I Wish

Chapter 32

Those air currents swirling around beautifully? We were headed straight for one. More interesting? I didn’t know what fairy’s were capable of surviving, but I hoped that Ivy remembered that I was human because oh god…

“I am going to die here,” I stated flatly, and I felt so scared that if my whole body just up and spontaneously combusted that both wouldn’t surprise me and would be incredibly convenient. Ivy just squeezed me tightly again, and kept laughing.

“Never going to happen,” she vowed back, and we reached the top of one of the larger wind spirals, “This is going to be sweet. Totally.” For one truly bizarre moment my brain bent just a little, threatening to snap but not quite making good on the promise, and all I could hear was the tiny turtle telling the stingray he was from the EAC, dude. You know,  from finding Nemo. It was official, I was most likely insane. Before I could form any kind of actual retort we’d already jumped it. It was so loud in there, the wind roaring like a monster that never stops. A low continuous note that makes you distance just that fraction more from reality.

The scream I let out was wordless, high-pitched and swallowed by the tearing winds and Ames neighing his massive head off like he was having the time of his life. Prick. Air became an issue, and I stopped long enough to drag in another large breath so I could continue to wordlessly scream. This evolved into screaming obscenities, until I dissolved into laughter myself. We twisted and turned, shooting along the turning into a compendium of sharp turns, quick drops, staggering climbs, and wide gliding arcs. Dipping in and out of air currents, the sun shone and just… laughed together. Nothing could be better or more exhilarating than this. Even if my ears hurt, and my fingers clinged so hard to Ivy that her forearms would surely have bruises.

“Best day of my life,” I yelled into the open air, rocking into her embrace.

“Best day of your life so far,” she corrected in a shout, nuzzling into my hair. Simpsion’s Movie references? How the? The rest of that thought was swallowed in a wild change of direction, almost directly towards the ground, and my ass lifted so high that I wasn’t actually seated anymore. Only Ivy’s arm’s stopped me from being up and blowing away, and in a fit of insanity I lifted my legs to make the gap even higher. “I’ve got you,” she promised breathlessly into my ear. I snorted practically immediately, I knew that.

“Where’s the ground?” I asked in a panic, because we had headed straight into the fog of the clouds. Rushing down, and at dizzying speeds, Ame’s suddenly jerked out from under us and my stomach all but bottomed out. A strange buzzing filled my ears, and we slowed. Impossibly dropping to a stop, standing on something that appeared to hold the same function as solid ground. Appeared to, but it was a cloud. It was a cloud right, and there was no way that anyone could be standing around on a cloud. Yeah? There had to be one single solitary limit somewhere, right? “Random clouds are floor now?” I demanded all but broken, “Is that where we’re at now?”

“”We’re at Cumulonimbus City,” she said as if that was a totally logical and normal thing to name a city. The way Ivy said it, it was pronounced Kyoo-Myuh-Loh-Nim-Buhs. Yeah. Uh-huh and actually if I remembered rightly, I was having a fifth grade flashback, it was also a name for a type of cloud. “We mostly call it Nim, though,” she said after a beat, and I relaxed. Good. I could pronounce that without mangling it beyond repair. In the background there was a low buzzing noise.

“Oh,” I said dumbly, somewhere while I was processing all of this the sun had come out. All around us the mist lit up with shining rainbow tones. It glowed enough that I could finally see the city, and again I reartreate: oh. Not that it in any way covered it. I was starting to suspect that there wasn’t a single location here that was ugly. It wasn’t so much a city here, the city implied there were houses for people to live in, and businesses to sustain them. There were not. Just a large palace. Huge, and shining, and made of glass. More people that I could even begin to count were packed inside and around it. The fog and the glass are enough to distort them but not enough to obscure them completely. Everything was just so shimmery, and shiny, and eye wateringly glittery. 

“Beautiful, huh?” Ivy said proudly, and I turned to face her… and stopped dead. My brain shutting down and melting out of my ears. She… she had wings. Like, I know she told me that she did and that she worried about me seeing them. Which she totally should have, and they were unbelievable. The low buzzing was the nervous flutter of her wings. Pointed, iridescent, and paneled like an insect. They shone and were coated in a shimmery dust. I walked forwards without thinking, my hand outstretched. I wasn’t sure if it was trying to touch her wings, or just trying to touch her and make sure that she’s real. She caught my hand and pulled me into a hug, my arms trapped at my sides.

“Maybe I’m unconscious in a hospital bed somewhere with a fever or somet… nah, I’m not going there. That’s how crazy get’s in,” I muttered to myself, twisting to make an attempt at touching her wings. Thwarting it Ivy let out a melodic pur. 

“I wouldn’t,” she cautioned. I pouted vaguely, and yes. My bottom lip did come out. “How bluntly do you want me to put this?” Ivy asked with a sigh. I thought about this, distractedly, and figured out how distractedly should impact my answer.

“So blunt it’s just crass now,” I responded after a few moments, more than it should have taken, to think it over. She pulled back and made a considerable effort to look at me seriously, it was ruined by the twinkling in her eyes. She was going to take pure delight in whatever was coming out of her mouth next, you could see it written on her face.

“Equate them to a v****a. If you don’t want to touch mine, then you shouldn’t touch my wings either,” Ivy said, unable to keep a grin off her face, “Seriously though, either it ends in an orgasm or it’s just more.” My mouth opened and closed a few times, soundlessly.

“Okay, fair enough,” I told her, finding my voice again, “Clear boundaries. I like that,  I respect that, and I can work that.” Ivy shook her head, just as amused as she’d been before.

“You are incredible,” she murmured, squeezing me yet again, “Has anyone ever told you that?” I have to admit, I was really enjoying the physical affection. I was also fully aware that Ivy probably both knew that and was doing it on purpose, but it was still nice. She sighed and her wings melted away. It gave a sharp pang in my chest as they did so, making her seem somehow unnatural now. Not as she was supposed to be, which was weird because I would have thought my brian would have rebelled against them being there. Not losing it over their disappearance. 

“You know, I don’t think that they have,” I said honestly, because netball didn’t count, “So what’s in there.” I jerked my thumb behind me, and stepped away turning to face it.

“The party that never ends,” she said with a small smile curving raspberry red lips, “Well, the one in the Spring court anyway. Each court has its own Sky City. They all threw a party to celebrate their creation, and they’ve been partying ever since.” I had no frame of reference for how long that was exactly, but the dedication implied said it had been a long-long time. 

“Should we be careful about being able to leave?” I asked her suspiciously. 

“Treasure,” she complimented, “Not this time. You’re with me.” Everybody had someone they had to answer to, I thought grimly, I wasn’t looking forward to meeting hers. That was depressing, and I committed to happiness. Ivy moved to start us walking towards the palace, and having an idea about being cute, I pulled her to a stop. Hoping to get another laugh out of her because as often as I had heard it, making sure that I made it happen at every opportunity was my new obsession. 

“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” I said, doing my best imitation.

“What now?” she groaned. I smirked sarcastically at her.

“I’ll deny ever admitting you’re right, but your horse is a traitor,” I told her seriously. She burst in giggles. Mission accomplished.