Without stopping to think, I picked Dylan up and flew to the roof. It felt weird to be this close to him, because it was giving me flashbacks. Fang carrying me, the first few times the Voice gave me a headache. Carrying Angel out of her crate at the School. Watching the whitecoats experiment on a new subject, which ended up dying anyway. So you can imagine how glad I was to put him down.
When I turned back around, now ready to face him again, he was grinning. "What, did you find doctor God somewhere nearby?" I asked. "Nah, it's just, the view from up here is so pretty. I think you're right, flying will be fun!" His answer didn't fool me one bit. "What's really up? I'm not freaking dumb!" He just grinned wider. Obviously, he didn't mean to let me know the truth. "Oh, well, let's just get this over with."
I stepped up to the edge of the roof. "Come here, Dylan! Time to start!" For the first time since I met him, Dylan looked anxious, worried, maybe even a little scared. "What, you can't take being pushed? It's just a little jolt before you get to enjoy the feel of freefalling!" I teased. He tried to put his emotions behind him and stepped over to the very rim. "Lets do this thing."
Before he even had the chance to react, I had shoved him as hard as I could off the house. Indeed, he was freefalling! At least until his natural instincts made him snap open his wings. The air from his fall got caught in the feathers, and he began to rise. Not quite flying, but pretty darn close. He hovered there for a while before he lost the air, his wings folded, and he dropped like a rock. Ouch. Fortunately, no bones broken.
I once again heaved him up to the roof with me. This time, he jumped off and opened his wings all the way. The air caught, just like last time. Only, now he knew what to do to keep in the air. He flapped frantically to stay up, but gained no distance whatsoever. Finally, he motioned to me to fly over and show him how. I zoomed up and angled my feathers at him. When he tried this technique, he could actually move. He was still clumsy, but he could hover and move. Nice!
I realized it had been a half hour since we left Jeb and the flock at the house. "Time to head back!" A look of disappointment crossed his face, but we slowly and steadily flew back to our family. Or, I should say, my family plus traitorous Jeb.