king of the world. What’s
your name, really?”

“I told you already. What’s the matter with
you?”

His eyes went wide, face flushed. “You.
You’re really, Elle, really? No jokes?”

The girl stopped rubbing my wing, stepped
back with a look of wonder. “Elle?” She swiveled her head to Angie.
“And, and that’s, Angie? From our dreams? But—”

“Billy,” a male voice called out near the
archway, drawing my attention. “Are you finished? You two aren’t
bothering them are you?” The stocky older man strode toward me in a
kind of lumbering gait, maybe five-ten, khaki cargo pants and
hiking boots, a faded blue T-shirt, gray-streaked short hair.
Apelike thick arms reminded me of Dad’s construction worker
friends. He stood before me, creases around his brown eyes as he
looked up into mine. “They’re not bothering you, are they?”

“Dad,” said Billy, “you’re not gonna believe
who they are.”

“Well, I’m glad to see you’re all right.” The
man’s tone was rough and deep, like wet gravel in his throat. “You
two had quite an adventure out there.” He surveyed my arms and
wings. “It’s amazing. Your skin’s nearly healed. And it looks like
your wings filled in nicely. One of the girls cleaned you up and
gave you that shirt, yours was torn up.” His eyes lifted to mine.
“It’s nice to meet you, young lady. I’m Christopher. Just call me,
Chris.” He reached out a thick knuckled hand.

We shook hands as I replied. “Um, it’s nice
to meet you too, Chris.”

“Good. Now, I’m guessing you have a few
questions.” His callused grip released, a head swivel to Billy.
“You kids go back to the house.”

“But, Dad—”

“It’s okay, Billy,” I said. “Her wings are
beautiful. I’ll put in a good word for you, about the bike.”
Wink
.

Billy locked a stare on me, cheeks tinting
over a grin.

He finally gathered up the towels, held them
in both arms while he gave me another silent grin. He backpedaled
off the stream bank and onto the concrete above. “C’mon, Jen.”

Jen finally stopped gazing at me and went to
him. They treaded off while chatting. I couldn’t help but listen as
Billy said, “I know, it’s so cool, huh? Did you hear what she said
about the bike? Angels are so awesome.”

Jen said, “Do you think she would give me a
present?”

“She’s not Santa Claus, Jen. I had to work
for the bike.”

“Oh, okay. Will you share your bike with
me?”

Billy put his arm around his sister’s
shoulder as they walked on. “Yeah, I guess. Let’s go get that candy
bar, sis.”

I smiled after them … turned to Chris. “How
did you save us?”

“See that door over there.” He gestured to an
ancient-looking iron door on the other side of the stream. “You
were on the other side of it. We heard the yell, got here as fast
as we could. See, we’ve been preparing for quite a few years,
weekly drills and such. Wasn’t expecting to see you, of course, but
we knew what to do. A few of us did get sick, though. They’re in
the infirmary at the hospital. It was close, but I think they’re
gonna pull through.”

“Is my sister going to be okay?”

“I don’t really know, but I’m sure your
mother will—”

“You know my mother?” Surprise must’ve been
evident in my widened eyes.

He grinned, considering … “Your family and I
go way back, Elle. I remember when you were born. That was the last
time I saw you. Celeste brought you down here, introduced you to
us. I’d never seen her so happy. You look just like her, you know.”
He paused. “Anyway, sounds like the secret held. Let’s save some
time, get those questions answered.” He began to stride off toward
the wall where the stream entered, said over his shoulder, “Follow
me, it’s gettin late. You wouldn’t want them to worry.”

So, could it get any more confusing? I
wondered while trailing in his wake.

We stood in the concrete corner, a standard
iron door on the left, the stream behind us. Set into the wall on
our right was a smaller door, narrow, the size of a pantry maybe.
Chris pulled a key from his right pocket, unlocked and opened the
smaller door to reveal a wooden box, with a few hanging ropes
beside it in a hollow opening. On the box floor sat a wooden crate
full of fruit, a stack of paper and a pencil beside it.

Chris pulled the crate, set it to the
concrete floor, picked up a piece of paper and pencil. He palmed
the paper against the wall, began writing something. Once finished,
he reached and tugged on a rope. We waited … It startled me a bit
when the box began moving up. Chris tapped the door shut, turned to
me. “Okay, that’s that. Phillip is getting the message now.”

“Phillip? You mean my dad?”

He grinned. “I imagine he’ll be down in no
time.”

We walked back to Angie and sat on the
concrete ledge just above the stream bank. Chris explained a few
things, mostly small talk, stalling I knew. He was such a kind
human.

Minutes passed before the door we were
standing near earlier blew open with a slam to the wall. I jumped
and ran toward Dad, Vyn and Jaydenn while they marched into the
room with such serious looks on their faces.

“Dad!” I launched into his arms as he
gathered me up.

“It’s okay now, honey,” he replied in his
deep Dad voice. The best sound I’d ever heard.

He set me down. When I hugged Vyn, I sensed
he was in some sort of mode again, no doubt ready to do some
serious damage to something, or lost in confusion, I couldn’t
really tell which. Jaydenn loped over to Angie. He bent down and
pulled Angie up, her limp body draped over his arms as he kissed
her forehead. Emotion reddened his face.

“You’ve got some explaining to do, Dad.”

“Phil,” Chris announced, striding to us with
a clamped grin. Dad, almost two feet taller and twice as thick,
towered over Chris while they shook hands.

Their grip released. Dad’s brow curled over a
serious gaze. “What happened?”

“Well, it seems your girls got into a bit of
trouble. We heard the yells, did what we had to. What were they
doing back there?”

Dad scowled at me. “That’s a good question.
They weren’t supposed to be back there. Not behind the house,
remember, Elle.
We
were supposed to take care of that.”

Cowering, I hung my head, dropped my
shoulders, said on a breath, “I’m sorry, Dad.”

He laid a hand on my shoulder. “Well, I’m
just glad you’re all right”—I raised my eyes to him—“It’s partly my
fault. We should’ve taken care of this weeks’ ago.” He paused to
give me a grin, then turned and asked Chris, “How’s Angie?”