Displaced (Wingless: Book Two)

12. The Stealing

Charlie

After traveling through the Earthen for an entire moon, I was beginning to miss the dreary imitation of daytime. I was supposedly halfway there, and would reach the end in Abannon after another day of travel. So far, I'd walked, ran, and jogged. I'd even attempted a flight or two. But my wings were too wide to fit in the tunnel. I had to turn sideways to stretch them when they became sore. Tired, I sat down and leaned against a wall, closing my eyes in need of rest.

Why was I doing this? Why was I in an extended hole underneath the most dangerous of lands for two days? I'd run out of polutts pretty quickly. All I had left then was a pouch half-full of mineral mush. I hadn't even slept for more than a couple of hours. I remembered the first few steps I'd taken into the tunnel.

I expected the Earthen to smell strange. Like death or imminence or gym socks. But it exuded the same earthy smell that I'd lived with since my first night in Siguth. Somehow, it was already lit, with torches every yard or so stuck into the walls. To be safe, I grabbed one and held it out in front of me. It didn't seem like anything evil or malicious was waiting in the shadows of the tunnel, and the Elders had told me to run.

So I bolted. It was more strenuous with the torch so I dropped it after a while, trusting the tunnel to keep itself lit. There was no wind in the tunnel, at least not that I could feel. I was thankful for the fact that there weren't any curves or turns, just a straight path.

I came to the first symbol on the wall much quicker than I believed I would. I stopped, out of breath after running for over two hours and bent over, my hands on my knees. I heaved a few times before straightening back up. I examined it for a long time. I even traced it with my fingers. The symbol itself was rather simple, just a curve like a C and three harsh slashes throughout it. Only four more hieroglyph things and I'd be with Tane. The thought alone was not enough to spur me into the same sprint, so I walked, and snacked on a polutt.

There is a lot of time to think when you're in an underground tunnel by yourself with nothing but torch-light to guide your way for two days. And I used it wisely, I liked to think. I thought mostly about my home on Earth. I wondered how Felix was. I figured he'd think that the police would find my body soon enough in a ditch somewhere, having committed suicide for want of a girl who'd lost her mind. My mother probably hadn't noticed at all, or she had and was now in the psychiatric ward permanently. My gut curled up at the prospect. I hadn't meant to leave her. I hadn't even meant to leave.

I got around to the thought of Dethany reluctantly. I'd saved her for last in my mind on purpose. Her interpretation of my absence would probably be the worst. I bet that she'd thought I'd left to wander aimlessly across the country to find who Tane used to be. That I'd abandoned her because of something she'd done, or because of someone she couldn't be. But I hadn't meant to leave.

It wasn't the first time that I'd wondered about the people I'd left behind. Even so, I couldn't deny that I fit here. Not in the ominous tunnel that seemed to stretch on forever. In Fismuth with Fith and Marat and Tolem. I had started becoming someone that I'd always wanted to be. I was stronger and faster. I had learned an entirely new language and could speak it well. I'd proven myself worthy of something that no one else before me had ever done. Here, I was special. On Earth, I just didn't belong.

I managed to pretty much clear my mind after a while, and only the sound of my padded footsteps filled the Earthen. I don't know for how long I walked before I saw the second symbol, but it was bolder than the first, and more intricate. It looked more like a warning than a mile-marker. I frowned, but kept walking. Only three more to go before I would see Tane. I wondered if the symbols got any scarier than the second.