On the Horizon

Chapter Two

I open my eyes.
I'm in a car, driving outside of New York City.
I jump, scrambling around as I yelp.
I'm not the only one.
I look to my left, and scream, leaning against the car door.
The driver swerves around another car as he accidently accelerates.
"WHO ARE YOU?" I scream.
"I COULD YOU ASK YOU THE SAME THING!" he yelps. "ALONG WITH WHY YOU FELL ONTO MY CAR ROOF!"
"Oh," I wince. "My bad. I was shoved off the top floor of the Empire State Building, it wasn't my fault."
"Okay but who are you?" He asks.
"Arwen Ozone." I answer.
"What are you?" he asks, glancing at me, then looking back at the road, his gray eyes flashing.
"A Winged Guardian." I answer again, relaxing a bit.
"Which is?"
"It's a lot to take in while attempting to drive." I sigh.
"I wouldn't be attempting had you not scared the living crap out of me." He snaps, merging into the far right lane.
"Alright, I'm sorry." I roll my eyes.
"Is this like a normal day for you?" He asks.
"No." I say blandly. "I usually get shoved off the Empire State Building on Mondays."
"I see you are very sarcastic." he laughs. "We will either be best friends or terrible enemies."
I laugh. "You are?"
The boy frowns for a moment. "Nate Lark."
I nod, looking back at the road. "What were you doing at the Empire State Building?" I ask
"I'm a photographer, I was meeting with someone today to try to get into a good art school." Nate answers.
Then a shocking thought comes up to me. "You- you shouldn't be able to see me." I gasp. "You're only supposed to see an eagle!"
Nate laughs. "You look like a girl with eagle wings, not an eagle. Do you think I'm crazy or something?"
"No there's the magical aura my wings give off that makes humans think I'm an eagle." I answer. "Makes great youtube videos but not a good rep, since I'm getting slammed through glass doors and falling from buildings. They all think I'm kinda stupid."
"Everything about what you just said completely went over my head." Nate says blandly, turning into a neighborhood.
"Yeah probably." I mutter. "Where are we going?" I ask louder.
"My house. Well my family's house." Nate responds. "My parents are going to be in Europe all summer and my sister lives in Ohio."
I nod.
Nate pulls to a stop in the driveway, and gets out.
Once I'm out of the car, my wings reappear.
I usually make my wings disappear when I lay down, or if I'm in tight spaces.
I wince as I stretch them out, and remember what happened to my left.
When I glance at it, the tip feathers are bent and ruffled, along with some near my joint.
Either way, I injured it pretty bad.
"What did you do to it?" Nate asks, opening the front door. "It looks like you hurt it pretty bad."
I wince as I flap it. "I did. And I'm not really sure what I did to it, but a cabinet fell on top of it."
"How?" Nate asks.
"I'll explain inside." I mumble, walking in.
The home is very open, and modern looking.
The kitchen and living room are one room, and the walls are a nice white. The furniture however is crazy colorful.
I think they bought white furniture and just splatter painted everything.
And it looks good, oddly.
On one empty wall, the word family is painted in black, with four different colored hand prints beneath it.
Even the cabinets are splatter painted.
It's crazy and artistic.
Nate runs down the hall, and comes back with what looks like advil.
"I'm not sure if this will help, but I don't exactly have a giant bird sling" Nate says.
I laugh. "I wouldn't expect you to." then I swallow the pills.
Nate walks into the kitchen, and digs around in the pantry, taking out a bag of Cheetos.
He empties the bag into a large container as I sit on one of the splatter painted bar stools on his island.
He takes two Diet Cokes from the fridge, and slides one across the island to me.
Nate leans against the island across from me, and pops open his coke.
"Mind telling me what the heck you are now?" he asks, sipping it.
I sigh, and tilt my head back, thinking of a way to explain this.
I look back at Nate after a moment.
His stormy gray eyes ask my own for answers. "Going to answer?" he asks.
"Winged Guardians protect humans from Windreds." I start. "Windreds are spirits of the wind. They're translucent in color but physically solid. The Windreds live in the Tempest Lands. That's what you would call the Bermuda Triangle." I say.
"And these are the bad guys?" Nate asks. I nod. "Makes sense. So these Windreds, is that what you were fighting today?"
I nod. "We protect you from other air threats too, but the Windreds is the biggest. They bring huge storms. Hurricanes, Typhoons, floods, tornados, everything air."
Nate nods, and grabs a handful of Cheetos. "I saw a big storm today rolling in. It wasn't supposed to rain. Was that a Windred?"
I nod. "Just one. It would've only brought some heavy rain and thunder. A whole army would have destroyed New York."
Nate pales slightly. "Oh geez."
I grab a fistful of Cheetos. "Who knows what the one I was chasing was up to, but my job is to get rid of it."
"And how do you do that?" Nate asks.
"Kill it like anything else." I shrug. "I usually carry a shotgun, but I was just out for a fly and only had a knife on me."
Nate nods. "So you guys aren't medieval or anything like that?"
"Um," I say, squinting, and gesturing to my black high top Converse, ripped jeans, and my Cinna Told Me to Wear This t-shirt.
Nate laughs. "Alright, dumb question."
I laugh with him.
"Yeah, we're as modern as humans." I shrug. "You just don't know it. My question is, how can you see me?"
Nate shrugs, running a hand through his messy brown hair. "I've seen someone like you before, but I thought I was dreaming."
"When?" I ask.
"Two years ago," He says, "I was in Arizona and I saw this girl with eagle wings flying straight into a sandstorm. I thought I was crazy, and dreaming. Five minutes later the storm dispersed, and the girl flew out, looking tired but uninjured, and she flew off."
I wince. "That was me. Types of wings run in families. The Ozones have eagle wings."
Nate nods. I pop open my coke finally.
"So how do you get back to wherever you live?" Nate asks.
"Fly, duh." I roll my eyes.
"And where to?" He asks.
I hesitate, but then realize there's really no harm in telling him. "The Winged live in the clouds." I explain. "We move where the front lines are."
"And that is?" Nate asks.
"Florida." I say. "Treasure Coast Area, sometimes I'll wake up one morning and we'll be in the keys."
"Hurricane Land." Nate nods. "Makes sense. But why are you up here?"
"I was chasing a Windred." I shrug. "Didn't expect to end up hunting two."
"You chased a Windred 1200 miles?" Nate asks, raising an eyebrow.
"You would too if they had stolen your knife." I sniff. "It's been in my family for five generations."
Nate shrugs. "Not exactly a warrior, so I wouldn't know."
"Humans." I mutter, rolling my eyes.
Nate looks at half-annoyed. "Are you going to be condescending this whole time?"
I turn up my nose. "Maybe." I snap, crossing my arms.
Nate groans. "It's a good thing I want to help you."
"Help me do what?" I ask, surprised.
"Help you get back to Florida, duh." Nate says.
I get up from my chair, and chug the rest of the coke, and toss it in the trash bin. "I can do that on my own."
"Not with your wing." Nate says, pointing to it. "You won't make it two minutes."
I think, then relent. "Alright true. I could use the help." I admit, speaking more softly.
"That's what I thought." Nate says, and puts a lid on the Cheetos. "My sister has some of her old clothes in the guest room. Pack a bag."
"Th- thank you." I say, surprised.
"You seem surprised?" Nate asks.
"Well it's not everyday a human is offering to help me, their guardian."
Nate smirks. "There's a first time for everything."
I have a feeling this guy is going to get me a lot of firsts. I've already had my first car ride.
Nate shows me the guest room, and I dig around in the closet for clothes that fit me. I select a pair of black jeans, a few hoodies and t-shirts, and some sweaters. I throw some socks into the bag Nate gave me, and a pair of sandals.
I fix my hair, tying it into a high ponytail.
I look for a moment in the mirror, my azure colored eyes staring back at me. My cheeks and nose are peppered with freckles, and my wavy brown hair has little streaks that look gold in the light.
I look away, grabbing the backpack, and walking back out.
In the kitchen, Nate is throwing water bottles and food into a bag. He grabs another backpack, and looks at me. "So tell me, Angel, is it safe to drive with you all the way to Florida?"
I look outside. A thunderstorm cracks over the city.
"Better than flying." I say. "Me, an airplane, and that storm are not going to go well."
"I'm taking the family car then." Nate sighs.
"What?" I ask.
"Driving in a sudan down the east coast is going to get really tiny really quick." Nate says. "The family car is an SUV."
"You really don't have to do this." I say. "I can fight my way down."
Nate doesn't look at me when he says. "Well I'm helping you, Angel. Too bad."
I watch him as he walks into the garage.
When I usually make contact with humans, they all start filming me and throw chunks of food at me.
They certainly have never tried to help me out before.
Then again no human has even seen me before.
Nate Lark is a very interesting human alright.