“Unreal?” He offered.
Bobbing her head, she agreed. “Unreal.”
His wings then stirred up a quick gust and the cold wisps that hit her face snapped her out of the daze.
“You’re a harpie. Like a legit harpie.” She put a hand on her forehead while still having trouble wrapping her mind around the concept.
He nodded again.
“I thought harpies were actual birds.” She thought of the pictures from her mythology books. Most were small white creatures with beaks, long feathered abdomens, and talons. The man that stood before her was just that—a man.
She studied him head to foot, one last time. She’d known him to be tall, but that fact combined with his long lanky limbs suddenly took on a new significance. His entire body stature, most importantly his broad shoulders, must have been used to balance out the weight of his wings. His thin body probably kept him light to fly. His nails were a little sharper than they should be too-- not just for a man but for any human.
“Hardly. Harpies have naturally become more humanoid in recent centuries to blend in with bloody humans.” He snapped the last part, tilting his chin up with a blast of superiority.
“And you have bad tempers.” She remembered, absolutely ignoring his attitude now. With some effort, she recalled her old school lessons on Greek mythology. “Harpies are notoriously bad tempered. We even derived the term harping from them...uh you.”
She used to draw her mother as a half-human half-harpie nagging about her homework. Of course, even that version of a harpie came nothing close to the one that stood before her now.
“You believe me now?” He asked dully like she’d just caught up with the news flash.
Catching his eyes, she paused.
“You were serious about the magic?” Letting out a gasping breath, she shook her head. “No way. This just isn’t real. This just doesn’t happen.”
“Well then I have a rude awakening for you. You, in your human curiosity, picked up a harpie amulet and became the home to harpie magic. Now believe me or don’t, but it’s the truth.”
She opened her mouth to speak but couldn’t think of any words. Her mind finally grasped the full situation. Unable to control her twisting facial expressions, she turned and faced the woods. Her right hand itched at the revelation. The black smudge she’d gotten back in July still marred her palm like she’d burnt it yesterday. That combined with the unbelievable evidence that stood a few feet away left her reeling.
“Oh my god, is this dangerous?” She voiced the thought as it hit her. “This thing, will it hurt me?”
Jerking her hand out in front of her, she held it away from the rest of her body.
“The magic won’t hurt you. But there are people who want it. Dangerous people and they will kill you to get it.”
After moving closer, he reached out and touched her hand. The jolt of warmth made her flinch. He wrapped his fingers around hers until he pushed her palm closed and hid the black mark. It hardly felt reassuring. His rough skin stung, and he squeezed her hand too tight.
“Come with me, and you’ll be fine.” He said.
Abruptly, his wings snapped open. He used his grip on her to twist her around quick enough to make her dizzy. From there, she saw his wings clearly. Almost over ten feet they nearly touched both the tree line and the staircase.
“What are you doing?” She gasped.
His wings began to flap. The dirt kicked up and the wind dropped the temperature. His long arms looped around her waist and he pinned her to his broad chest. His wings caught enough speed to begin to lift them from the ground.
“Let’s make this as painless as possible.” He said. “Struggle and I’ll drop you.”
She did just that. Bracing her elbows against his chest, she pushed backwards to break his grip.
“I’m not doing this with you! Stop it!” She shouted.
Ignoring her completely, he kept his grip tight. The ground disappeared below her feet. Just an inch up, the cloud of dust nearly made the rest of the world disappear.
“Stop it, you stupid pigeon!” She screamed.
Arms abruptly going lax, he let her go. Unbalanced, Avery fell back and landed on the ground painfully hard. She didn’t complain though. Adrenaline still pounding in her veins, she used the opening to run towards the stairs. His large wings made it impossible for him to fly without a clearing so she dashed up to the top step where there was no space. The dust fell away revealing his face. Lips drawn back, he glared at her sharply.
“Pigeon?” He hissed.
Pride was a fall point, Avery realized quickly. Even though the anger radiating off him grew suffocating, she kept her chin up resiliently.
“I don’t know how harpie mechanics work but I’m not going in the air on that. You’re not a plane!” Her last words grew so high pitched, she stung her own ears. Still shaking, she gripped the door knob.
“Did you not hear me earlier? People will be coming for you if you stay here.”
Thoughts swirling in a million different directions, she hesitated. Maybe there would be bad people after her but he could just as well be one of them. Any bird that would try and take her out of here would have to do it while she kicked and screamed.
“I’ll take my chances.”
Yanking the door open quickly, she jumped inside while half expecting him to follow. The door swung shut and he never made chase. Avery was relieved until she noticed someone else standing before her in the hall.
“Morrison.” Avery said, immediately recognizing the new problem. She was caught out after curfew. The staff woman saw Avery and immediately shook her head.
“You know I have to put you on notice now.” Morrison sounded about as bummed out as Avery felt. Morrison always wore the pumps so everyone would hear her coming and no one would get caught. Of course, a student wouldn’t hear the pumps if they were outside being chided by mythological creature. She seemed to expect Avery’s excuse just as much as Avery expected her own excuse. But in the moment, Avery couldn't think of a single lie.
“Okay. That’s okay.” Avery settled for instead.
Morrison took the omission of guilt without admonishing her further. With the initial confrontation over, Avery sent a quick look behind her at the door. It remained both shut and silent. Mason wouldn’t be dumb to charge into a crowded room apparently.
“By the way,” Morrison began as she stepped to the side and guided Avery back to her room. “I couldn’t find your assignment anywhere. It must have fallen out and I’m going to have the office print up another one.”
Avery walked to her door and knocked on it twice to wake Leela up.
“It’s alright, I have it. Uh, someone found it on the floor and brought it back to me.” By the floor she meant probably straight off of Morrison’s desk. Mason had probably stolen it.
Morrison’s brow still pinched at her explanation. Looking significantly older than she ought to have, she gave Avery one last speech.
“Okay. Just be careful. This curfew isn’t in place because the faculty is bored. The Alaskan wilderness come nightfall isn’t the place for a student. The danger is very real. Please keep that in mind.”
The door swung open and before Morrison could get in another word, Avery charged forward and nearly toppled Leela out of the way. The heavy wood slammed shut behind her sealing them inside the dorm room. Avery did nothing until she could hear the last clacks of Morrison’s heels echo down the hallway. She then shifted her attention back towards the room.
Leela stood before her, fully dressed in fashion wear. Pumps, leggings, and the denim dress gave away that she hadn’t been home long. Avery prepped herself to explain everything that had just happened, but she never got the chance. Someone else in the room spoke out.
“Look what the cat dragged in.” The familiar ring of Nathan’s voice made Avery flinch.
He’d stretched out on Leela’s bed, ankles crossed, showing everyone the bottom of his expensive leather boots. B
lack hair slicked back and leather jacket adorned on his shoulders, anyone else in the world would have looked like a cheap imitation of a movie icon. Not Nathan though. Nathan pulled it off in his own individual way. Had Avery not hated him so much, she could have admired it.
“What’s he doing here?” Avery asked.
“Calm down.” Leela stood between them. “We were just hiding out until Morrison dipped.”
Avery noticed first and foremost that Leela only directed that towards her and never once admonished Nathan. Secondly, she noticed the rest of the room. Leela’s sheets on the bed sat perfect, starch, and undisturbed. The television sat in a mess of unhooked wires and the only light on was the painfully bright overhead fluorescent. Leela, for the first time, unstrapped her heels and kicked them to the corner. Avery surmised they hadn’t been in here long and definitely not long enough to get into trouble. Still, the thought nearly made her shudder.
“I heard her catch you. You’re lucky I let you in, bringing her over here like that. Do you have any idea how much trouble I could have gotten in?”
“One week grounding?” Avery tried for a joke but Leela’s scowl grew darker.
“Little Avery just wants company since she’s too deaf to avoid trouble.” Nathan brought every bit of attention back to himself.
Before Avery could even respond, he stood and moved between her and Leela with agile quickness. Standing directly in front of her now, he popped her personal bubble and then some. This close she could smell his minty aftershave and the hot spiciness of his cologne. Just a few inches taller than her, he leaned forward until their foreheads touched.
“Don’t worry girl, I’ll come visit you if you want.” He whispered just to Avery.
“You should be leaving.” She snapped at him. He made a hurt face just for theatrical effect, and then slinked out the door. Once it closed firmly behind him, Leela turned on Avery.
“That was so rude. He was just here to see me! What do you have against Nathan?” Leela, even though not included in the initial exchange, had been clearly embarrassed.
“I- nothing. I mean, I just know he uses girls. I don’t want you to get with him.” Avery rubbed her arms, feeling unsettled enough already.
“You don’t even know him!”
“I know him enough.” Suddenly busying herself, Avery went for her bed.
“What are you not telling me then? Did you guys used to date or something?”
“N-no.” Avery found herself stuttering worse in front of a tiny girl than she had with a crazy harpie. “No. I just know Nate through school.” Avery finally amended, firmer this time. With the sheets on the bed fixed, she climbed beneath them, dirty jeans and all. Curling the unsightly black mark on her hand back into her chest, she stared at the wall.
As expected, Leela didn’t let it go.
“You’re lying to me. He says that you guys have met before. You said you only knew him through school.” She marched right up to Avery’s bedside. “You know I like him.”
“I told you. I hate Nate because he’s a jerk to me period. There isn’t anything more.” The familiar tightness of guilt weighed on Avery’s chest but she stuck to her story.
Though she couldn’t see Leela’s reaction, she could certainly picture it. Cheeks red, Leela marched away and threw herself onto her bed hard enough that the springs cried in protest.
Clicking off the light, she sent the room into absolute darkness. Leela said one last thing.
“You always lie to me, and you wonder why I never believe you when you say anything.”
Then Avery wouldn’t say anything. Especially not about crazy human birds. Especially not about Mason.
Four
The winter crept closer stealing away the few hours of daylight Seward had left. Even with the school’s fluorescent light display, the fade to darkness was never welcome. The inevitable cold, black ice, and frostbite would come with the winter. Even though Avery had lived in Alaska most of her life, the winter this year seemed less appealing than ever.
The teacher’s chemistry set abruptly popped and fizzled, bringing the entire class’s attention to the smoking test tubes.
“Are we clear?” The teacher asked. “We’ll all be performing this experiment next Monday and I don’t want any problems.”
The class gave a chorus of uncertain mumbles. At the front, people like Leela nodded confidently. Avery watched the back of her pony tail bounce with her symbolic agreements to the teacher’s lecture. As expected, Leela had said nothing to her but the mandatory hello and goodbye. Even then, she’d spent most of her time out of the dorm where Avery couldn’t follow while still on probation. Leela may not have wanted an apology but she wanted an explanation and that was more than Avery was willing to give.
“Refer to your notes for guidelines on how to do the pre-experiment. I want no excuses.” The teacher continued, raising his voice just so the slackers in the back could hear her every word.
Before Avery could be incorporated into one of those slackers, she flipped back through her notes to seem busy. The pages were littered with crooked handwriting, arrows, and lines but Avery’s attention still fell to the drawings in the margins. She had doodled feathers and traditional harpie birds from her Greek mythology text books. Her eyes lingered on the depiction. Worse than the issue with Nathan, Avery still had no idea what to make of her encounter with Mason.
It’d been almost a week and with every day, the vividness she’d felt that night became surreal and she could have convinced herself it didn’t happen. Only the throbbing black mark on her palm kept her from thinking she was crazy.
Avery looked back up to the front of the class, determined to distract herself with chemistry, when she caught some people staring. The girls in the front of the class quickly turned and acted nonchalant. Their attempt at normalcy was horrible. They exploded into a chorus of whispers and stared at their notebook too hard. Avery knew they’d been talking about her. Mayweather Academy wasn’t a big school and news got around the student populous fast. Combined with boredom and little else to do, fellow students had already heard about Avery’s grounding and started spinning the rumors.
Avery knew the type. They’d say, “I know she wasn’t at the party. I think I saw her smoking out back.” One girl even dropped the “I heard that she waits until everyone leaves and digs through their rooms.” The rumors got stupider and stupider every year. If she had to stay in the school any longer, they’d be calling her an axe murderer next month.
Avery made a point to glare when one of the gossiping girls risked a quick backwards glance her way. The girl paled and swiveled in her seat, burying her nose into a book. Letting out a deep breath, Avery leaned back in her plastic chair. The teacher gave the class a knowing look before dismissing them. She shut the cover of her book and stood to stretch when someone came up behind her.
“Hey Avery.”
She perked up at her name to find Leela hovering behind her desk.
“Hey. Uh, what’s up?” Avery turned.
“How much longer does your probation last?” Leela asked finally.
Avery glanced at her watch even though she already had the dates memorized by heart.
“Two more days. Then I’m free.” She said.
Leela nodded and for a moment, an awkward silence developed. Leela twirled her hair and bounced from foot to foot while Avery drew a blank on what to say. The teacher happened to pass by the two and cleared his throat to remind them to leave soon.
“Well, we can walk and talk.” Leela suggested. The whole post fight conversation was developing painfully.
Taking the option, Avery took the first step towards the door and Leela followed. Outside, light snow fell. She slowed, letting the last few lingering students pass them and disappear down the sidewalk. Leela didn’t seem to mind the stalling.
“Life’s boring without you.” Leela then mentioned. “I want to believe you, you know. That you and Nathan are nothing. I’m just worried you know. T
his thing with me and Nate is too good to be true.”
Avery clenched her teeth and had to force herself to be civil. She hated Nate but Leela was her friend and she wasn’t about to cause another fight if she could avoid it.
“Are you guys dating now?” Avery risked asking.
Leela beamed with happiness.
“Yep, it’s absolutely positively official! He asked me at the party.”
Airborne (The Airborne Saga) Page 3