Iggy had been the one to hear it. Down, down, down, far below him in the canyon, some unexplainable sound. It was like a metallic sound that stretched and then popped. He couldn't describe it any better than that.
"Gazzy, did you hear that?" he asked the blond eight-year-old flying beside him. Wait, no, the Gasman was nine now; the flock had all turned a year older just two months ago. And yes, the two of them could fly. As in, with wings. All of the flock could. Just something you get used to.
"Where?" There was no question or doubt when Iggy heard something. He had the best hearing out of all the flock. One of the few (very few) perks of being blind.
"Down below us. In the canyon. Wanna investigate?" Iggy paused as he waited for a verbal reply.
"I'm nodding, Iggy," said the nine-year-old. And that was one of the many non-perks of being blind—missing the non-verbal replies. Iggy tilted down at a slow curve towards the location he had heard the sound. The wind whipped through his feathers as he dive-bombed into the trees below them. He could hear Gazzy crashing through the branches with him noisily. "So, I guess it's nothing dangerous?" the Gasman asked cautiously.
Iggy stopped their descent and landed on a thick branch in tall tree. He felt the rough bark under his hands as he crouched, sniffing lightly and inhaling the scent of pine and dust and soil. They couldn't have been farther than fifteen feet from the ground. "No, I don't think so. It sounded a bit metallic," he heard Gazzy's small gasp and quickly added, "but it didn't sound like Flyboy. Not really the 'I'm here to gun you down' kind of sound."
Iggy tried to listen in again, but he couldn't hear anything out of the ordinary. Birds chirping and little bugs buzzing around doing their little buggy thing. "Just be on your guard," said Iggy—unnecesarily, since they were always on guard. "I'm going in blind here. What do you see?" He waited for the Gasman's response, hating having to use that bit of stupid humor in regard to his lack of sight. But he had to. He couldn't let the flock see how much he hurt over one stupid sense.
"Umm…. Not much. I wanna stick to the branches and have a look around." Iggy felt the light brush on his hand that pointed him in the right direction. He hated having to need that little gesture, but kept it to himself. Again.
The two bird-kids leapt as stealthily as they could from branch, perfectly silent but probably not unseen. Iggy kept "watch" as far ahead and below as he could, listening for both the Gasman's movement and for hostile movement below them. It was a talent he had learned fast, what with being on the run all the time and all.
So as soon as he heard the boy in front of him stop, Iggy immediately waited. Sure enough, "Iggy, twenty feet ahead on the ground at 11 o'clock. I think I see something."
"What is it?" Iggy whispered back, listening intently where Gazzy told him to. He thought that maybe he could hear a slight breath, but it was too light a sound to make sure.
"I think it's…" Gazzy went silent, shifting his weight and trying to get a better look. "It looks like…. Red? Like red hair, I think?"
"Red hair?"
The two shifted quietly onto a lower branch to try to give Gazzy a better look. He gasped and immediately covered his mouth in an attempt to silence the sound. "What is it?" Iggy hissed through his teeth.
"It's a girl! A red-headed girl lying on the floor! Her back is turned to us so I can't see her face but she's not moving." The boys quickly dropped to the floor and hid behind the trunks of two trees, Gazzy peering around his to make sure the red-headed body wasn't moving, and Iggy listening for its breath from behind his. After a minute or so of this, the slight crunch of Gazzy's foot on a twig let Iggy know to move forward.
The girl still didn't even twitch by the time they had gotten within ten feet of her. "Ready for an up, up, and away if she moves," Iggy told Gazzy. He listened for the sound her breathing, which would have been deep and relatively noisy if she was sleeping. He couldn't hear it at all.
Holy shit, what if she was dead? What was a dead girl doing in the middle of the effing canyon? Iggy gasped. This could be a trap. Some sick, twisted trap set up by Dr. Gunter-Haboodle (whatever his name was) or Mr. Chu (also known as Robert) or somebody. Gazzy froze and looked back at him. "What?" the words came out through his teeth, barely audible.
But on the other hand, this girl might need some serious help. And they were probably the only people in God knows how far who would be willing to help.
Help out a total stranger. In the middle of the woods. In a canyon. The flock had learned not to deal with strangers or being alone.
Iggy chewed on his lip in thought before moving forward. "We can't trust her. Fold in your wings a bit so she won't be able to see them, but keep 'em out." Whoever she was, he couldn't just leave her there without atleast making sure she was dead first.
The two knelt down slowly, Gazzy's eyes darting around them while Iggy inspected her. His sensitive fingers reached out to find her. "Ah!" He snatched his hands away as if he felt something hot. It was only a color, but it wasn't a color he'd ever felt before. It was almost like fire in his hands. Maybe not quite, but definitely close to what he thought fire might have felt like.
"What is it?" Gazzy hissed, but Iggy ignored him and reached for the color again. He felt the almost-fire touch his fingertips again, but this time he didn't pull away. As he stroked it, he realized it was her hair. "Wow, when you said red, I didn't think you meant like this…"
Her hair had a bit of golden-blonde and brown in it, mingling with masses of dark cherry and vibrant crimson. Iggy almost wasn't able to stop himself from pushing his fingers further in and twirling them around it.
"Forget her hair. Let's just see if she's dead or not so we can get out of here. This place is starting to give me the creeps."
Gazzy's annoyance brought Iggy back to the present. He was surprised at himself a little when he noticed it kind of stung to hear his friend talk about this girl being dead. He turned his attention back to whether or not she was breathing.
Keeping his fingers laced in that vibrant color (there wasn't really any reason to move them anyways..), he lowered his cheek close to her mouth, trying to feel the air passing through it. Iggy sighed in relief as he felt a warm wisp of air there. She was just unconscious. Not gone, Iggy, just unconscious.
Iggy sat up straight and turned towards Gazzy, not even thinking before he spoke.
"She's alive. We're taking her back home."