Wings of Fire - The LostWing Chronicles, Book 1 - The Awoken

Chapter 2

Anadrom's mind spiraled in wild confusion as she continued to drag Eelgrass towards the surface. She wondered in a daze if she was hallucinating. Perhaps she had inhaled some fumes in the deep that were messing with her senses, and she was still in the Talon cave, staring blankly at a wall as her brain invented a world of its own. She reached out and noted that everything around her felt entirely normal. The dull ache and pressure of being submerged had returned and her muscles were still sore from earlier. The world was too real around her for her to have imagined it.

Eelgrass spluttered next to her, and Anadrom came back to her senses. She could panic later, but right now she needed to confirm that her father had recovered. That he was okay. I had no idea I was enchanting him! What if I said something wrong? Are his internal organs repaired or did it only work on his scales? Her father was staring around himself as if confused as to how he had gotten there, and his eyes still held a speck of fear from the shark attack. "Anadrom?" he signaled, gazing curiously at her. He reached out a talon and rested it on her wing, a cold weight that was very reassuring in its stability.

"Yes," she replied nervously. "Are you alright? There was - er - a shark that attacked you! But I - er - scared it off? Before it was able to do much damage." The partial truth seemed the best way to go here, as it would match with the shattered memories Eelgrass held of the attack. And she definitely didn't want to reveal her condition to her parents yet. I have to figure out what it is first. If she was an animus, then she would lose a bit of her soul whenever she performed an enchantment. But I'm not an animus. That's not possible, she reminded herself. She had to be some sort of near variation, which raised the question of whether the same rules would apply. Oh, I don't like the thought of that at all. This is a nightmare. This can't be happening, right? Why would - it's impossible - I can't lose my soul! I can't have access to magic...

Ocotillo was still circling nervously when they reappeared, looking as if he had been considering heading back to the village for more SeaWing assistance. He let out a cry of relief as he spotted them and dove down, embracing them both and accidentally pushing them back down into the water. They resurfaced, sputtering, and Ocotillo beamed at Anadrom. "Fantastic! You amazing little sunfish! I was so worried -". He seemed unable to vocalize his happiness, and Anadrom was blasted with a wave of her own, driving away her fear. She noticed her scales return entirely to their usual dark color. I wonder what that light was about. Had she enchanted herself to do that at one point and not realized it?

"Ocotillo, calm down," Eelgrass laughed beside her, his voice muffled by the SeaWing's soaked wing. "I'm fine. It was just a large shark that took me by surprise; nothing Anadrom couldn't handle." He winked at her. "I was in much worse shape in that storm when you first found me, and you weren't nearly as upset then."

"There's a difference," Ocotillo sighed. "By the moons, you must have been an entirely useless spy. You can't even handle a shark? Why did Queen Coral keep you on for all those years?" This earned the SandWing a swat from Eelgrass's tail, sending him splashing back down into the water. "I'm taking you out of the ocean for now," the SandWing spluttered, resurfacing while grabbing Eelgrass's wing, and trying to pull him into the sky. Eelgrass shot an amused glance at Anadrom and followed him away back towards the cave.

Anadrom hesitated. She should probably follow them back, since Ocotillo would have a lot of questions, but the taunt of analyzing her powers was pulling her away. Her SandWing father turned to give her another glowing grin and her conscience won over. She made it back to the Talon cave right behind her parents. There was a dull pain forming in her tail where she had hit the shark.

Ocotillo did ask a great many questions, most of which Anadrom answered truthfully. She minimalized the extent to which Eelgrass had been damaged, and skimmed over the size of his attacker so her rescue would seem plausible. Her parents were very trusting of her, so any possible discrepancies in her recollections were overlooked. The sun was sinking below the horizon when she finished. Shafts of ruby-red light bounced into the cave and spun off of the polished mushroom heads, sending about a glow that lit the room as clear as day.