The Winged Ones

The Intrusion

Okay little update: The protagonist (the POV) and Other Boy don't know what their names are yet- I mention this because I contradicted it in chapter one.

That chapter kind of sucked, sorry. It's really just a draft.

Also shoutout to Sleepless for always giving me like essay-long responses when I ask for feedback/ideas

Violet shrunk away, but I could tell that she was hanging on to Senior Presica's every word. "I understand." Senior Presica smirked. "Good. Now, as for these two." She turned towards us- me and Other Boy- once more. "In T- minus five minutes, a group of guards will come up to transport you to my fortress. You'll be further informed there. Violet, remember, no knives in the captives." With that, Senior Presica whirled toward the door and took her leave, the hooked end of one of her wings almost catching my face. I flinched. The sound of her wings beating the air started and faded outside as she flew away.

Once she left, the three of us sat there in silence, our eyes sliding between each other curiously. Other Boy broke the silence first. "So. Where do you guys come from?" He managed, awkwardly. I looked back at him blankly. Violet peered at him suspiciously, as if she thought he was trying to trick her. "I'm not actually sure. I just kind of appeared here. Fell from the sky, I guess." I responded. I sat up on the bed, folding my legs below myself. Violet side-eyed me all the while, clearly wanting me to stay in my previous position. I did it anyway. Hmphing, she looked back at Other Boy.

"Where do you come from?" She asked, with all the friendliness of a 17-foot crocodile with molten-hot swords strapped to its back. He smiled and awkwardly pulled his wings up off the floor, so that they were propping him up on the bed. "Same as Blondie over here," Blondie? My hair was blonde? "I crash-landed into a greenhouse. Fun fact: smashing through and landing on a pile of broken glass with nothing on but a few rags isn't that fun. I think I'll have these cuts for weeks." I snorted. He smirked in response.

I scoured my brain for something to say, anything to keep us from dropping into an awkward silence. "Ah- what's your name? I don't actually know what mine is- but..." I said with an unprecedented grace. Other Boy airily leaned on one wing, fully extending the other, stretching it as far as he could. How was he so relaxed? I thought my head was going to explode, with all of the confusion racing through it. Violet moved closer to the exit, blocking his obvious attempt to escape. "No clue. I hope that woman-"

"Lady Presica." Violet interjected. Other Boy lowered his wing, once again pulling it behind himself.

"Right. Her- I'm hoping she'll enlighten us with that much later. Really, I have no clue what's going on. I'm glad that I'm not the only one who's apparently a war criminal or something, though." He laments. I hurriedly open my mouth to respond, but before I can, a series of thuds sound from outside, shaking the beds and nearly sending me tumbling off mine. Violet scrambled away from the empty door frame just in time for a unit of four uniformly dressed, hooded people to march in like they were on a life-or-death mission to kill us. Two girls, two guys, all with wings. Of course. Violet bared herself in front of our beds, spreading her wings wide as if creating a barrier between them and us.

Upon marching in, they lined up, standing shoulder to shoulder, arranging themselves in order of height. One of them stepped out of the middle of the lineup to stand face-to-face with Violet. They lowered their hood to reveal a middle-aged man. He looked up at Violet with a carefully bare expression. From my angle, I couldn't see her face, but she kept her wings raised ferociously.

Slowly, a smile spread across the man's face. He raised both of his hands in mock surrender, his feathered wings halfway unfurling. "Hey, there. Easy. Uh, contrary to what seems to be your belief, we're not actually here to snatch away these younguns and force them to join our secret beet cult, where they shall live out the rest of their days doing tribal dances around a fire chanting the great beet's name. No," He chuckled. "That was plan B. All hail the mighty root, allelujah."

My eyes went wide. This guy was clearly batshit- probably dangerous, too. I looked over at Other Boy, and I could tell that he was just as confused as I was. Violet's stance had subconsciously shrunk, no doubt out of confusion. Her wings sank closer to her sides for a split second, before she appeared to remember that she had two damsels in distress to protect. She regained her (attemptively) intimidating stance, and brought her fists up in front of her body as if ready to absolutely throw down with this strange man.

"Look, I don't know where you came from or what you could possibly want, but if you don't get out of here in approximately five seconds, I swear to the Souls I will drag you out of here, tie you up, shove you in a wagon, and throw you and your entire posse here off of the nearest cliff." She growled, in what I suppose was meant as an intimidating tone. The man was still smiling, though. He actually looked like he was trying not to laugh. I sidled closer to the edge of my bed. Maybe I could slip off and hide under it without him noticing?

The man shook his head. "Listen, kid, Senior Presica sent us. Wanted us to bring these whippersnappers to her so she could force them to do her evil bidding or something." he chuckled. Violet's wings flared. "You expect me to believe that? First of all, Senior Presica isn't evil, dipshit, and second of all, she would never hire someone as idle as you to handle-"

The hooded man cut her off. "Yeah, yeah, I've heard this all before. Mainly from Senior Presica herself, which is why, as much as I'd love to, I can't stand around chit-chatting with you all day. Super important, confidential, time-sensitive mission and all that." He glanced over his shoulder at the people still standing behind him, practically statues. "Alright, my knights in shining armor; seize them."

You never realize how shit your writing is until you proofread ;-;