The Butterfly Girl: A Star is Born

All Together Now

[Sophia]

I fell back onto my pillows and closed my eyes for a few more minutes just after the Twins finally left me alone, resuming sleep before I finally decided to get up a few hours later. I always hated getting woken up like that. Eventually, I sat up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. But I was shaken quite vigorously so it made me a little delirious. I yawned and stretched my arms and wings, each touching both sides of the walls before I folded them back in. I was too tried (and lazy) to put on clothes just yet so I wrapped my blanket around me like a cape and headed downstairs.

I usually come downstairs like this, but when we had the Twins over for the first time, I felt awkward getting up that morning like I woke from the dead. But at this point, I didn't care what they thought.

They were waiting for me in the kitchen and watched me as I stumbled along to find something to eat. I asked them if they wanted anything in particular, but of course I should've known that they didn't know what we even had. It took me a moment to realize that.

"How about some of these?" I asked, holding up a box of toaster waffles. There's only two of them left in the box, so might as well finish them.

They agreed to try them and watched me put them in the toaster and waited.

"Are you feeling okay Sophie?" they asked. I yawned and lazily put my head on the counter.

"Yeah, I'm just not used to waking up this early," I muttered.

"Aren't you going to make something for yourself?"

"No, I'm not hungry. I'll make something later."

"Are you sure you'll be okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

I only ever eat when I'm hungry. Occasionally I will find something to snack on, depending on what sounds more satisfying to munch on. And if I can't find anything, I'll just wait until Apollo starts making dinner. Or I'll make something for myself.

The Twins said they'd get a head start after they finished eating and wait for me at the tree house so I could get ready and prepare. Of course, I knew there was nothing I could do to prepare for this. I could only be as ready as I am and hope that I'll survive until it's over.

I was too lazy to pick out a different outfit, so I just put on what I wore yesterday. My blue shirt and black shorts. Found my red Converse shoes in the corner of my room and tied my purple hoodie around my waist. I picked up my bag and made sure everything was in place. I fixed my hair and thought I was ready to go. The sun was still rising and we had a lot to do today. I was able to catch up with the Twins and I wasn't really surprised to see Teri leaning over the ground, half her torso in the water pools and conversing with the Twins until she noticed me walking towards them. Although, I was a little surprised to see her up this early. But I hoped that they had a better plan than I did. Because, I didn't have one.

"Sophie! Over here!" Teri waved to me. I trotted over to them and sat down near them. Teri pulled herself up and sat with her tail still in the water, casually waving it back and forth.

"I got up extra early so I could finish my rounds and have more time to help you guys." Teri explained.

"We're glad to have you with us," the Twins chimed.

"This time, we're not splitting up. We're gonna stick together as a group and look for clues that can help us find Apollo."

We all nodded in agreement.

"But what about your mother?" Flyboy asked.

"Will she be okay if we go off to rescue Apollo?"

Teri looked down for a moment. "I want him to come back as much as you hope. But we can't do this without Apollo. If we're going to find him, we need everyone together to help. So, are you guys ready to go?" Teri beamed. I stood up, bag slung at my side, ready as I ever was. The Twins stood up and pulled Teri out of the water, her tail suddenly vanishing and becoming legs with a long skirt.

"Okay, so where was the place Apollo was taken?" Teri asked.

"Well, it's kinda far from here. Can you make it on foot?" I asked. Teri suddenly smiled curtly.

"Oh, I'm not going on foot. I'm going to fly, like you!"

I was taken aback. Not even the Twins knew how to respond to this.

"What?"

"But how? You don't have wings like us," the Twins pointed out.

"That's no problem. Here, I'll show you. I've been practicing this for a while and this is the perfect opportunity to use it," Teri said as she walked past me, standing slightly closer to one of the large pools and she suddenly pointed at me.

"Sophia, can I see your wings for a moment. I need to see what they look like." she asked politely.

"Um... okay." I obliged. I pulled back my shirt a little bit and let my wings slide through the little slits and extended them to acceptable length for Teri to use. Although, I was confused as to why she needed to see my wings specifically.

"Teri, we don't understand what you mean. What are you gonna do?" the Twins asked curiously.

"I'll explain in just a moment. But could you please do me a favor and be quiet for just a moment? I need to focus." Teri closed her eyes and stood very still, arms at her side and head tilted slightly downwards. We let her focus in silence, curious and confused as to what she was about to do. She stepped forward, closer to me and slowly opened her arms out wide, almost matching my wingspan. All of a sudden, the water pool behind her began to ripple and bubble.

She spun around and reached her hand into the water and quickly waved her hand towards me and I blinked, expecting her to splash me with the palm full of water, but instead of striking me, the water curved around and a steady stream of water began to flow around her and twisted it up and down and began to move behind her back. Teri opened her eyes slowly and she stared at me. I couldn't make eye contact, but I knew she was looking at me. Instead of looking her in the face, I looked around her. She stared at me, focused and calm. She pulled her arms up, and the water shot up above her and collected itself into its unstable shape. Then she puts her hands down, and the water stretched downwards, elongated. And with swift arms, she opened them out wide and the water extended itself outwards and almost matched the shape of my wings.

The Twins and I stared at her new creation in awe. My wings lowered as I stared at her newly formed wings. Teri's smile suddenly grew back and she beamed at us brightly, proud of herself, and put her arms back at her side.

"How did you do that?" Fleetfoot exclaimed.

"What was that you just did?" Flyboy chimed.

"Some of my Mother's abilities passed on to me when I was born. Lately, I've been practicing my ability to manipulate and influence water. I haven't been practicing as much as I used to, but I hoped that it would serve me well if I ever used it up on the surface when and if I ever got the chance." Teri explained.

"So... do those actually work?" I asked nervously.

"I'm not sure. Let me try."

Teri looked up into the sky and started furiously moving her new wings up and down. I felt a few drops of water hit my face and I stood back a bit. Teri stood on her toes and moved her wings faster, but she did not rise into the air. She let out a breath, "Is it not working? I thought for sure that's how you do it."

She tried again, frantically waving her wings up and down, but she couldn't seem to get herself into the air. Until I stepped forward.

"Teri, stop, stop. Hold on a second."

"Am I not doing it right?" she asked, worriedly.

"Um... there's a little more to it than that." I said. "Here, look."

I stepped back and gave myself enough room and faced her at an angle.

"Okay, so when you're trying to take off, don't move your wings so fast. That's not how it works." I explained to the best of my abilities. I started slowly moving my wings up and down in a familiar beat. Up, out, down, in.

"You see what I'm doing?"

"Yes." Teri nodded and she began to synchronize with me.

"You have to do it slow and steady. Make sure you push down hard or you won't get off the ground, see? Look."

I started to beat my wings, pulling them down harder and swiftly bringing them back up until I began to hover in the air. Teri watched as I pulled myself higher into the air, and she looked at the way my wings moved. Up, out, down, in.

"It's not that hard! C'mon, try it again!" the Twins encouraged as they themselves began to rise steadily in the air with their own wings. Teri breathed deeply for a moment before crouching down and suddenly leaping into the air, pushing her wings up and down again with all her might, trying to steady herself in the air and hold her there.

"There you go! You got it, don't push yourself too hard."

Teri was surprised to see herself slowly rising into the air, off the ground. She smiled sheepishly and watched as the Twins soared above her, reaching out towards them and began to push her wings steadily back and forth until she began to rise more. We continued to encourage her and soon she began to soar around us as we climbed higher above the trees. Until I noticed she was starting to move slightly forward and almost ran into a tree. I was able to back off and give her space to back up, but she couldn't turn in time and just barely missed it, grazing herself on a few leaves.

"You have to put your whole body into it!" I shouted from below. Teri nodded, understanding what she had to do. And soon we began to move away from the tree house, gliding together.

"Okay, let's go rescue Apollo!" Teri exclaimed to the wind.

The Twins took the lead, as they remembered the path we took better than I did. Teri was giggling and gliding behind them, proud of herself and amazed at the sights she was seeing and this new feeling she was experiencing. She couldn't stop laughing to herself the whole time and it honestly made me laugh just seeing how much fun she was having. She glided closer to me.

"Is this what it feels like all the time?"

I smiled warmly, "Yeah! Pretty much!" I responded.

As we continued, I had to remind her that she was losing altitude a few times and she was able to bring herself back up again until we finally made it to the familiar sight. Two dead, ash covered trees and charred ground. We went one at a time, carefully landing so we wouldn't crash into each other. Teri didn't land as smoothly, but she did it gracefully.

"That was incredible! I never knew that flying felt like that! That felt amazing, Sophie! You have to teach me more sometime so I can practice more."

"Tch, yeah okay." I agreed.

"We're really proud, but right now we still have something to do. C'mon, this way." the Twins lead on.

"Right!" Teri snapped, remembering what they came here to do. My smile vanished and soon the task at hand slipped onto me, and my face turns serious. The ground beneath us crunched and crackled and we stepped over rocks and fallen branches carefully.

"Sophie, you were the one who was able to put out the fire, right?" Teri asked.

"Yeah."

"How did you do it? The Twins didn't tell me how."

My gaze averted hers and I scratched the back of my neck involuntarily and nervously.

"Oh... um..... well, I'll explain that later."

Soon we reached the area where the attack happened. Fallen leaves, scratched ground, obviously disturbed and signs of struggle. But nothing that gave away any clues.

"Wow... I can't believe you even made it out of there alive. It's a good thing you left when you did."

I agreed with Teri. "Yeah, I'm just glad I was able to get there in time."

Although, I wish I could've gotten there a little sooner. If I hadn't stalled with Teri maybe I could've reached them sooner and gotten them all out, I thought.

We all looked around, but like we found yesterday, nothing of interest. The black puddles were still here, more sticky now. We still didn't know what this stuff was, but the trail went cold and we were unable to pick it up.

"So, you say she was dragged this way?" Teri asked.

"Yes, we tried to follow it, but we couldn't keep up and we lost him," the Twins described. Teri began to walk in the direction they pointed out and I caught up to them a second later, as I had caught myself staring into space and followed them. The sticky, black trail ended soon after, but Teri kept going.

"Didn't you keep going when you lost the trail?" Teri asked.

"No, like we said, we couldn't keep up with it and lost it. And we had to go back and get Sophia." the Twins explained.

For some reason I didn't bother to look at anything, I just followed behind them, kinda hoping they were onto something. Until we reached a steep, rocky edge and we stopped. We all carefully leaned over the side and looked at the ground below, but we didn't see much.

"Do you think it went over here?" the Twins asked.

"I don't know," I said. But Teri wasn't so sure. She extended her wings and leaped over the edge and I was relieved to see her land safely and soon we followed after her. She looked around and spotted something.

"Look," she pointed to a few trees and she found that some of the branches had been broken and lay forlorn on the ground. I noticed the dirt I was standing on looked like it had been dug up.

"It must've leaped over the edge and landed on the ground here... but then where?" Teri said out loud. She looked back at the edge and I followed her. I climbed on some of the rocks and boulders and looked until I spotted something in the crevices. I reached my hand through and felt something wet and sticky. When I pulled my arm back out, my fingers were covered in that same black substance.

"Guys, over here! I found something!" I called out. We used all our strength to push away a couple rocks and found a small tunnel that seemed to lead further into the cliffside. I climbed forward first and stuck my head in to see if I could see anything else.

"Can you see anything?" the Twins asked.

"Hold on a sec..." I reached into my bag and pulled out a tiny flashlight. It was too dark in here to see well, especially with the daylight behind me. My vision couldn't adjust as well in both these places at the same time. I clicked the tiny button and waved the flashlight around. There was more of that black, inky stuff on the walls and ceiling. As I crawled further, I made sure not to touch any of it.

"This thing is so small, How did it even fit in here with Apollo?" I said to myself. It was dark in here and the sunlight behind me didn't reach very far. Until I suddenly felt a breeze. And it didn't come from behind me. I shuffled forward and the tunnel expanded and went straight down.

"I think they went this way!" I called out. I heard shuffling sounds from behind me and I tried to squeeze through to see if I could see the bottom.

"Are you sure they went this way?" Teri asked from behind me. I tried to turn around and answer, but my elbow slipped and I began to fall forward until I felt something grab my leg and suspended me above the enlarged tunnel.

"It's okay, I got you!" I heard Teri call from above. I twisted my neck to see her hanging onto my leg with one arm.

"Do you see anything?"

I looked back down and pointed my flashlight towards the bottom and focused my eyes. And there I could see a rocky bottom surface not too far from where I was hanging.

"Yeah, I can see the bottom here!" I called out.

"Okay, hang on. I'm going to let you go!"

"Wait-!"

I felt Teri's cold hand slip and half-flipped me in the process until I was right side up and just when I thought I was about to break my legs and I was suddenly grabbed from behind and gently lowered to the bottom.

"See, it's okay! I got you!" I heard Teri's wings splash against the rocks and drip to the floor. I stumbled to get back on my feet and thanked her for catching me in time. We shouted up to the Twins to be careful and they managed to get down carefully. I waved my flashlight around, looking for any more signs of the inky substance, until the Twins pointed out another path. I shone my flashlight to where they pointed at and we all saw it. Another tunnel, bigger than the one we just came through and it seemed to lead onward. We glanced at each other, uncertain if this was the right path. But we all knew that there was only one way we could go and we slowly, but surely continued onwards.

Hoping we'd find some signs that this would lead us closer to Apollo.