New York City was a sparkling mix of lights and sounds. Every building seemed to tower into the sky like the redwoods that surrounded the council of fives home. The streets were packed tonight, the chilly 55 degree air not bothering most of the people in line for what I assumed were nightclubs. I was not used to seeing so many cars on the street, their bright red tail light filling the darkness with a calm red glow like hundreds of fire flies. I looked at my new friends and teammates as they stared out of the window with the same interest as I was. Sarah was kneeling on the seat and staring out the window. I could see Emily doing the same thing from the front seat.
I could only imagine how much Daniel would have liked being here. Going from the dirt roads and endless grasslands like the Link game he liked so much. To towering skyscrapers, busy traffic and bright lights, much like the very violent driving game he liked, GTA5 I think it was called.
As we arrived at the large hotel that I had secretly rented once Emily had fallen asleep on our first flight. She wanted us to be a bit more humble with the funds we had been given, however if we had the money to spend our time like queens, why not use it? As we climbed out of the car she paid our uber driver. I looked up towards the sky where a soft sound of thunder was spreading down towards us. My animal spirit, the current queen of the skies, Fortune the reincarnation of the thunderbird, was hovering above us. I gripped my gemstone to connect my thoughts to hers. “Go explore this city, but don’t go too far.”
Fortune gave me the smallest of nods as her wings began to flap filling the air with a soft beat of thunder. A few people looked up to see where the source of thunder was coming from on this very clear sky. I completely forgot that while mainland people could not see Fortune, they could still hear her. Every beat of wings produced thunder and a tiny spark of light blue lightning. As she disappeared high into the sky, I felt a small hand grab my wrist and start to excitedly pull me towards the doors. “Come on,” she said, dragging me towards the door, a bright smile spreading across Sarah Springchaser’s face. How someone so young and childish could be so smart was a mystery I wanted to figure out one day. “I wanna go inside.”
I could only laugh as she dragged me inside of the doors. Now the warm heat chased away the brief chill that had been spreading through my body. To go from an average of 75 degrees to only the low 50ths was a new feeling. The lobby was huge and magnificent in looks, bright and shiny like gold with hints of red like the wine my momma always drank at home. A kind woman was sitting behind a counter, her bored face quickly morphing into a polite smile. Almost as if she had flipped a switch in her head into customer service mod. I knew the feeling as I worked in the mall at home. Once we had been checked in, we headed upstairs with me keeping a firm hold on Sarah’s hand. Her mother back home had said that Sarah had a bad habit of getting lost in new places, and I didn’t want to start our journey looking for the slightly younger girl. I will keep saying it, it was amazing to me how she was only two years younger than me physically, only a few inches shorter than me in height, but mentally she seemed to be seven years old. However, I could handle that, I had younger sisters at home, I had Emily Walker to help us.
The much taller, white haired girl opened the door to our room. I had given her the responsibility of being the team mom for our trip, she was 16 about to be 17 so it was only fair for her to be the responsible one. The room was a pretty nice size, it had a small fridge in the corner that, if I knew anything from television, held a collection of overpriced snacks and drinks. We had two queen sized beds protected with white pillows, and a comfy looking white blanket, with the bottom part of it being a dark brown color. The television sat off against the wall of a nice looking counter. The walls were the same color as the pillows and blankets. The only problem I could see with this room so far was the limited amount of beds. A problem that was quickly solved as Emily looked at me with a smile. “I will share one of the beds with Sarah if you don’t mind.” She said turning that last part onto Sarah who had already kicked off her shoe and was starting the process of jumping up and down on one of them.
“Fine with me,” she stated cheerfully as she leapt off the bed into the waiting arms of Emily who spun her around making her giggle with pure glee before setting her down on the soft brown carpet.
As Emily went into the bathroom for a moment. I set my two suitcases off to the side and collapsed face first onto the bed, a long sigh escaped my lips. One both of relief and from the sleepiness that was starting to spread through my body. I was exhausted from that flight, I could barely relax even with the movie I had used to entertain myself. Now I know this was probably gonna sound hypocritical to say… However, I didn’t really trust planes. I didn’t think that nearly a thousand pounds of steel belonged in the sky. Now coming from a girl that could soar through the sky with her own pair of wings, that would sound silly. However, at least when I was flying if something went wrong or I misused my jepei aura, than it was my fault if I crashed. However, on a plane all it took was one spark, one fan not working right, one cord failing and suddenly we were crashing out of the sky. And no amount of protection aura would save me from that fireball if the plane exploded.
“Sarah, wait!” I snapped up as I heard Emily shout. Sarah had opened the window sending in waves of chilly air from outside, and was about to jump out of it. A pair of green wings spreading from her back, with a few golden features mixed in. Emily wrapped her arms around the smaller girl’s waist and dragged her back inside of the room with little effort. “You can’t just go flying around the city.” She gently scolded, pulling the window closed and standing in front of it, just in case our little friend attempted to fly out of it again.
A sharp whine escaped Sarah’s mouth, a whine that usually got my sisters and brothers a small scolding glance from my momma if they tried that. “Why not?” She then stomped one of her feet on the ground, something else that would have gotten my siblings in trouble with my momma if they tried that. “I wanna see the city from the air, and me and Bonnie want to go flying.” The small green and gold griffin flew beside Sarah, her wings moving like a hummingbird to keep a flout.
I was waiting for Emily to use what was my mother’s classic saying in this moment. “Because I said so!” But instead, Emily just lowered herself to Sarah’s level and in a clam and gentle voice. “I know. But, things are different here, we can’t just show off our gifts in this city. We don’t want to seem rude to everyone that can’t fly or run as fast as we can, besides they might get scared if they suddenly see a cute little girl flying around the city.”
She was not wrong, it was no secret that the mainland had been trying to figure out what made jepei users so special. Trying to find that missing piece of DNA that made our rare blood so special. If they could find that, then the bridge that made them fear, admire and be jealous of us would be burned. It was something that could lead to changes both good and bad, because if everyone was the same then there would be no harm to our people for our differences. However, if the wrong people got jepei, suddenly wars would be fought with skills that some people didn’t need.
Sarah seemed to understand this and with little protest she accepted this. “it’s gonna be really, really hard not to go flying, but I don’t wanna make anyone jealous. Momma said that my gifts are from God but if I brag or boast about them, then he might take them away.”
“Your momma is as wise as you are smart,” that got her to cheer up immediately. It seemed she learned more from positive reinforcement rather than negative or physical chastisement. “Now we should probably rest a bit, our dinner with Ms. Dawnbreaker is at nine so we should probably get dressed.”
As she said that I sat up a bit straighter and held up a hand. “Actually, if I can make a suggestion.” Two sets of eyes were set onto me, one pair was a bright white color, the other pair had one golden eye and one green one. “I wouldn’t mind staying at the hotel with Sarah for the evening, while you handle this meeting. I am still trying to get my senses back after that plane ride.” I had honestly forgotten about this dinner that we were supposed to attend in less than and hour, and I didn’t really feel like changing into anything except my pjs.
Emily gave me a nod and shared a few silent words with Sarah. I am not sure what she had said, but that somehow ended up with the small girl running towards me in a full sprint and wrapping her arms around my neck, in a hug that would put a python to shame. “I will do my best to help her feel better.”
Emily looked at me, hiding a giggle behind her hand and once she removed it she mouthed the words. “Please watch her,” she said before taking one of her suitcases into the bathroom.
“I’ll watch her,” I said with a small smile. “How hard could it be?”
158Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ45ZABzI81H
158Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTDKeqSR0DR
“I’m gonna kill her!” I snapped angrily as I threw up my hood to cover my head. I looked back and forth, and then up and down to see if the cost was clear. Before jumping out of the window and taking flight with a pair of bright blue wings. My hands crossed over my chest to both show how annoyed I was but to also warm up a bit. My light jacket doing little to nothing to protect me from the colder weather. It would probably take a day to get used to this temperature. I had left Sarah alone for less than five minutes, to get to my pajamas. Emily had been gone for less than 45 minutes, and now that I had Sarah settled at the moment with room service ice cream and her favorite tv show. I was ready to get into my pajamas. When I came back she was gone and the window was open.
I could not believe that this was supposed to be the smartest girl in our school. The one that helped me figure out what my necklace that I now knew was quibu actually meant. The same girl that could read any and speak any language, had pulled a fast one on me. “Like I trust Emily, I trust your judgment, so do not hesitate to punish Sarah when she misbehaves.” Her mother’s words seemed so powerful now after this, and I had a few ideas of what I could do within reason. “Have you found her yet?” I asked, gripping my gemstone waiting Fortune to respond. I flew in between these large buildings, keeping to the shadows as best as I could, at best some might think I was just a really big bird. At worst… maybe some kind of angel that descended from heaven, the last thing I wanted was some youtube video of a hooded figure flying through the skies of New York.
“I can see her,” Fortune replied. “She is about to land in central park,” I could practically hear lightning starting to fill her body. “Permission to dive bomb her? Perhaps knocking her out of the sky will teach her to obey?”
“We are not gonna hurt her like that,” I said firmly. “I didn’t do that to you when you flew off last week, now did I?” Her silence was enough to make me smile a bit. “I will bring her back and figure out something before telling Emily, when she gets back.”
It didn’t take me long to arrive to said park. It stood out like a sore thumb, the large rectangular shaped park clouded in mostly darkness. The green trees and grass felt like home, I could make out three lakes from the height. I could also see a light blue bird flying near one of those lakes. As well as the brief speak of gold and green starting to descend down. Now why a city on the coast would have a massive park built in the center of it was both confusing but also a small taste of home. So far the city tasted more like metal than living life. I already was feeling weaker just being away from the island, but being in this place was like being filled with the wrong kind of gas. I would still be able to move, but it just felt wrong, I felt sluggish. Central park was actually a place that one of the flight attendants told us about when we landed. It didn’t have a lot of natural jepei running through it, but it would be enough to get us used to the city
I took a deep breath in summoning as much of this natural energy as I could. A few more deep breaths and I felt at least somewhat back to normal. I folded my wings inward and dropped from the sky like a rock. All the while I kept my hands held behind my back and right as it seemed like I was gonna hit the ground. I felt a pair of talon’s grab my shoulders and one booming flap of her wings stopped our momentum. A few birds resting off in a tree quickly flew off, scared from the loud noise. Fortune set me on the ground right in time for me to see Sarah a bit more clearly. She was sitting at the edge of a pond, she jumped from the loud noise and turned to face me. Whatever, she was holding in her hands as well as her jaw dropped. I could see a small turtle run back towards the water and disappear inside.
“Hello, Sarah.” I said walking towards her, trying to look as firm as I could.
Sarah opened her mouth to speak, but quickly closed it once more as she attempted to take flight again to escape. However, Fortune sped forward like a bolt of lighting and wrapped one of her large talons around her legs holding her place. Once I was safely under her, I reached up and grabbed her in my arms, finding her much lighter than I thought she would be. “H-Hi Unique.” She said, the lights from the nearby walkway showed off her toothy grin. “H-How did you find me?”
“I have a daughter with very good eyesight.” I motioned up to the nearly 20 foot tall thunderbird spirit. “I don’t think you have officially met her, yet. This is Fortune, Fortune this is Sarah.”
“Evening, little girl.” Fortune said in a low tone.
“Let her go!” I felt a small pain fill my leg as if someone had poked me with a stick. I looked down and the large puppy sized Griffin was peaking at my leg, being more annoying than anything else. With a quick twist, I got her lifted up and stuck under my other arm. “Let me go!”
“So, do you want to tell me why you left?” I asked, turning my attention towards Sarah. Who was now trying to make herself as limp as possible, maybe to make my arm tired. “One chance to tell me the truth or I am not gonna be a very happy person.” She mumbled something under her breath. “A little louder please.”
“I wanted to go flying,” she did speak a bit louder at that. “I was just gonna come here and then back. I promise I really truly was.” She held her head up and my heart fluttered a bit as I was greeted with the most adorable pair of “puppy dog eyes” I had ever seen in my life. “I’m sowwy,” she whimpered in a sad little voice.
“Don’t you dare fall for that.” Fortune thought to me.
“I g-guess I could let it slide just this once,” I heard Fortune groan loudly, I just couldn’t say to this face. She reminded me of someone else when he was just a little boy. “But next time I am gonna be upset.”
“A-Are you still gonna tell, Emily?”
“No.”
At that her saddened eyes turned cheerful. “Thank you,” she said with a smile brighter than any light in the city.
When we arrived back to our hotel room after a bit more flying high above the city. Sarah got changed into her pajamas and actually minded me a bit more. As she was starting to drift off to sleep, the door creaked open and Emily came walking in. “Hey Emil-”
She held up a hand to interrupt me. “Not now please,” she said with what looked to be the first forced smile I had seen on her face. She walked over to the bathroom and closed the door firmly but softly. I was really hoping that the dark red liquid splattered on that once clean blue dress was just wine.
Maybe that coppery smell was from something else.
Please don’t let it be blood.
158Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqlUD8xOUIa
158Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ49qUnq7ivn
“What do you know, my precious mother is a hypocrite.” I rolled my eyes as Fortune flew beside me and if a bird could smirk, I was sure she would be doing so right now.
“I am not being a hypocrite,” I defended as I finally reached the point I had been aiming for. I had woken up very early that morning, so early that the sun hadn’t begun to rise just yet. However, I didn’t want to just stay in bed, especially not since Sarah decided to spend the night in my bed instead of Emily’s. So I spent a good portion of the night being kicked and elbowed in the side until I finally admitted defeat and just slept on the floor. Luckily the carpet was nice and warm, and as long as I had a pillow and blanket I would be fine. Now I was starting to descend towards one of the tallest buildings in the city. The large rising tower that was the empire state building. It was kinda of a kink for people with bird spirits to want to be high up in the sky. TO find perches on the highest points we could to just sit and relax.
I landed on the highest point of the building. One foot resting on the high needle like point of this building, my wings spread out to keep my balance. I could see the entire city from this point. The sparkling city of lights, the city that never seemed to sleep as even in this early morning I could see people moving about, a few cars driving down the now lonely roads. Out in the distance I could see the sun starting to peak over the horizon, the once dark and white light sky now turning orange with hints of purple starting to spread towards the east. “I just wanted to see the sunrise, and unlike Sarah I doubt anyone is gonna see me this morning.”
Fortune shrunk down to the size of a hawk and found her own perch atop my head. It took a few moments for her to turn my bun of braids into a small nest for her to rest in. “That isn’t the only reason you came out here, mother.”
“I like it better when you call me mommy.”
“I will call you that when you are taller than me again.” Fortune laughed a bit at that before growing serious once more. “It was blood.”
My stomach began to tie up in knots as my previous suspicions were confirmed. “Why would Emily come back in a dress covered in blood?” I wondered out loud as I crossed my arms over my chest, both to keep the lowering chill away but also to hug myself.
“Maybe she was in a fight last night when coming home?” Fortune suggested, “I mean she did say she walked back, so maybe someone tried to rob her, or tried to take her home. She did look nice in that dress.”
“Even so, why lie about it if the answer is that simple?” Fortune questioned. “You asked if she was in a fight and she said no. She said it was wine… but don’t you remember what Emily said before. She doesn’t drink.”
I closed my eyes to try and think what could have happened and what Emily had been hiding. “Maybe she didn’t want to worry us, make the city seem like it was more dangerous than it might be, maybe she is trying to keep Sarah calm.” I spat out not wanting to think that maybe, our kind and responsible Emily might have more reasons behind this that she didn’t want us to know. “For now it is not important what happened. We head back to South America in a few days so we need to be ready for that. I need to be ready to face that.”
“It’s been a long time since then, right?”
“It’s been four years and 5 months,” I said. I reached up and traced a finger across Fortune’s beck. “Back then you were such a sweet little bird.”
“I still am.”
“For the most part, I just wish you minded your momma a bit more.”
“I will try to do so more, I promise.” I smiled a bit as she began to shift on my head, her entire body began to pour out a love that I knew would always be there. “Don’t worry,” she said. “We aren’t little, and you aren’t helpless anymore, so if those bad people try something again.”
I held my hands by my side and let my own jepei aura start to surround me in the form of projection. The air grew thicker and humid, I could feel the lightning in the air. My aura crackled and raced around me like hundreds of light blue serpents. “I will make them suffer, I belong to no one.”
I stood at the top of that tower until the sun had fully taken his place in the sky. A warm burning ball of fire that filled the entire city with its powerful orange light. I pulled my hood back up and simply fell backwards, allowing the air to surround me and gravity to drag me down towards the ground. One strong flap of my wings sent me gliding back towards my hotel room. SLipping past buildings with ease, keeping one eye on the ground and the other on Fortune. She returned to her large size, keeping pace with me. As we reached our hotel, she for the first time in three days, returned fully into jepei aura and was absorbed back into my gemstone. “I am gonna get some sleep, I need to recharge if we are gonna be helpful.”
I slipped back into our window, landing with a soft thud on the carpet. “I love you, Fortune.” I said moving back to close the window, and when I turned around. I found myself face to face with Emily who was sitting on the edge of her bed. Her joyful demeanor had returned to her, that soft smile that fit perfectly on her soft and round face. Her white hair started to spill down her shoulders like two waterfalls, that calm white vapor of jepei that spilled off her shoulders at all times.
“Good morning, Unique.” She closed her old looking bible and folded her arms over her chest. That soft smile started to mold into a firm one. “Remember when I told Sarah not to go flying last night?”
“Yes…”
“Did you think that rule didn’t also apply to you too?”
Shit.
158Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡunoW34zetH
158Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvAXXGCL4hi
“Say one more word and I will tell Emily what happened last night.” I whispered towards Sarah with gritted teeth. The little golden hair child had woken up halfway through my gentle scolding from Emily. How someone could make the word, disappointed, sound like the worst insult in the world, was something I needed to try on Daniel at some point. Like any small child when they saw a friend in trouble, I had to deal with slight teasing and mocks that came from Sarah when Emily was not looking.
Sarah clasped her hands over her mouth and her expression grew more worried as Emily called out from the front seat. “What happened last night?” She turned around slightly in her chair.
“Nothing, just something silly that Sarah had said, nothing to worry about.” I said with a smirk.
Emily seemed okay with that as she turned her attention back to our driver. A handsome man maybe in his late forties with short brown hair, a very cheerful man with a soft voice like a violin. Today we were gonna go to central park to absorb more of the natural jepei aura that resided there. Though if I was being honest, I was sure this was just an excuse to take Sarah outside to the playground, so she would stop whining about wanting to go outside. Afterwards we are gonna go and get lunch, according to Emily we would each take turns picking a restaurant so it would be fair.
As we reached the opening to the park and began to walk down its many trails. I managed to have time to walk beside Emily, while we both shared the job of watching Sarah, reminding the girl not to go too far from us or journey off the path. “Emily, can I ask you a question?”
“Go ahead,” she said, reaching up and snatching a leaf off of a nearby tree.
I hesitated but if I wanted to truly trust in this girl. I needed to know. “What happened last night?” Emily stopped dead in her tracks for a moment. “I’m not stupid, I know that was blood on your dress.” I said lowering my voice so Sarah didn’t hear us. “Please tell me what happened.”
Emily didn’t hang her head in defeat or show any signs of being upset that I had found out. Instead her face stayed in its usual cheerful state, even without a smile she seemed at peace and joyful. “I am sorry for being dishonest last night.” She began to walk again, much slower though. “I just didn’t want to worry you two with my personal issues that happened last night. Do you remember how I went to get that information from my father’s friend Whitney Dawnbreaker?”
I nodded my head prompting her to keep going. “Well, while she was a very nice person to speak too both about history, our shared love for our God, she is also very interesting. She wanted to know why I wanted that information, and I have a feeling that she wants to know what happens rather than see it placed into the library once we finish. She is really good at hiding insults as compliments and I had gotten so upset after that dinner that I left a bit early. I was so upset that my vision was narrowed and I ended up in an alley. Five men tried to rob me that night but as we both know I can handle myself pretty well. I was so shaken last night that I ran home and I didn’t notice the blood until I went to the bathroom to change.”
I let out a sigh of relief as she properly explained herself. Grateful that she at least told me the truth rather than a lie. “Why are you so relieved?” She asked, looking at me with that gentle smile that I was starting to love. She had a smile that made you want to smile, and that alongside Sarah’s laughter that made you want to laugh. It was a deadly combination to keep any worry of fear away. “Did you think I beat some people up in an alley last night for no reason?”
“Of course not, it was just worrying when you didn’t want to talk last night about it?” I looked over at her and saw relief spreading across her face for some reason. Perhaps it was from how accepting my response was, but why would she be relieved to see that?
Emily answered. “Because you two need me to be strong, if I come back worried or afraid or shaken. I thought it might affect you two, you want me to be the team mom, so I will try and stand strong.”
“Just because we look to you to be strong doesn’t mean you have to face your troubles by yourself.” I remarked moving up to lean beside her as we walked. “At the end of the day we are all around the same age, we were all chosen for this team, so we can at least how each other’s back and be a rock for them to stand on. You don’t have to hide things from us.”
As I looked up at her, I was surprised to see a different look cross over her face for a moment. One that sent chills down my spine, a dark and lost look, one that reminded me more of Daniel than this cheerful girl. “Some things are best left hidden sometimes, because it is safer that way for everyone.” Emily shook her head a few times before wrapping an arm around her. That one moment came and went so quickly that I thought I had imagined it for a moment. “Don’t worry though,” she said. “I will do my best to be more open about what might be bothering me.”
“I-I hope you do.” Emily gave me a small squeeze before releasing me. “Now I need to go and find out trouble children.” I had just noticed that I could not see Sarah, Bonnie or Esther anywhere. “I fear that the combination of my animal spirit, Sarah and her’s might just be the perfect recipe for trouble.”
As Emily raced off calling out Sarah, I followed her at a much slower pace. “Fortune,” I thought in my head. “Do me one favor please, keep your eyes on Emily as much as you can.”
“How come?”
“Because there is something else there that she is not telling us.” I couldn;t quite put my finger on it, but something in that moment felt off and i was gonna work with this girl, trust her as my leader. Then I needed to be able to fully trust her.
Every part of her.
158Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY6x6oE1ORB
158Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ48TbgK3t5r
158Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKJJ05ED4Za
158Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5vUKjzQkvc
158Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNChJoZjPwu
158Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPIKyln59Tn
