King Of The Skies

Chapter 2

Nathan, Lecture Room 5-8, Base Nidus, 8:00 am

Nathan walked to the far side of the room and went halfway up the rows of desks. He held his books close to his chest and sat down next to the window. He watched Lyn walk past him and sit two rows up. Angelica and Eva sat in front of him, Angelica turned to chat and Eva rested her head on her books, immediately falling asleep.

"Morning Nathan," Angelica smiled. "You should have seen your face when Jasper got up to punch Kit."

Nathan felt his cheeks flush but kept a blank stare. Angelica huffed and puffed out her wings, "You're gonna have to talk to me at some point Buteo, you can't keep ignoring me."

Nathan stayed silent, only irritating Angelica more, she settled her wings and faced the front. The electric blue of her wings glowed in the light of the early sun. Nathan gazed out the window again and waited for class to start. He heard Lyn start up an argument with another student but didn't bother to turn around. His interest was piqued when Jasper and Jackson waltzed into the room, only minutes before the professor did, as usual.

Jasper made a bee line for the empty seat next to Nathan and Jackson followed suit. Jasper slid easily between the seat and the desk and bumped his shoulder into Nathan.

"You won't believe what happened last night," Jasper started to explain his time in the alleys and Nathan hung on to every word. "I swear that pigeon is getting faster, there is no way a common pigeon could keep up that quickly and over lap me."

"Maybe you're just getting slower," Jackson mumbled from Jasper's right, he rounded on his brother to argue but was cut off when the professor entered the room.

Professor Cathartes glared at the students as she walked into the room. Her black wings were long enough to drag on the floor behind her. As a yellow-headed vulture, not one student dared to cross her. Professor Cathartes's blonde hair was a stark contrast to her golden brown skin. Her black eyes studied the frozen cadets in front of her.

"Open to page 586 and begin to copy the diagram," her hoarse voice sent the students into action.

Nathan slowly opened his book as Jasper continued to talk quietly about the pigeon in the alley. Nathan shuddered at the diagram of pulling out flight feathers but copied it down.

"Mr Feddel, something interesting happened yesterday?" Professor Cathartes stood tall as she called Jasper out.

"Which one of them, ma'am?" A student retorted, others snickered at the twins.

Professor Cathartes kept her stare on Jasper as he fell into silence. When she was pleased with the silence in the class she turned back to the board to write notes.

"As all of you have experienced natural moulting, the process of pulling out damaged flight feathers is something entirely different," Professor Cathartes went on to explain how to clean the area before and after removal.

Nathan was to busy on keeping his breathing in check to focus on what the Professor was explaining. His vision went blurry and he heard his heart beat in his ears. He felt like he was falling again, the pain itched his wings and he swear he could hear gun shots again.

"Nathan!" Jasper had his hand on Nathan's shoulder. "Breathe okay? Count it out, take it slow."

Nathan focused his eyes on Jaspers. Jaspers eyes were the colour of rust, the same colour as Nathans hair. Everybody said the twins were identical but Nathan knew Jaspers eye colour was brighter and looked gold in the sunlight. Nathan slowed his breathing to the time of Jaspers counting.