A Toy With Wings

Nine

When I'm conscious enough to be aware of my surroundings again, the first thing that hits me is the smoke and the heat. I slowly open one eye, and then the other.

I'm tied up. There's a black vine curled around me, restraining me to the rough, calloused walls of the cave.

I look around me. Jez and Evangeline are both unconscious. Kev is bartering with the kidnapper, who's holding a knife at his throat. A white knife that looked very familiar…

"I'm asking you one last time, boy! What is your name?" he demanded.

Damn, that man is downright evil! And I recognize the blade: it's Evangeline's, the same one she impaled through my shoulder!

I want to strangle him with my bare hands.

"Jeremy," replies Kev confidently.

"Are you sure?" he demands again.

Kev shrugs. "Half? It's not my real name, it's a nickname."

Kev, what the fuck were you thinking?

"And your full name is…" he closes the gap between the knife and my friend's throat.

"Jeremiah Aviator."

"Hmm," the man rasps. I don't think he's sure if Kev is lying or not.

"What are you here for, then?" he demands again.

"Sightseeing," he rolls his eyes. "Look, sir, I have no idea what you want with us and why we're here."

"Where are you from?" the kidnapper demands.

"Britain," replies Kev evenly, but I see the alarm in his aqua eyes.

"And which part of the country?" the kidnapper presses.

Kev is sweating profusely now. I don't blane him, for I grew up in the skies, and I can't name a single human country. "Um…Washington?"

The kidnapper shakes his head. "Washington is in America, last I checked. Can't you name anything in Britain? A landmark, or a street name?"

Kevin answers the Eiffel Tower, whatever that is. I'm impressed he even knows what that is.

The kidnapper laughs and starts to make a small cut on Kev's neck. Not fatal, but hurts like fuck. "That's in Paris."

"And isn't Paris the capital of Britain?" Kev asks, confused.

I'm impressed he actually knows a bit about the human world.

"Kid, you're either very stupid or very…" the man is cut off.

"I'm not stupid," Kev mutters in a small voice.

The kidnapper laughs in response. "What's the capitol of Sweden?" he quizzes.

Sweden? What's that?

"Um…Germany?" Kev answers.

"No, it's Stockholm. Ireland is most well-known for…"

"I don't know, sir."

"Irish folklore, like leprechauns. Can you name anything about the world at all?" the kidnapper challenges as he slices with his knife.

"Um…katanas are from Asia…" Kev mumbles.

"Good! Any more?"

"No, sir."

"Idiot," the man spits.

"What about the kid?" Kev demanded. "What have you done to him, you heartless monster?"

The man grins, and holds up a bundle of blankets. "This?"

"He, not this," Kev snaps. "Even babies have feelings, you know!"

The man shrugs. "This is just an illusion. Look." And with that, he hurls the baby at my friend.

Kev braces himself for the impact, but it never comes. The baby just passes through him.

"As I said," the man snaps his fingers, and the baby disappears. "Just an illusion. You know that mother?"

"She was tormented, you son of a mother!" Kev shouted indignatly. "I've seen Hitler, I've seen Ted Bundy, but you're the most disgusting human being I've ever laid eyes on!"

The man sighs and makes another cut, this time on Kev's wrist. He screams. "Is that supposed to make me angry?" the kidnapper asks, amused. "First of all, that 'mother' you're musing about? Her name is Keres, and she's my girlfriend. I can call her over if you wish."

Wait, partner? I'm starting to feel suspicious.

"And second of all…wait, your friends are awake."

Now, I notice that the girls are drowsily blinking sleep out of their worn eyes.

"Why are you doing this?" demands Evangeline.

"You are children of the skies," the man says solemnly. "That makes you enemies."

"I…I don't get it?" asks Evangeline.

"Don't act stupid, but since I don't think you can be any more stupid anyway…" the man chuckles.

Psychopath.

"You don't know anything about the world…"

"What do you mean?" asks Jez. "Challenge me!"

The psychopath rolls his eyes. "The capital of France?"

"Paris, where the Eiffel Tower is," Jez replies swifly.

"So you did your homework. Pity you're sky-born," he smirks. "You could have been a smart one."

"What do you mean?" demands Jez. "What are you talking about? The sky has all we need!"

The man snarls at her. Then, he whips off his shirt.

I gasp. His chest (and potbelly) is streaked with ugly scratch marks. He turns around, and on his back is white feathers.

"I was one of you once," he snarls. "Life was perfect. I thought I had found my dream job and my dream person."

"But why were you exiled?" I ask.

The man spits in my direction. "A pregnant angel was to be punished for treason. Her punishment was fifty lashes. I volunteered in her place."

"That's good!" Evangeline says, but she's silenced by a glare.

"The All-Father exiled me. He believed by protecting the wrong from punishment, I had committed treason myself," he says bitterly.

"Your point?" asks Jez.

"I was exiled because I did good!" he cries. "Just like that Hamilton weakling!"

"Amber?" Jez cries. "Where is she?"

The man shrugs it off. "I don't know. But Satan has offered me better. He has shown me the error of my ways. If no good comes out of doing good, then why do good at all?"

For a second, nobody says anything.

"I'm sorry, kids, but I cannot betray my master. I have to kill you. It will be quick, I promise." The psychopath's only raised his knife when a bullet pierces him in the forehead, and he drops to the rocky ground.

Dead.