Find Your Wings

Chapter 6 - Ryan

"Come on. Knock on the door already." The three of us were standing in front of the crooked, and half fallen apart, door of the cottage.

"All right, I'll knock. I just don't want to knock the door down." I replied.

"Excuses, excuses..." North shook his head in disapproval.

Knock knock knock. No answer. Knock knock. Still no answer. KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. Still, no answer.

"Are you sure there's someone home?" I asked Star.

"Just go inside already! The doors half open." The three of us stepped in as carefully as possible. The floor creaked with every step, making the most horrible noise I've ever heard. Like the cry of a crow that was choking on a snake. The smell of the house was terrible. I wonder if whoever lives here ever throws out the trash.

"Hello? Anyone home?" North said to the empty-looking house.

"Go away, there's no one here!" said a voice from somewhere in the house. The voice was very deep. Deep and hollow, like it had no meaning. Like the person behind the voice didn't care.

"Ryan, is that you?" Star asked the voice.

"Star, what are you doing here?! I told you to leave me alone!" The voice, Ryan, suddenly came into the room. The first thing I thought was "WOW". He was really, really, hot. No, not hot. He was beautiful. Tall, muscular, with dark skin, not too dark though. Perfect waves of very dark brown hair that goes down to his shoulders. Bright green eyes, eyes that look sad, as if they had been through a lot. Maybe they have.

"What are you staring at, red head?" he said hurtfully.

"Oh, nothing, I just expected someone who lives in a deserted house in the middle of nowhere to be a little..."

"Older?" he finished, a smile creeping on his face. Oh, that beautiful smile.

"Um... yeah." I said sheepishly. Star laughed.

"Amber, North, this is my brother Ryan." Star introduced.

"Your brother?!" North and I said at the same time.

"How can he be your brother? He's not even a fairy!" North said.

"I was a fairy. Not anymore though." Ryan said casually.

"What do you mean, not anymore?" I asked.

"Does it look like I'm a fairy?" He asked.

"No, but how..." I trailed of.

"Yeah, Ryan, please tell them why you're not a fairy." Star said.

Ryan hesitated for a few seconds and the said, "Fine. So, obviously, I was born a fairy. I was an amazing flyer, probably the best in all the worlds, which gave me an advantage on everyone. I was also a big trickster as a kid. I would play pranks on all the other fairies. I could also do jobs much faster than everyone else, so I got more food and supplies to keep for myself. I had power. But, fairies being fairies, they despised me for my power. They were all so jealous. They started making stories about me, prophecies that said that one day I would destroy the world with my powers. They made up powers for me that I didn't really have, like killing stares, or fire wings that I could turn on if I wanted to. My black wings became a sign of evil. From being the most powerful fairy in the world, I became poor and lonely. No one would give me a job. No one would befriend me. I traveled around the world, fairy style, to see if there is a place where people still haven't heard of me yet. I didn't find anything. Apparently fairy news travels fast. In one of the places I went to, I met someone who told me of this person name Edgar. He is a Wizard living in the WIzard World. The person told me that if I prove to him that I am worthy of his wizardry, he will grant me one wish. So I went to this Edgar and asked him for his help. He said he would gladly help me, if I could show him that I will survive being a human."

"So what did you do?!" Star was acting as if she hadn't heard this story a million times before.

"Edgar made my wings invisible to humans. He said that I had a year to act human. If I succeeded, and my human skills were good enough, I would turn into a real human. And if not, I would die." Pause. "I failed at being human. I couldn't fit in. No one liked me. The day before my year was over, I knew I had to do something or I would die. I went to Edgar's lair and stole his spell book. I found the spell that would make me human and cast it on myself. I thought it worked, but Edgar had fooled me. He knew no fairy could ever be a human, so he replaced the spell in the book with a spell that would turn every fairy's wings invisible to humans, if I touched them." He looked down and I could see the shame in his eyes. By the look on Star's face, she had never heard this version of the story before. "I didn't know about it until it was too late. All the fairies were invisible. No one believed in them anymore. I locked myself in here and vowed not to touch a fairy ever again. It was my punishment. I deserve this." He looked up at Star, but she looked away.

"Star I'm sorry. I should have told you. I shouldn't have kept it from you. I'm sorry." He reached out to touch her but she pulled away.

"You're breaking your vow." She whispered and then flew out the door.

"I'll go talk to her." I said.

"I'll go with you." North suggested.

"No, North, she's my friend."

When I went outside, Star was sitting on a big rock with her face in her hands. I could see she was crying.

"Hey, Star, you-" I started saying.

"How could he?! How could he keep that from me?! It's him! It's all because of him! He's killing everyone! Why didn't he tell me?" She lifted her head and looked me straight in the eyes and said, just a little louder than a whisper, "Why didn't he tell me?"

"He loves you, Star. He wanted to protect you. He wanted you to be safe. And he did tell you. He told you now." I said.

"Do you know what he told me?" Star ignored what I had just said, "He told me that he went to this wizard, Edgar, just like he told us now, and that he asked him to cut off his wings. He spent a year in Edgar's home, just lying there, until he finally healed. When I asked him why he didn't just do it himself, he just said that he was too scared. But I know my brother. Ryan isn't scared of anything. Not a single thing. I knew something wasn't right but I let it go. It didn't even occur to me that the truth could be this... This... Horrible. "

"Hey," I put my arm around her, "Do you know why he didn't tell you the truth?"

"Why?"

"Because he was afraid. He was afraid that if you knew, maybe you would go away. Maybe you would hate him. Maybe you would never talk to him again. He didn't want to lose you, so he lied. I'm not saying it was the right thing to do, he should have to ld you the truth, but he really loves you, Star. He's your brother."

"Do you really think that? Are you just saying that to make me feel better?" She wiped away her tears.

"Of course I'm not just saying that to make you feel better." I really wasn't, but it came out sounding kind of fake.

"Okay. If you say so."

"Do you want to go get some ice cream to get your mind off of him?"

"Amber, you sound like my mom when you say that." She giggled, "How about I'll just go and talk to him?"

"Okay. I'll come with you." I started standing up.

"No. I need to do this alone." And then she flew.