The Wolf Girl

Chapter Sixteen

Molly's POV
  A girl with auburn hair and stormy blue eyes approaches us. "I'm Maddie," she says in a voice that is tender and confident at the same time. A hood covers her head, her reddish-brown hair spilling out of her jacket. Zack clasps his hands together.

  "Alright, girls, ready to begin?" he asks.
  "You say that like I'm training again, too," Maddie says jokingly.
  "Well, you weren't training too long ago," he chuckles. "Let's start. Molly, would you like to start on healing or flight first?"
I look at them blankly. "Uh, I suppose we could start with healing," I say slowly, unsure of myself.
He smiles. "Okay. And don't be hesitant. As long as we start with one of these two powers, the rest of them should be balanced."
I nod, even though that makes no sense to me.

"Okay," Maddie breathes, sitting in the grass next to me. "First, we need something to heal." Without warning, she unsheathes the sword hanging from her belt and reaches out with it, making a small cut on Zack's arm. He squeaks and yanks his arm back as Maddie giggles. "C'mon, sit down, Zack."
"Wait, won't he just heal his own wound?" I ask.
"In another situation, yes, he would. But for training, he isn't going to," Maddie replies. I nod to show that I understand. "First, I'll demonstrate." She holds her hand out as Zack sits down, her palm facing down. "In a normal situation, you'll be afraid. There is a high chance of that happening. But you need to focus completely on the task at hand. Ignore the fear." She takes a deep breath and gently places her hand on Zack's wound. He winces. "Now," Maddie continues, closing her eyes. "You need to think about the part of the body that the wound is located on. In this example, the arm. Then, you need to focus on healing it. Focusing and mentally saying 'Healing Touch' over and over normally works, but sometimes you need to say it out loud." A moment later, a bright blue light softly emits  from her hand. "Just wait for the light to completely fade out," Maddie murmurs. "It should be healed by then."

  When the blue light fades away, she takes her hand off of his arm. The mark from the blade is now merely a small scratch that caresses his skin; even that will evidently be gone at some point.
  "Your turn," Maddie says, her blade scratching Zack's arm in the same spot.
  "Why am I always the one who gets scratched?" he demands, reflexively pulling his arm back again.
  Maddie only gives him a teasing smile as I put my hand on his wound. I feel slick blood on my palm, but I ignore it. I close my eyes and tell myself that the scratch is located on his forearm. Healing touch, I tell myself over and over. After a while, the world grows brighter outside of my closed eyes. I open them and see the same soft light being poured out of my hand and onto his wound. The only difference is that my light is a soft, light green.

  The light from my hand disappears, and I pull my hand away to see that the wound is gone, as well as the blood that was on my hand.
  "Wow," Maddie whispers. "Normally initiates don't get the hang of it until they've tried several times."
  I remember my father's larger amount of power and stay quiet.

  "Amazing," Zack breathes in agreement. "No one has ever done it so quickly."
  "I guess I'm a quick learner, then," I whisper, my voice almost inaudible. I don't dare to mention Dad.

"Ready to start flying?" Zack asks. I nod hesitantly. "Go ahead, Maddie."
"To release your wings, you just have to will them to appear," she says, evidently struggling to find the right words. "Basically, just focus." She closes her eyes briefly, and after a moment, silken white wings appear behind her back. She opens her eyes, and I stare at the wings in awe. They are semitransparent, and they seem to shimmer in the sunlight.

  "We don't know if you have wings yet," Maddie sighs. "Since you're seventeen, you should have them by now. Try summoning them."
  I squeeze my eyes shut, subconsciously clenching my hands into fists as I try to focus on summoning the wings from my back. I hear Maddie let a low exhale escape her lips.
  "Those are beautiful wings," she murmurs to herself.

I open my eyes slowly and look behind me. I see my white wings, which are not as transparent as Maddie's. Thick, smooth feathers create the wings. They shine, just like Maddie's.
"You are a very skilled angel," Maddie says, staring at my wings a bit longer. "Okay," she continues after a moment. "Now that you have summoned them, let's fly. It's basically about trying to get used to the feeling of flight. It's like controlling any other body part. Think about it briefly, and then-" She floats a few inches above the ground, her wings fluttering softly and slowly. "Like this. It's like learning to walk or move your hand."
I mentally tell my wings to flap, my heart beating in my chest. This is ridiculous.
My wings flap a few times, and I shoot a few inches into the air. I squeak, and Maddie helps stabilize me as I attempt to gain control. Soon, I am hovering next to her.

"Now that you have that, the harder part is complete," she says. "Navigation is just telling yourself where to go." She flies a bit higher and slowly makes her way to the right. I uncertainly start to move around, my movements small and slightly jerky. This is crazy. I will never get used to flying around.

Soon, I am able to fly around slowly and smoothly. I fly around in small circles just above the ground. Maddie declares that she's taking a break and disappears.

Zack looks up at me from where he sits on the grass and gives me a small smile. "You really got the hang of this stuff quickly," he says softly.
"Like I said, I guess I'm a quick learner," I reply, still fluttering in circles.
He chuckles. "You're going to get dizzy if you keep doing that."
"I know." I try to keep my voice even, despite the fact that I just ache for my home and my family. My attempt must have failed.

"You don't have to mask your feelings like this," he says lightly.
"Who said I was masking feelings?" I ask.
"Your voice and your expression," he sighs. I close my eyes and stop spinning. I can't hide feelings, obviously.

I land on the ground and sigh. "How do I get rid of the wings?" I ask.
"Just will them to go away, like you did when you summoned them," he replies. Eventually, the wings are gone.
"I'm going to take a break, too," I mutter before rushing off.
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A/N: That was kinda boring to write. Hopefully it isn't too boring to read.
I don't know if you have seen my Author's Note book, but I made one. The only reason I really made it is because I didn't want to have to use up chapters of this book for messages, so I made the book for big messages. Check it out of you want, I guess. Eh. It's just notes and rants.
Thanks for reading, and stay heavenly!
~Mabel