Begin Again (Lukesse)

through the woods

Lukas's PoV

"Not until what you'll find out later on." Aiden's words rang in my head, making me wonder if he knew more than I did.

Looking back, as I'm writing this, I realised that the guy I was talking about, the guy who Aiden beat up, was Ivor Alchem. Petra's brother. Long story. And also, I knew that Aiden had held secrets for as long as I could remember. And that he was a vital role to the plan. However, *present day* I never knew what Aiden was planning. Aiden of all people.

"Hey." Jess poked my arm, making me jump a little. I forgot she was here with me. We had agreed to meet up at the beginning of the woods, where we would just take a walk through.

"So," Jess (I'm going to refer to Jesse Collins as Jess) said, pushing her hands in the pockets of her hoodie. "What do you want to be when you're older?" Jess asked, blowing away a strand of her dark hair away from her face, like a habit. I ducked my head, feeling it burn nervously. "What?" Jess asked, poking my arm again, grinning.

"Well, I love books. And I don't mind being a writer?" I suggested as Jess nodded understandingly. Then she smiled even wider. "Back in sixth grade, you wrote that nature essay for our project, right?" I titled my head a little, trying to remember.

"Oh, yeah. It was nothing much," I replied, stepping over a fallen log. "Nothing much?" Jess laughed, "You made me love nature so much, I keep coming here!" she gestured to the trees around us. I raised my eyebrows. "Really?" Jess nodded confidently. "Definitely."

"Speaking of the woods, I wanna show you something." Jess smirked and took my wrist. I flinched at her touch but she didn't seem to notice as we trudged through the woods. "I found this ages ago, but I didn't know who made it." Jess continued, hopping over a small stream of water.

I looked up at the autumn leaves and saw a black crow staring at us with red eyes, watching Jess and I. I stopped. "Is it the crows again?" Jess asked, looking up at the red eyed crow. It's movements mechanical and stiff. "Don't mind it. They've been here for ages." Jess said, taking my wrist and pulling me along again.

Jess walked in front of me and I admired the beautiful orange and red leaves around us, and the way her dark hair stood out from the leaves. It seemed strange that a girl so beautiful yet so quiet could ever befriend me. What did she ever see in me that made her become my friend?

I turned around, suddenly feeling the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I looked behind us and saw- a girl, standing behind a tree, with dark brown hair and equally dark eyes. But the strange thing was that she seemed to have- wings? Feathery white ones which seemed to be quite small for her.

"Jess. Wait.!" I gasped, fully turning around, looking back at the girl, who just seemed to stare at us. However, as soon as Jess turned around, the girl opened her wings and vanished, blending in with the dark woods nearby.

"What is it?" Jess asked, standing beside me. "I- I saw a girl. With wings." I stammered, not taking my eyes away from that particular spot. Jess placed a hand on my forehead. "Hm. You're okay. But are you hallucinating or something?" she asked, looking at me with a worried expression.

"No.." I shook my head, worried. "Let's just go." I said, this time it was me who was pulling Jess away. Away from where that winged girl was standing.

-End

And there you have it. The proof that The Winged Ones are tied with Begin Again.