Winged - Currently Under Heavy Editing

Learning to Trust

The night and morning had gone without much incident, the regular scolding from Father, then arriving at school with Winnie who departed my presence almost immediately.

Then it got weird. Nadia and Brennon arrived with strange news to say the least. Somehow they were able to get their hands on their own lists, and mine.

"Adelphi you have to see their names. Oh they sound adorable." Nadia sqealed, I hadn't seen her this happy in a while. It was nice to see.

"Here, this one is yours." Brennan stated, handing me a paper that was slightly wrinkled up from their excitement.

"I haven't heard any of these names before." I said, studying the paper.

"Well of coarse dummy. None of us have." Brennan replied. "We get to teach these poor lost souls about the shelter Hope Academy provides for us!"

"You will never believe what else is happening today!" Nadia cherished.

"What is happening today." I replied in a sarcastic manner. I was happy too, but Nadia was just a bit too excited so I had to have some fun with her.

"The seminars start TODAY! Can you believe it! This is the best day ever!"

"Woah, calm down you are going to scare everyone away." Brennan replied, putting up his classic "I'm too cool for you" look.

"Well, what are we waiting for, let's go and introduce ourselves." I said, a smile evident on my face.

We proceeded into the counseling hall reserved for these types of events. The fledglings were already standing about, waiting for us.

"Man, this is going to be interesting." Brennan whispered, nerves building up. "So, we take attendance to separate them and then give them the low down on the Academy?"

"You got it Einstein." I smirked at him. "Don't ruffle your feathers over this, you'll be fine."

Showtime.

I led my friends and the few other makeshift teachers into the room, giving a wide smile and waving at a few of the young ones.

"Alright hello everyone! My name is Adelphi and these are some of my classmates, and we are going to be mentoring you and helping you transition into Hope Academy." I grasped my hands as the group of freshmen stared at us.

"Okay, well just listen for your name and stand next to the person who calls you. We will each list off a name, and this may take time. Just have patience and we will get through this as fast as we can."

Fivana
Lenik
Payne
Elisha
Spera

"Alright if you heard your name, please step forward. You are with me, if you didn't, continue to listen for it with Nadia and Brennan. Follow me."

Three young woman and two young men stepped forward, obeying instructions and following me to the next room over.

Fivana, Lenik, and Elisha all had pitch black wings, I smiled at the detail. Elisha had neat blonde hair, Lenik black hair, and Fivana was a fiery red head; however, she wasn't the only red head when my eyes caught another one with flaming hair and snowy wings. I stopped my analysis and walked to where she stood.

'Spera' her nametag read.

"I've seen you before." I said towards her. She looked up at me and replied quietly, yet her tone held distrust in it.

"How could you know me, you've never seen me before."

I studied the girl carefully, making sure my assumptions were correct. The slightly damaged snow white wings, her pale figure, tawny and short, her ginger locks, and the look of previous terror she tried to mask.

"I may not know you, but I have definitely seen you before, Spera. You haunt my nightmares. I'm going to figure out why."

'Miknuur'

"What did you say? What does that mean?" I questioned the girl, but she didn't answer, only stared at me, which creeper me out. I decided to leave the mysterious girl alone for now and address the group as a whole.

"Where to begin... Hope Academy, you will soon see for yourselves that they live up to their name, providing solace and comfort to our kind. They only ask in return that you live with a predetermined family until you have reached 21, where you will be allowed to live in the real world, although most come back here as they experience the prejudice they have against us. Many of you have met your foster parents by now, I hope that each of you settle in well."

I looked around the small group and found a few discontented faces, I knew they were not being treated well. I offered condolences, telling them it would he rough settling in, but it would get better as time went on.

Some cheered up, and I moved onto the next part; the campus tour. I ushered the freshmen out the door and showed them various sites on campus and where the general education classes for them would be.

I offered a little backstory to the accomplishments of the school, and even my own journey through the establishment. Four were hanging on to each word I said, Spera; however, only kept muttering that strange word every so often. It reminded me of Rii, when she put those guards to sleep.

Spera at least looked at the sites and paid attention, so I chalked her remarks up to not being settled in yet and I continued on with my protegees.

We passed by other groups and students exchanged greetings as quickly as they could without falling behind. Every student and teacher was grateful when lunch came around.

"So Adelphi, how are your freshmen?" Brennan asked, picking at a salad.

"They're freshmen. They do seem to be enjoying themselves." I replied.

"What about you Nadia?" Brennan continued.

"So many questions from all of them. I was afraid we weren't going to make it through the tour in time."

"Interesting, I had a similar experience, but I think they got the idea that I couldn't answer every question and eventually quit." Brennan concluded.

After a much appreciated silence among us, I decided to share one more thing.

"Do you guys remember Rii?"

"The crazy girl with different wings, how could I not." Nadia groaned.

"I happen to think it was an interesting combination Nadia." Brennan replied.

"Well, one of my girls, Spera, she has been muttering one word the whole time. A word I didn't understand. It kind of reminded me of Rii."

"Well, that's strange. Did she look like her?" Nadia replied.

"No, but you know what. She is the girl I've been seeing in my sleep every night." I prodded and pointed at her with my fork.

"But that's impossible, you said it was you with a few differences based on your wants." Nadia continued.

"Yea, I'm not so sure 'bout that anymore." I finished, my gaze lingering on her a second longer before going back to my food.

I'll have to figure out why she is in my dreams and learn to trust her.