Once Saturday came, the girls spent several hours working on their hair and makeup. Madison’s mom helped a lot in the hair department. She apparently used to work in a salon when she was younger. Fixing up hair for dances was a specialty of hers. Riley commented frequently on how lucky Madison was to not have to spend a bunch of money on getting her hair done. Both girls were very pleased with the end result once Karen was finished.
Noah’s mom brought over a suit he had purchased himself in preparation for the dance. Sarah was concerned he wouldn’t be able to wear it with his wings, but he assured her that he had a way to make it work out. He didn’t want to tell her he could reform his wings however he wished, so he didn’t elaborate on it. He intended to elongate the portion that connected in between his shoulder blades, so that they went straight down his back before coming up again at his waist. His wings would be three times his size again, so he would have to bring them back up to his shoulders on the outside of his suit jacket and have them fan out like usual.
However, both Karen and Sarah ended up noticing his wings could change shape anyway, since he didn’t plan on going to the prom shirtless. But neither of them commented on it. Noah was waiting downstairs when he finally was allowed to see Madison in her prom dress. She walked down the stairs like she was walking down the aisle to their wedding, waiting expectantly for his reaction to their ‘first-look.’ He didn’t disappoint. Even with the black wings, she looked truly angelic in a red silky prom dress. He found it ironic that she had chosen red. Normally, he would have assumed a red dress with black wings would have made her look devilish, but instead it had the opposite effect.
“Wow.” He stated simply, astonishment evident on his face .
“Do you like it?” She was acting shy, but he wondered if it was sincere, or if she was just fishing for complements again. Either way, he intended to be honest.
“You look amazing .”
Madison blushed. “You look pretty handsome yourself.”
“How do I look?” Riley asked as she appeared at the top of the stairs. She was wearing a bright blue silky dress that really made her blue eyes and blonde hair pop against the black background of her wings.
Noah laughed in response, but then realized Riley was taking it the wrong way. “No, you look really great too. Both of you could be models. I just found your color choices funny, imagining you two as a blue angel and red devil sitting on my shoulders.”
Madison smirked at him. “Oh, so I’m a devil huh?” She paused then to strike a seductive pose. “Do I…entice you?”
Noah looked away blushing, and both Madison and Riley laughed at him. He could hear Karen’s voice at the top of the stairs behind Riley. “Now Madison, let’s keep the seducing to a minimum please while you’re at home.” Noah still wasn’t used to her mom being so straightforward.
“Oh mom, I’m just teasing him.” Madison finished walking down the stairs to allow everyone else to follow.
The three of them intended to fly to school, so they had to wait until it was after dark. The dance was supposed to start at 7 PM, but it wasn’t really dark outside until a little after 8 PM. Karen and Sarah wished the three of them a good time, as they headed to Madison’s backyard. Noah was about to take off, when Madison inserted some of her blood into his arm to give him back her wings.
“You don’t want to fly there yourself?” He asked confused.
“I want to fly all together like the first time.”
Riley seemed surprised too. “Are you sure?”
Madison nodded in response. “Flying separately is almost like taking separate cars to the dance.” Noah wasn’t sure how logical that was, but Riley was quick to agree as she slipped some of her blood into his other arm. Both of their wings slowly disappeared as his grew to compensate. Once it was done, he felt weird about their missing appendages, like when seeing someone without glasses for the first time. In only a few days, he had grown accustom to them looking like angels.
Satisfied that they were ready, he wrapped an arm around each of them, and leapt into the sky. The school wasn’t too far away via flight, so they took their time soaring through the air. They had to wait until a cloud covered the moon briefly, before they could fall down onto the grassy field behind the gymnasium.
Once they had landed, the girls untangled themselves from him, and Madison spoke. “That was fun. I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of flying like this.”
Riley nodded agreement. “Flying is amazing .” She looked at the gym then, listening to the music playing inside. The song playing was loud enough that they would have been able to hear it even without extra sensitive ears. “I love this song,” she said as she started walking towards the building. Noah was again surprised by her lack of wings, noticing the smooth skin of her shoulder blades glow slightly in the moonlight. The pale light also made her blue dress extra shiny. She looked back at them briefly, catching Noah checking her out. She winked at him as she gave her farewell. “Have fun you two!”
Noah looked down embarrassed, knowing she had taken it the wrong way. Madison didn’t seem to notice.
“Well? Aren’t you going to ask me to dance?” She had a huge grin on her face.
Noah held out his hand and pulled her close once she took it. He then placed his free hand at the small of her back, pulling her waist against his. They could both feel Riley’s presence inside the building with their extra senses. She seemed to have gone straight to mingling with her peers.
Finally alone after more than two days, they both seemed more interested in touching each other than dancing. A new song was coming on as Noah pressed his lips against hers briefly. “Really, I’d rather kiss.”
She grinned. “Okay, after this song. I at least want to dance to one, so I can sincerely say we had fun dancing. My mom is great at knowing when I’m lying.”
“Sure.” He was more than willing to give her that. He wrapped both his arms around her silky crimson waist, while she wrapped hers around his neck. He hugged her tight as they slowly swayed to the music. Listening to the words, he noticed that the song seemed perfect for them in this moment .
He bent his head down to rub her neck with his lips. She giggled in response to his touch, playfully scolding him. “Now mister, the songs not over yet.”
He grinned, and then continued to sway with her in between his arms. He had his black wings curled around them slightly to make it feel like they had their own space, separate from the world. He wished this moment could last forever, not that he wasn’t looking forward to the kissing after the song. But somehow this moment felt nostalgic even though he was sure he had nothing to compare it to. There was no flashback or memories, just a feeling of déjà vu. He felt sad when the song did end.
Madison had moved her hands down to his suit jacket and was clinging to him. He bent down again to kiss her when he suddenly felt her tension rise with his extra sense. Riley noticed immediately too. He could already feel her heading their way. He was about to ask if she was alright when she abruptly gripped his jacket tighter.
“Noah.” Her voice sounded desperate. She looked up at him as the whites of her eyes turned pitch black and her chocolate irises transformed into a bright blood red. “Help me.”
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Acknowledgments
Special thanks to:
Esther Eckstein
Bethany Worcester
Kameron Eckstein
Bob Joerger
Patreon Super Supporters:
Kerry Eckstein (Apr 2018)
Tanner Dutmer (Sep 2018)
Luke Campbell (Sep 2018)
Angel de'Haven (Sep 2018)
About the Author
Kurtis Eckstein is the husband to a wonderful wife, and the father to a beautiful little girl. Raised in Indiana, he lived the first six years of his adult life in Oklahoma to attend college. He first became interested in books while in middle school, and by the time he was in high school he had begun working on several books of his own for fun. He never did finish those stories, becoming too busy with other hobbies and eventually college.
It wasn’t until over ten years later, while in grad school for an MBA, that he became extremely interested in a story idea that led him to write again. The fact that he didn’t think he had time to write a book is what prevented him from even trying, so he finally decided that he wouldn’t worry about writing a full book. Instead, he would be satisfied with writing short-stories. However, one of those short-stories quickly became a book of its own – The Keras Genome .
The Keras Genome Page 26