A Slayer With Wings

Eight

Evangeline shakes me awake.

"Wake up, sleepyhead, it's one thirty."

Wait...one thirty?

"Evangeline, I asked you to wake me at two thirty, not one!"

"My bad, Sugar Pie."

Her bad? She's got to be doing it on purpose.

For the remaining hour, I can't sleep at all. Evangeline doesn't need to wake me.

I quickly freshen up in a nearby human bathroom, trying to ignore the smell (seriously, what kind of human lets their public toilet smell like shit?) and come back at two thirty-five. Then, it's Evangeline's turn.

Ten minutes...twenty minutes pass. Where is she?

Evangeline finally comes back, with her French braid freshly styled and her makeup done. I used to view her makeup as badly done and excessively used, but today, it's actually okay.

"Come on!" I say, grabbing her hand.

Evangeline flushes scarlet, but I hardly notice. Our ship is departing!

"Fuck," I mutter. "Honey Angel, we'll have to fly."

"But we'll be seen!" she protests.

I get out my bottle of stardust and read the label.

STARDUST

-one pinch for one wish
-may not be able to fulfill big wishes
-sprinkle it over yourself or digest it
-say a spell, there are no rules about it, it just has to rhyme

I dig two fingers into the opening, and take a small pinch, then offer the thing to Angel.

"We..." I pause to think. "We wish to fly unseen..."

"As we follow a ship to the sea of green?" Angel finishes after a moment.

And suddenly, we're both invisible.

"Angel," I say. "You there?"

"This is brilliant!" she says.

"You owe me one pinch of stardust!"

"Don't be egotistical, Orson!"

I think she's flying at me, and I duck.

"How did you see me?" I demand.

"How did you see me?" she deadpans.

"I couldn't see you, but with the physics of the angle you flew at me, I felt impact of wind. Let's not waste any more time and go."

She doesn't argue, and we both fly in chase of the ship.

As soon as we land, though, we're still invisible. Huh?

I'm not going to complain, it's kinda helpful.

"Evangeline," I call out. Where the fuck is Evangeline?

"I can't see you!" she yells.

"Ghost! Mummy, there's a ghost!" whimpers a human of about Goodie's age.

"Sweety, it's okay. There are no ghosts in this world," replies the human's mother.

I take that as an opportunity I simply cannot miss. "Boo!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Suddenly, there's a blow against my cheek. I recoil and feel the space around me blindly, and finally, I manage to grab something invisible.

"Orson, let go of my wrist."

"If you ask nicely?" I smirk.

She nudges me. "Orson, we're starting to stop being invisible."

I look down. I can see my sneakers. They're about as pale as Amber's new form, but I can still make them out.

"Behind that," I say, pointing at a bench.

"Where?"

Oh yeah. Angel can't see my fingers.

I tow her over and we both duck behind the bench, as we slowly transform back. Whew. We can still blend in.

As the last bit of hair becomes visible on Evangeline's stupid head, I assume I'm fully visible too.

"What are you two doing?"

It's a human man, smoking a cigar and looking down at us in distaste.

I try to think of my lie therapy classes (yes, despite being Angels, we're trained for that). I've been taught to think about what the opponent sees, and try to make sense out of it.

"Hide and seek," I say. "Shh, my brother might see us."

"Aren't you too a little too old for that game?"

"Fun has no age limit," I reply, and duck down.

Gosh, I hate humans.

The plot twist that follows makes me fall head over heels for them.

"ATTENTION PASSENGERS, THIS IS SAILOR HENRY ISSAC TERRENCE SPEAKING."

I try to muffle a giggle.

"Are his initials HIT?" Evangeline asks.

"No, it's SHIT," I say, trying hard not to laugh.

"A PASSENGER HAS REPORTED THAT THIS SHIP IS HAUNTED. WE WILL IMMEDIATELY ABANDON COURSE AND INSTEAD, SAIL TO THE NEIGHBORING BLUE COUNTRY. THERE WILL BE NEW PLANS ABOUT HOW TO REACH GREEN COUNTRY, AND THE SHIPPINGS WILL BE FREE OF CHARGE, OF COURSE. THE FASTEST YOU CAN REACH THERE IS TWO WEEKS, I'M AFRAID, BUT IN COMPENSATION OF THE EVENT, ALL HOTELS, HOSTELS AND INNS ON BLUE COUNTRY SHALL BE OFFERED TO YOU FREE OF CHARGE, UNTIL YOUR DEPARTURE. WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE."

I groan, and so does Evangeline. Contradictory to this, humans around us begin to cheer.

"Hooray! We can visit Blue Country as well!"

"We can have free hotels!"

"Oh my gosh! Alleluia!"

I sigh. We can't have this.

I take out my phone and search. "We have to go to Green Country on wings. It'll take us about one and a half day. And we'll have to waste some more stardust."

"One step ahead of you, stupe," Evangeline smirks, and without warning, my world goes white.