Fliers

by Laura Mae

  “So I’m guessing since you’re only fourteen, driving is out of the question, huh?” Sydona spoke up after only a block down the road.

  “We have a bus station. It’s only a couple miles from here,” Giovonna suggested.

  A bus was not on the top of Sydona’s list of transportation because that meant being trapped in a small space surrounded by humans. This was turning out to be more complicated than she had anticipated.

  “I don’t think going on a bus is the best idea,” Sydona weighed.

  “But you look like a regular person now. No one will notice,” Giovonna said.

  “I’m not staying in this bag for fifteen hours while you guys sit on a bus!” The bag muffled Raoul’s voice.

  Just then, a red van honked a couple times and pulled to the side of the street, stopping right next to them. A single meter reader and mailbox stood between them and the mysterious car. Backing up with uncertainty, Sydona squinted at the car with tinted windows, unable to see who was inside. As she reached for her knife hiding under her shirt, the driver rolled the window down and waved.

  “Hey, Sydona!” Annie from the farmers market smiled brightly. Sydona relaxed and retracted her hand.

  “Oh. Hi, Annie! How are you?” Sydona walked up to the side of her car and saw Joseph in the back seat. “Hi, Joey.”

  “Hi Syd!” He waved excitedly.

  “We’re good.” Annie relaxed her arm on the side of the car.

  “What are you doing way out here?” Sydona asked.

  “We were visiting family. His cousins live out here. What about you? Weird we’re both here at the same time, huh?” Annie laughed.

  “Yeah, I came out here for family, too.”

  “Oh. Is this--” Annie pointed to Giovonna who stood shyly behind Sydona.

  Sydona and Giovonna both looked at one another, trying to somehow communicate without saying anything. Sydona hoped Giovonna didn’t say something idiotic like where they were headed.

  “Hi, I’m Gia. I’m Syd’s cousin,” Giovonna said slowly.

  “You’re here for cousins, too? How strange... And she lives only one town over. How come you’ve never mentioned her to me before?” Annie asked.

  Sydona hesitated, trying to think of a good, believable lie. “Because she just moved here.”

  “Yes. From--Albuquerque,” Giovonna spun off her tongue.

  “Oh wow. Well, Michigan is quite a change then, isn’t it?”

  Annie then looked more closely at Sydona, into her eyes. “You know Syd, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you without your sunglasses on. You sure do have some pretty hazel eyes,” she said.

  Sydona looked away bashfully, not comfortable with people looking into her eyes and more so, saying something about them. But she smiled and thanked her quietly. With a quick glance through the passenger’s side window, Sydona’s fists clenched at the sight of the man from the diner. Ducking quickly behind the door, her heart began to pound. Annie watched her with a worried face.

  “What’s going on?” She peered down at Sydona, clinging to the side of the car. Giovonna ducked down beside her. Sydona ignored her while she listened to her own heart pound in her ears.

  “Who is that?” Annie asked.

  “Trouble,” Sydona whispered.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m sorry, we have to go,” Sydona said. But as she looked around, she couldn’t find a way to avoid being spotted.

  “They’ll see us,” Giovonna said.

  “Syd, would you please tell me what’s going on?” Annie asked assertively.

  Bouncing on her feet, Sydona reeled over if she should tell her friend what she really was. It was boggling to her that only yesterday she would trust Annie enough to tell her anything. Anything except that she’s a flier, but that went for anyone. But this woman had been in her life for several years. This was her only chance to prove if Annie was a real friend. There didn’t seem to be any other choice except maybe to hide behind the car until the man left, but she didn’t know how long that would be.

  “What’s he doing now?” Sydona asked as she was too afraid to peek over the window.

  Annie glanced over. “He’s uh... Standing around talking to some guys.”

  Sydona raised her eyebrows. “He didn’t see me, then?”

  “I don’t know. You won’t tell me what’s going on,” Annie said impatiently.

  Sydona sighed deeply as she decided not to beat around the bush anymore. “I’m a flier,” she admitted as quietly as she could.

  “A what?” Annie said in disbelief.

  “And that guy, with the hat... He saw me.”

  “What does he want with you?” Annie asked much more calmly than Sydona anticipated.

  “He saw me in the diner up the street. But then let me go,” Sydona said, hesitating on looking up and over the window. Not knowing or seeing where he was at all times was killing her, though. She chewed on her fingernails nervously.

  “He let you go? Then you’re okay now, right?” Annie said while she kept an eye on them from across the street.

  “No. Not exactly…” Sydona said. The unknowing was too much for her, and she had to look. Had to see where he was. She peeked over the hood of the car and saw the man was still with his friends from the diner. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to figure out what they were doing and what they could be talking about. One of the guys looked in her direction and pointed at her. She hid back behind Annie’s car as quick as she could.

  “Shit!” Sydona panicked. Sydona heard voices coming closer, mentioning a blonde woman, and she knew she was seen clearly enough.

  “We have to go,” Sydona told Giovonna.

  “They’re gonna see us!” Giovonna argued.

  “I don’t think we have a choice,” Sydona said bluntly as she looked over her shoulder.

  Annie sat listening to them bicker and spoke up. “Do you guys want a ride then?”

  “No. We couldn’t put you in the middle of this,” Sydona said but then kicked herself for denying the offer. It was the ride she needed, and it would get them to where they needed to go. But her friend and her son would be going across the country with, essentially, two fugitives and a fairy. The moment was too intense to explain where they were going and why, and she came back to her original comment. It would be too dangerous and not something Sydona wanted to be held responsible for.

  Annie nodded with understanding, and Sydona could tell that she came up with the same conclusion. She wondered if Annie had read the article like most people and knew where they were headed. Her offer was simply a friendly suggestion, and she was probably relieved that Sydona turned her down.

  “You guys go on ahead; I’ll distract them.” Annie looked at both Sydona and Giovonna with respect, making Sydona relax more.

  “What are you going to do?” Sydona stood up but still hunched over behind her car.

  “Don’t worry about it. Just leave.” Annie winked and put her car into drive.

  The men made a B-line for Sydona and Giovonna. The girls began to run in the opposite direction, and Sydona saw they made a run for their truck instead. Annie took off and blocked the roadway, so they couldn’t pass. The sound of crunching metal, honking horns, and shouting filled the town.

  Their feet carried them all the way out of town to a large apple orchard. The trees stood at the perfect height for them to hide in easily. Ducking in and out of the trees full of white flowers, the girls stopped running once they were deep inside. Sydona took a moment to look at her surroundings as it was almost like a fairy tale. Long rows of bright green grass contrasted the enchanting white flowers that hung off the trees and powdered the space below like sugar. The smell was intoxicating as she buried her nose in a bushel of buds. It was so surreal, she almost forgot why they were running.

  A cough from Giovonna brought her back to reality. Sydona stood up straight and glanced down the deserted trail.

  “You know how to fly, right?” Sydona asked.


  “What?!” asked Giovonna who was hunched over with her hands on her knees.

  “...I’ll take that as a no.” Sydona adjusted her bag to let Raoul out.

  “I mean, I’ve read about flying, but no. I’ve never actually done it,” Giovonna said and tightened the straps on her yellow backpack.

  “Welp, best way to learn is by doing!” Sydona smirked.

  “Are you serious?”

  Sydona stood next to Giovonna with her feet spread apart vertically and leaned over a bit. Giovonna followed her instructions and mimicked Sydona’s stance. Raoul floated next to Sydona and lined up with the girls.

  Sydona spoke up, “Okay, when I say, you have to kick off the ground with your dominant foot, and you will start to go up in the air. Lean forward to go faster and stand upright to slow back down. You will feel your body get lighter like your bones are hollow.”

  She gave a nod to Sydona to let her know she was ready, and they were off. Sprinting as fast as their legs could go, Sydona gave Giovonna the signal, and they kicked off the ground. The higher into the air they went, the bigger Giovonna’s smile grew and the wider her smile became to take in all the magnificent scenery.

  “How do you feel?” Sydona yelled.

  “Amazing! Why have I waited so long to do this?!”

  Sydona couldn’t help but notice Giovonna’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. She wondered if that was what she looked like the first time she flew. But Giovonna was fourteen, well past the age most fliers first learned the skill. The feeling Sydona felt when flying must have been intensified by a thousand to the new flier. She would have given anything to feel that joy herself.

  Her slight jealousy didn’t last long as Raoul warned her that the men were following them in their truck and watching with binoculars. Sydona looked down on the dirt road where she saw a truck that she recognized from Mayfield filled with the men from the diner. She spotted one man in the back of it with a big gun that he aimed towards them. Sydona grabbed Giovonna’s arm tightly, leaning forward more to pick up more speed. It was almost too much for Giovonna to handle, and her smile disappeared. Several darts whizzed by them, and a couple of them almost hit Sydona’s leg, causing her to weave dramatically. Adrenaline pumped through her veins a she maneuvered the best she could while holding another person. Up ahead, she saw the edge of a large forest filled with pines and oaks. It looked dark and dense, and Sydona thought it would be the best place to get away from them. Speeding up as much as she could, they entered through the widest opening in the trees, and the darts stopped.

  Flying into the depths of the woods, they spotted a sunny clearing, and Sydona leaned upright to land with Giovonna copying her actions. She stopped for a moment to listen for any sign of the men, but all she could hear was the rustling of leaves in the trees, birds, and a woodpecker knocking on tree bark.

  Raoul flew over to Sydona and lay down on a low hanging tree branch next to her. Giovonna lay sprawled out on the forest floor, her chest heaving up and down. Sydona’s mind wandered back to what happened in Mayfield and what Annie did for them.

  “I wish I could thank her,” Sydona said. “Can’t imagine how much worse that could’ve been if she didn’t try to stop them.”

  “You can’t think about that,” Raoul said.

  “I saw the look on that guy’s face. Like he knew who I was. What I was... And wanted to hurt me. Maybe worse…” Sydona whispered as she relived the event over and over again.

  “What’s wrong Syd?” Giovonna asked and sat next to her on a fallen tree.

  “Nothing,” Sydona murmured and took a deep breath. She sat silently next to Giovonna who was still breathing hard. Digging around in her tote bag, she found her wrinkled map. Mayfield was such a small town that it was barely noticeable among the highways and byways, but to the north of the town, she saw the forest they probably flew into. A line, indicating a road, did go through it, but it was so far out of the way, she didn’t worry much about it. Memorizing the layout for the next several miles, she locked in which way they needed to go. She folded the map back up and put it back inside her bag.

  “I believe we need to head this way,” she said, using the sun as a lead way.

  The three began walking even deeper into the woods until they could only hear themselves and the sound of crickets slowly coming into ears reach. The sun began to set, but there was still enough daylight to see the ground in front of them. As much as she enjoyed flying, taking a break by walking was a nice change. After she landed, she didn’t feel light anymore for some reason, and it was like landing with a sandbag. The smell of the trees and dirt was soothing and refreshing. She always imagined she was a squirrel or beaver in her past life as much as she enjoyed wooded areas. The silence was pleasant, and she took in a deep breath to enjoy the moment.

  “How old are you?” Giovonna asked, shattering her peacefulness.

  Sydona grinned. “Older than you.”

  “Gimme a range. Cause I know we live a lot longer than humans. I think like over a hundred years or something?”

  “She’s six--” Raoul began.

  “Hey!” Sydona shouted, refusing to let him finish the number.

  “Sixty?!” Giovonna blurted loud enough to almost hear it echo through the trees.

  “I am not sixty! Raoul doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Sydona huffed.

  All Raoul could do was block his mouth to keep from laughing too loudly.

  “You don’t look that old. I would peg you for about mid-thirties?” Giovonna said, studying Sydona’s face. “I see some wrinkles on your forehead. So maybe forty?”

  “What?” Sydona stopped and dug through her bag for something reflective. But as she rifled through her stuff, she heard suppressed giggling from the other two/

  Sydona rolled her eyes and held back a laugh.

  Giovonna continued her questioning. “So how old are you then, Raoul?”

  “I am fifty-five years young,” Raoul said proudly

  “And if Sydona got you when she was eight, like most fliers do... That would make Syd--”

  “Shh!” Sydona perked up. Holding her hand up flat to stop them from talking, she took a couple steps forward. She could faintly hear a barking in the distance. She stood as still as a statue and waited to hear it again, thinking it was a fluke. But not even a minute later, she confirmed a second barking along with the first. They weren’t coyotes or wolves like she had heard many times before. They were hound dogs.

  Raoul dashed toward the sound of the dogs and yelled back. “We need to go!”

  “I think it’s them again,” Sydona said and took off running through the woods, dodging in and out of trees, away from the howling. Giovonna struggled to keep up with her and lagged way behind. The yells and laughs of the men filled the trees. Raoul stayed ahead of the girls to scope out places to hide. Suddenly, Sydona heard Giovonna make a loud grunting sound and fall into a pile of debris. She whipped back around to see what happened and helped her up as fast as she could. Giovonna hunched over and grabbed her knees.

  “Ouch…” Giovonna moaned. “Landed on a bunch of rocks.”

  “Can you keep going?” Sydona asked hurriedly.

  Giovonna tried to move and collapsed. “Think they’re just bruised, but man does it hurt.”

  “There’s a house up ahead! Just carry her!” Raoul yelled as he pointed in the direction of a clearing.

  Rather than trying to support Giovonna by being a crutch, Sydona picked her up with a grunt and cradled her. Joking to herself, Sydona thought that if they were flying this would be a piece of cake. But the forest was so dense that there was no way to fly away without hitting branches and falling back down. Giovonna being new at flying and having bruised knees gave them especially few options. The sounds of the dogs and the truck were getting louder and so was her heart beat. Giovonna complained that she was fine and could walk, but Sydona ignored her, fearing what would happen if they were caught. The house came into view through bushes and tre
es. And there was a clearing. A perfect place to fly away from. Raoul could donate as much fairy dust as he could to help Giovonna fly. If they were to do this, though, it had to be fast.

  “Raoul! Wait up!” Sydona struggled to keep up with him as he zoomed well ahead of them.

  Just then, she felt a sharp sting in her neck. Her vision blurred almost instantly. Sydona suddenly felt like a cement truck, and she fell to the ground as the pain got stronger. As she was lying on the ground, she faintly saw a red-headed woman holding a shotgun over her shoulder. This was it. She was done for. They were all going to be the NFA’s property now. She looked around for Raoul and saw no sight of him anywhere. She hoped he got away. He was very small and quick. Surely he got away. No longer able to focus on anything, a strange feeling overcame her body, and her lids felt heavy. Words slipped out of reach, and she drifted off into a deep slumber.

  Chapter Six

  Sydona began to hear a familiar, gleeful voice and high pitched giggles. Reluctantly, she peeled her eyes open to look through her long eyelashes, but everything still appeared blurry. She tried sitting up and instantly felt a pounding headache, causing her to grab her head with clammy hands. Blinking, she found herself lying on a firm bed with an outdated flowery and mustard-colored bedspread. Her mind was racing, and all kinds of questions ran through it. Is this the end of the road? Where were Giovonna and Raoul? What did she get shot with? Why was she not dead? And why was this bedspread so hideous? Sydona grabbed her neck where she had been shot, and it was still painful and throbbing. She then instinctively reached her other hand to where her dagger normally resided. Gone. She silently panicked. She blinked more, and her vision finally cleared. All her senses awoke like a cat hearing a loud sound. Trying to sit up more, her head began to pound harder, and she slid back down into the suffocating yellow lilies.