Draiks and Angels: Rescued

10 - SSU

Cona was lying on her bed, on her side so her wings wouldn't be squished, attempting to read. She was pretty sure she had tried rereading the same page three times already. She liked historical romance novels, so she wasn't sure what was wrong.

It had been a week since she called the other Draiks and they rescued Sera. She had already deep-cleaned her bathroom, the kitchen, her bedroom, the guest bathroom, the guest bedroom, and the exercise room. There was no way she could keep an entire mansion clean by herself, so she still had cleaners come every couple months, but things still got dirty in the meantime. Maybe not so much the guest room, but she needed something to handle her feelings.

She had been trying to ignore her feelings, mostly, because she knew she wouldn't like what she saw, and cleaning was good for ignoring. Reading, not so much. Her mind kept filling with remembered bits of conversation and feelings, and she would have to go back and reread the page she was on.

After starting another page for the fourth time, Cona heard a faint ringing. The telephone in the den! She dropped the book, rolled off the bed and raced for the door. She flew to the den just in time for the telephone there to stop ringing.

"Shoot!" Cona exclaimed, walking over to the table where the phone sat.

One of the lines in the mansion had an answering machine, but this one didn't. She was pretty sure this line was only connected to this phone. It was an older phone, with a wired receiver, so she couldn't take it with her in case whoever it was called back. As she stood contemplating the phone, it rang again. Cona jumped, then quickly picked it up.

"Hello?" she asked tentatively.

"Hello, Cona?" It was Daniel.

"Hi, Daniel, what can I do for you?"

"You know those pictures you took for us? We've been looking at them and we have something we need to show you. Is there somewhere we can meet? Preferably with chairs and a table?"

Cona thought for a moment, "You are at SSU, right?"

"That's right."

"I can probably meet you there after dark, if you can give me directions to where you'd like to meet."

Daniel was surprised, "There are a lot of people on campus, even after dark. And there will be students and faculty inside our building. Are you sure that will be okay?"

"I have a way to keep inconspicuous."

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That night, Cona flew to SSU in the next city over. SSU was a large campus, with many academic buildings, but also a hospital, research buildings, and various medical specialties' facilities. It was easy for Cona to find a stand of trees in between the various sections that was isolated enough to land in. She pulled a dark purple "duster" out of her satchel, folded her wings tightly to her back, and shrugged it on. It was long-sleeved and came down to her ankles. She knew it didn't completely hide her wings, they were lumps under the fabric, but she had never received so much as a second look when wearing one. She didn't like to do it often because it stretched her ability to accept that others didn't notice to the limit.

She pulled out the note she made of the directions Daniel gave to the Archaeology building. She would first have to find the Student Union Building, but Daniel said there were signs that should make that easy. She carefully walked out of the trees, making sure no one was looking, and headed off at a brisk pace.

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Daniel paced in the small classroom. He didn't know how long it would take Cona to arrive at SSU and then again to find the building. Peter's son was performing in his High School orchestra and so Peter couldn't be at their meeting. He said he trusted Daniel, but it was nerve-wracking. Maybe he should be waiting outside the room?