Wings of Boden (32 page)

Hunters shrieked their disagreements across
the night sky, knowing that we were on a mission to destroy those
that they fed. My nerves were wire-tight, vulture sounds dragging
across them like an abysmal instrument.

I remembered saying to Mom,
If you’re
going, so am I
. Yeah, real bright, idiot.

This place, at night, sent prickles of fear
down my neck.

We had made it to the tree line behind the
house before the hunters even noticed us, and the density of the
forest kept us out of their reach. But did nothing for my sanity. I
would catch a glimpse of glittering stars through spaces in the
forest canopy, until a passing vulture would block the view,
squawking, and my eyes would avert anywhere else but up. I
should’ve stayed home with Angie. I took another step.

Ahead of me, twigs were snapping under the
feet of Dad, Mom and Vyn. We were hiking through the woods, swords
held at the ready. Well, I had my bow ready—the humans had saved
that also—and a sword in a sheath on my back. All of us had dressed
the part of purpose: Mom and I wore jeans and long-sleeved T’s, Dad
in his team wear. Vyn’s lab coat was a white ghost weaving through
the dark woods; he never seemed to wear anything else.

As time passed with each step, I became a bit
more comfortable in the safety of the forest, despite the horrific
sounds. The darkness. The sense of watchful red eyes on us. And the
stench of imminent death on the air.

Even though Mom had told me not to look up,
“Just ignore them,” she had said, I couldn’t help it and caught
sight of a hunter perched atop a pine like a waiting shadow.

“Come on, Ellie,” Mom beckoned. I glanced her
way as she weaved through the trees.

“I’ll be right there,” I called as they
walked on, Dad ambling through the woods in the lead. With my gaze
back on the hunter, I lifted my bow and flung an arrow. The arrow
whizzed upward, twig-tapped the hunter’s neck, bounced off and fell
through the trees, rattling off branches on the way to the
ground.

The hunter blinked down at me.

I swallowed, wrinkled my nose and tucked hair
behind my ear. Okay, so that didn’t work.

“I told you,” Mom said, giving me a start as
she stood to my left. “It takes much more than that to kill them.”
She placed a palm on my shoulder. “Come on, let’s go.”

The same cave opening, only without color. Oh
goody. The dank smells were still here, of course, tangling with my
recent horrific memories. Dad stepped in through the hanging veil
of roots, followed by Vyn. Mom and I waited outside the cave,
guarding, with our backs to the opening while we surveyed down
through the dark forest. Dad had told the team that we could take
care of this on our own.

Okay, I guess.

A few minutes passed before we heard Dad’s
deep voice in the cave, “Well hello there, drek.” Seconds later,
“Well goodbye there, drek.” Then Vyn laughed down the tunnel.

Scuffling and running sounds blew from the
cave, sounding like hundreds.

Dad bugled, “Ha! Now that’s more like it.
Here chicky chickies, time to butter the toast!”

Mom heaved a sigh. “He’s so dramatic
sometimes. Just like a little boy, you know.” She swiveled her head
to me. “They will always be little boys, honey, remember that.”

She didn’t look stressed at all. My stomach
tied in knots for Vyn.

“Aren’t you worried, Mom? What if they need
our help?”

“They’ll be okay. Besides, we’ll be too busy
to worry. Trust me. This isn’t my first party, honey.” She sent a
smile into the forest.

The remembrance of all the dreks came back.
Pushing down the horrible images became a chore, but they were too
recent to ignore. Stirring up my nerves, a hunter would land on a
treetop, squawk and screech …Then bound into flight as the tree
swayed from the force of his push off. Another vulture would take
his place and repeat the taunt.

The forest took on a white haze.

“Well, would you look at that? I still have
it,” said Mom.

Glancing over and back, I said, “You can see
it, the white?”

“Yes, it’s beautiful, don’t you think? But
there’s only one reason for the white. Get ready, honey.” She
scanned the forest. I followed her lead.

Behind us, the cave sounds grew into muffled
grunts and growls. The brief sound of a drek yell—then cut off like
a switch and Dad shouted, “Next!”

Nightmare shadows tainted the light, waves of
dreks stepping around bushes and over fallen logs, weaving through
the woods, cackling and snapping angry whips—the sounds freezing my
heart and seizing my chest.

“Just breathe, Ellie.” Mom’s eyes remained
forward. “And remember, rule number one, always get the ones that
are about to yell first. When you see a mouth open, that’s your
clue.”

Calming, measured breaths drew into my lungs.
Pulse slowed. Focus cleared a path in my mind. Targets. My bow
pulled up, one second, two, I let an arrow fly … A single drek was
gone, hundreds more in sight as they began to pick up the pace, the
forest awash with
yak yacking
sounds like a pack of excited
hyenas on the hunt, whips cracking
wha-tish!
over and
over.

“Nice shot, honey. But there are too many for
arrows. Let me show you a more efficient way. And get your sword
out.”

Oh yeah, that’s right. Dad had insisted I
bring a sword, thank Source for that. I set my bow to the ground,
reached over my shoulder, pulled the sword out of the sheath on my
back and over my head, held it in both hands before me. I had never
used a sword before, it was a little awkward, but, whatever.

“This is going to be
so
much fun,” Mom
said as she stepped forward with her sword drawn, her white teeth
flashing in the night.

What did she say, fun?

Ghoulish sounds flooded the forest. The vile
scent of dreks wafted through the trees.

A smirking drek, flicking his tongue over
needle teeth, bulging eyes glinting, began to approach Mom.

Without hesitation, Mom spun a circle and the
sword zipped through the drek’s head as if he wasn’t even there.
Then he wasn’t. And her sword dripped black.

For some reason, the dreks gravitated toward
Mom. Another drek approached her with a lifted whip. Mom let out a
sprinkle of laughter … and waited. The drek swung to whip her. Mom
sliced the whip in two, half falling to the ground in front of her,
the confused drek holding the other half while Mom said, “You
know”—slice, drek gone—“I really don’t like those whip things.”
Spin, swing and slice, another one gone. She’d step forward, and
one at a time, sometimes more, she’d finish them like an artist
through the tight trees, painting the ground with pools of drek,
gritting her teeth between grins as she lit up the forest.

Squawking hunters were gathering above,
nothing they could do but watch.

Something took over my senses, pushed me to
perform.

A distant drek’s mouth began to yawn open. I
bolted over and took care of him before he could lift his whip.
Then ran back to a safer spot and spun around.

Endless waves of dreks marched up the
mountainside.

Wha-tish! Yak,Yak! Wha-tish!

Mom pranced to a small clearing.

A group began to encircle her, maybe ten,
then twenty, and more on the way, until Mom was aglow in the center
of a drek circle. Just as panic for her began to stab me, Mom let
out a bursting spray of maniacal laughter, stopped, and trumpeted,
“Time for some fun!”

The circle ignited with light and made me
squint. Dreks were disappearing so fast. A minute later, there she
was; Mom with her full wingspan unfurled like diamond-dusted sheets
with sharp feather tips. She began to spin. The force of rotation
seemed to create a vacuum of light that sucked the dreks in and
snuffed them out of existence—as if they just evaporated. No trace.
No liquid pool.
Wing weapons, no flappin way!
The blazing
cyclone of my mother was all I could see. A glowing wind tunnel to
the sky. I stood in amazement with my hand over my mouth.

She stopped abruptly, threw me a look of
terror. “Ellie! Behind you!”

My mind shrieked and I snapped around to see
a drek thrusting a dagger toward my head. A second, just enough
time to raise my arms into a guard, before the dagger fell to the
ground and an arrow careened off a tree and into the bushes behind
where he once was.

“Nice shot, Vyn,” Dad’s voice rang from the
distance.

Looking back, I finally drew a breath. Vyn
stood near the cave, flashing those dimples at me, my pink bow in
his hand. I sent him a “thank you” grin. He returned a nod and a
wink.

The woods were dark again. Stars glittered
above.

Vulture sounds receded as they flew away,
squawking their disagreements.

Mom hustled over to me as Dad and Vyn tramped
around the trees finishing the stragglers. Vyn pulled something out
of his lab coat pocket, a syringe maybe? He ran up to the last drek
and jammed it into his head, then stepped back. The drek stood with
a look of shock, the syringe dangling from his bald skull. His head
started to brighten, and brighter, bigger … it was inflating with
light … It popped, sending white serum goo to splash the trees.

Vyn shook his head, scrubbed his hands
through his hair as he said, “That’s what I thought. I tried,
though,” then brushed more stuff off his coat.

“You have to be more careful, Ellie,” Mom
said, roping my attention with a mother look. “You have to remember
to stay focused. If Vyn wasn’t—”

“It’s okay now, Mom. I understand. I’m sorry.
You were just so—” I stopped, pulled some hair behind my ear. “How
did you do that?”

With a smug grin, she slid her sword back
into the sheath over her shoulder. “That was my signature move.
What’d you think?”

“Mom, seriously, that was flappin awesome.
You
have
to show me how to do that.”

“Okay, that takes care a that,” Dad said,
brushing his hands together while he and Vyn approached. “I’m goin
down to let them know it’s all clear back here. I’m thinkin we’ll
block this entrance off. Use the cave for storage or
something.”

“Uh, Phil,” Vyn said. “I think we have a
problem.”

We all joined Vyn’s sight line. Wolves.
Wolves paced through the forest lower down the mountain. They
didn’t look friendly. Heads lowered. Glowing eyes lanced through
the dark at us.

“Dad, let’s go into the cave. I don’t. I
can’t—” The lead wolf launched forward, started a charge up the
mountain as the others joined in behind him.”

“Dad! Let’s go!”

“Quiet down, Ellie,” Dad half grumbled. “It’s
fine.”

The knot in my stomach forced me to run up to
the cave. Once there, I wheeled around to watch. Dad said something
to Vyn and Mom as they nodded in agreement.

“Come on, now,” Dad shouted to the wolves.
Mom and Vyn just stood there.

What the flap are they doing?

The black wolf launched off his feet. Dad
caught him and hugged, said, “How you doin there, Jaeger.” In Dad’s
arms, Jaeger wriggled and wiggled, swinging his tail and licking
Dad’s face. When Dad set him to the ground, Jaeger began to bounce
around with energy, a yelp, a yap, an excited whine. The rest of
the pack—blacks and whites and grays—made their way to join Jaeger,
and began a chorus of joyful barks and yips.

Eyes wide, stunned, I just stood at the cave
mouth.

“Come on down here, Ellie,” called Dad.

After making my way to them, I stood beside
Mom as we watched the wolves dance around together. I said, “They—
I don’t understand.”

Through the sound of the wolf play, Dad said,
“I’d say they’re happy. The dreks were probably stealing their
food, tormenting them. And we took care of that for them. They just
wanted to thank us.”

“Oh, that’s so nice. It’s just so—” Words
caught in my throat as a white female stepped over, sat on her
haunches at my feet, and looked up at me. Wolf eyes, such beautiful
light green, so intense. I crouched, ran my hand over her head and
through her neck fur. “You’re so beautiful,” I whispered. She
lifted her head and licked my face. “Oh, you’re welcome, girl. I
think your name is Shiera. Do you like that?” She confirmed it with
another series of face licks. Once my face was thoroughly wet, she
slowly backed away and moved to Jaeger.

Mom, Dad and Vyn were greeting and petting
the others. Once introductions and affections were complete, we all
stood together again, watching the wolf pack play.

“They are just wonderful,” Mom commented. “I
think we have some new friends.”

Minutes later, the wolf pack gathered—then
padded away into the night forest.

Gazing through the woods after them, I said,
“I’m just so happy we could help them.”

After everyone agreed with head nods and
pursed lips, Dad said, “We should go now, let them know it’s all
clear back here.”

The previous cyclone of my mother came to my
mind as I said, “We’ll be down in a minute. First Mom has something
to show me.”

Mom scrunched up her face at me. “Now,
Ellie?”

“Please, Mom. I have to know.”

“You must’ve brought out the twister, huh,
Celeste?” said Dad.

Mom popped a fist on her hip, grinned. “I
still got it old man, so don’t mess with me.”

“Wouldn’t think of it, old lady.”

Mom glowered, but Dad leaned in and kissed it
away.

Vyn seemed to take a hint from that. He
wrapped his arms around me, dipped me down like a dance move, and
planted on my lips the biggest kiss ever while I hovered in his
arms. He lifted me up to stand, while I attempted to remember how
to breathe. Oh, my. It felt like my bones were liquefying.

Wow. I gazed at him. That was— Wow. My body
tingled in warmth. I tipped my chin down, lifted my eyes up to him,
and tucked some hair behind my ear.