Winged (Aetharian Narratives)

by Sofia Vargas

  “Okay,” I said to them.

  They stared at me when the word was uttered. Each one looked more shocked than the last that I wasn’t putting up more of a fight.

  I looked at Ms. Riley. “So what do I need to do?”

  She smiled. “First, we need to get you to Aetheria.”

  “Things have been escalating for quite a while,” said Mr. Amest, “so there isn’t a way of telling what the situation is at this moment.”

  Everyone started walking toward the front door.

  “Do I need to bring anything? Are we going now? Without packing?” I said, shocked that we were just leaving.

  “Everything we will need will be provided in Aetheria,” Ms. Riley said. “There is no need to pack anything.”

  Everyone gathered outside the door. Ms. Riley closed it when Arie joined us and we all walked back through the dead garden to the van. I made a mental note to myself to come back to it and do what I could to restore it. We piled into the van and started back down the road.

  Everything I had heard that day made me feel like a new person, like the fissures within my world were finally being filled in. It was nice to know that my life was finally moving forward.

  “Exactly how do we get to Aetheria?” I said after a few minutes of silent driving.

  We pulled into a parking lot next to the lake.

  “We sink,” said Ms. Riley.

  * * *

  We got out of the car and I looked over the lake, trying to figure out how I kept ending up there. I looked at Mom.

  “Yes, dear,” she said without me having to say anything. She, too, looked over at the lake. “It’s funny how things end up being so circular, isn’t it?”

  She took my hand and we walked to the edge of the water. Mr. and Mrs. Amest were already there scrounging around in a big patch of bushes. I was caught off guard to see them actually lift the bushes from the ground and reveal three canoes with paddles.

  Mr. Amest helped Ms. Riley, Arie, and me into the first one. We started paddling to the middle of the lake. The Amests and my mother followed us once they were in the second canoe.

  I looked back to the last canoe.

  “What about Viper?”

  I regretted it immediately. Arie shot me a dirty look the moment his name came out of my mouth.

  “He knows his way back,” said Mr. Amest. “He will join us when he is done sorting things out at school for the two of you.”

  We stopped paddling once we were pretty far out into the lake. I placed the paddle across my knees and waited for instructions.

  “Is everyone ready?” Ms. Riley said.

  Everyone nodded.

  “I’ll go first to let them know that we’re on our way,” Mr. Amest said. “Put a couple of minutes between turns.”

  Everyone nodded again. Mom and Mrs. Amest moved to one side of the boat as he scooted to the other side. He swung his legs to the outside of it, turned to the side, and did a sort of spin into the water.

  I looked over the side of the boat to see what needed to be done. But he was gone by the time I had a chance to look.

  We waited in silence while the minutes ticked by. Mrs. Amest instructed my mother to follow next. She blew me a kiss as she too lowered herself into the water. That time I was a little quicker to see what happened once she entered the water. Once her head had made it under, she simply kept going. The water seemed to swallow her and she disappeared into its depths. Arie went in after her and Ms. Riley went fourth. I sat in the canoe. I had watched the water swallow so many of my companions that it now looked very ominous.

  “Emma?”

  I looked at Mrs. Amest.

  “Are you ready, sweetheart?”

  My throat didn’t seem to work so I nodded.

  “I’m going to hold the side of the canoe while you get out of it, okay?”

  I nodded again. She leaned over and held onto the left side of the canoe. I was somewhat relieved knowing that it wasn’t going to tip over and dump me in before I was ready.

  I put my legs over the other side and slowly lowered myself into the water.

  “It’s going to pull you under,” she said, once the boat was blocking my view of her head. “Don’t panic, just let it take you.”

  I couldn’t feel anything grab any part of my body, but something was dragging me further away from the water’s surface. The boat above me was pushed away and Mrs. Amest looked down at me. She mouthed “good luck” seconds before I was too far away to make out anything above the surface. She drifted further away. The water around me grew continually darker.

  VIII

  A passage

  I am in the darkness but see a small amount of light penetrate my eyelids. There is movement around me.

  I hear a woman’s voice. “Dear God. Why didn’t she just let him fall? It wouldn’t have killed him.”

  “It didn’t kill her, either,” a man’s voice says. “You don’t know her or the kind of person she is.”

  He sighs. I can tell that there is a lot of pain behind it.

  “I should have expected this.”

  “But look at her,” the woman says. “When she wakes up she’s going to wish that it did kill her…”

  Their voices slip out of my mind’s grasp. I am somewhat glad that they do.

  * * *

  It felt like I was under the water for hours, sinking deeper and deeper into the lake’s depths. It was the strangest stillness and silence I had ever experienced. I didn’t have to breathe or think. I simply floated in the quiet and watched the darkness grow around me. The black loomed everywhere while I sank to the bottom of the lake. I sank for so long that I began to wonder if something had gone wrong. Then the direction my hair was floating changed and I began moving up. The water gradually began to lighten around me. Whatever movement I was experiencing was so subtle that the direction of my hair was the only clue I had. I looked up to where I assumed the surface of the water would be and saw a patch of light seeping through it.

  The patch grew larger while I inched my way toward it. A hand plummeted into the water sending bubbles through the stillness. The hand thrashed about for a little while, searching for something. It took a moment for me to realize that it was probably searching for me. I raised my arm toward the searching hand. It grazed my fingers then leaped down, taking hold of my wrist. At that moment the urge to breathe almost overtook me. I kicked my legs in a panic, trying to reach oxygen. The hand that held me was joined by another which grabbed my other wrist and yanked me toward the patch of light.

  My head broke through the surface and I took a deep breath. The cold air that scraped down my throat and stabbed my wet head was even more alarming than the panic of not being able to breathe. Although it was December, the water had not been cold in the slightest. In fact I had been quite warm floating in the darkness and silence. The cold I experienced out of the water made me feel like I had been immediately thrown back into a sea of broken glass. The air pierced me, making every part of my body ache with pain.

  They pulled me out of the water and dragged me onto the ground. My vision was blurred, but I could make out the image of someone standing over me. At that point I realized the light above the water did not come from the sun; it was so dark that it had to be night. The light came from somewhere near the edge of the water. There was a pounding in my ears. The figure standing over me seemed to panic at the sight of me.

  “I—I think there’s been a mistake…” it said.

  The voice wasn’t very deep but was obviously a man’s voice. When he spoke more dark figures gathered around us. My unfocused eyes darted around the crowd of people.

  “What is this?” a much bigger figure to my right said. “Some sort of trick?”

  His voice was like a growl. He took a step toward me, grabbed the collar of my shirt, and lifted me off the ground.

  My hair must have frozen to my back in the little time I had been exposed to the cold; I heard a crunching noise when he tightened my shirt
across my back. The urge to hurt him flowed into my limbs at his touch. I thrashed about searching for a way to do so. All the kickboxing in the world wouldn’t have prepared me for how huge the guy was. He didn’t seem to take any notice at all of the way my arms and legs lashed around in the air.

  “We can’t take any chances right now,” he said. “We need to get rid of her.”

  He raised his free hand to my throat and my movement stopped. From the corner of my eye I watched his fingers melt together and straighten, forming a sharp edge along the side where his pinky had been. I tried to scream but my throat seemed to have frozen shut along with the rest of my body.

  I was finally able to focus on the people around me. Standing directly in front of me was the person that I assumed had pulled me out of the water since he was dripping wet. I locked him into a stare hoping he would see my plea for life. He stood rooted to the ground and stared at me, seeming confused about the situation.

  “You will not harm her,” a voice said from over his shoulder.

  All the people, including my captor, straightened their backs and stood perfectly still once the speaker took their attention.

  “But, Sire,” my captor said, “look at her.”

  He twirled around keeping me pinned to his chest. He made sure to keep his sharp hand aligned with my jaw. Though I was scared out of my mind, I welcomed the little bit of warmth that came from him. If anything, it soothed my aching back.

  A tall, cloaked figured made its way around a few more people before stopping right in front of us. I had trouble focusing on his blue cloak. A light appeared by his side and illuminated the face within the hood. I was greeted with a pair of kind, dark blue eyes. I didn’t know why but my body seemed to relax a little at the sight of them.

  A smile spread across his thin lips and something shined from the edges of his bottom eyelids.

  “Yes,” he said, staring deeply into my eyes. “She’s beautiful.”

  In that moment I realized who he was. A murmur ran through the group of people. The turn of events only made my captor tighten his grip on me. He brought his bladed hand right against the skin of my neck.

  “You will not harm her,” the man said again. He said it with more force than the last time.

  “Do as you’re told and release her,” said a person to the side of us.

  I looked to where the voice came. Though I still couldn’t see his face, his dark, matted clothes and shivering body told me it was the person that had pulled me out of the water.

  My captor’s lethal arm lowered and he loosened his grip. The hooded man took my arm and drew me into his cloak. There wasn’t an urge to whip my arm out of his grasp when I felt his warm fingers. I didn’t want to kick him in the kidney as I seemed to want to do with everyone else that touched me without my permission. He wrapped me in the cloak and embraced me.

  “She is my daughter,” he said, kissing the top of my frosted head.

  He steered me away from the group gathered at the water’s edge.

  “Sire,” said the second man.

  He stepped in front of us. I saw that someone had finally given him a blanket to wrap himself in.

  “Are you sure—”

  “I have never been surer of anything in my life,” my father said before the question was finished.

  He nodded, needing no more of an answer than that. He took a step back to let us continue.

  * * *

  We walked over the snowy ground toward a better lit area. When we got closer to a huge wooden gate I finally saw where the light came from; two guards were standing at the gated entrance and their bodies emitted a subtle luminosity. They each took hold of one side of the double doors of the gate and pulled them open for us. They tried to hide the suspicion on their faces as we passed through the gates and entered what looked like a campsite.

  “I’m so glad you’re finally here, Emmeline,” my father said.

  We walked down a road that ran through the middle of the campsite. Quite a few people stopped what they were doing to watch us.

  “I talked to that hole in the wall every chance I got in the hope that I’d be able to reach you.”

  I smiled knowing how it felt to do crazy things in the attempt to achieve something even crazier.

  “It did reach me,” I said to him.

  I was glad that he now knew his attempts weren’t in vain. We walked beneath lit torches until we came to a big tent with smoke coming out of the top. We entered the tent and I saw Mr. Amest, Ms. Riley, Arie, and Mom wrapped in blankets, sitting around a big fire.

  “Emma,” Mom said, getting up and rushing toward me. “You took so long; I was so worried.”

  “There was some trouble getting her out of the water,” my father said.

  Mom pulled me out of his cloak and wrapped me in her blanket.

  “The men were somewhat alarmed when she took so long coming up. The sight of her when she finally did break the surface didn’t help, either.”

  Mom pushed me toward the fire and seated me in front of it.

  “I guess we should have explained the situation more thoroughly,” Mr. Amest said. “We’re just so used to her now. I’m sorry.”

  The last part was directed to me. I smiled accepting his apology. Ms. Riley offered me a steaming mug of tea. I took a sip of the black tea and felt the ice melt off me. I could feel the color coming back to my face. Everyone seemed to relax at my improvement.

  My father took his cloak off and sat in a chair off to the side of the fire. He was one of the most handsome men I had ever seen. Knowing what Mom looked like I always knew my father would be just as beautiful. And he certainly was with his long, graying, dark blond hair and slightly lined slender face. He was very tall and tired looking. With the country in the state it was, I understood why he seemed to take such comfort in being able to sit down for a moment.

  Mrs. Amest entered the tent to the delight of Mr. Amest. He got up, put a blanket over her and seated her close to where he was.

  “Sorry I took so long,” she said, taking some tea. “I worried when it seemed to be taking longer than usual.” She looked over at me. “I’m assuming there were … problems?”

  “Yes,” I said. “Sorry, I guess I got stuck somewhere in the process.” I wasn’t sure how to explain something I didn’t understand. “I’m sorry if it held you up.”

  Mrs. Amest laughed. “I was actually talking about their reaction to you. Everyone was still talking about what happened when you came out of the water when I finally came through.”

  “Oh, yeah,” I said. “There was some … hostility.”

  “For which I apologize,” my father said.

  “Sire,” Mrs. Amest all but shrieked and stood up. “I’m so sorry I didn’t see you over there.”

  “That’s quite all right, Corinne,” he said with a smile.

  He was even more handsome with the smile on his face. She hit her husband over the head and made an awkward bow. My father raised his hand in a reassuring gesture.

  “Please sit back down and warm up some more.”

  She did, glaring at her husband. He shrugged apologetically.

  “Emmeline, I am terribly sorry about the manner in which you were treated,” my father said, turning back to me. “Nothing could have prepared them for the way you look, gorgeous as you are. They have heard the rumors and know how the possessor of the Dragonfly wings can be … different. But no one has seen the likes of such an occurrence in many lifetimes. The last Dragonfly has been missing for the last two hundred years.”

  He looked over at Ms. Riley. She raised her chin a bit, not breaking his gaze.

  “It’s okay,” I said, looking over at Arie. “I’ve come to know it can be a lot to take.”

  He got up and kneeled next to me taking a strand of my hair between his fingers.

  “It is beautiful, though,” he said. “It’s a sign of change.”

  He let go of the strand and looked into my eyes. So close to mine his dark blue e
yes made mine almost ache.

  “And change is something we are in desperate need of.”

  “Sire,” Mr. Amest said. “Are things really that bad? It’s just that she’s so young. I know we have no say in the matter, but can it wait?”

  My father let out a deep sigh and sat back in his chair. “I’m afraid not, Arian. Things have grown gradually worse since your family left. Emmeline’s involvement is critical at this point.”

  “Exactly what will my role be?” I said, trying to hide my desperation to finally have this question answered.

  He laughed. “You will learn that tomorrow when you start training.”

  “Tomorrow?” Mom said, springing off the floor. “She’s going to start training so soon?”

  I could hear the panic in her voice.

  “She just got here—”

  “And what? We need to wait until she has done some sightseeing?” my father said in a sarcastic tone that was all too familiar. “Cordelia, we are in a crisis here. We are being threatened with war. I’m sorry, but this cannot wait.”

  “Javid, she is sixteen years old—”

  “Oh, so now you’re suggesting we hold off until she’s eighteen? We really cannot do that—”

  “That’s not what I’m suggesting,” she said to him.

  “Then what are you suggesting?”

  “I don’t know,” she yelled. “I don’t know.”

  “Cordelia, the time is here and now,” he said. “We need her now.”

  “She’s my daughter,” she said, thinking it was all the explanation she needed. “She’s your daughter. How can you not feel the way I do?”

  “Because as my daughter she has obligations,” he said. “As the Dragonfly winged she has a commitment to fulfill. Not only a commitment to us but to her people.”

  “Which I intend to fulfill,” I said.

  They stopped arguing and looked at me.

  “I’ve been fetched. I am here to do what needs to be done. So can we please drop it for now?”

  “But, Emma—