Steel Flight [Completed]

Chapter 4: Block Heel

~Skai

"Why do you want to go there so bad, anyway?" We were still blocks away from my Haven, and I was already starting to get anxious. It went against every instinct in my body to bring him there. I knew it was the only safe place for us to wait for night to fall, but I barely even knew the guy! Several times my feet wanted to wander off-course, but each time I sternly reminded myself that this was what I'd agreed to. I felt a surge of anger. Why the gold dust had I agreed to it, anyway?

"Like I said. I can't stay here."

I flashed him an irritated look. "There are plenty of other places to choose from."

He was quiet.

"Why don't you go back to the Farmlands?"

He shook his head and looked off into the distance, at the Eastern Mountains. There was my irritation again. He kept doing that!

"My mum used to tell me stories about those mountains."

I stopped. No.

He stopped too. "Stories of hills that spring up in a day and hair as strong as metal and..." He dropped his eyes. "And flight," he said softly, a little yearnfully.

"I'd hate to break it to you," I said, voice rising. "But those stories are just that. Stories!"

He shrugged. "Maybe."

I opened my mouth but he cut me off.

"I thought you were taking me to a horse."

I took a deep breath. "Okay. First on our agenda is to get you new clothes so people stop staring at us. Thankfully, that's on the way to our next stop, where we'll wait till it's safe. Then I'll get you on that Horse and you can go learn to fly."

I rubbed my eyes. This day was turning out to be a disaster.

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"And he's the one who turned you in?" Farm Boy asked me, yet again.

"Yes," I hissed. "Now be quiet."

"Why are you bringing me to someone who turned you in?!"

I gave him a sharp look. "We're sneaking into his attic. Actually, that's what we're trying to do, but we'll see how well that works out, as one of us doesn't seem to have quite gotten the sneaking part down."

I bit the inside of my lip, trying to decide on the best way to do this. "Do you know how to climb?"

"What?"

"Do you. . . know how. . . to climb?"

"Of course."

"Buildings?"

He hooked his thumb in his pocket. "Sure. Went up on our barn all the time."

I nodded and absently pulled some of my blonde-brown streaks back behind my ear. The way I normally got up there was by leaping off Peb's beat up old 263 Model C (always parked here, behind his shop) and grabbing the slide ladder in such a way that it wouldn't slide out. From there it was easy.

The only problem was that he had recently sold his Car. I hadn't visited him since, and never with company. Still, it shouldn't be too hard.

"Alright. Here's what we're going to do. You see that drain pipe? Shimmy up it until you reach that window, get onto the sill, then pull yourself onto that balcony-"

"Balcony?"

"That thing you can pull yourself onto." I rolled my eyes. Really. "Once you're on the balcony wait for me. That is the window we'll be entering through. None of the others."