chapter 15

"my back hurts" maelyn said, after her fifth cup of kelaynt. i reached back and scratched beside my shoulder blades. my back'd stopped hurting two minutes ago. i started explaining.

"it's the radiation. your wings are growing and it's gonna be a bit uncomfortable at first. don't worry, it'll be over in a couple minutes. just tell me if it starts to sting." they looked nervous.

"what happens if it starts to sting?"

"oh, it's nothing really just the ..." and then i went on into a bunch of techno-babble. if they don't know what your saying, they can't be worried about it. i hope. they still looked a little apprehensive so i just sighed and said. "do you really think i'd let anything happen to you?" i watched them think it over and relax. "besides, in five more minutes, we'll be able to fly!" and at that point, gigantic smiles spread wide across all of our faces.

BEEP-BEEP! BEEP-BEEP! BEEEEEEEEEP! i looked down and grabbed my phone to turn off the alarm. there was a moment of silence as we all looked around at each other before we all exploded in excited cheering. i lead them up the steps to the roof of the cafe. after al, always start small.

"so what are we gonna do?" emily asked somewhat nervously. i tried to think of the least terrifying way i could say what was about to be said, but then i gave up and replied,

"we're all gonna jump off the roof." after almost a full minute of silence, morgan was the first to respond.

"okay. um, any particular trick to flying? or is it like hitchhikers guide to the galaxy? 'oh no i'm falling to my dea- is that ice cream?! oh, look! i'm floating 500 feet above the ground! yay?" her voice got slightly strained near the end. i looked at all their worried faces and decided the best plan of action.

"alright. heres what you do."and dived of the buildings ledge. before i could go splat on the ground, i unfurled my newly sprouted wings and flew right back up to the roof at smiled at the completely awe-struck faces that were watching me.

"simple really. morgan, you wanna try first?" i saw her gulp, but nod.

"okay. but you have to be there to catch me!" i held out my pinky finger to her.

"i promise." we linked pinkies and i dropped down far enough to give her a chance to try before i decided to catch her. "okay morgan!"i shouted up. "jump on three, and remember to open your wings and let them catch the air, okay? ready, one... two... THREE!" i saw her standing on the buildings edge, not moving until anna came up and gently nudged her forward. that was enough to snap her awake and fall down towards where i was waiting.

"morgan! open your wings!" i yelled up to her. i wasn't sure if she'd heard me when suddenly, ten feet above me, she stopped falling, and instead gently glided down to where i was. she hovered in front of me, panic etched into her face, until i saw a tiny smile flash in her eyes. the smile quickly spread across her entire face until she had tears coming out of her eyes from laughing so hard. i grinned.

"so what'd you think?" she wiped her eyes and responded

"don't ever make me do that again!" and started laughing all over again. i took a moment to laugh with her before shooting up to the others on the roof. morgan took a little more time to get used to her wings, but she got there eventually. everyone sighed in relief when hey saw she was okay.

"alright!" i said, clapping m hands. "who wants to go next?" what followed was a rigorous tournament of scissors stone paper before we all finally agreed it was emil's turn. morgan and i dropped down to a good height before shouting up, okay emily, are you ready?" i heard a tiny squeak of a yes followed by her climbing up on the ledge.

"okay emily," i shouted. "one... two... THREE!" and unlike morgan, she jumped right on three. arms flailing about, until she remembered why we were al jumping off of buildings in the first place and opened her wings. she soared upward and spiraled back down towards morgan and i as we flew up to meet her. we all grinned like maniacs and went back up to the roof. after five minutes of comforting anna, the same happened with her. fall, wings, laughing, repeat. the only one left was maelyn. we were all waiting about halfway down the building, laughing and waiting for her to come join us.

"okay maelyn, on three, yeah? one... two... THREE!" she slowly tilted off the roof and came down towards us. we all grinned with excitment. but that faded when we all noticed one terrifying little detail. maelyn hadn't opened her wings.