Feathered

23

Gav's POV

It was early in the morning when Ava woke me up. We were all wearing the clothes we had bought from the thrift shop, and we shared a bag of cereal. Jack wrote a short note thanking the Aldens for letting us stay with them.

My ears were constantly bombarded with noises I didn't want to hear. The flap of a bird's wings, or the scuttle of a squirrel climbing up our cabin, were amplified to a point my ears were always sore.

Was a jealous of their abilities? Of course. It didn't cause them pain to use it, except when Ava had hurt her head. I had picked up a pair of cheap over the ear headphones to help with the constant buzzing, which helped a bit.

I put on my headphones, and stuffed my jacket into my back. We hadn't flown in a while, and my wings needed to stretch. Jack had left the cabin, leaving Ava to take a shower and me to make sure we didn't shed any feathers. After making sure we hadn't left any evidence. I walked out of the cabin onto our deck. The sun could be seen peeking up just beyond the mountains.

From what I knew, we didn't have a plan in mind, and Jack could be tracked whenever he drew money from his account. And if the Moderatoris found out he was withdrawing money, they could probably freeze his account.

I heard Ava turn off the shower, so I returned to the cabin.

Jack's POV

Did I know the money was going to run out? Of course. I also knew that the moderatoris, or my aunt, could very well track my whereabouts from the ATMs that I was withdrawing money from. My family had been well off, but I didn't know how much longer we could stay in places without being noticed. I walked over to the Alden's cabin, and set down the note and picked up the newspaper that had been soggy from the morning dew. I found what I was looking for after flipping through a few pages. Headlining the missing persons page was my name and picture. Even though I had given the Aldens fake names, they would no doubt recognize me. I cleaning ripped out the page on the fold and returned to the cabin to leave. The sun was coming up.

Ava's POV

I stepped out of the shower ready to go. My backpack had been strapped on, and my wings were outstretched. Jack had just walked into the front door, and Gav was sitting on the sofa.

"Where are we going, Jack?" I asked, wringing out water out of my hair. The dye was washing out, allowing my hair to return to its original dark blonde.

"I found my picture in the missing persons ad in the local newspaper. My parents must have involved the authorities." He said solemnly.

"Oh, what about ours?" I asked.

"I shouldn't have one." Gav responded impassively."

"What? why?"

" I was raised in an orphanage of sorts. They had missing kids all the time, and none of them were found so they stopped trying. Plus, I was one of the older ones, so I'm pretty sure they were relieved when they didn't see me in the morning."

"I didn't realize."

"It's fine." Gav cut me off, lifting his head to meet my eyes.

"I didn't see your name there, Ava." Jack said quietly, scanning the paper again.

"Oh."

I didn't think I would be hurt by that, but I still hurt. Maybe my parents had hired a private investigator. Who knows? I wasn't allowed to contact them anyway. 

I was on the run from some crazy people anyway.