Defying Gravity

The Rescue

     I cough slightly, feeling a bit awkward as the cat glares at me. Taking a deep breath, I straighten up, standing taller, and pricking my ears forward. I know that Mistbreeze has certaintly noticed my change in posture, but she says nothing. " Yes, I do know your daughter." I say rather loudly, as if proclaiming that this large, feirce looking wingonet does not scare me. She does-but, of course, I can't admit to that."In, fact, we know each other very well-well enough to call each other 'Twin'. Madis-er-Rainbowstripe, is one of-if not- my best friend, and we are very similar." I growl slightly, as if to challenge Mistbreeze.

  Mistbreeze sniffs, sticking her nose in the air haughtily."Very well, then." Nothing appeals to her, does it? I think angrily. So she's that type of pers-uh, wingonet. Sassy, and hoity toity. I plaster a large, fake  smile on my face, and turn to my parents.

    "When do we leave?" I ask, shuffling my wings impatiently.

   My father shrugs, and turns to Mistbreeze. "Whenever Mistbreeze and-Rainbowstripe was it?-are ready."

   I sit down, feeling like something is missing from the equation. Say, an undefined variable. I hear Mistbreeze conferring briefly with my father. "How much time were we given?" She whispers.

 My father whispers back; "12 hours" he says, sighing heavily.

  Mistbreeze sounds dumbfounded. "what?!" she growls. " How does the KIng expect us to reach the City gates by then?!"

   I jolt upright, suddenly realizing what's missing. "Michael!" I gasp. "Where is he?"

    My mother raises an eyebrow. "Your brother?" she asks. When I nod, she continues. " He's technically only you're half brother, so we're not really sure if he's a wingonet or not..."  she shuffles her wings at her sides slightly.

  My mouth works gapes open, not much different from a fish out of water. "Bu-but....how are you supposed to take him with us?" I say, slightly confused. "You really can't be contemplating leaving him here!" I say, looking at their faces, aghast. "He's autistic! He won't be able to live by himself!" I screech.

   My father sticks up his paw in the air. "Calm down. I've just contacted him. If he is a Wingonet, he'll meet us here shortly. If not, I guess Patricia can take care of him."

  I growl, seeing that my father obviously doesn't notice the very large flaw in his plan." How is Mom-mom supposed to know that she is going to take care of him?"

  It's my parent's turn to gawk like dying fish now. My mother shuts her mouth abruptly. "I'll call your grandmother, obviously."

  I laugh, tossing them a scornful look. "How?" I growl condescendingly. I wave my white paw in the air. " No thumbs, see?" I grin widely, and beside me, Rainbow is stifling laughter.

  This really pisses off my mother. "You'll be using your freaky magic, of course" she say smugly, as if it was obvious.

 "Alrighty then. All you have to do is give me your phone." I say, cheeky grin still plastered on my face.

  My mother reaches for a pocket that isn't there, still in a human mind-set. Her face flushes, the white on her face turning pink. "I....no longer have a cell phone." she says, embarassed.

  I spread my wings, lofting into the air with a smirk, to avoid any punches-ahem-I mean, scratches that might come my way. "Coming, Rainbow?" I call down to her

 Madison-er-Rainbowstripe's grin fades into a look of uncertainty, as she awkwardly tries to lift herself into the air.

  Once she reaches me I whisper; "You want me to call you Stripey, or just Madison?"

  She hesitates " Madison." She smiles faintly " Old habits die hard, y'know?"

  I give a small, light, laugh. "Yeah, I know what you mean"

Rainbow coughs. "Well...Shall we get going?"

I nod, and we speed off, back in the direction of Easton.

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  I decide to follow Route 50, just because it wil be recognizeable-you'd be surprised how different it looks from up here- and once I see the turn-off for my Brother's workplace, I waggle my left wing, pointing towards it. "There"

  Rainbow and I dive down-barely managing to keep ourselves from smashing into the pavement- and land by the back door.

 "Hey, I think there's one little flaw in our plan...."Madison whispers uneasily.

 I hiss. "what?"

Madison flinches slightly at my harsh tone. "What's that for?"

I sigh. "Nothing..... I'm just....well, I'm kind of annoyed at my mom and dad right now..."

She blinks. "I think we may have larger problems at hand...."

I turn around, and see a small crowd of people watching us warily. "Oh dear...."

  We make a dash for the door, trying to open it, with little success, as we no longer have thumbs. Any time now, Michael... I think angrily as we struggle to open the door.

 Madison shouts in my ear. "Your magic! Use it!"

 What she doesn't know is that my magic is very hard to do, and since I'm so new to it, I might stress myself if I start another spell.

 But I have no time to expain all of that, so I just shake my head. "Can't" I gasp.

  I hear heavy foot steps coming towards the door, and we back up, just in time, too. The door barely misses whacking us in the face.

  My brother walks out, not noticing us somehow- how can you not notice two, very large, brightly colored cats?!? He looks around anxiously for one of our parent's cars, and upon seeing none, pulls out his cellphone, and dials a number. "Yo, Michael! Down here!" I whisper.

  He jumps, and looks down at me. He must recognize me from the sketches I always draw because he greets me. "Savannah." He says evenly.

  I nod enthusiastically, elated that he recognizes me. "I was not contacted and told the research was over." he says angrily, not at all sounding like the autistic boy, who at age 21, was still so innocent, whom I had to protect from the anger and hatred of the world. "The only contact I received was from Aubrey, and it was very vague."

  I shrink back. "I don't know why mom and dad didn't tell you...." I blink as I see his features slowly morph into that of a Wingonet, watching in amazement. His fur is pale gray, with a white blaze on his head, and a white paw. His wings are white, not a single speck of color on them.

  "I'll tell you why." He growls. "Because Wingonets age much differently. By the time we're 8 years old, we're considered adult. If they haven't already, they'll shut you out, never to speak to you again.  But I..... I am considered a defect, because of my impairments. Not only do they impair me as human, but as a wingonet, too. You'll notice that while I may seem smarter to you, In the eyes of the Wingonet Culture, I am still seen as mentally retarted." I feel tears in the back of my eyes. Why must he be treated this way? And why, was I-his protector, not sufficient in keeping him innocent and happy, and carefree? Behind those pale green eyes, I can see pain and rejection plain as day, emotions I have felt often, and I know their effects well.

  He looks at me sadly. "It's okay, Savannah. I know that you really tried." He smiles faintly. "And, by the way.... call me Ashes."

 I nod, and flick my tail. "Call me Zero. Zero Gravity"

  My brother nods as well, and I can see that something has changed in all of us. We must be independent or die. Rainbowstripe-er, Madison, glances at me, and I can see a fiery determination in her eyes.

 We'll show them- our society- that just because we're different, it doesn't mean we're not as good.