Going Home

Prologue

She shot up, her body bent at a ninety degree angle. Looking around, she noticed she was not in her own bed. A loud, rapid, beeping noise filled the air of the room. As she continued to look around, she noticed the sound was coming from a machine she assumed was a heart monitor that was next to the bed she lay on. She also noticed an IV sticking out of her arm, and she shuddered, ignoring the weird feeling she got from knowing it was there. As she continued to look around the white room, she noticed a chair near a window to her left. That was the only other furniture in the room besides the hospital bed she lay on. Seeing the outside world reminds of her last memory. She whips her head around the room, more frantically this time. She was alone. 'I was supposed to be home? Why aren't I home? Where's my family? Where am I?' Her thoughts were just question after question as she continued to look frantically around the room.

She jumped when the door slammed open. Well, it wasn't really a slam; the door had just been gently opened, but her unused ears hadn't been subjected to the sound in quite some time. As she looked around she noticed that none of the room was familiar. The walls were white, and hurt her eyes from the sun that shone off of the walls. She didn't know this place, nor did she know why she was there. The last thing she remembered was Draco helping her find her way home.

"Kaida? Kaida Khuzami?" a man in a long white doctor's coat asked. "You are awake?" His heavily accented voice was surprised as if he hadn't expected her to be awake. He almost sounded Russian, and Kaida knew there were no Russians in her hometown. Her eyes narrowed, and she was instantly cautious.

"Where-" She cleared her throat, trying to sound less hoarse. "Where am I?" Her voice was hoarse, and sounded as if it hadn't been used in days. She couldn't help but wonder how long she had been there.

"You are safe,'' the man said gently. Kaida narrowed her eyes further, not trusting the man standing before her.

"Where am I?" she asked quietly, but dangerously. "You must tell me where I am."

"You are in the Gongromy Hospital. You are safe," the doctor said. Kaida's eyes hardened into a glare as she spoke.

"Why am I here?" she asked. The doctor hesitated, as if nervous to tell her.

"You were in a coma,'' he answered. "You are safe."

"How long was I in a coma for?" Kaida snarled, sitting up to look at the doctor better. The doctor seemed even more hesitant to tell her this.

"Approximately twelve months", he said, after much internal deliberation. "You are safe."

"WHY DO YOU KEEP SAYING THAT?!" Kaida was frustrated, and worried about her family. She didn't know where she was or if her family knew where she was. She didn't know if they thought she was dead or alive, seeing as the doctor had said she was in a coma for twelve months. She just knew she needed to get back to them, her heart longing for the safe embrace of her mother, or the loving gaze from her father. She missed her brother dearly, even with his annoying teasing.

It was only after a few moments that Kaida realized she was standing, her feet pressed against the cold linoleum floor. Kaida's arm hurt slightly, and she realized that the IV had been ripped out. She ignored the small amount of blood coming from her arm, instead focusing on something heavy that weighed down her back. When she glanced back, she gasped. Coming from her back were two beautiful wings. She reached back to touch one, and realized that they felt just as leathery as they looked. Her wings were mostly red, with a few hints of orange, and specks of yellow. They were absolutely gorgeous. When Kaida looked back at the doctor, she recognized a look of pure amazement, as well as greed.

"What are you?" the doctor whispered. Kaida looked at the nearby window as she thought. She squinting her eyes as the sun shone through it. It looked like she was pretty high up, seeing as she couldn't see any ground except for in the distance. She then back at the doctor. She didn't want to stay here any longer than she had too, and with her new additions, she knew she would be taken in to be studied, possibly harmed. So, she decided to test her wings a bit. 'How do I move my wings?' she thought softly, unsure of how they worked. She had spent a few days watching Draco fly, but that gave her no knowledge. If she knew he would have gifted her with these wings, she would have asked how he used them. Kaida sighed softly, and tried to shift them a miniscule amount. Instead they flared out, hiding the opposite wall from the doctor, before going back to their original position. 'No matter', Kaida thought. 'I will figure it out eventually. For now, I just want to get away from this creepy man.' Glaring at the doctor, she finally responded to his question.

"I am gifted,'' she said, before running to the window. She crashed through it, glass shards cutting and scraping her skin. Hearing the doctor shout, as well as gasping in pain herself, she forgot what she was doing, until it hit her that she was falling to the ground. As she fell, she tensed, fearful of loosing her life. As her back muscles reacted to her tensing up, her wings flared out again, and she jerked upwards for a moment as they caught the air and slowed her descent. She was still falling, but it was slower than she had been before. She knew she needed to stay in the air to get away from the creepy man in the hospital but she didn't know how to make her wings flap.

As she glided closer to the ground, she thought about the guys she had seen at the gym, when they were flexing to show off their muscles. It always made her roll her eyes, but now she wondered if that would work for her. She tried flexing the muscles in her back, and her wings pumped powerfully, making her gain height. A smile stretched across her face, and she continued flexing the muscles in her back to keep flying. Unfortunately, the unaccustomed strain of wings pumping on her back was beginning to make it sore and she grew tired. Kaida leaned forward, hoping that that might help the soreness. It didn't. It did, however, move her further away from the building, towards a grove of trees, about the circumference of basketball from her position in the air. As soon as she got to the trees, she hovered for a moment, hoping to relieve some pressure from her new appendages. As she tried to rest, a powerful gust of wind nearly crumpled her wings, and she lost control of them for several moments. She fought to align herself against the force, and decided that is was so much easier to let the wind push her up.

As she flew, she tried to avoid populated areas. If there was no way to fly around a city, she would push herself higher so if anyone saw her, they might just mistake her as a large bird. Kaida knew she would have to land to rest soon, however, as the sun was setting. But even as she glided forward, wondering about where she could rest, her mind couldn't help but go to the last thing the doctor had shouted.

"Code 23! I repeat, we have a code 23!"