Winged (Aetharian Narratives) (35 page)

I saw a hint of sadness in his eyes. “I owe it all to you. And Ms. Riley.”

He nodded and bowed his head. “I am certain that she, too, is very proud of you.”

“You loved her, didn’t you?”

Professor Elias looked at me and nodded again. “I loved her very much, though she was about three hundred and forty years older than me.”

I looked at Dresden standing with my father’s group. He saw me looking at him and smiled.

“I’m sorry if I was Enlightened at the wrong time,” I said. “There wasn’t time to say goodbye…”

I was surprised when Professor Elias put his arms around me and hugged me.

“Emma, please don’t think that,” he said. “We knew the time would come at any moment and said our goodbyes long before it was too late.”

He let go but held my shoulders.

“You’ve done something great for your people. Don’t let any aspect of the process sadden you.”

“Thank you,” I said.

He gave me one last hug. “No, thank you.”

I made my way to my spot and was surprised to see a guy already standing there. Seconds later we were joined by a girl. I recognized both of them. The guy in the group was the same one from the group of Molders that had come with us for the meeting in the valley. The girl looked so familiar, but I could not figure out why. I knew her face and kept looking at her to figure out why. It finally came to me. She was the fortune teller I had run into during my first trip to the castle. She saw that I kept looking over at her and she smiled. Her smile made me remember what she had told me before I’d walked away with Dresden into the castle, “At least it’s not a nuisance you are to him.”

From the first time she had seen Dresden and me, she somehow had known that we would end up together. It shouldn’t have come as such a huge shock to me considering her occupation. Predicting things like that was what she did, but I had always been a skeptic about things such as fortunetelling. I hadn’t believed that any of it was real. I looked down at my left hand the way she had that day. I didn’t see anything unusual. She had only glanced at our hands so she hadn’t exactly read our palms or anything.

She saw what I was doing and looked down at my hand, too.

“Glad to see you two have come to your senses,” she said.

I looked up at her in disbelief. “How—?”

I was about to ask but was cut off when my father began to speak.

“I thank all of you for joining us today,” he said to the crowd of people gathered. It was quite an impressive group. “Today marks the start of a new chapter in the history of Aetheria. Today tradition breaks and two new countries go their separate ways. We mustn’t let ourselves think that this separation makes us any less of a country, for first and foremost we are and always will be Aetherians. We must think of this as a chance to broaden our horizons. It was not right for a country to try and hold itself together by the fingernails when it has already split down the middle.

“We must see this as a chance to find ourselves and grow closer to those that think as we do. It will be assured that neither country will shun those from the other for we must remember that we are family. A family should not let itself grow antagonistic because of a mere difference in opinion. We are separating to find ourselves, not to be rid of the others. We must always remember that we are the same people and anyone that wishes to join one side will never be dismissed by it.

“Where we are standing is neutral ground. The border that was put in place to separate North and South Aetheria no longer exists because we will always be one nation. We must stop looking at it as the precipice of the country we belong to and see it as the threshold to our neighbors. It is up to the people to decide which way of life they want to be a part of. It is also up to the people to decide how strong a country they will be. We,” he said as he raised his arms to indicate North and South Aetherian leaders, “believe that we will always remain one nation as long as it is realized that though we will be standing on different sides, we will always be welcome on the other. This war has come to an end and peace has been achieved through negotiation. We hope never again to raise arms against our brothers and sisters, for that is what we are.”

He looked toward the three of us standing to the side. “We thank those that have made countless efforts to see that these ideals were realized by all when it was agreed that the war had to come to an end. These individuals put their lives on the line, alienating themselves from their friends and family, all in an effort to show the true path that lies before us. We thank those that are here with us today and those that regrettably were lost along the way. All efforts by those, living and deceased, will never be forgotten.”

Movement caught my eye and I looked to the side. I could barely see something moving in a nearby cluster of trees. It darted behind one when I looked its way. I smiled without quite knowing why.

My father stepped back and the crowd applauded.

Councilman Yuri stepped forward. “This ground will no longer be a border,” he said, indicating the area where we were standing. “It will no longer be the place that divides us. It will be a place we come together and celebrate what makes us similar. We urge you not to come here and focus on our differences, but to come and see all that ties us together.

“It has been agreed that there will not be a Northern and a Southern training facility for those with high priority abilities. There will be one, and only one, right here where we are standing today that will train both Northerners and Southerners so that we can learn better to work together instead of wallowing in our differences.”

He stepped back and there was more clapping. Everyone shook hands with those around them; Northerners and Southerners finally were coming together on the ground that once had separated them.

* * *

“So everything went well?” Arie said.

“Yeah, no riots or booing,” I said. “Everyone seemed like they were happy with what they had to say and the way things have turned out.”

“Good,” she said. “I’m glad everyone’s cooperating.”

“Well, you know, not
everyone
is cooperating,” Dresden said. “There are people still out there that don’t like the changes that are happening.”

“True,” said Viper, “but there will always be those people that don’t like change and don’t believe us when we say that all of this is being done for the better. There will always be those people that want things to go back to the way they were.”

Arie sighed. “Well, maybe everyone will smarten up before I’m queen so I don’t have to deal with their ignorance.”

I laughed. “If only it were that easy.”

“We don’t have to worry about that for right now,” Dresden said. “What we
do
need to discuss is Emma and if she’s going back or not.”

“We really don’t need to talk about that right now,” I said, trying to avoid the conversation.

“No, I think we do,” Viper said.

“Guys,” I said, “of course I’m going back. I feel like I need to. There’s so much unfinished business I have. I don’t want to drop off the face of the earth and have people think I’m running away or something.”

“Of course not,” Dresden said. “I think we’d be disappointed if you didn’t want to go back.”

Arie and Viper nodded.

“You’ve changed a lot,” said Viper. “You have to go back. At least for a little while.”

“What exactly is a little while?” I said.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Dresden said. “Finish high school. Maybe get a college degree.”

“That’s a little while?” I said.

Everyone laughed.

“I don’t know. I’m going to miss you guys so much. I’m starting to wonder what the point is when I’m going to be running back here every chance I get.”

“I don’t think that’s going to be necessary,” Dresden said.

I looked at him. “What do you mean?”

He smiled. I looked at the others. They smiled, too.

* * *

The school hallways looked so foreign to me. I slid my fingers over the rough walls while walking on the black and white checkered floor. I passed a few faces I once knew. Their eyes trailed after me when they realized that they once had known me, too. I was so used to the whispering that it no longer fazed me. If they only knew what I had been through.

I reached for the doorknob and let myself into a room.

“May I help you?” the secretary, Ms. Galliger, said when I entered.

I had an appointment so I wasn’t sure what to say. “I, um…”

She realized who I was after staring at me for a few seconds.

“Oh, Miss Larnex,” she said.

“Yes,” I said.

“I’m so sorry,” she looked confused. “I … didn’t recognize you for a second. Please have a seat; she’ll be with you in a moment.”

I nodded and sat on the chair I had once been accustomed to in the countless visits to the office. It was somewhat welcoming. I looked at the calendar. Friday the thirteenth had a bad reputation in society, but in personal experience I’d found Monday the thirteenth to be much worse. I smiled to myself. I couldn’t imagine today going badly in any way.

“The principal will see you now,” Ms. Galliger said after a few minutes passed.

“Thank you.”

I stood up and walked to the door next to her.

“Emmeline,” Principal Woodson said from across her desk. “It’s good to have you back.”

I had a seat in the chair across from her.

“It’s good to be back,” I said.

There was quite a bit more truth behind the statement than I had thought there would be.

“I hope you enjoyed your trip.”

“It was great,” I said. “Learned a ton.”

“Wonderful,” she said. “We received all your paperwork and everything is all set. Here’s your class schedule for the rest of the semester. It would be in your best interest to sign up for tutorials so you can catch up in all of your subjects.”

“Not a problem.”

“Your teachers have already been notified that you have returned from your student exchange and are eagerly waiting to continue your education.”

“Glad to hear it,” I said.

“Well, it’s good to have you back,” she said again. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to file away all of this paperwork. Have a good week.”

I looked down at the stack and nodded. “Of course. Thank you, Principal Woodson.”

I got up and walked back through the door.

“Welcome back, Miss Larnex,” Ms. Galliger said when I walked past her.

“Thank you,” I said.

I opened the door and stepped back into the hallway.

“Everything turn out all right?”

I turned around and saw Dresden, Viper, and Arie standing across the hall. Arie was pushing in the handle of a water fountain and was filled with delight every time water squirted out of the tap. She straightened up and smiled at me when she heard Dresden’s question. It was so weird to see them dressed in the school’s uniforms and holding books with backpacks slung over their shoulders.

“She said everything is in order,” I said, walking to them.

“She said the same to me,” Viper said.

“And we’re officially the newest students to enroll in your school,” said Arie.

“Yea,” I said, wrapping an arm around Dresden’s waist and sliding the other around Viper’s arm. He wrapped his other arm around Arie’s shoulders.

“Did you guys find our lockers?” I said.

“Yes,” said Arie.

We start walking down the hall.

“I’m so glad our lockers are right next to each other. I don’t want to be stuck hanging around a bunch of people I don’t know.”

The bell rang and students poured out into the hall.

I saw Emily and her gang walking out. We passed by them and Madison hit Emily’s arm and pointed after us. There was nothing but shock on their faces. I couldn’t imagine what Emily thought when she saw me in the middle of a group of the most beautiful people she or anyone else in this world had ever seen.

“Yeah,” I smiled. “School’s going to be so much more fun from now on.”

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Table of Contents

Start

Copyright

Prologue

I —
An introduction

II —
A disclosure

III —
A routine

IV —
A divergence

V —
A peculiarity

VI —
A reunion

VII —
An endowment

VIII —
A passage

IX —
An epiphany

X —
A digression

XI —
A mission

XII —
A persuasion

XIII —
A conclusion

Copyright

Winged

Copyright © 2014 by Sofia Vargas

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Corvallis Press.