Immortal

16. First Flight

Honestly, Amity probably should've waited until I was in the process of unlocking the cell, and probably standing inside of it, before getting all excited and giving herself away. Had she done that she probably would have been successful in her plan. She was an amateur. No professional bounty hunter that I knew of would have made her mistakes.  She tried her best. I felt bad that she wouldn't get credit and that instead of maintaining capture she had been the cause of escape. Not only did she give me the resources to do so, she also taught me about a specific subject from our world I had no knowledge of. 

Magic.

Amity was really quite helpful. It was in moments like this where I was grateful that stupidity was a very real thing. Now I was compelled to do studies in other fields of knowledge. I had taken the two books she gave me. I didn't understand how she could produce a different element of nature I didn't even know about. What more about this place was hidden in plain view? I also wondered if this was actually just a practical joke. There was a two percent chance that everything I'd just witnessed before was a well orchestrated joke. I was just waiting for someone to jump out and scream SIKE!

It never happened as I ran down corridors and ducked into empty rooms to avoid the scrambling attention of wondering art forms. No one had reported the escape yet, they probably thought they still had time to catch us. I was going through the possible exit points in the facility that would be the least amount of a risk. None of my escape routes seemed all that great. I could hear Amity's voice in my head, the way she sqeualed. I froze mid-step as I almost walked into the path of sight of Izen. What was he doing all the way out here?

"They got away." He was muttering like a mad man. Claire was standing nearby. "They should still be in the building." She reassured. I pushed Alaric into one of the empty rooms. "Stay." I mouthed to him my expression hard. He ducked under a table. I took a deep breath. I looked back at him one last time. "Run when I say." I whispered. I stepped out into the open. Izen looked straight at me first, then my eyes met Claire's. "Hey guys, heard you guys were missing a captive." I smiled and Claire stepped forward. "Sam." She spoke quietly but her tone had hostility. "Where is he?" "Hell, if I know. Even if I did I'd never tell you." I made my voice as sarcastic as possible. I could see a clear path to an open window. Claire followed my line of sight and threw a knife not even a second after. Unlike Amity her moves were calculated she knew small talk was meaningless. She wouldn't fall for any tricks from me either.

Avian class immortal echoed in my head for a moment. I wondered if this would stun her the same way it had stunned amity. I felt the knife hit me in the shoulder. The pain radiated outward almost immediately. I didn't give her the satisfaction of a scream. Instead I unfolded my wings as a response. The size of my pitch black wings easily filled the space between us as I ripped the knife out bitterly. Their black midnight tint blocking all view behind me. I dropped the knife and it clattered to the floor covered in my blood.

Claire's expression changed when she saw my wings. It went from bloodlust, to sheer surprise, to fear. She stepped back and so did Izen. I violated a rule that was spoken only among my family. The rule was: Never reveal your wings. No matter what.

I didn't know why but I had followed that rule blindly. I never made any protests. I kept them bound and folded against my spine for years. It felt good to stretch the muscles in them. To feel the feathers shake out and align. Their glossy shine shimmered under the artificial lighting. For some reason I was just pissed off. Fighting Claire wouldn't be like dealing with an Art form. I stood ready either way. If it came to a fight.

"You have wings." She said breaking the silence. The same look of awe and bewilderment that I'd seen on Amity's eyes were reflected in Claire's eyes. "Yeah apparently that's something to be shocked about." I stated still unsure as to why having wings was such a big deal.