Whispers on a Wing

Chapter Thirty Three

"What do you mean?" I asked, had I really been so wrong I'd pushed away the one friend I had?
"Alice had nothing to do with this, we just needed her to get out of the way so we could finally get to you," Erik shrugged, acting as if this was a normal conversation for him. "We tried to get to you so many time, but she was just always there, staying at your house, being around you after school, it was annoying. Well her and that bloody overgrown pigeon you had living outside your house guarding your every move."
"I don't..." I trailed off, my mind spinning as I thought about every interaction I had, both with her and with Erik over the last few weeks. "But how did you find me if it wasn't Alice?" I asked.
"We've been tracking you ever since you left the country," mum explained as she dipped her right index finger into her blood and started drawing weird symbols into the grass at her feet, moving around me as she went. "I have to admit you were much more difficult to find than we'd originally anticipated. We'd come close a few times, but something would always spook you and we'd be back to square one."
"It was your boyfriend who finally gave us the break we needed," dad continued, picking up where mum left off, drawing weird symbols into the earth just like she'd done. "We had an alert set up for any photo resembling your face and when he ran a photo of you through the search engine we were alerted your conversation.
"It was easy to find you from then, thanks to Jake you were being more careless than usual and with the help of Erik who planted a tracking app onto your phone we knew where you were and where you lived at all times."
"We really were lucky you'd chosen my school," Erik said, taking the knife from mum and wiping the blood off the blade and onto his T-shirt. "Then it was just a case of putting a plan into action to try and get to you without anyone knowing, but like we said, you made it increasingly difficult to do so."
I frowned as I thought back to every weird thing that had happened in the last few weeks, how I'd just randomly fallen asleep and gotten detention when I'd never done that before. How I'd tripped and fallen down the stairs, how protective Harper had been over her territory. It had all been them?
"But why take me in front of Jake if you didn't want any witnesses? Isn't that exactly what you didn't want to happen?"
"We'll take care of him don't you worry," Erik waved me off and I felt a shot of panic run through me as I thought about the three of them going after him.
"You leave him alone, he has no part in this," I almost growled, matching the ferocity of my dad, but it was falling on deaf ears.
"Don't worry, everything will work out in the end," my mum waved me off. "You should be more focused on yourself."
She then proceeded to take a lighter out of her pocket and without batting an eyelid she dropped it into the grass at her feet. At first nothing happened, it almost seemed anticlimactic, but then suddenly the floor lit up around me, the blood they'd previously drawn into the grass catching on fire as the symbols they'd drawn lit up.
I flinched as I felt the heat from the flames, the memories of how fire had taken so much from me surfacing against my will. "What is it with you guys and fire?" I asked, coughing as the heat entered my lungs, burning my throat.
"Fire is cleansing, it will purge the earth of you and evil creatures like you," dad said, wrapping a piece of cloth first round his cut hand an them my mums, taking care to make sure he doesn't hurt her. The act was so simple, so much like the old them before our lives got all messed up, I felt a bubble of loss and longing deep in my chest.
Erik handed the blade back to mum, almost looking at it in longing, before shoving his hands in his pockets and taking a step back. It was clear he wanted a bigger role in their plan, wanted the responsibility and trust my parents had with each other, but so far they'd just treated him like a kid they'd brought along for the ride. It seems the only thing he'd actually done is stopping me escaping through Jakes kitchen door.
I refocused on trying to get my belt loose, I needed to get out of here if I was ever going to survive this. The flames surrounding me were causing me to sweat and the way my ex parents were currently turned with their backs to me, discussing something in hushed tones, didn't bode well for me.
"Why are you doing what they tell you?" I asked Erik, keeping his focus on me and my words instead of what I was currently doing, trying to contort my body to allow the belt to drop. "Whats in it for you when this is over? You think they're going to tell you what a good job you've done, pat you on the back and take you out for ice cream after? Because news flash, even before I had these wings grow out of my back they were never really the warm and fluffy type."
"Shut up," Erik whispered through gritted teeth, glancing over to my parents who were now pointing at various sections on a small pocket notebook they'd produced from god knows where. "I am doing my duty, and once the ceremony is complete I will be rewarded for my efforts."
"Rewarded?" I laughed, rolling my eyes as I continued to work the belt down inch by inch. It was working, now sitting half way down my torso, but the progress was slow going and it was causing my body to ache in weird places I'd never felt before. Who knew sucking your stomach in over and over and constantly deflating your rib cage could be such laborious work, especially with my hands till tied behind my back which had well and truly lost all feeling.
"Yes, rewarded," he grit out, clenching his fists. This guy really had no clue.
"Let me tell you-" but before I could finish my sentence my parents turned back around with a yelled "silence!"
We both immediately shut up, but continued to glare daggers at each other.
The belt was slowly coming free with every wiggle, I just needed to get it a little further before I could lift them enough to free the very tips of the wings and I could escape. Just a little further and I'd be out of this nightmare.
I zoned the three of them out as I focused solely on my task, freeing myself inch by agonising inch as the belt slowly slipped down my skin underneath my clothing.
Just... a little... further...
With a victorious shout I pulled my wings free from their confines, but as I spread them wide, planning to shoot up straight into the air and away from the trio from hell my feathers hit an invisible barrier.
"What?"
"You didn't honestly believe we hadn't seen what you'd been up to this whole time did you?" My mum asked, looking at me in the patronising way that made me feel like I was eight years old again. "Why do you think we did the binding spell before the ceremony? That way you can't escape unless the seal is broken."
She gestured to the stones around me, the blood still burning as the flames finally died down to an ember, leaving the grass charred and blackened.
I went to say something clever, anything really to wipe that satisfied smirk off her face, but my brain was blank. I was trapped. Even with my wings freed the circle was too small for me to stretch them out and take off.
"Now if you're done playing games," she continued, flicking the knife in the air before catching it blade first to hand to her husband. "We'd like to get on with it."
"What are you going to do?" I asked, the first notes of fear entering my voice as I watched my dad approach, the blade raised high and aimed right at my chest.
"We're going to cut out your heart and burn it,"she said, sounding as if this was an everyday task for them to achieve before they could head home for dinner.
"Cut out my... why?" I whispered, feeling my face pale.
"To cleanse the land of you and every other creature that dares walk this earth, I thought we'd already covered that," she sighed, gesturing with her hand for my dad to get on with it. "Come on Roger, let's get this done so we can finally go home."
They were about to kill their only daughter, murder me in cold blood for the sake of something I couldn't even control, and she was worried about getting back to England?
"Fuck you guys," I spat, fear being replaced with anger as I stared them both down. "Fuck you for what you did to me when I was just a child and fuck you for what you're about to do to me now."
"Language young lady," mum chastised as she crossed her arms, staring over at me in disapproval.
"Go to hell," I yelled at her, wishing I had control of my arms so I could give her some more unladylike gestures.
"You first," dad responded, stepping close enough to be in touching distance. He reached forward with the knife, my back pressed against the invisible barrier that surrounded me, the sun glinting of the metal as I watched it get closer and closer to my chest.
This was it, I was about to die.
At least I knew what it was like to have a friend like Alice before I died, my only regret was I couldn't apologise for how wrong I'd been about her. I'd die with her thinking I still hated her and blamed her for burning my house down and kidnapping and or killing Harper.
I sent a silent prayer up to a god I didn't believe in, anyone who was listening really, and prayed that she could find it in her heart to forgive me. I prayed that Jake would be safe and he'd get out of that house before my parents were finished with me and decided to go back and remove any witnesses. I prayed that Harper was alive, that she survived whatever it was these three did to her and that she was out there, soaring through the clouds and living her best life.
My breathing increased as the knife entered the weird forcefield, clearly not effecting him and his comings and goings. The blade touched my skin, right where I knew my heart was beating furiously in my chest, so fast there was no doubt he couldn't see it through my skin.
"In the name of Galéthea, I purge you from this land. May your death be a warning to Valetshon that we will show no mercy. We will protect our people and all who reside within it."
The tip of the blade pierced my skin and I winced, a lone tear falling down my cheek as I finally accepted my fate. All things considered I hadn't had a bad life, the last five years I admit being slightly more difficult than your average teenagers life, but it was still amazing.
I got to experience what it was like to soar on the wind, feel it rush through my hair as I flew as fast as I could. I got to learn so much about myself, how to survive in the wild and just how resilient I was when things got really tough.
I got to experience the beginnings of new love, with a guy who seemed to genuinely like me, even if I was a bitch to him sometimes.
His face popped into my head as the knife sliced deeper into my skin, the pain almost blinding as I felt the blade cut deeper into me. If I was going to die, he was the last person I wanted to see.
Just then the knife was suddenly ripped out of my skin and I cried out in both surprise and pain. I opened my eyes to find dad lying on the ground, almost wailing in pain as the hand that had just moments ago been cutting into my skin was now pinned to the grassy floor.
I stared down at him with wide eyes, not believing what I was seeing. Was that an arrow sticking out of his hand?
Without warning a sea of arrows came flying towards us, each one black as night with a silver tip and bright pink feathers and I followed their direction to see two shadows standing just in the tree line.
"Roger!" My mum screamed, running towards him and dropping to her knees as she tried to help free his hand from the ground with a tug.
Erik ran forward until he was right in front of me and stood so I was basically his human shield, blocking him from any oncoming arrows, but I noticed none of the arrows were actually aimed at them, just near them. It was like the attacker was just trying to scare them away rather than try and kill them.
He seemed to notice that a few seconds after I did because it wasn't long before he dove forward towards the dropped knife and turned to face me, his hair almost as wild as his eyes as he turned to face me.
"There's no way you're getting away from this," he almost spat, staring me down as arrows rained around him. "You're my ticket in, one way or another your heart is going to burn."
I pressed myself against the invisible barrier, adrenaline flooding my veins. I was a sitting duck, trapped with my hands tied behind my back and no where to go.
Erik stepped forward, knife held between us in a firm unwavering grip, but when he tried to step over the stones to get to me he froze. The knife could penetrate the force field, but Erik couldn't. He seemed to almost roar in frustration, his wide eyes shifting left and right across the floor as he tried to find a way to break the spell, but every time he tried to move the stones they didn't budge.
"No!" He cried out, furious that he couldn't finish the job.
He looked over at my parents behind me, looking for their help, but they were to preoccupied with my dad's hand, trying to stop the blood flow now that the arrow had been removed.
He looked back at me, eyes bloodshot with rage as he tried to calculate how to get to me without being able to reach me.
I spotted movement from behind him, two figures running towards us as they sprinted across the field, and my body felt an all manor of different emotions when I recognised them as Alice and Jake.
No, they couldn't be here, it wasn't safe for them. They said they were literally going to take care of Jake when they were finished with me. Him being here was like serving himself up to them on a silver platter.
Erik, having noticed my shift in attention, looked over his shoulder and noticed the two running towards us. Alice was dressed in what appeared to be a full on war outfit, with a bow in her arms and arrows strapped to her back. She looked baddass and I smiled as I thought about the bright pink feathers attached to her arrows, because of course she'd pick pink.
"Times up Erik," I grinned. "Unless you want to also kill two innocent people, one being your friend."
"No, we're not through until your kind is dead," he spat through grit teeth, pulling his arm back. Eyes wide, I watched almost in slow motion as he brought the knife over his head before throwing it at me.
The blade spun as it cut through the air, aimed right at my chest as it flew closer and closer towards me. I only had a second to think, less than a second to react as I heard a shout from Jake in the background, but I ignored him. Without thinking I dropped to the floor, getting as close to the ground as I physically could, and almost felt as the blade sailed over my head, just missing me.
I released a breath as I watched Erik get slammed to the floor, Jake on top of him as he fought to keep him pinned to the floor.
"Stay down," Alice growled, aiming an arrow at him. "Or I swear to god I will put an arrow through your arm and pin you there myself.
She looked so different to what I was used to, but I had never been more happy to see her, to see either of them.
Erik continued to struggle under Jake, not listening to Alices threat, and so without so much as a flinch she released the arrow right into Erik's forearm, pinning him to the earth.
There was also a commotion behind me, my dad yelling something unintentionally, and once I was sure Erik was finally under control I turned to see what was happening, only to be frozen at what I saw.
Blood.