Chapter 2
1083 Words
Chapter 2
Dinah was flying. This was certainly different, flying with her own wings as opposed to flying with the wings of her weaponry suit. She could feel the cold breeze blowing through every feather, the strong force of wind pushing against her wings and pulling her shoulders back slightly. She felt a sensation in her muscles whenever she flapped her wings. These angel wings feel great! she thought.
She wondered if the sensation would be the same once she became used to these wings. Jael was right—simply having angel wings didn’t make her an angel, a position she had no intention of taking on. Working for Ciaran in investigative roles—or in anything having to do with chemicals—was what she did best and where she could contribute the most. She believed he would soon promote her to a council of some sort in Eudaiz. She could make a difference in the multiverse by being associated with the most prosperous universe in the cosmos.
In the distance, she could see Arik racing up the hill. He had caught a glimpse of her flying toward him. He must have had a heart attack, waking up and finding she was gone.
He had said he loved her. Dinah couldn’t believe it. It had happened too fast and still felt like a dream. A human loved her, even after not only finding out she wasn’t human, but also seeing her turn into a monster and rip the heart out of a magical hulk. Jael had told her she wasn’t a monster but was possessed by her evil aunty. But Arik didn’t know that.
“Dinah!” he called out.
As she watched him glide through the bushes and rush up the hill to her, she was sure she loved him, too. That was an amazing development considering what she understood about her psychological profile and what she was capable of.
She flapped her wings, flew in a circle, and flapped again. Then there was a tearing sound and a thud. She looked up and saw her wings were caught in a large tree, leaving her dangling over the ground.
Arik rushed over, standing on the ground below her. “Dinah, are you okay? Let go of the wings. Come down. I’ll catch you.”
This had happened before. She’d gotten caught in a tree while flying with her artificial wings. But now she’d discovered the first disadvantage to having real wings was that rubbing them against the spiky tree branches actually hurt. “Let me retract them,” she said.
“Come on, Dinah, let go of them.” He moved back and forth, adjusting his position to catch her when she fell from the tree.
“You’re looking up my dress, Arik.”
“I’ve seen you naked before. Come down here, Dinah!”
“You’re such a romantic!” she said then yanked at her left wing. “Ouch.” She pulled again. “Ouch!” A couple of feathers floated lazily to the ground. Arik picked them up.
“Dinah, you’re bleeding! Stay still. I’ll untangle you.” He started climbing the tree.
“Don’t do that—you’re afraid of heights, you silly,” she said and pulled hard at both wings. She fell to the ground, landing on her backside. Her wings were retracted halfway and still dropping feathers to the ground.
Arik slid down the tree trunk and darted over to her. He pulled her into his arms and held her so tight she could hardly breathe. She could feel his body vibrating with emotion, making her feel bad for fiddling with her wings and not coming back to him quicker.
“You scared the hell out of me. Where did you go?”
“Jael got me. He said—”
She didn’t have time to finish her sentence before he kissed her. And he was a hell of a kisser. Her toes curled, and she thought her wings would, too.
Arik traced his hands up her back to her shoulders. Then he stopped the kiss and looked at her wings. “This isn’t a suit!”
“I know. They’re real wings.”
He smoothed a ruffled feather on the edge of her left wing then kissed her cheek. “You’re beautiful.”
“Don’t you want to know how this came about?”
“Not if you don’t want to tell me.”
She smiled. “You saw me turn into a monster and kill Roallix. After all that, why did you say you love me?”
“Because I do.”
“Even when I turn into a monstrous creature?”
“Do I need to sing a song about it?”
She chuckled. “No. I don’t mind your singing, but I can’t respond. I’m tone deaf.”
He sat down on a stone and pulled her down to sit beside him. “I’ve told you I don’t care what you are.”
“How about an angel?”
“What?”
“Jael is my father. And Charmine, the woman on the hill, was my mother. She was pregnant with me at the time.”
“And you aren’t supposed to come into contact with yourself when you time travel. That’s why you were knocked out when you touched her.”
She nodded.
“Wait, it was 1864. That makes you…”
She wagged a finger. “Earth age is irrelevant in the multiversal space.”
“A woman’s age is irrelevant anywhere.” He rubbed his hand across her bare shoulders after she had completely retracted the wings. “You must be cold. Let me go get your jacket.”
She smiled as she watched his shadow retreating down the rolling hill.
A short while after, a shadow reeled toward her from the opposite direction. She squinted, trying to make it out. It wasn’t just any shadow—it was Cooper. She darted toward him. He was covered in blood.
“Cooper!”
He fell into her arms. She lowered him to the ground and lay him gently on the grass.
“Stay with me, Cooper. I’ll take you back to the camp. Xanthe is a healer. She’ll fix you. Oh no…where’s your arm?” she cried out, looking at where his right forearm should have been. It had been cut off above the elbow. He was on the verge of passing out and couldn’t respond.
“Arik!” Dinah shouted down the hill, where she could still see a glimpse of Arik’s shadow. He didn’t hear her. “Arik!” she cried again.
This time, he turned around and raced back up the hill.
“I need to talk to Arik,” Cooper said weakly.
“He’s coming, Cooper. Don’t speak. We’ll take you back to the village.”
“Where’s Arik?”
“He’ll be here soon. You’ve lost too much blood. Please don’t speak. Keep your strength.” She didn’t realize she was weeping.
Arik rushed over. “Cooper, what happened? Where’s Jenny?” He reached down the lift Cooper up to carry him, but Cooper resisted.
“Jenny wanted me to tell you that they want you. You’re in trouble, Arik.”
“Who are they? Where is my sister?”
Cooper passed out before he could answer.
- Writer
