The Winged

8- Escape

I edged to the back of the jar, fleshing out the height of the glass wall in my head. I allowed myself a slow, calming breath, shaking my wrists in circles. This would be so much easier with my wings. Yeah, well. I could still feel them bound tightly behind my back. Trying to untie them wouldn't work, they were too tightly bound- and anyway, I didn't have the time to try. Instead, I focused on getting ready to leap towards the top of the jar. Could I make it?
I looked towards the top with apprehension. The glass wall was taller than me and my legs felt as if they were barely holding me up at all. I wasn't sure that I had the strength to make such a leap up such a flat wall... but I forced my face into a concentrated glare.
I had to make it, there was no other choice.

Mind brimming with resolve, I kicked hard off the ground and threw my arms up towards the rim. My fingers bent against the hard, black lid. But it moved. It moved. I almost smiled as I landed on the floor again. Please, please work. When I jumped up again, I smacked it harder, then again and again until finally it went sliding off the side. A horrible moment of nothing... then a swaying as it tipped to one side.

I flinched as the lid clattered down onto the table. The next ten seconds felt like an eternity. He's coming, I thought, he heard. But Sam didn't walk back through the giant tent zipper. And that meant it was time for me to jump for escape.

I made contact, grabbing the rim of the jar. Yes! But the joy was short-lived. My arms were still shaky from the close encounter with the gigantic human, and I had to heave myself up quickly before the little strength I had faltered. I scrambled up the side of the glass by running my legs up the slippery surface until I could swing myself over the top. Come on!
My heart was hammering in my chest the entire time, both with breathlessness and that ever-present anxiety that just wouldn't let me rest. Once atop the walls of glass, there was nothing to really hold on to. My leg slipped from the rim of the jar and sent me slamming onto the table. I winced, gritting my teeth as the wire scraped across the delicate surface of my wings. They were starting to feel hot and scratchy on my back from being under so much pressure. I pushed the thought out of my mind.
I'm out of the jar. I was out! There was no time to worry about something that couldn't be fixed. Once I got back to the Burrow, I could get them treated. No- better, once I got back to the Hollow I could get them treated.
I looked around the huge tent, my eyes glossing over the mounds of gigantic equipment stored in here. That is, if I ever get home.

Most of it I didn't recognise. Their bags were in here, bags bigger than the houses back in my tribe. A light that somehow glowed without moss, without sunlight, emitting a horrible yellow light that lit up the silky walls of the tent. Everything in sight was so big. So incomprehensibly big, as though it had been warped and stretched to unnatural heights.
You have to get away from here, Azure.

Stumbling to the edge of the huge white table in bounding leaps, I peered over the edge.
Oh- wow. I was breathtakingly far from the floor... one wrong step off of here would surely kill me. That was one huge drop. Heights had never scared me before now, but without my wings... this was painfully dizzying to think about. I couldn't just fly down as I usually did. No, there had to be another way. Frowning with a sense of urgency, my eyes darted about the room, but I couldn't see a way down from the table.
Unless... my eyes found a bag propped up against the leg of the table. It was a rucksack, the sides unzipped and spacious. Totally enormous, obviously. It seemed puffy and empty, a much better landing than the floor...
I gulped, vertigo hitting me like a train. But I was still so high... from here to there must have been over triple my height.

Suddenly, I heard distant laughter outside. My heart stopped dead in my chest for one split second as I stared wide eyed at the door, but it thankfully remained zipped shut. Remembering my situation, I put on my best brave face. The drop was huge, yes, but not as huge as those monsters outside. There was no other option. Not thinking twice, I leapt off the edge and plummeted towards the bag.