by M. O. McLeod
13.
Redheads Are No Fun
All she could hear was the wind flapping loudly in her ears. Then she woke out of her sleep. She felt the wind rush her face and her breath catch in her throat. Rimselda looked around and realized she was in the air. She panicked; the sky was too blue up here, the clouds too white. She was too heavy, and she was going to drop to her death. She held on for dear life, and then it dawned on her that she was on something… Something… Someone was holding her in place. She saw legs and claw-like feet. She was upside down, flying along with someone who had wings. Rimselda could hear them beating noisily. What was going on? She tried to right her body, but the creature pushed her back down.
“What’s going on? How are you flying?” Rimselda asked. “How are you doing this?”
She felt a drop in altitude and heard a voice yell out, “When I land I’ll tell you everything. Just hold on and don’t move around so much.”
Rimselda prayed and prayed she wouldn’t slip off. Her red hair flapped in the wind. She could see clouds, and through them what looked like Alexandria. She saw the roofs of the skyscrapers and traffic that moved in a line like a river of silver, flowing around curves and bends.
About five minutes later, it felt as if all the blood had run away from her face. She felt ice cold since she didn’t have any clothes on. Rimselda wasn’t worried about that; for one she had a great body, and for two her main concern was finding out how and why she was flying around with a person with a pair of powder blue and white wings. Was she in danger? The voice sounded feminine, so maybe she didn’t have to worry about becoming a sex slave, shipped off to some foreign country.
Her heart palpitated at all the crazy thoughts that flew through her head as she held on, waiting to land.
The rooftop zoomed in, and Rimselda tried to raise her body back upward so her face wouldn’t be smashed on impact. Before she could brace herself, the stranger with the wings tossed her backward as if she weighed less than nothing. She felt herself being lowered to the ground. Rimselda’s legs felt wobbly, but there was solid earth beneath her feet. She covered her bare breasts and looked around. She was alone on the roof, and she saw a door leading into the building. She made a dash for it but skidded to a halt.
A huge shadow moved lazily across the rooftop. Big and dark, it had legs and a head, and two huge wings. Rimselda stood locked in place, and she looked up to see if she was imagining things.
Low and coasting, nearer and nearer, was what looked to be a girl. Rimselda strained her eyes against the sun. The girl had tan skin and thick, long, brown hair. Her body seemed huge, and her legs were bone thin. She was shaped in the weirdest way. Rimselda had never seen anything like it before. The girl had wings—huge wings that were blue and speckled with white spots. The girl flew closer and closer to Rimselda until her feet skimmed the top of the building.
Rimselda’s heart stopped. This thing was triple her size and had crazed-looking steel colored eyes. Whatever it was, Rimselda wasn’t going to stick around for it. This was a terrible dream; she just wished she could wake up. She took off toward the door and reached out for the door knob, but was snatched back.
“Nooooo! Oh my God, help me!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. Rough hands turned her body around forcibly. This was it; she was going to die. Facing her assailant, she caught one glimpse of a shockingly beautiful face before she fainted.
14.
Two Choices, One Life
Kurma dragged the naked redhead behind the building’s pipes on the roof. She had nothing to cover her with, and prayed to God that no one would come up there to mess around. It wasn’t safe for the new girl—not until Kurma knew what she was and how to deal with it.
This was the rooftop of Kurma’s building. After turning the redhead into a Raptor, she knew she needed help. It didn’t matter what people would think of her or how they would treat her when they found out. She couldn’t continue harming other people and ruining lives. If someone had done this to her, she could never forgive them. The unconscious girl who lay naked and hidden didn’t deserve this curse. No one deserved the pain, or the wings, or the fear of exposure.
Kurma made her way down the stairs and walked to her apartment’s floor. She listened in the stairway for any neighbors and heard plenty of commotion. Mrs. Finnigway was cooking for her husband and five kids—Kurma could smell the oxtails and spinach. She heard the Martinez couple arguing across the hall over who had come in later the day before. She could even hear the people on the floor beneath her.
Kurma’s apartment was at the other end of the hallway. She would have to get closer if she wanted to eavesdrop, but she was still in her Raptor form. She could walk around either with wings or completely in the nude. She didn’t know which would be worse. Kurma inched her head out of the stairway and saw that the coast was clear, and then stalked silently down the hallway, watching her step as she remembered which parts of the floor would creak under her weight. She neared her apartment, number 153, home sweet home. Kurma stroked the door and pressed her ear to it.
She wanted to hear her brother’s voice and see her mom smiling. But she couldn’t risk their finding out about her. If they did, they would certainly find out about Santino, and that was whole other can of worms. She feared if she tried to blend in with the family, then out of nowhere she would sprout her wings and talons. She just couldn’t trust herself this early in the game. What if her mother disowned her? What if her brothers were embarrassed by her? But a sister who could fly would be cool. If only they were younger, Kurma thought.
She picked up voice vibrations in her home and listened intently.
“Mom’s going to the police to talk to that detective,” said her younger brother, Allie.
“I don’t trust Carrboro, and neither should she,” replied Inis, her other brother.
“Did you hear he put out a warrant for Santino?” Allie asked.
“Supposedly Santino attacked and killed a bunch of police officers. The guy had no choice. I still don’t trust Kurma with him, though.”
“I say we go look for her and Santino. You know they’re somewhere together.”
“They need to put the city on lockdown. Kurma is probably in trouble. Who knows what she could be getting into?” said Inis with a worried tone in his voice.
“If they didn’t put the city on lockdown for those cops then you know they’re not doing it for one little girl.”
Kurma’s heart was breaking and tearing in two at the sound of her brothers’ voices.
“Let’s just give her a few more days, until the weekend is over. If she doesn’t show up here or back at school on Monday, then we go to plan B.”
“What’s plan B?” asked Inis.
“We get the news involved, make flyers, go to all our old spots and look for her. Whatever we need to do. I’m giving her until Monday, and then it’s an all-out manhunt for Kurma.”
“What about Santino?”
“He isn’t our sister. He’s not even related to us. He has his own family and we have ours. Plus, you heard what Carrboro said—he attacked Kurma. Even tried to kill her.”
“He didn’t say Santino tried to kill Kurma,” said Inis.
“He might as well have. Did you see our spot when we got in here? Right now I’m just like, Whatever, Santino until our sister shows up.”
Kurma strained her ears more. The boys had stopped talking. Then she heard it: her mother’s voice.
“Boys, I’m going down to the police station,” said Fae. “If Kurma shows up, call me immediately.”
Kurma backed away from the door. The first thing her mom would do when she saw her was give her a big hug and kisses. Kurma could not let that happen. She didn’t want to risk touching her mother and turning her into what she was.
The stairway door was too far down the hall to make a clean getaway. Kurma hea
rd the chain rattling inside her apartment door. She looked to a nearby window and figured it was her only way out without being seen. She could hear the doorknob twisting as she lifted the window and threw her leg out the window and over the sill. The last thing she heard was her mother saying that she loved the boys.
Kurma dropped out of the window and felt her stomach drop as well. This time though, she was prepared for the fall. Her wings sprang out painlessly and she halted in midair; she flapped until she reached the rooftop.
Kurma was confused. She didn’t know what to do, or who to turn to. She knew she could depend on her brothers but didn’t want to put them at risk. Maybe she could let them know she was okay but couldn’t be around anyone for a while. No, they would think she was crazy and demand she come back home. The twins wouldn’t understand that she was now a walking experiment, able to change other people into flying Raptors. If she did tell her brothers, they would have to promise not to tell their mother, which would be hard since Fae was heading out to report Kurma missing.
If only someone could show Kurma how things worked. All she needed was a manual on how to be a Raptor. She was something, this creature, which she knew nothing about. Why had this happened to her?
As Kurma walked back across the roof to where she had left the redhead, so many thoughts bounced around in her brain. There were bad things to being a Raptor, and definitely perks to being a Raptor. It seemed as if she was the only one who knew what she was, and knew she could do things other people could not—well, besides Santino. That made her special in a way. Kurma liked that. Anyway, Santino was about to be a wanted man, and he wouldn’t have a say in anything she did. She didn’t need him to be popular anymore. She could be so much more without him. Yes, she would miss him and her family, but what Kurma really wanted was an identity she could shape and form. She didn’t have to be the uptight sister or the overshadowed daughter. She could do whatever she wanted, be whomever she wanted. Popular, special, cool, important, anything she wanted now that she was a Raptor. And Kurma wanted so badly to be something better than her old self.
Kurma found the redhead and smiled to herself. The girl would be her first guinea pig. She would have to believe everything Kurma said; she would have no choice once she realized she too was a Raptor. Kurma would take out little bits and pieces of the bad parts and add more favorable details.
Kurma bent down and shook the girl gently. “Wake up,” she whispered. She felt the girl move around a bit and heard her groan. The redhead rolled over and squinted up.
Kurma stood and smoothed her hair back. She wanted to make a good first impression.