by SARA FREITES
“Ready?” Eden grinned at me as everyone readied themselves to roof-bound across the city.
I quietly spoke the guardian incantation. My body bent and grew until there was nothing left of my former self. My claws clacked at the concrete while the last of my transformation took place. I watched Blake’s eyes scan my new being, probably stunned at the sight of what I’d become. I’d forgotten he hadn’t seen me in mid-transformation before, and I felt sure it was jarring to watch someone he knew turn into such a thing.
With that, Garrett signaled with one hand and launched onto the roof across the street with Harper close behind. Eden’s slender frame seemed to vanish. She reappeared on the next roof while Harper, Terry and Garrett made their way toward the taller buildings in the distance. I eagerly peered back so I could watch Blake levitate from the roof, and sure enough, he floated to the adjacent building without a problem. I rushed with a confidence that always developed once I transformed.
I sprang after Blake. My muscular feline body sailed through the air over the streets below. Before I realized it, my paws found the roof of the next greystone where Eden waited. Blake paused in mid-air overhead to be sure I made it. I galloped across the roof, approaching another ledge where, without hesitation, I lunged again.
This will be a piece of cake, I told myself.
I mirrored the group, roof-bounding back and forth across the city for about fifteen or twenty minutes with no issues. Sometimes, to reach the roof of the next building, I had to drop several stories or catapult several stories up. It was an exhilarating feeling, and as many times as I’d used this spell, I’d never had the chance to enjoy it.
Blake amazed me with his flight, how well he’d mastered it already. He was fast and never faltered. Eden remained one rooftop ahead of us while her brother and the two clan sub-leaders dropped out of sight just a few buildings ahead. Harper and Terry were faster than Garrett, naturally, but Garrett held his own for a half-vampire, tailing them closely as if he had something to prove. I knew Blake would’ve been the fastest, but he hung in the back of the group with me. With every landing, I felt more and more confident in my ability to roof-bound until Garrett dropped from the sky in front of me. I dodged without breaking my stride. He pursued.
“Nice! Let's test your reflexes, human. Defense is your best bet, especially when your opponent is stronger than you!” the haviden called into the wind to me.
“Whatever, Garrett,” Harper bantered as he landed on the roof to my left. “I’m faster than you! Let me do it!”
I evaded the two and their attempts to throw me off balance as we moved on across the city. They were like two little gnats in my way, and I moved around them with ease. Gloomy clouds continued to billow overhead, now darker than before.
“Let’s not linger around up here for too much longer,” Terry advised.
Ahead, he waited for the rest of us to catch up. I landed a few feet past him.
“The sky’s about to open up,” he cautioned. “Autumn isn’t ready for wet rooftops just yet, I’m afraid.”
He was probably right, but as well as I’d done so far, I didn’t want to stop now. I nodded toward the darkening horizon, signaling for us to continue. Terry looked back at me with scorning eyes.
“Five more minutes,” he warned me.
“I have to hand it to you, human,” Garrett hopped up beside me and said. “That thing is amazing! You move like one of us, maybe even faster.”
“You mean, faster than you,” Harper murmured to Garrett.
Harper cut his eyes at Blake who hovered just a few inches above the concrete. “Having fun, evnaut?” Harper asked him starkly.
“More than you’ll ever have,” Blake responded without even looking in Harper’s direction.
“I highly doubt that,” Harper said under his breath.
By the look on Eden’s face, I knew I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed the steadily growing tension. As we went on, the night grew hazier in the distance, the city lights blurring as rain poured from the clouds. The horizon looked like a pencil drawing, like someone had taken their finger and smudged the clouds down toward the now silhouetted buildings.
We’d just passed the Sears Tower when the bare bone of my front, right paw slipped on a building’s wet edge. I had no time to react. I went over the ledge. As I plummeted toward the street, I raked my claws alongside the building to catch a grip. My shoulders felt heavy. Something warm wrapped around my chest and shoulders, getting in the way of my useless attempts to latch onto the building. If I could’ve screamed, I would have, but all I could do was watch as the street below grew closer and closer. The wind whistled in my ears and I panted heavily in a panic. The nape of my neck was seized, and this sent my body up into the air with my limbs dangling.
Blake’s calm voice broke from above as he lifted us higher. “I’ve got you. Those will definitely come in handy,” he sort of laughed.
He hoisted me up the side of the building and set me on the ledge. My balance was unsteady. My body felt awkward. Everyone gathered around me and spoke up simultaneously.
“Holy shit.”
“Where the hell did those come from?”
“What a nice little surprise you’ve got there, Autumn.”
“Did you know you could do that?”
Looking back, I found what the extra weight on my shoulders was. Two ebony appendages had sprouted from between my shoulder blades. They lay flat, heavy and motionless on either side of me. They were massive, each longer than I was and blanketed in velvety oversized feathers. I stared in astonishment at them. They slid from the ground and up my sides, leaving me standing there in awe. Within seconds, they shriveled back into my body and made my shoulder blades itch.
Eden watched me as I bit into my tongue and tasted my own blood. “Wings. Wow,” she breathed.
“I have no idea how I did that,” I burst out as soon as I could talk.
“This is a new advantage you’ve got. You should learn to use them right away,” Terry suggested. “It doesn’t look like it will rain like this much longer.” He gazed into the sky and allowed the rain to trickle against his face.
“He’s right. The faster you learn, the better. I’ll help you,” Blake offered.
“And I don’t see you having any trouble while that spell is cast,” Eden said.
“While you two do that, the rest of us will head back for the hunt,” Harper announced. “We’re leaving early. There’s a lot to do tonight.”
I’d forgotten it was Thursday night. Harper removed his phone from his ragged jeans. The rain let up.
“Blake,” Harper continued. “I’ll be sure to let the men Thade posted around the city know that they need to stay at their posts another hour or two. You two don’t stay out any longer than that. I’ll have them call you first if they catch sight of the evnauts. Head back to the Sanctum immediately if they do.” A hint of attitude held strong in Harper's voice, but he spoke far more civilly than I’d expected.
Without another word, the two vampires and Garrett bolted up and roof-bounded into the foggy city until they were out of sight.
“You won’t need me around for this. I’m going to join the others,” Eden said to me. “Don’t stay human for too long. Don’t want those evnauts catching sight of your aura right now. You guys be careful.”
She, too, disappeared over the horizon just as it started sprinkling. I wrapped my arms around my waist and shivered from the cold droplets that didn’t seem to faze Blake. He entangled his fingers in my hair at the base of my neck. Before I knew it, he draped a long braid over my left shoulder.
“Where’d you learn to do that?” I laugh and took my braid to run my hand along it.
“I didn’t,” he replied and step out from behind me. “I can do a lot of things I wasn’t taught. You ever skydived before?”
I shook my head in response.
“Me either. But I imagine you’ll have to get used to the feeling first.”
“Wait,
what? What feeling?” I asked, apprehensive.
“Of falling. Hold on tight,” he ordered, his eyes burning fiercely as he wrapped his arms around my waist.
“Don’t make me do anything crazy,” I cautioned.
I embraced him around his neck as firmly as I could. Ever so slowly, he levitated, lifting me off the ground with him. And then, we were feet from the rooftop and stories above the streets. I giggled as we ascended faster, higher. We floated through a gap in the gray clouds and hovered just above the wavy but motionless ocean, the clouds’ surface that stretched over the horizon. There, the moon shone bright and large, a perfect crescent jewel in the night sky. I stared in awe at its gallant, glowing beauty.
“It’s so beautiful up here,” I said.
I took in the fresh air as we floated and nervously observed the clouds below. This height could probably twist the most fearless man’s stomach into knots.
“What are you thinking?” Blake asked.
“That it would suck if we fell from this high up.”
“Afraid of heights?”
“Never been a big fan of them,” I admitted. “Most don’t bother me too bad, but this is different.” I felt us tipping over. “Blake?” I panicked.
“Oh no!” he gasped, his face full of uncertainty as I fell into his chest.
“Blake, no!” I shouted while latching onto him in terror.
We flipped upside down and dropped. My stomach surged. I shrieked. He held me tightly against him as we fell at a speed that had me screaming uncontrollably. The wind howled around us, and I could feel Blake laughing against me. Eventually, we slowed as we emerged from the bottom of the clouds.
“I’ve got you, don’t worry!” he laughed and hovered just below the cloud line.
“That’s not funny!” I snapped.
“You didn’t think so?” he asked with a smile.
“No!”
“You should’ve seen your face,” he laughed.
“Whatever!” I yelped.
He pried me from him and spun me over to face the ground. He held me out in the air by my waist, and I panicked again.
“No!” I insisted, gripping his wrists.
“You have to get used to this, Autumn,” he said through a chuckle. “This way, you’ll feel more like you’re flying on your own.”
“Okay. Just don’t go so fast. Okay? Blake?” I asked. We accelerated. “Blake!” I repeated desperately.
We blew through the air. I screamed again, laughing as he took us soaring side to side, up and down. At one point, I let go of his hands, spreading my arms like a bird as the wind blew through my braid. He took us for a few barrel rolls, faster and faster, tearing through the clouds. He brought me into him with my back pressed tightly against his chest, his arms wrapped around my waist. Nearly in tears from giggling, I gripped one of his wrists as he slowed. He brought us to a standstill just above the clouds again and set us upright. He cradled me.
“The verdict?” he asked with a half-smile.
“That was awesome!” I burst out.
“Yes! I knew you’d love it! But we aren’t done yet. That wasn’t the scariest part. We can start from up here so you have more room for error. I’m going to let go of you and—”
“The hell you are!” I howled and snapped my head around. ”I’ll be damned if you’re about to just drop me from up here!”
“I’m not going to let you go far,” he promised.
“Blake, no!” I pleaded.
“I’ll be right beside you if anything happens,” he assured me. “It’s better to do this as high above the city as possible until you get the hang of it. Otherwise, you risk flying into a building. We also need to stay out of sight. Go ahead and cast your spell. You got this.”
I groaned as my stomach tied itself into knots all over again. My hands fidgeted and then latched on to his forearms. Halfheartedly, I chanted the guardian spell. Within seconds, I left my human body far behind. Blake took me by the nape of my neck and held me like a kitten suspended above the clouds. Even in this form, I couldn’t escape the overwhelming fear.
“Okay, here’s how we’re going to do this,” Blake explained as he ascended even higher, giving me more room to fall before I went straight through the massive cloud barrier. “I’m going to drop us, but I’ll keep hold of you so you don’t fall out of control. This way, once your wings develop, they won’t get tangled around you. Once they’re out, start using them the way you see birds do. Sorry, I don’t know exactly how to tell you to do this. It will just have to be a trial and error process. Just remember not to panic. I won’t let you go until you’ve gotten the hang of it.”
I nodded in response.
“Okay, then. Crash course in Flying-101. Here we go," he warned, and we began our descent.
I could feel his grip on the back of my neck, and that was the only security I had as my stomach found a new home in my chest. As we fell, he kept me leveled and directed our fall at an angle. In an instant, I could feel my shoulders itch and pull away from one another as my wings sprouted. Urgently, I flapped them before they were completely formed. But they were as useless as my arms were at that point. Blake lifted our angle. My wings grew longer, fuller, and I flapped them again.
“Not just yet!” Blake shouted over the whistling wind.
Being unable to use my wings probably felt the same as if I were frantically trying to load a gun while a full-grown grizzly bear charged in my direction—sheer horror and running out of time, knowing I had something I could use that just wasn’t quite ready yet. Blake positioned himself just above me at arm’s length as my wings grew so big that the second I flapped them, they nearly brushed Blake away from me. I felt his grip loosen. I almost lost it.
“Not so fast, Autumn! They won’t work if you use them like that. Slow down,” Blake instructed.
But while I tried in vain to do as he ordered, the confidence that my wings would work quickly disintegrated.
“It’s okay! Keep trying!” he encouraged me. “More slowly and deliberately!”
I got a grip on my wildly beating wings, slowing their pace, and I felt I might just win my battle over gravity now. My weight shifted as I worked my awkwardly large wings. We skimmed over the top layer of clouds.
“Higher!” Blake shouted. “You can do it!”
My wings splashed the cloud surface. I peeked back and watched white matter draw away and trail my wingtips like jet streams. I worked my wings feverishly. Within seconds, I raised, pushing us forward at an increasing speed. I smiled my big feline smile, proud of myself but so completely lost in the moment that at first, I didn't notice Blake. He gradually gained on me just overhead. The biggest most genuine grin I’d ever seen flashed across his face. I could have probably counted every tooth and fang in his mouth, but I was too busy noticing that both his hands were by his sides. I squeaked in terror.
“Keep moving them! Don’t stop!” he shouted when I sank into the clouds.
A dense gray mist blinded me. I lost control. I plummeted head over tail through the clouds, breaking through the bottom layer and free-falling out of control. My wings enfolded around me. In desperation, I bit my tongue. My entire body shrank. The velocity of my fall increased. I screamed in my now weak and wingless, human form.
As I leveled out with my stomach toward the ground, I felt a weightless, calming sensation. It was as if I were suspended above the city with the air rushing up from underneath. I watched glistening raindrops as they seemed to hover around me. A firm hand gripped my arm from above. The force of his hold and gravity tugging me in the opposite direction made me feel like I might rip in half until Blake brought me into his arms. I clutched at him as we drifted down toward the city like two soap bubbles.
“Damn, you were doing so well,” Blake laughed.
“No, I wasn’t. That was terrible!” I bellowed. “You took the training wheels off too soon!”
“No. You just freaked when you realized I’d let go of you. I wasn’t holding
on to you for ten seconds straight. That flight was all you. That’s amazing for your first try. Somehow, you’re a natural.”
“Let’s start from lower down. I can’t stay calm knowing that if I mess up there’s a ten-thousand-foot death-drop below me,” I exaggerated spitefully.
“That drop should be a comfort for you. It gives me more room and time to catch you. But if you want to start lower, we can try. You should be okay seeing how you caught on so quickly.”
“Thank you, Blake. I couldn’t do this without you,” I admitted as we neared the city.
“Not true,” he said.
He set us on top of the Aon Center, one of the tallest skyscrapers I’d been on top of lately.
“Ready to try again?” he asked.
“I think so,” I replied. “This time, don’t let go so soon. I don’t think I was ready the first time.”
“You’re never going to feel ready to drop from such a height. You know, you’ve got it pretty easy. Do you know how some baby birds learn to fly? Their mother pushes them out of the nest. There’s no ‘wait, I’m not ready yet!’ or ‘push on three!’ or—”
“I know. I know,” I interrupted him. "But I’m not a baby bird, and you’re not my mother, so...entirely different situation.”
He backed away, leaving me room to transform. “Okay, baby bird. Let’s try this again. This time, believe in yourself,” he urged.
I whispered the spell. My arms and legs stretched on their own. For the third time that night, I became the feline guardian. Blake and I took a few giant steps back. I readied myself. Hopelessly, I wished the wings would appear before I jumped.
“I’ll keep you steady again,” he reminded me. “Don’t use the wings until they’re fully developed. Flapping them prematurely will bring you down faster. When you feel them start to grow, count to three slowly in your head before using them. It takes exactly that long for them to grow to full length.”
Too many rules, I thought.
Blake gripped the nape of my neck again. I stretched my shoulders for another intense workout.
“Ready when you are,” he confirmed. “Just remember, I am your safety net for now.”