the beggining

chapter 15

Toby jogged up beside me

“okay” he said “wait” he paused

“what?” my head whipped around annoyed

“why did you change back?”

“because I know where to go” my statement sounded more like a question.

“but you hate being human, why not just stay half formed, or even full?”

“id be going too fast for you to keep up “ I answered quickly

“couldn’t you carry me?” it sounded like he had been wanting to ask the question for a long time

“I could, but I haven’t been ridden before and I don’t wish to be” I tried to urge my voice to sound like it wasn’t an option.

“okay” he said disappointed

I kept my eyes on his face, bad idea, he glanced up at me with his big grey sad eyes, then looked down. I wasn’t sure what it was about this boy but I couldn’t seem to say no to him.

“UGH!” I grunted “fine! But you don’t ride, you want to get there fast, we do it my way, got it?”

He nodded eagerly, probably too excited to speak. Though I couldn’t fathom why he would be

“back up” I said beginning to put on my armour

He stepped back a few times. I took a deep breath then lurched to my knees. The warmth of adrenalin flooded through me, beginning at my heart to be pumped through my veins, I could feel my body moving and my bones shifting. The waves of energy coming off my body triggered my armour. the metal unfolded, shifting and clicking into place. covering my chest, head, back and the vulnerable parts of my wings. Even though the change took about 5 seconds I could feel everything clearly. When I was done I opened my eyes  to Toby, then brought myself up to a stand. Leaning slightly above him.

“wow” he breathed

I flexed my muscles, testing out the mobility and joints of the metal covering my body, quiet like the wind. I snorted, baring my teeth slightly.

‘happy?’ I thought to him

His eyes widened and he put his hands up to his head

“what?!”

I couldn’t help it, I started to laugh, embarrassingly hard

Realization bloomed on Toby’s face as he recognized the sound I was making as laughter. Then his cheeks changed colour so they looked like tomatoes.

He looked at me angrily “well how was I supposed to know it was you Sakina?”

His anger made me laugh even harder. As he stood there watching me all but lose my mind his features began to soften and he began to let a small smile slip out. After a minute or so I finally regained control of myself.

‘okay I think I’m done now, should we go?’

He looked at me with playful annoyance “took you long enough, if I didn’t know better Id think youd just inhaled some laughing gas or something” he began to walk beside me, then hesitated.

“so uh. . . can I ride you, please?”

I turned my head to look at him ‘let’s just walk for a while’ I growled

“okay”

Eventually I let him ride. As soon as he found a handhold between two overlapping sheets of the armour we continued to travel. The main reason I let him ride was because he was so slow, it was like the rodent and the reptile or whatever the story was. As we traveled he bombarded me with questions.

“why are your wings made of?”

‘skin’

“is flying hard?”

‘once you learn how, no’

“could you carry someone while flying?”

‘yes’

“will you carry me?”

‘no’

“why?”

‘you’ll fall’

“oh”

Every now and again he would pause, then start back up again. To my complete astonishment I didn’t mind his persistent curiosity. To be honest I actually kind of liked it, my favorite questions were the ones where I had to show him. Like the last one he asked me (how fast  can you run?) my answer was ‘hold on’ then we were off, reaching the stream in a few minutes as opposed to the two hours It would’ve taken at my regular walking speed.

When we arrived Toby hopped off and I shrunk down into my human form again. Armour back to jewelry.

“that was amazing!”

“thank you” I said

“maybe”

We stood in silence for a few moments just looking at the scenery. Then Toby turned to me

“so what should we do now?” he asked

“what?” I said confused

“well we came out here so you could show me your armour which ive now already seen. So what should we do now?” he pointed out.

It took me a second to realize he was right. For some reason that bothered me. My eyes narrowed as I looked as him and said “alright then want to see something exiting?”

“sure” he said excitedly. But as he looked as me and processed my tone he became unsure. “what are we going to do?”

“lets go hunting” I said, smiling dangerously.

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sorry this took so long you guys, ive been really busy lately and havent gotten around to doing it. i hope you like this chapter! let me know what you think and point out any grammar you notice :)