Three hours later when she started walking home, and the sky began to darken, Rowen realized how sore she was. Her manager thanked her for the overtime and gave her the next day off. With this luck under her belt, she only thought about the long hot bath she would give herself when she got home. She noticed a group of people at the corner where she would have to wait for her bus and prayed that the bus arrived soon. "Hey there sugar." One of the guys said. They each had strange tattoos on their face and body. She remembered hearing about an up rise in tattoo sales due to mutants wanting to mark themselves. Normal thugs she could take but mutants whose powers she knew nothing about was not a good thing. Standing quietly, she hoped they got bored and left her alone but her luck wasn't paying attention to her hopes tonight. "Hey! I'm talking to you." The man yelled walking over to her. Eyes wide with fear, Rowen realized that they were trying to circle her. Ignoring the pain, she turned on her heel and ran down the abandoned street. She didn't know how long she had been running but she couldn't seem to shake her pursuers. She felt something wrap around her ankle and pull her down. She braced her fall with her hands. Her hands somehow landed on a group of flowers that cushioned the fall.
"Why you running girl?" One of the girls in the group whispered with a laugh. "Its not like you can outrun us. Now be a good girl and give us your money and maybe you won't be found dead in an alley." Another said. Rowen felt like fainting but forced herself to stay conscious. She couldn't let them have her money; considering today was payday and her rent was due tomorrow. She slowly shook her head and stood up. There were four of them she realized. She couldn't fight them off even if she was a mutant. The group looked at her and the man who had spoken to her earlier kicked her in the gut. She flew back and hit the concrete wall in the back of the alley behind her. The sharp pain shot up in her spine and her brain felt like it was sizzling. Her sight blurred and everything looked green Her skin felt as if it was being peeled off of her and her body felt weightless. Letting out a sharp ear shattering scream she charged at the group. But as she started running she realized that a long thick vine was shooting past her and had knocked one of the girls away.
Turning around she saw nobody behind her and when she wished that the vine would go away because it was freaking her out the vine slowly seeped back into the earth. The other three members of the group stared at her in awe but then as the shock left them they charged after her. Blocking her face she backed up against the wall screaming. She heard a scream and when she opened her eyes, they were covered in what looked like snakes except they were green. One of the men was breaking out of the binding vegetation when Rowen saw it. As if by some miracle, the man with the large white wings swooped down towards her. Before she knew it, she was in the air, her aching torso being held but this man. The height of his flight caused her to faint and when she awoke she was in her apartment, the window of her bedroom wide open.
Rowen tried to sit up but her body shuddered with pain and she could do nothing but lay there. Her throat ached from all the screaming but she managed to scream again when she noticed she wasn't the only one in the room. Forgetting about her bruised body, she hopped out of her bed and collapsed on the floor. The man jumped up and ran to her sight. Even in the dim light, Rowen could see the man clearly. His bright blue eyes were like opal jewels in the darkness and his honey colored hair was a curly mop on his head. He was shirtless and his great white wings were pulled back behind him but a few feathers were visible over his shoulder. "Don't be afraid." He whispered to her, trying to put her back in the bed. "Who are you?" she asked with as much of a voice as she could muster. He didn't answer. He moved a wisp of hair from out of Rowen's face and brought over a damp cloth. "I need a hot bath." She whispered trying to sit up. The winged man nodded and picked her up as if she were light as air. He walked her to the bath room and sat her on the toilet while the water filled the tub. He even added bubbles to the running water. He stripped her of her uniform but left her in her underwear and lowered her into the water.
Rowen gasped at first when her bruised and bleeding body first felt the heat but soon she was relaxed and feeling much better. "You still haven't told me your name but I guess Angels aren't supposed to have names." She murmured as exhaustion took over. When she awoke, the water had gone cold and the angel was nowhere to be found. Changing out of her wet skivvies, Rowen limped back to her room, crawled into bed and slept. She snapped awake around three in the afternoon when there was a knock at the door. She could hear her landlord yelling through the door about rent. Grabbing the check she had written after she had gone to the bank on her break she slid it under the door and went to the kitchen to make some tea to soothe her throat. The smell of mint and thyme hit her nose and she realized that her pitiful attempt at flower box had finally grown. But it couldn't have been that surprising; she must have noticed the buds before, because full grown herbs and flowers sat where dirt was before. She figured she was too busy and prided herself in her green thumb. Beside the teakettle was a large white feather. Rowen looked around but he wasn't there.
