Featherlight (8 page)

Big, gorgeously threatening wings were spread out behind his body.
They were the mesmerizing color of a solid gold bar, but shined a lighter hue
in the dying light. He looked to be a little bit older than my age and had a
straight nose, black hair, and strong jaw. He wore a white shirt and dark pants
that fit him oh-so-well. He was quite a looker, and his gaze was mesmerizing.

I disliked him immediately.

John’s fists clenched and his jaw tightened as his dad told him, “Do
it, son. She’s the last one of her kind.”

John slowly shook his head. Do what?

He never broke our gaze. “You know I can’t do that, father. She
wouldn’t have much of a chance at all.”

The Marshal tried to convince him, “She would be happy with you.
Better you than one of those common mutts.”

I hated him talking about me like I wasn’t standing right here. How
would the Marshal know who I would be happy with?

Another thump landed nearby, and a man asked, “Someone like me?”

I glanced over at the newcomer. Bad idea. Samantha, John, and Marshal
all yelled, “No!”

||||

She could have been the ugliest woman in the world, and John’s reaction
would have been the same. The girl’s scent hit him seconds before he saw her
eyes, and it was all he could do to maintain control of his body. She smelled
exotic and welcoming. Never before had he felt the deeply dark need to take and
control a woman. His mind and body fought for dominance as he stared into her
wild white eyes.

This woman was the best because she was the only known folium, so why
was he hesitating? It would be so easy to Take her. A coat covered wings that
he knew were white, and it would give him enough of a head-start to cross the
distance between them and restrain her from fleeing. She wouldn’t have a
chance.

John was talking with his father, but he barely understood the words
that left his mouth. All of his attention was on this girl in front of him.

It sealed the girl’s fate when his dad said, “She would be happy with
you. Better you than one of those common mutts.”

Even though John had always dreamed of a long true chase with lots of
competition, his body didn’t care that this chase wouldn’t last long. His
instincts knew that she was the one. He was the fastest and strongest lullary
,
and his body wanted this rare girl so badly that, for the first time in his
life, he lost control.

Just as he felt the powerful rush of a chase, someone landed near him.
John would have heard the intruder approaching much sooner if he hadn’t been so
preoccupied with the scene in front of him.

He saw the girl’s gaze shift from his before the man’s words
registered. Peter was here, and Peter was about to start a chase that would
bind the last living folium.

“No!” John cried out, but it was too late.

Part IX

Don’t do it, Jacque!
The
voice of reason finally spoke up, but it was too late. My head turned, our eyes
locked, and my fate clicked into place. At least I had my answer. Someone else
could
make another person run. John ceased to exist as I noticed a set of brown
wings and light brown eyes darkening to black before my only thought was,
run!

What was going on? I saw a blur of a malicious smile as I took off in
the opposite direction. My instincts took over, and I was sprinting faster than
I had thought possible. My legs were accustomed to the thick pull gravity had
on everything back home, but here I felt light and nimble. This coat was suffocating
me, so I threw it off on the run. I wasn’t quite sure where I was headed, but I
didn’t care. I was fearful and exhilarated at the same time. It had been so
long since I’ve allowed myself to run, and it felt amazing. The wind flew by my
face, and my feet pounded on soft, cushiony grass. The world was a blur.
Someone was running behind me.

I couldn’t hear him through the roaring in my ears, but I could feel a
presence following. He was getting closer. I needed to move faster. A fence
appeared. I leapt, clearing it by a good three feet. The edge of the field was
in front of me. My mind wanted to stop and turn around, but my body kept
running.

There was a cliff!
Stop! I kept running. The cliff was twenty feet away. A yell. A scream. Stop,
someone said. Was that me? Ten feet. Another yell. My legs moved faster. He was
gaining. It was exhilarating. Who was in charge of my body? Rational me would
have stopped. My new instincts were in control. Five feet. The cliff was
inevitable. I couldn’t stop. Didn’t try to stop. Two feet. The ground fell out
from under me. Just like that; it disappeared. I hung in the air. Nothing was below
me but trees and wind. Then I was falling.

I had always wanted to go skydiving. How amazing would it be to see
the ground beneath you while falling from the sky? Of course, you would have
the parachute for safety. It would be the one item between you and a nasty
death. I didn’t have a parachute.

My stomach dropped, and I flailed my arms. How did I use my wings?!
They were limp behind me. Where were my ‘instincts’ that sent me off this
cliff? My instincts were celebrating the fact that I had a huge lead on the man
behind me while I fell farther and farther. Ten seconds and I would be a splat
on the forest floor. As a final effort, I flung my arms out and put every
thought into slowing my decent. I pulled my shoulders back and willed my wings
to help me.

Instinct took over again, and I felt a strange muscle moved in my
back. So
that
was how I used them, just like an arm or leg, I moved the
muscles. That sounded stupid after I thought about it. I guess I figured I had
to do a certain movement like the Spiderman hand gesture. Or give some kind of
verbal command. Five seconds away from the ground, I began slowing down. My
back felt like it was being pulled and stretched. Unfortunately I didn’t slow
enough, because I crashed painfully on the forest floor.

Ground! Sweet, soft ground! Luckily I didn’t weigh as much on this
planet, or I probably would have been dead. For some reason, I no longer wanted
to go skydiving. A grin slowly spread across my face, but something told me I
couldn’t just sit here.
He
was coming. I leapt up as a new adrenaline
rush hit my system. Run or hide?

My wings were still spread out behind my body, and I had to stop
myself from wasting time looking at them. I left them spread, not having enough
time to find the muscles to move them again. Sitting still for a minute, I asked
my instincts what they would do. They wanted to fly under the trees to lose him
in the tightly-packed forest. That sounded like a good plan, especially since
he was larger than I was, except for the fact that I had about zero flying
skills. I looked for another option, which led me to glance up at the tall branches.

 I had never gone climbing, but it wouldn’t be too hard with the
lessened gravity, would it? Turning to the nearest tree and finding some
footholds and handholds, I climbed up the trunk like a spider monkey, pulling
my light body up with surprising ease. The forest smelled sharply sweet.

When I was about fifty feet high, my ears picked up the quiet
thump
of which I was all too familiar. A fork in the tree was just within reach, but
I froze, holding my breath. Someone was silently walking just below me. My
wings must have stuck out like a beacon. It was only just a matter of time
before he looked up and spotted me. Glancing down, I noticed that the man had
brown hair and handsome features. But that was totally irrelevant right now. It
was also irrelevant that his black shirt clung to his muscled chest.

Without stopping to think, I slowly removed the scissors from my
pocket and chunked them through the air. They crashed into a pile of leaves far
below. The man was a blur as he flew to the noise.

As soon as he picked up the scissors and realized the trick, the Marshal
loudly called, “Peter!”

I slowly turned my head to the direction of the voice.

The Marshal emerged from the trees with Samantha and John. The three
sets of wings were a yellowish gold in the faint light trickling through the
trees, and they were walking just far apart from each other to keep them from
touching. Their petals, speaking of which, slanted steeply downward, after
rising a few feet above their heads.

They all looked quite formidable together, especially since Marshal’s
face was a deep red and he was glaring daggers at the guy below me named Peter.
Samantha’s face was set in a scowl, and John’s body was tense, his fists
clenched.

Samantha spoke in a calm, clear voice that was at odds with her anger,
“We’ve lost her, Peter.”

While she talked, my frantic heart began slowing down. Peter, below
me, snarled. Not even kidding. The noise sounded so animal-like, my fingers
itched to climb farther away from him, as fast as my body could go. I made
myself stay still.

Peter sounded oddly awed and frustrated, “Did I see correctly? Were
those white eyes? It can’t be…” His voiced sharpened. “Why so hypocritical,
Sam? This is what your dear husband wanted your son to do.”

Samantha’s eyes flickered to Marshal and back again. My arms and legs
began to burn from bear-hugging the tree. I took a deep breath and told myself,
you’re no wimp. Tough it out.

John yelled below me, “I would never have done what you just did! Now
the last of the folium is lost in these mountains, and she has never flown
before today, so she WON’T LAST THE NIGHT!”

While they were all occupied, I moved to sit in the fork I had spotted
earlier. I was thankful they were all too angry at each other to notice me.
After his words registered, I couldn’t even sum up the energy to feel angry
that he didn’t think I would last long.

Peter’s voice lost its calmness, “She has
never
flown before?”

John was no longer yelling, “I thought you figured it out after she
just barely escaped falling to death. Luckily, she slowed down enough to land
without killing herself.”

“I had assumed that she was just trying to get a bigger lead.” Peter’s
voice was soft, and he began cursing under his breath.

“We need to find her,” Samantha suggested, and I noticed that Marshal’s
facial coloring had returned to normal.

He told Peter, “Stop the Chase.” Peter hesitated, reluctant to do what
Marshal asked. “Now, Peter.”

Suddenly, Peter’s near-black wings returned to their original dark
brown color. My pounding heart slowed a little, and my instincts finally calmed
down. I no longer felt the need to run and hide. It would have been a relief,
but with their focus off of each other, it meant they were now focused on
finding me. I was in trouble. The only thing that kept them from noticing me
earlier was their anger. I was now a sitting duck.

John glanced around and took a deep breath of the woodsy air. Marshal,
Samantha, and Peter soon followed suit. They began to fan out in three different
directions while John strolled to the base of my tree and looked up its length.
Slowly, three pairs of eyes shifted to my hiding spot in the tree.

My heart jumped and I wanted to hide. I was afraid, a feeling of which
I was too closely acquainted. By now I felt like a hunted rabbit. Before today,
I was just starting to get on the right track. I was finally able to manage my
past, all those painful memories. I had just stopped cutting.  Life was good. I
was finally strong, but then the cancer came along.

I was now free of leukemia, but what good was freedom when I couldn’t
even control my own actions? Who was the one running back there? Who was that
jumping off the cliff? Surely that wasn’t
me
! It felt instinctive,
normal. These people below me were frightening, but I was more scared of
myself. What crazy thing would I do next?

I knew I should stay strong. I should do it for my mother and aunt.
Least of all, I should be strong for myself, but I couldn’t. The day’s events
caught up to me in my tree. I was in a new place. No. Scratch that. I was on a
new
planet
. I was tired. I had grown wings. I had almost died. I
couldn’t control my actions. Heck, something inside me made me jump off a
cliff. I just climbed part of a hundred foot tree with little to no handholds,
which should have been impossible for a person like me. A cute scary weird guy
was chasing me. Make that
two
guys.

I could go on moping forever, but I summoned the remainder of my
courage and looked down at the people below. This time, I avoided their gazes,
choosing to look at the forest floor away from where they were all standing.

“Well, that’s a relief,” John said.

“I’m calling for a flyer,” Marshal announced before he spoke into a
device. He returned it to a pocket and addressed Peter. “You may leave.”

Peter made no move to do so, simply replying,
“I’ll be nearby. I know what you are planning, and
I won’t let it happen.”

Marshal
glared back at him, unhappy at this turn of events.

Peter gave me one last long glance, which I was careful to avoid, and
took off into the sky. His wingtip almost brushed me as he soared upward,
navigating the thick canopy until he reached the open air. He then took off the
way we had come. I couldn’t help but stare. This world was so different, its
people so dangerously beautiful.