Winged

Chapter Thirty-Two

Sabrina

It's interesting, how normal children live. A small group of young boys are playing ball on a manicured lawn, dressed in identical navy vests and ties. Their hair gets ruffled in the play, and it sparks a rough turn as the tallest takes a running barrel into another and they all end up in a gigantic heap on the ground. Their nice clothes are ruined with mud and stained with dew from the wet grass but they're having a grand old time.

From the roof of their neighbour's townhouse, I leap through the rain grandly, the rising fog fading away and taking with it my cover.

"Woah. Did you see that? It looked like an eagle!"

"An eagle? Really?"

"Yes, I think so too. I saw the shadow, it was ginormous!"

"My dad says-"

Too close, I think as their voices fade away, replaced by the thrum of rain and the crashing of thunder over the sea. I know too well by now that both Annabelle and Jackie would reprimand my sloppy work. At least the warehouse is more secluded.

I'd left Harriet starting a fire on the second floor to chill our frozen bones. My hair still sticks plastered to the back of my neck and the rain, although light, is quickly undoing whatever I'd managed to dry off.

This next structure I land on has crumbling bricks that fall away as I dig my heels into a crack and pull myself onto the roof. I'm leapfrogging the buildings because the static in the clouds frizz up my thick hair and more truthfully because Harriet told me before I left that If I flew there during a storm I'd get electrocuted from lightning and die. And whilst it may not be entirely truthful, it is certainly enough to convince me to take a detour.

This next building I like. There is ivy growing conveniently on the walls, slowly tearing the house apart but making a great ladder. I like it even better when I look over the peaked roof, perfectly alike to all the other ones around me because I can see the clock tower.

The only problem is, there is a large space without any cover between the closest house and the clock tower, and so to breach that distance I'd either have to go up into the clouds or straight across a busy road worn with the marks of wheels and hoofs.

Up and across. As high as I feel comfortable. One more house and then vertical.

By the time I reach the clock tower and pat down the frizz I call hair, I find Annabelle and Jackie in the bell compartment, chatting quietly although they've been alone for a while. My foot kicks a stray rock against the far wall and startles them both.

"Hattie?" It's Jackie. "Oh, wait. Never mind." Jackie kicks the rock back with such force it bounces off my wall too close for comfort and right back at her. She grins devilishly and does it again, aiming for me. I skitter out of the way and she frowns but marks a broken brick as her target and continues with the game. Annabelle sighs, smiling a bit.

"Entertainment at its simplest form."

The corners of my mouth tug up. Annabelle is back to herself. At least I think she is. For now. I'm scared to move, scared to laugh in case I cease that slight smile from existing.

Her eyes go serious once more and her mouth back into a firm line. "Did you find a place? This darn bell- I just keep waiting for it to go off again, it must be due sometime soon. I didn't want to go out in the rain once more but the noise in here would be rather unpleasant If the bells were to toll." She notes my smile with cunning eyes and lets herself relax. "How far is it?"

Jackie kicks the rock back at me. It misses again, deflecting back and through the railing, clanging down the hole in the centre of the platform from which the bell sits suspended in. It lands on the floor below, where a bell-ringer would pull the ropes.