Wings in Alabama

Chapter 12

Okie-dokie, back to Rylee! :D

The room fell silent. My head was bowed to look at my knees in their crouching position. I didn't have to look up to know that all eyes were on me.

I lifted my head a teeny bit and saw the scientist's legs standing still. Not a single bit of movement. A moment passed before he ran as fast as he could out of the lab, taking the rest of the scientists with him. I tried to straighten my back so I could sit, but the wings made it difficult for me and I fell on my face.

I huffed and twisted my body around the small cage. It took forever for me to find a comfortable position for both me and my wings. It had taken so long that now I was hot and sweaty (not my best appearance). I was now laying on the cage in a semi-circle with my wings barely open. My head rested oddly between two large metal bars. I pushed a damp strand of hair out of my face and breathed heavily.

I glanced over in Anne's direction. She stared at me in awe and her mouth dropped. Her hands curled around the bars so tightly her knuckles began to turn white.

I blushed furiously, and turned around to see if the wings really were something to be admired. Good news, they were.

The marginal coverts and alula were made of snowy white feathers that faded into a quarter of the secondary and primary coverts. Both sections were made up of the same snowy white feathers, but they were speckled with a light cocoa and caramel color. The speckles seemed to grow larger as the feathers reached the primary and secondary feathers and became a solid light cocoa mixed with caramel brown.

"Woah," I whispered softly.

"Ya think?" Anne replied, still in awe.

I craned my neck some more to admire my wings (wow, that's a bit of a stretch) when a metal door opened. A man in a lab coat walked into the room, followed by a few ignis-diabolus and scientists. I noticed Anne gasp and back up against the bars of her cage, away from the small party. Footsteps neared my cage and I stared at the man's shiny black shoes.

"This is what you've brought me? A fourteen-year old girl?"

A scientist muttered something I couldn't understand. The man sighed. He muttered something else not understandable and snapped his fingers. "Move the alatus-homo hominis to a separate room."

Huh? What did he just call me? Alatus-homo what now?

My cage door is ripped open. My arms once again feel the burning pain of the ignis-diabolus's touch. I screech in pain again and struggle in vain against the monster. The creature is stronger and pulls me out of my cage. As soon as I have left the claustrophobic state of the cage, my wings fold out all the way. With open wings, I feel stronger and wrestle the ignis-diabolus away from me.

I felt a feeling of accomplishment as I threw the fire demon onto the ground. His fellow demon friends stood back with open mouths along with the scientists. The man that had ordered me out, however, did not seem the least bit fazed by my actions.

A devilish smile grew on my face and I jumped into the air with a small flutter of my wings. I rose higher until my head was equal with the ceiling. Anne looked up at me with a grin on her face. I smiled back down at her before diving right over the small party's heads and whoops of laughter came from the children. I laughed with them and flew back up to the ceiling to dive-bomb them again.

This time, the dive was expected and an ignis-diabolus grabbed my ankle and pulled me down. I cried out and lost control of my wings and plummeted to the ground. My chest hit the ground, hard, and I felt the breath get knocked out of me. My shaky arms tried to push me off of the ground, but failed and I fell back onto the ground.

The man's foot nudged my shoulder. Its tip lifted my chin and tilted my head to look up at him. "She's a feisty one, alright."

"Rylee, run, now!" Anne ordered. I turned my head to look at her as a fire demon thrust his hand into her face. She creamed out in pain and I saw a small trail of smoke. He drew his foot away from my chin and my face hit the ground again. He bent down in front of my face and said, "I am the Director of this little operation. You Alatus-homo homini are seen as a powerful species and will help me in my little 'Take-Over-The-World-Plan.' You will not ruin this, understand? Good, then."

Two ignis-dibolus grabbed me by my arms and half pulled, half thrusted me towards a door. Another held both of its hands in front of my wing slots, pushing them into my body. Eventually, I was in a new cage. Yay. Ooh, and I had a cellmate that I knew. Ashton Summers.

Ooh, a cliffhanger! Vote, comment, and keep on reading!