Equinox (Book One of the Firebird Chronicles) WATTY AWARD HIDDEN GEM WINNER 2015

Chapter Seventeen: The Girl with the Pheromones

A/N: Thanks for reading! Image here is my inspiration for Sakura's character. Beautiful, dark skin, freckles...and very calm and collected! 

Hope you enjoy, she has a bit more development here, and so do Iggy and Kirsten. Comment your thoughts...do you like those guys? Larissa x

I awoke the next morning with my head clearer than ever, just as the rays of dawn shot across the sky.

I shimmied into my black uniform, mentally thankful that not all Angels had tastes the way I used to. I imagined a spa house filled with frilly-clad workers, and suppressed a snort.

I was exhausted, but determined. In between working hours, I had to repair the weapons I’d brought, and start practising with my power. As I combed my hair, I ran through a mental list of the things I would need to fix the bow. But I stopped as I realised that my hair, which had been at my elbows as a human, was now past my hips. I frowned. I had lost track of the days; was it a week since I left Earth? Longer?

But not that long.

If I had still been with Fabian and Scarlett, perhaps I could have asked them whether it was a normal thing. But here, I was alone. I was simply a traveller named Mina.

Then I remembered the day I met Fabian, and his hair had been so long and beautiful. Then he’d lopped it off by the time I saw him next, only for it to have grown enough the next day to tie it at the nape of his neck.

It made me smile. He was still helping me.

I left my rooms, only to find the corridors empty. There was a slight rumble from the guest quarters, where the guests were beginning to awaken, but few sightings of the night workers from the previous evening. I crossed my arms; a chill was in the air as I stepped through the main doors and headed for the open sky.

I walked casually around the Bathhouse, and the morning light was still red. The clouds above seemed daringly close; much closer than from Earth, and the wind that blew was strong and fierce, casting away the summer and making my uniform curve around my body. Now, whenever the wind stirred, it was as if Fabian was there, and it made my throat feel hot.

I had left, and that was it.

I was thankfully distracted by a whirring sound; suspiciously like something being fired. I stepped away from the path, and made my way across the pebbled floor around the Bathhouse, until a lone figure came into view. She had dark skin and bleach blonde hair, standing tall and silhouetted against the sky like the beauty she was. Her muscles contorted amazingly as she drew each arrow and sent it flying. Fluffy white wings were folded neatly against her back.

Sakura, an early riser, stood at the edge of the water, firing arrow after arrow towards a lone island between the waves. On it, a makeshift target had been set up. I watched in awe as Sakura moved, firing arrows that she held in her right hand in succession.

The tall girl paused as she heard my crunching boots behind her. She lowered her bow and surveyed me.

‘Early riser?’ she said. ‘Or couldn’t sleep?’

‘Possibly both,’ I shrugged, ‘I wasn’t sure what time I needed to wake. And I had a list of things to do…’

Sakura looked at me curiously. ‘Like what?’

‘I need to train my power,’ I said, and Sakura’s eyes widened in understanding.

‘Yes, Morwena mentioned you needed help. Is that why you’ve come to me?’