Golden Wings

Chapter 11~ Present Day, The Blue

Samantha was laughing with Raphael when I came in. They both look up at me, beaming, and I try to match their smiles. 

"Claire?" Raphael asked, a look of concern overtaking his childish features. "Are you okay?"

Clearly, my facade wasn't convincing enough. I try to answer quickly but stutter through my response, "Oh- Yeah. Yeah, Raphael, I'm- I'm fine. Uh- It's- I'm fine."

Samantha stands and walks over to me. "Hey... Do you want to talk? I... I know what you're going through." She takes my hand.

"No, Sam," I say quickly, not wanting to separate her from her brother. "I told you, I...  I'm fine."

"Claire. Come on." She looks at me knowingly. "I know it's about... him."  

"Him?" Raphael asks from behind her. "Who's him?" 

"Sam, seriously, it's fine," I say quietly. I swallow. "I'm fine." 

"Rafie, do you mind?" Sam turns, ignoring me. "I won't take long. I just have to speak with Claire." He nods enthusiastically and quickly hugs Sam before leaving the room. "Thank you, Rafie!" She calls before the door closes.

She leads me to the bed, sitting across from me with her legs crossed. "Kyle?" She raises her eyebrows, looking at me with worry.   

I hesitate, not really sure myself. "Mostly, I suppose," I sigh.

She takes my hands in hers. "Then what else?" I shift uncomfortably, looking at the bedsheets. "Claire." She leads my attention to her again. "You can tell me. What else?"

I falter, then exhale slowly. "Have you... have you seen... our- our guest?" Samantha shakes her head no. "His name is Edward Teach. He's an ambassador or something on placement from Eagleais."

"And...?" Samantha hedges, urging me to continue.

"And he's so... unclear." I take my hands from hers, covering my face. "That's not everything, though."

"Well?" She askes. "What is everything?" She chuckles, and I see her blue eyes shine with laughter. "You can't just tell me that."

"Sam..." I start, closing my eyes. "Sam, I think he... I think he called me Clares."

There's a moment of silence. Then Sam says quietly, "No way. That's..."

"I know. I mean... how could he have known?" I wonder aloud. "Grandfather introduced me as Clarisa, and I never..."

"Only two people have ever called you that..." She says slowly, treading carefully.

"Four, actually, if you count Mother and Father. But he never..." I shake my head to clear the wandering thoughts of doubt. "No, I... I must have imagined it."

"Imagined it?" She asks sceptically.

"I don't know. I remember flying from Grandfathers office... and then... I don't know, maybe I saw Edward, maybe I didn't, but then I woke up in my room... like I had just flown in the window and fallen asleep. It was weird." I pause, thinking it over, but the more I do, the more it seems to fade. The more it seems like a memory. "And then Wayne asked me to join him in the summer garden and I just..." I break off, tears crawling down my cheeks as Sam engulfs me in a hug. "I don't understand..." I weep into her shoulder.

"Shh... I know, I know." She coos. "Raphael! Rafie, come here!" She calls suddenly.  

"Sam, I-" I start, but Raphael bursts into the room, eyes bright.

"What's wrong, Claire?" He stops, looking from me to Sam.

"Oh-" I rub my eyes, drying them, "No- Nothing, Raphael. I'm- your sister was just-"

"Claire." He interrupts me with such seriousness that I almost start giggling. "Please, stop calling me Raphael. It's so... formal" He looks disgusted, and I actually do start laughing, only slightly. "Call me Raf." I start laughing harder at his insistence, and he looks at Sam confused. "Is... she okay?" He askes slowly, making me laugh harder.

"Rafie, she's fine. Just... weird." She smiles. "She's just weird."

"Okay, then," Raf says, looking back at me. "Do you want to do something fun?" He askes, all excited again.

"Like?"

"I don't know, you're the expert here! We could go flying, or play chess, or go to the library or something like that?" He suggests.

I look at Sam, who smiles encouragingly. "Library it is then."