Ravenwings (Imaged + Completed) [1st in Trilogy]

Part III: Chapter 55

In response to my begging, the receptionist sighed. "Of course, but...I don't want to get your hopes up. I've...never seen Dr. Fike go home past 11:03."

Ka-shmack! I jumped, alarmed at the violent sound of a clipboard hitting the linoleum. 

I was impressed Raven hadn't been spooked, until I saw that he had been staring in the sound's direction long before it even happened.

His eyes were wide and unblinking as Dr. Fike, a square-faced brown-haired woman in a white coat, made no move to pick up her clipboard. 

Her face drained of color as if she'd just seen a ghost, her jaw ajar, and her pen rolling across the floor with a clattering that filled the pregnant silence.

"Sh*t," I heard her curse.

Wait...what is she seeing? She can't see his wings, can she? I glanced to the coat, which covered all but a couple black fathers poking out the bottom, though the vet shouldn't be able to see it from there. Why are they staring at each other?

For a moment I dared wonder... While he still stared in shock, I whispered to him, "Is she...your aunt?!" 

Raven subtly shook his head, working his lips around in deep thought and furrowing his eyebrows. 

Right, his aunt was dead; that's what I thought. So what the f*ck was going on here?

Does this vet somehow recognize who he really is? I began to panic, questioning my previous conviction that the locals had no ill intentions. The last thing we needed was to find someone new who would hunt him down for his wings.

The veterinarian tore her eyes away from him to glance at the door, identifying the nearest exit, turning on her heel and beelining for it with impeccable speed.

"Wait!" Raven exclaimed, sliding in between her and the door. "W-we..." his voice cracked and he cleared his throat before continuing. "I need your help. I just want help. Just...twenty minutes, that's all I ask. Nothing more. Twenty minutes, and I'll go."