On the Horizon

Chapter 6

I wake up to a pair of stormy gray eyes. They stare down at me in worry.

Then I realize who the storms belong to.

Nate.

Everything rushes back to me, and I bolt up.

"Hey I'm fine." Nate assures me. "Is your wing alright?"

I look around and see we're in an alley, with my wings outstretched.

I flap them, lifting myself to my feet, and a little bit off the ground.

My right flaps strongly, but wearily, and my left is struggling to match my right's wing beats.

I land, exhausted from the strain. "Other than my left being weak, I'm okay." I pant.

"You're holding it oddly." Nate notes.

I look and see my left wing is sagging a bit. I try to raise it, but it sends a sharp sudden pain through my back.

I yelp, and flap my right for a moment.

"It needs recovery time." I rasp.

Nate looks into my eyes, his storms seeming to calculate what he says next. Finally, he runs his hand through his messy brown hair, now messier than ever. I will admit he rocks the wind-blown look.

He looks back into my eyes, and empathy echoes inside his own. "Thank you." He says finally. "I could've died. You... you saved my life."

I shrug. "I've done it a few times now."

"But not like this." Nate argues. "You're so close to home, you could get back yourself, but instead you chose to save me. I could tell from the way the man at Angel's looked at me that most Wingeds don't like humans."

I nod. "It's true. Some distrust humans. They say we should kill them all and fix all the world's problems. But what will that accomplish?" I rant. Then I smile. "Besides, you've grown on me Lark. Quite a bit. I could even call you my friend."

"Are we?" Nate asks, a slight smile slipping from his lips. Not an attractive grin, but a friendly, admiring smile.

I nod. "I can't have you be less, you could've left me on the side of the road. You could've left me to my own struggles, my own problems and forgot you ever saw me. That'd be much more simple."

Nate shakes his head. "Nah. I've always had to be the hero. Gets me in trouble most of the time."

I laugh.

A silence follows, both of us unsure of what to say next. We both settle for a hug.

"Really Nate," I whisper in his ear, clinging to him. "I owe you my life."

"You don't owe me anything." he whispers, then leans back. "Knowing how the universe really works is much more rewarding."

"Hey man, I don't know everything." I laugh, holding out my hands.

Then we hear laughter from the other end of the alley. A weird moistness fills the sweltering Florida air.

They sound about our age, the voices.

Nate hands me a black sweatshirt and I jerk it on and pull the hoodie up. It's huge on me, as far as sweatshirts go, and must be his.

The girls are definitely Naiads.

They giggle as we walk by. One of them catches Nate, who didn't have time to put up his hood, and stops.

"Hi handsome," The Naiad says softly. "You look bored."

"Not really." Nate rolls his eyes.

"We're going to this cool casino," says the other. "Wanna come with?"