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Chapter 1; NowhereShe was flying again. High above everything, staring down without really seeing, her mind faded back into her skull. Past all the fear the anger and the hurt. Deeper than her secret memories, deeper than the pain she still felt when she remembered his face.
Ember closed her eyes against the wind, letting it wipe away the tears she didn't know had been falling. Slowly, deepening her breath, she extended her arms until she could feel her wings beating against them. Her little hands balled into fists, her teeth gnashing together...
And she stopped flapping, gliding forward soundlessly. The roar of the wind in her ears. Whipping her long red hair back, away from her pale, freckled face.
Her red, gold and indigo feathers trembled in the updraft from the mountains below. The gale force winds that Angel called the Santa Ana's but the true name of was lost somewhere in the unreachable parts of Ember's mind.
And she twisted in the air, rolling completely over, spiraling downward like a jet, picking up speed as she dropped, the air whistling past her wings, through her hair and in her ears.
She corkscrewed downward like a rock, her arms out to her sides, rigid. Her wings half folded, her spiral tightening as she lifted her right wing and lowered her left.
She punched through a cloud, emerging on the other side trailing droplets of water the cold mistiness swirling like little tornadoes as she shot through it.
Ember streaked downward, faster and faster, the ground blasting up to meet her so quick, had she but opened her eyes she could have seen the lichen growing on the rocks below her.
But she didn't open her eyes ... Not yet...
Her fists tightened, her body tensing as her altitude dropped 1,200 ... 1,000 ... 800 ... 600-
BOOM!
Her eyes came open and she seemed to explode with heat, her wings snapping outward at nearly nine feet from tip to tip and she pulled up.
She heard the pine trees on either side of her sizzle when the little green needles spontaneously combusted as her fingers brushed them. She zoomed forward, seeing the world in a blast of colors as she pulled up, streaking once more into the sky, disappearing into a cloud.
She exhaled, her eyes closing and she leveled off at about ten-thousand feet staring down at the world and the blackened slash she'd created in the patch of green trees below.
Ember slowed, hovering there, just below a cloud, her arms wrapped around her waist her long hair wafting around her in the wake created by her wings. She closed her eyes tightly, forcing herself to remember his face...
Bright, large, crystal eyes set in a pale face, a slim straight nose, thin sarcastic mouth. Red hair wet with sweat ... Nearly the same color as the blood spilling from his mouth and nose...
He smiled, a proud, mournful smile ... Because he knew...
And then there was a hollow pain in her chest and the brightness faded from his eyes... Then he was gone forever.
"Ember, what are you doing out here alone?" Came a voice from somewhere off to her right.
Ember turned slightly and saw through the haze of tears, Daisy-David hovering a few feet away.
Everyone knew that Daisy-David was different. A girl trapped in a boy's body. A sick punishment for having wings no doubt.
Occasionally Daisy-David dressed up like a boy, but this never sat well. Everyone around her saw a girl, even though the inevitable was starting to happen.
Daisy-David was thirteen now, and her treacherous body was beginning to change. Her voice was deepening, and various other parts of her mismatched anatomy were starting to become harder to hide.
At this moment Daisy-David was wearing a light blue T-shirt and a pair of flare legged jeans with a severely short plaid skirt over it to hide various parts that couldn't be concealed very well by the jeans. Her large dark blue eyes were lightly ringed with makeup and her long dark brown hair was pulled back into a braid.
Had no one paid attention Daisy-David would indeed look like any regular preteen girl, but the child was going into puberty and despite how she felt inside, her body was not a girl, and it was getting harder and harder to hide this fact.
Ember bit her lip and let out a sigh, wiping tears from her eyes, "I had the dream again..."
Daisy-David's face fell and her eyes shimmered with tears. "I'm sorry..."
Ember wiped her face again and turned away. "I didn't want Angel to know... She gets mad So I came out here to be alone..."
Daisy-David nodded and eyed the ground far below them. "Did you make that slash?" She pointed to the dark line.
Ember nodded, "I just singed it, I didn't burn anything."
Daisy-David nodded and rubbed her arms, "You want to go blow something up? I found this old tree that needs to come down a few miles to the west."
Ember hesitated, snuffling, then nodded and followed Daisy-David to the tree.
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