Chapter 2
Hal buried his face in his pillow. He was sprawled over his bed. His mouth tasted of puke.
That, and really cheap beer.
His eyes sprung open. The early sunlight fell across his back and warmed him from head to toe. He smiled. The bird lifted his surfboard from its resting place against his bedroom wall.
The soft sand crunched between his talons as he ran down to the beach at Cape Claw. Hal was normally the only one down here at this time.
And the waves could get pretty big.
His board cut through the spray with ease. Hal loved doing this. Every morning he came down to this beach to practise. He wasn't that bad, considering he hadn't had lessons. His feathers got soaked and glistened in the early morning light.
Hal had never thought of himself as anything special. Other people sometimes did. His mother was a hawk, and his father was an albatross. He was moderately tall, white feathers and red wings.
Actually, only one of his wings was red. The other one was almost completely black. It was charred because he had twenty feet of chain welded onto it. Nobody knew how it happened, but then, not many wanted to. He had got used to it. It was quite useful sometimes. It had a spearhead on it, so Hal could use it as a grappling hook. The only problems were that it sometimes itched and he couldn't go out in public without receiving strange looks from people who didn't know him.
The sun rose higher, staining the sea yellow-gold. This was Hal's cue to get going. He rode one final wave back to the beach where he lay on his back in the sand to dry off.
"Hal!"
He looked up. Running across the pure white sand towards him, was another hawk.
"Hey Lorna," Hal replied. "What are you doing down here?"
"Ethan told me I could find you here."
Hal chuckled. "Well, I told him not to tell anyone."
"Not even me?" she asked, sounding slightly offended.
"I know what you're like. I'm just worried that you'll tell my dad."
"I won't tell a soul. Promise."
"Okay then," He smiled "Well... I've got to be going. My band has to play twice today, and Ethan hates it when I'm late for rehearsal."
Lorna shrugged. "You know all of the songs off by heart, and it's not as if your bass needs tuning again."
"Fair enough. But I'm not late yet, and if I'm lucky I can fit in a couple of beers before."
Lorna scowled at him "Two at the most. You don't want to end up like your dad, do you?"
"Fine."
Hal wrapped his chain around his surfboard and lifted it onto his shoulder. With his good hand, he took Lorna's, and they began the walk back to his house.