Secret Wings

Chapter 24

Hi everyone!

The lovely drawing at the top is by @Into-The-Oblivion :) Thank you!
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Recap:

After finding out that Autumn has a pet peryton (Juno), Aiden, Hailey, and her decide to head to the forest to see her.

Chase has to go to a meeting with the king and thus cannot go with them.

At the end of last chapter, Aiden shares his thought that without Bree, Chase, or Carson to supervise the training field it is most likely that no one is training seriously and that at least one fight has broken out.

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Chapter 24

Even though Aiden really wanted to see if there were indeed any fights happening over at the training grounds, and, if yes, who was fighting and winning, Autumn decided it would be wiser to steer clear of that area and go around it and into the forest.

"Let's fly!" Aiden cheered. With one great sweep of his flame red wings, he was airborne and looking down at us, impatiently waiting for us to follow him.

Autumn opened her own dark purple wings.

"You coming, Hailey?" She asked, noticing that I hadn't even unfolded my own wings.

I nodded hesitantly.

"Yeah... I've just never taken off from low on the ground before."

Autumn folded her wings back behind her back, surprised.

"Really? Well, I guess it's true you are more used to using your legs than your wings as you haven't had them for a long time yet. Don't worry, it's not that hard. I'll show you."

Above us, Aiden performed some kind of airborne summersault.

"Come on, what are you guys doing?" His voiced reached down to us.

Autumn chose to ignore him. "Open your wings." I did as she instructed, and she continued, "Now try to copy what I'm doing." She drew up her powerful wings, pumping the air around her, pushed off the ground, and was up in the air.

I brushed away some hair that had been blown into my face and opened my own light green and white wings. I moved them up and down and tried jumping to give myself momentum, but I wasn't able to lift up high enough from the ground.

I shook my wings and rolled my shoulders. I wasn't accustomed to using my wings so much. Autumn was right, I still relied much more on my legs.

Aiden landed besides Autumn and I. "Everything okay?"

I grimaced. "I can't take off from the ground yet."

Aiden's eyebrows rose. "Really? Well actually, I understand. It's hard to remember because your wings are at their full size, but you haven't had them for very long. Here, let me help."

My friends showed me the right wing movements again, and I got a taste of what I must have felt like when I was still a toddler and learning to walk. Finally, with Aiden giving me a boost by carrying me a little so I could gain altitude, I was able to get airborne. Higher up there was more wind, and I was able to catch a draft of air that carried me even higher.

Aiden flashed a thumbs up and Autumn smiled at me praisingly.

We flew until we landed in front of a forest, from which we decided to continue on foot as it was easier than trying to fly through tree branches.

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"Autumn," Aiden complained, ducking under a low branch, "We've been walking for almost ten minutes now. Can't you just call it over?"