Wings of Boden

by Erik S Lehman

  Mawlkon spoke in his nasal tone, “You shouldn’t have done that, Vyn. Now it’s my turn, eh?” He stepped closer to Vyn. “I see you grew a little. Big Vyncynte now, eh? Well, let’s test your strength. This time I’d be ready.”

  Angie said to herself, “Oh, now you did it, you stupid drek.”

  Vyn pulled his shirt off, tossed it to the ground, folded his arms over his chest and flicked his feathers as if he was testing his reflexes, then said to Mawlkon, “Why don’t you go back to your scavenging before you hurt yourself? Or, maybe you’d like to go to jail, huh?”

  Mawlkon cackled from his torso to the tips of his wings while his gang snickered behind him. Drek smirks and high-fives went around with the full force of immaturity. Why do males always have to do this? I just don’t get the big masculine show. Flappin little boys, that’s all. Angie didn’t seem to agree, sitting there in her new silk nighty, grinning on the edge of her seat with excitement. And me, purple as a passionflower and soaked with nervous energy.

  Due to my crouched position, my feet started to cramp, and just when I was about stand up for some relief, the scene outside stopped me. Vyn dropped his hands to his side, rotated into a position, a strong brace against a hidden force. He unfurled his wings, tucked his head down.

  Oh my Source! His wingspan had stretched out so wide, shining with silver tips like radiant daggers. Even as my skin tingled, I began to understand Angie a little better.

  “See,” Angie said, “I told you. Now just pay attention and you might learn something. Just look at him, all glowy and sharp. I bent you just can’t wait to jump on him, huh?”

  “Angie.” I smacked her arm with my hand, but couldn’t hold back a giggle.

  “Poor, Ellie, relationships can be so cruel. But, don’t worry, there’s always chocolate, and cake, of course.”

  “Is there a problem out here,” A deep voice grumbled from the side. Out of the shadows behind Vyn stepped Jaydenn.

  “Dammit,” Angie said, “Why did he have to get involved? I didn’t even hear him get up.”

  Jaydenn—barefooted, holding a crumpled T-shirt in his hand, and wearing sweat pants with the word StarWings printed down the leg—towered like a statue. He stood about the same height as Mawlkon, but Jaydenn’s thick frame held at least three-times the muscle. Matted to one ear and mussed everywhere else, his sandy hair revealed bedhead. He scrubbed his hand through it. Then smothered a wide yawn with a fist, spread out his wings and shook the sleep off them.

  Angie said, “Now see, that’s a male. That’s my male. Oh, yummy.”

  Glancing at Angie’s wedding ring, I scrunched up my nose, then turned my gaze up to see a backlit cloud passing over the moon like a ghost ship drifting in a sea of stars.

  The other dreks had already taken a step back when Mawlkon said, “Oh, Jaydenn. We don’t want any trouble with you.”

  Jaydenn replied, “That’s not what it looks like, pecker neck.” He surveyed the group. “So”—yawn—“who’s first?” He shuttered his wings in a wakeful stretch. “Can we get this over with? I was napping, you know.”

  Angie let out a little girly giggle beside me.

  “No,” Mawlkon said. “Vyn and I were just having a little talk, that’s all.”

  Jaydenn looked down at Vyn—who was in some sort of battle stance, entranced—and placed a hand on Vyn’s back between his wings. “Calm down, brother. It’s over. We’ve got more important things to do.” Jaydenn swung eyes on Mawlkon. “Why don’t you run along now, drek. And take your chicklets with you. Our angels are waiting for us.”

  “Of course,” Mawlkon said. “Sorry to disturb you.”

  “Yeah, yeah, just don’t let it happen again.” He paused. “On second thought, maybe some other time. We could use a little exercise.”

  Mawlkon let out a chuckle.

  Jaydenn snapped his gaze over, took a step toward Mawlkon and said, “What was that? You have something to say, drek?” I could see Mawlkon swallow the lump in his neck from here. Jaydenn added, “That’s what I thought.”

  Even as the drekavacs lifted off and disappeared into the night, Jaydenn turned and pulled Vyn out of his trance and guided him toward the house.

  Angie spun around to the table. “Well, that was no fun, dammit, Jaydenn. He wouldn’t miss that, now would he? Plenty of energy for that, but can he help clean the house? No. He’s too tired. Well.” She smirked, lifted her glass. “That’s partly my fault.” And took a grinning sip.

  Sitting back at the table, I noticed my skin color had returned to the normal pale peach.

  The door swung open. Jaydenn and Vyn walked in, Jayden’s hand on Vyn’s shoulder. They had already put their shirts back on, and Jaydenn’s white T-shirt stretched around his shoulders and chest like it was screaming for mercy. They exchanged a chuckle about something while they made their way to us, and I noted the size comparison; big dog, little pup.

  “Enjoy the show, angels?” Jaydenn questioned.

  “Well, we would have,” Angie teased, “but you had to go scare them off.”

  Not sure how I felt about it, I couldn’t pull my eyes off Vyn, and gave him a smile as if I had a schoolgirl crush. For Source sake, my first year of college and I was filled with thoughts like a ponytail teenager. I could almost feel the braces on my teeth. Get ahold of yourself, Elle.

  “You okay, Ellie?” Vyn asked.

  “What? Oh. Yeah. Come sit by me?”

  Angie glanced at me, up to Jaydenn. They exchanged a silent mutual grin. They seemed to understand something about the whole situation. While I swam around, grasping for clues, trying to discover a new view at this relationship puzzle. With my chin tilted down, I looked up at Vyn from under my lashes, folded my hands on my lap. I noticed something different about Vyn that was never there before; a shadow of stubble grew around his strong jawline. His scrubby look oozed male hormones, and sent more tingles through me.

  Vyn gave me a pleasant expression, scratching at his stubbled chin, then turned to Jaydenn and said, “Can you join us? I need to figure something out and I could use your opinion.”

  “No problem, but maybe you need to get cleaned up first. You got a little dirt on your face there.” He reached over and swiped a fingertip over Vyn’s jaw, smirked. “Wait a second. That’s not dirt, it looks like I need to teach you how to shave now, huh, big guy?”

  Vyn chuckled, smirked. “I think I can handle it.”

  They both pulled a chair and sat. Angie and I got up and did the hostess routine: boiled water for herbal tea; gathered utensils and dishes; cut some cake—all the while whispering to each other. We set the plated slices and teacups out and sat with the boys.

  Forks went into cake. Chewing discussions went around the table.

  A few minutes later, Jaydenn clanked his fork to his cleaned plate, stretched and scratched his stomach, then leaned back and hugged thick arms around twin-mountains of chest. What are those muscles again, pecs? “That was pretty good there, Ang,” he said. “You’re gettin closer.”

  With a full mouth, Angie just nodded a grin, and kept chewing, her thinking eyes rolling around in her head as if she was trying to discern the ingredients with her palate.

  The last bite of my cake sadly melted away in my mouth. I set the fork to my plate, picked up my cup and took a sip of warm tea.

  Jaydenn tightened his face, said to Vyn, “We need to take care of this. I don’t know what you’re workin on in your lab, but if there’s any chance it could give hunters the ability to fly in the daytime, we can’t let them get ahold of it.”

  “Yeah, but what can we do? The dreks can’t get into my lab in the daytime. And it’s guarded at night. But, somehow they found out about my work, so …”

  Because Angie and I had already discussed our ideas back when we were making tea and stuff, we exchanged nods of agreement. I turned to the boys and said, “We could help.”

  In unison, the boys both swiveled a couple of those yeah-right looks at me. What did I have to do to
let them know I wasn’t some dumb girly angel? After folding my hands on the table, I threw the idea at them, “You should build a lab.”

  Vyn and Jaydenn paused, raised brows at each other. Angie backed me up with a grin.

  Jaydenn said, “You know what, that’s a great idea, kid.”

  Kid! Eventually that would wear off, if I had to beat it out of him. And what’s with that tone, anyway? Like he’s so much older than I am. Please. He’s only twenty.

  Jaydenn swiveled his deep-green eyes to Angie, back to me. “I meant, Ellie.”

  He knew my name! I lifted a smile just for him. Then, judging by the look on Angie’s face, I suspected she’d been training him to learn my name. I’d never told anyone how much it bugged me, but she knew, my sister, of course she knew. I beamed a thank-you look to her, she accepted with a gentle nod.

  “Well, what do we need to build the lab?” I asked.

  “Diamonds,” Vyn replied, “lotsa diamonds.”

  “Is that all,” I said. “It just so happens we have quite a few of those.”

  “We can’t ask yo—”

  Angie interrupted, “Just get over it, Vyn. It’s for a good cause. It’s not just for you, you know. The future of angels is at stake.”

  Jaydenn chimed in, “That’s true. Just think about this. We could recruit the strongest angels. Build an army of night flyers to get rid of the hunters for good.”

  Well, not what I had in mind, but Vyn seemed excited. I couldn’t let them know my disagreement, though. Angie bent forward, reached over and laid her hand on mine, consoling me with her palm, holding back my reins.

  “We would need equipment, and concrete and—” Vyn started to say. I cut him short:

  “Have you forgotten what Dad used to do?”

  Vyn took a moment, scratched at his chin, before his eyes widened. “You’re right. He has all we need. Do you think he’d go for it? If we explained it, I mean?”

  “I don’t see why not. I’m sure he’d like another chance to help a good cause.”

  “Okay, well that settles it,” Jaydenn said, unfolding his arms and clasping his hands on the table. “We’re off to Boden tomorrow, right? Elle, I know you wanted to check out that new fancy store that Ang loves so much. And we can have a talk with your dad.”

  “I. Love so much. Huh, Jay?” Angie said. “I. Not you? You don’t seem to mind that new store either.” She straightened her nighty with fingertips, lifted a little grin, and added, “Dear.”

  Vyn said to Angie, “We’ll just stay here tonight, if that’s okay with you.”

  Angie turned eyes on Vyn. “Well that was the plan all along. Didn’t Ellie tell you we were having a sleepover? Whoops.” That wasn’t the plan; she was toying with him.

  “All right then,” Jaydenn said in a too-deep masculine tone, “we’ll leave at sun up.”

  “Sun up?” Angie snickered, gave Jaydenn a funny look. “You mean in the morning, right, mister, tough male.”

  “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Get your little butt outta that chair. I’ll show you tough.”

  Angie grinned, rolled her eyes. Then proceeded to finish her cake, sip her tea, and wait.

  Jaydenn poked fun at Vyn, “We can pick up a new razor for you too.”

  Even as Jaydenn continued to talk, Angie, with a sneaky face and a green-eyed twinkle, rose from her chair, stalked behind him like a cat.

  “This’ll be your first shave, won’t it? My boy’s growin up. I think I feel a tear com—”

  Angie smacked the back of his head with playful fingers and bounded off like a bunny. Jaydenn lifted off his chair and strode behind her, as Angie hopped on her tiptoes across the living room, her furry socks slipping on the hardwood, wings folded to her back and hair bouncing as she giggled away.

  Stopped at the opposite side of the living room table, Jaydenn gave her a devious look. Angie, in breathless tittering laughter, moved to one side, her socks sliding as Jaydenn reacted. She slid to the other side and he stopped her again with a twitch and a grin. He bent over and moved the vase of daisies to the floor, keeping his eyes on her as he said, “You might as well give up, little one.” A beat … Then he launched over the table and landed on the couch, the cushions crushed under his weight. Angie squealed with delight when Jaydenn pulled her down with him and snarled a kiss into her neck.

  “Do they ever take a break?” Vyn asked me.

  “I think it’s sweet. After all those years, they still play.” I smiled at my giggling sister.

  Vyn watched them, while I had other plans. I crossed one leg over the other, folded my hands on my skirt, and just as Vyn tipped his cup back for a drink, I reached out and flicked his ear. He let out a light choke. Tea dribbled off his chin. He tapped the cup to the table, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. And threw a wide grin at me. His wings flittered between his shoulders as he let out a sneeze, Choo. “Excuse me,” he said.

  I smiled, winked a look of, Whatcha gonna do about it, mister scruffy male.

  The game was on.

  CHAPTER 5

  “Look, over there,” I called through the sky while eyeing a delicious group of clouds. “Let’s fly through them.”

  Clouds hung like dollops of whipped cream, and I just could not get enough of bathing in the luxurious atmosphere. The mountain air was so fresh and crisp as I fluttered my wings through the misted puff, at a height where the ground seemed like a distant memory.

  We were on our way to Boden, the city of shops and shiny things, and the home of my parents, of course. Vyn, Jaydenn, Angie and I drifted on thin air under the magnificent sun. Our bodies soaked it in, our wings shimmering with opal colors on iridescent feathers. Ecstasy seeped into my very being. I had to be careful, though, since I’m prone to blacking out from too much excitement. Vyn had to catch me one day. A month or so ago, while flying, the excitement bubbled to extreme levels, my face numbed and everything went dark. Vyn had caught me while I plummeted from the celestial sky in peaceful slumber.

  Lesson learned.

  Now, Angie and I were flying in pastel cropped pants and girl-cut T-shirts. Veering right, I pulled up into a cloud, looked back just before I entered the cotton air to see Angie breaking off from the boys to follow me. “C’mon, Angie!”

  In the clouds I rolled, flittered, bathed in the mist while the wind washed through my hair and poured over my skin. Sunshine beamed through open spaces, holding colors of a rainbow like shimmering crystals.

  On a glance, I noticed Angie behind and below me in a casual drift, picking at her fingernails, the salon on her mind, I knew, keeping the corner of an eye on me too, just like always. The boys appeared below, materializing like ghosts pushing through a fog bank, each wearing slacks and a polo shirt. The cotton bag that held my purse and shoes dangled from Vyn’s hand. Jaydenn carried Angie’s bag. Vyn thrust his wings with two long pushes, caught up to me just as I swiveled my head away.

  “Elle!” Vyn caught my attention.

  Slowing, I drifted above him. Dropped down and sat on his back, rubbed my hands between his shoulder blades with a smile. Leaned to his ear and said, “Whatcha need, gorgeous.”

  Vyn’s hair fluttered against my cheek. “Jaydenn and I think we should go to the crags.”

  “Why?” I dropped a smooch on his neck.

  “C’mon, Ellie, just a few minutes. I promise.”

  Yeah, I knew what that meant, his minutes always turned into more like an hour. But I didn’t want to be difficult, and the odd angel out. “Okay, fine.” I pulled my bare feet over his legs, wrapped my arms around his chest and folded my wings back. “Whattaya waitin’ for then, let’s go!”

  He spun and we hurtled down as I squealed, my hair trailing straight and legs clamped on like a vice. Air was pulling out of my lungs and I laughed so hard nothing came out. Eyes watering, I moved my face out of the wind to catch a breath, light slobber from my mouth wetting Vyn’s neck …

  Minutes later, the hysterics subsided enough for me to breathe. As we slo
wed, the smell of the pine forest lifted from the mountains below. Spent but satisfied, I squeezed my eyes tight and gave Vyn a smiling hug.

  Vyn touched down on the rocky ledge before a cave. When I slipped off his back, jagged stones bit into my feet. “Hand me my shoes, Vyn.”

  He was one mental step ahead; my shoes were already on the ground in front of me. I pushed tangled hair off my face, and swiped tears from my cheeks and out of my windblown eyes. Then brushed the shards off my feet and slipped my flats on.

  Jaydenn was descending above us, but I couldn’t see Angie … until her head popped up over his muscled shoulders, a teary red look on her face, hair all mussed. Did my hair look like that? I reached up, patted. Yep, pretty bad. I finger-combed it … shook my head and straightened the best I could.

  “Hey,” Vyn said to me, “can you wipe off my neck?”

  “With what?”

  He reached out my bag. “Use this. It’s your slobber. It belongs on your bag.”

  “No.” I cut a glare. “Just deal with it. It’s not like it’s dirty or something. You don’t mind when I slobber all over your face.”

  Vyn chuckled, dropped the subject.

  “How’s that for fun?” Angie said as she walked to me.

  “I know, right.”

  Jaydenn and Vyn tramped off. Angie put her shoes on and proceeded to untangle her hair.

  “Where are you two going?” I called after Vyn and Jaydenn.

  Vyn gave a silent wave over his shoulder, continued to the cave mouth. Okay, whatever that meant.

  Angie fiddled with her hair, said to me, “You’ve never been up here?” She finished primping, stood straight. “I thought you liked the mountains?”

  “I do.” I looked down off the cliff. “Down there, where the flowers are.” Eyes back on Angie. “We’re not going in that cave are we?”

  “Why not, there’s nothing to be afraid of.” She paused, gave me a grin, then strolled off to the cave. I stood there, looking around. Alone.

  “Fine,” I said to myself, and shuffled to catch up to her.