Vagabonds

Chapter Eleven: Bird's Eye View

Eliza's scream was cut off as strong arms clenched around her middle. Her body jerked to the side. She watched with breathless shock as the inky water, the bridge lights, the warbling shadows all vanished, moving away from her like she was falling up. By the time Eliza registered the soldiers' surprised shouts, they were already gone, swallowed by the angry whistling of air and a heavy, sonorous beating that surrounded her in a cocoon of noise. It was as if the night itself was absorbing her.

She twisted around, eyes scanning the darkness.

"You know, you're one hell of a person to keep safe."

Eliza let out a strangled cry of surprised. But it faded as her eyes adjusted to the moonlight and she began to make out her rescuer's face. Strong nose, sharp jaw, thick hair whipping in the wind. Handsome. But Eliza's gaze kept sliding from his face to those huge, shimmering, feathered, inconceivable wings.

"What... what... I..."

A deep chuckle reverberated through Eliza's back as the boy laughed.

"Yeah, I know."

He was circling, tilting their bodies downward, towards the forest. Eliza twisted back to see her own feet dangling high, high, high above the ground. It was enough to make her head spin even more than it already was.

"Who are you?" Eliza gasped, the words ripped away by the frosty October wind.

For a moment, there was no response. Just the steady thump of air and a strong heart beating against her spine.

"Someone you never should have seen."

Eliza took a deep breath. "Well I've seen you now."

"Unfortunately."

"So you should answer the question."

Another chuckle, rumbling like thunder over her ribcage.

"Something tells me you've given your parents more than their fair share of migraines."

Eliza opened her mouth to respond, but at that moment the boy folded his wings, aiming them between tree branches like an expert diver. They began to fall. Eliza fumbled for the boy's arm, hard and solid around her waist. Another panicked shriek burst from her throat as the forest floor rushed up to meet them.

Just when she was sure they were about to break both their legs, the boy's wings unfurled. He swept them once, twice, hovering over the grass for an endless second.

And then they touched down.

The moment his grip slackened, Eliza spun away, knees bent, fists up.

He smiled, folding his arms and making his T-shirt wrinkle down the middle.

"You going to fight me for rescuing you?"

Eliza didn't smile back, keeping a good distance between them.

"Why should I trust you? I don't know who you are."

"Because I saved you? Twice?"

That made Eliza pause. She swept her gaze up and across his body, taking in the sandy brown of his hair. The iridescent blue of his feathers.

The sad curl of his smile.

She straightened.

"It was you, wasn't it?" she said, dropping her hands. "In Fitzgerald Base. You stopped the soldiers from..."

From what? Killing her? That seemed like a melodramatic thing to say aloud.

I'm looking at a boy who literally has bird wings sprouting out of his back. I think we've gone past drama.